Time for another half-hearted attempt at a 90s anime as we dive into the obscure Jewel BEM Hunter Lime.
This definitely has a 90s feel when you know that Atsuko Nakajima is the one in charge of animation design. If you don't know who that is, she's the one behind the animation design for Ranma 1/2, but if you still don't know she does Key Animation for Bleach.
We start off the show as two demons chase another demon who has stolen some multicolor jewels, something goes wrong and the jewels get lost in the human world and turn into Big Eyed Monsters which is what the abbreviation means in the title. Before we go further I must make a point that this OVA was cancelled after 3 episodes so it's unfinished anyway so as not to point out the ending because there isn't one.
The two demons, Bass & Lime search for these monsters which take on the form of the vengeful spirits of forgotten items.
That idea is interesting, it makes a change to see demonic possession take on items instead of humans, it makes for some interesting stories but when you actually see the items that are taken on and what these monsters look like, your in for some disappointment, these monsters are laughable and the second monster doesn't even fight. In fact it's better to describe each one.
1. A candle angry at the world for turning to light bulbs.
2. A purse full of money who is meant to be angry at the world for turning to credit cards but forgets what to do
3. A syringe angry at the world because people keep getting scared of needles.
There was a planned monster shaped like a Daikon but it never made an episode.
To be honest that's it. I don't have much to work with on this one in terms of plot, so I'll move on to characters.
Now Lime's basic functions are all to do with fan service and it's made even more obvious by the fact that she has her own disguise power which she exploits to full effect, the American DVD release even has a fun dress-up game as an extra. Bass on the other hand is strangely well spoken for a demon and strangely reserved for someone who has to spend all day with a sexy partner, even during an ecchi scene when he's describing fondling to the Purse Monster he still maintains a sense of dignity, that's rare for a character when it's easier to just draw a pervert. The other characters are mostly forgettable, being rehashes of 80s archetypes including the over the top manly girl character.
There's a lot of nice ideas in this OVA but building a fan service series from a plot that almost passes for a pre-school show isn't really going to pass, especially during an era where the best were or already had been created.
Final Verdict: It's not a strong attempt at a series, it's ideas would work under different guidance, otherwise it's just forgettable; the name is hard enough to remember.
It's rare for me to do a manga review, even rarer for me to do one on an OEL Manga, that's Original English Language for those who don't know.
OEL's are sad attempts by some manga publishers to try and use western talent to make manga to bulk up their catalogs.
Some are horrible such as Avril Lavigne's shameless cash in "Make 5 Wishes"
Some are attempts by big companies to expand into that domain such as Disney.
Others are no names with mediocre stories that are easily forgotten.
There are two exceptions however: Scott Pilgrim & Aoi House.
Aoi House is about two male college students named Alexis & Sandy, after being kicked out their dorm for the last time they end up at Aoi House, but to their peril it is in fact supposed to be called Yaoi House and are first mistaken for a gay couple but are later accepted through various incidents involving slapstick, various glomping, a perverted hamster and hundreds upon millions of references. And yes you've probably guessed from the picture, it is a harem series; but unlike other harem series, it doesn't fall into the same traps.
You do have cookie cutter females though: Rich Tsundere Girl Elle, Hyper Girl Morgan, Sexy Motherly Girl Jessica, Slacker Girl Nina & Glasses Big Breasted Girl Maria.
The story sounds like a predictable farce but no, quite early on the Tsundere girl Elle doesn't win; Hyper girl Morgan does. That's a very bold move to take for any series in that genre.
The story itself is very easy to follow in stages.
The first part shows Sandy & Alexis' struggle to gain acceptance into Aoi House as they are exposed to numerous troubles such as the traditional nude scenes, accidental glomping, watching yaoi, a date with a transvestite, more references and an incident known only as the bishounen hair.
The second part dives into the everyday life of Aoi House and the preparations for the convention, we also get a developing romance and it's at this point where the Tsundere loses.
The third part is the convention itself which shows off the most references, we are introduced to rival clubs such as Yuri Club and the dreaded American SOS Brigade (Anyone but them)
The final part wraps up the main story and dives into a fast forward sequence very much like a final closing sequence to an anime finally ending in an epilogue.
Okay I normally hate shows about Otaku culture but this one was really good, with the main reason being, I know or have met pretty much all these characters and I understand every reference in the book.
The story isn't perfect, there are some stupid scenes that defy description and some references placed in for sheer self indulgence and sucking up but compared to Comic Party this is way better.
Also it makes a change to have a character which is basically the nice guy who is pretty accepting of everything; he's not a loser like others in his position, he's just a nice guy and that makes Aoi House such an interesting read, because many male otaku including myself are the nice guy.
Final Verdict: Read as the best example of American Manga and then read Scott Pilgrim straight after.
While this has been looked over many times online by various youtube video makers, it still acts as a springboard into the deeper aspects of the series; in my version I'll be saying why these episodes were banned and what they could've done to sor...
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An anime genre that isn't present much anymore is the robot anime, I don't mean the giant robot anime, I mean the anime shows where it's about a robot that looks and acts like a human but isn't. Half the reason for these shows disappearance is that it all came down to the same thing, reluctant male with no social skills falls in love with a high powered, pretty girl robot. It flooded the 90s anime market before dying out during the new millennium era where the super elite anime dominate the market and as of writing still do. But hidden amongst the tired formula was a show that could've been great if given the right care, a series that could've saved Megaman's reputation and in turn restore faith in the genre, that series is Twin Signal.
The show begins with Professor Otoi and his Grandson Nobu building a new robot called Signal, a pretty boy robot (makes a change) with impossibly long hair built specifically for combat and to act as a big brother to Nobu, the scene ends with a sneeze as we cut to the amazing opening theme and it's amazing animation sequence. This opening deserves the award for biggest troll as we are exposed to all these amazing characters with amazing fight scenes and amazing emotional attachment that look incredible; but sadly unless you've read the manga you will not know who these characters are nor are you going to see them in this OVA.
We then start the first episode properly with Nobu fishing with some cat creature while Signal breaks rocks to train, that is until Nobu sneezes and that apparently changes Signal into a chibi version; remember the sneeze before the opening? Well according to Otoi's explanation the technology in Signal doesn't know how to properly interpret a sneeze so recognizes it as a transformation command, so we end up with a chibi version who loves chocolate and behaves like a four year old on pixie sticks.
At this point we get to the first of many immortal dub lines which deserves some award on it's own.
Chibi-Signal: Look it's the sea! It's the sea!
Nobu: That's not a sea it's a lake.
Chibi-Signal: *Thinking* I see! It's a lake full of lots of sea!
In between scenes we see some henchman try to steal a data disk, while Otoi's assistant Chris sleeps after working on her own robot.
Also we get another immortal dub line.
Police Robot: Ah it's a fine day.
Officer: How can a robot appreciate a fine day?
Police Robot: Well I feel rusty when it rains.
The rest of the episode sets up the story and plays with lots of slapstick. We are introduced to some more characters towards the end including the robot Erala played by Misty, I mean Rachel Lillis; we also find out from Otoi's son & his wife (who looks about 12 years old) that Pulse, another robot and Signal's prototype has been stolen and in another twist he equipped Pulse with lasers and two giant arm blades. It's also at this point that the villain enters the scene revealing himself to be Otoi's old rival Umenokoji and finally Signal finds Pulse and they start fighting. Episode 2 starts as Pulse and Signal end their first fight with Signal going chibi and Pulse apparently not seeing it. Pulse is very short sighted as hilariously stated in Signal & Pulse's first meeting by Flag, another robot that accompanies Pulse.
Chris then decides to send her own robot after Pulse but is then stopped by Signal because his honor as a fighter shall not be disgraced by seeing it attack Pulse while he's resting. A quick fight with Chris's robot sends it out of control and it throws Signal through a hundred trees and flying off a cliff. Meanwhile Erala after an incident with dishes which she apologizes to, gets led to the villain's castle of the promise of new dishes in which she ends up a hostage. Umenokoji who looks like Santa Claus if he were out of work and living on benefits is confused by this but still takes Erala hostage, in the meantime he's trying to work out how to decode the data disk by playing a game of Whack-a-mole.
Onto episode 3 and Signal wakes up with a destroyed arm & leg but is interrupted by Chris's robot again as round 2 begins but this time Signal's jacket & hair changes color which unleashes enough power to destroy the robot, it is then we build up to the final climax as Signal again takes on Pulse at the castle, Erala is saved not before leaving the villains with diarrhea with her cooking (Erala is a domestic robot) and then causing the place to blow up by mixing up the cables she tripped over on. Nobu gets lost looking for Signal but ends up nearly crushed by stone pillars which Signal saves him from, he's in a bad position and it looks like Pulse is about to finish him off when he decides to have his own honor and let Signal leave. The OVA ends with Pulse coming back and joining the family followed by more jokes about Pulse's eye sight.
The most pressing matter about this show's failure to get a series lies in the fact that it's too child friendly, so much so that a company like 4Kids don't need to cut anything and already has it's voice cast. The gritty scenes shown in the opening portray a much darker more ambitious project and should've been used instead. It's the same problem I have with Megaman, the shows we do get are too child friendly while the more serious stuff gets little to no recognition.
It's still a nice series with some hilarious dialogue and decent action and indicates how many good ideas the manga artists in the 90s had, but sadly a show like this will never get it's reward and will stay a bargain bin anime.
Final Verdict: Watch to give yourself some ideas on character designs to help launch your own series or if you want to see something with cheesy dialogue.
To start off on the retro review trail, I begin with an OVA from 1996 called Debutante Detective Corps; it's a very early ADVFilms title that by now is probably on a shelf somewhere in the States selling for peanuts.
Now as you can tell from the image it has 90s anime written all over it; rich vibrant colors, sharp animation and generally a bigger budget than most tv anime of the same era.
We start this short story with a normal school induction day, everything is normal until a motorcycle blasts through the stain glass window revealing our first rich girl Miyuki Ayanokouji as kindly described by the Engrish profile.
Next up riding a bicycle that can outrun a Porsche 911, Reika Shuu who according to what I can make out of the translation is a Chinese Mafia boss' daughter. In close proximity we are then joined by Youko Ryuuzaki using the most dignified of high class travel, a limousine. Apparently this girl is Hitler's granddaughter. Following on from Youko we get Nina Kirov descending from her own attack helicopter which she blows up (What a waste). Nina is listed as being the granddaughter of a surviving Romanov. To finish off the flashy opening scene we get Miyuki's sister Kimiko turn up with a police escort. Based on that sequence we're probably going to hate the main character, a core part of 90s anime.
The police have turned up because someone wants to kill the girls, for what reason is usually obvious but apparently the killers actually want to rid the world of these girls for representing everything bad about the world. So for a change it's not money.
Afterwards we get a showcase of the girls talents for the rest of the episode so try to keep track if you can.
Miyuki hacks into the frequency of the police phone so that Youko can memorize the voice of the police chief so they can clear them away, Youko then uses disguise power that makes Sailor Moon's version look like a cheap magic trick to imitate the officer to clear the area of police. Sadly doing so gets them caught in Sniper fire which chases the girls to a room with a bomb in. (Continuity Error: Youko's disguise has magically disappeared)
Nina then builds a huge sniper rifle which she somehow hid in her lingerie and takes out the sniper with a bubblegum bullet (She also uses it for boy hunting). Now it's Reika's turn to fight as she takes on the muscle man who for some reason grows to the same size as the building, Reika doesn't do well at first but once she unleashes her "Maidenly Wrath", (Real Dub line) she defeats the muscle man; meanwhile Miyuki fails miserably to defuse the bomb and are now faced with a fighter jet. Kimiko then unleashes her Hadouken only to miss, but then she uses some kind of psychic link to take control of the jet and crash it into the school causing the bomb to explode. Once the terrorists are caught, Kimiko announces the formation of the Debutante Detective Corps only to be met with an angry response from her friends as they figure out that she set up the whole terrorist attack to begin with and so ends the episode with a catchy 90s theme.
This show plays with some interesting ideas seeing as French animation "Totally Spies" is arguably the same concept of super rich teenagers as spies; but sadly the execution was way off, it's just too cheesy; the characters save it from total failure and far worst series have gotten more episodes than this, but if you spend five minutes more with a character who openly says that she loves herself then your gonna have to turn off.
Dubbing quality isn't much better, if you recognize anyone then it's probably Larissa Walcott playing Reika Shuu, while everyone else did small roles for other series or in the case of two actresses, this is their only role; pity as Shana McClendon did a good job as Miyuki.
Overall this series never made an impact on the anime world and only existed to try and create a little diversity among the heavy weights at the time.
Final Verdict: Watch it as a build up to a better anime much like the cartoons you get before films start.
