Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.
Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.
I like easy reviews at times.
The cafe Cat's Eye is run by the Kisugi sisters who have double lives as a group of notorious art thieves hoping to steal back art work once belonging to their father who was a wartime art dealer which they hope would one day find him. Each steal more elaborate than the other helped by the fact that Hitomi is dating the detective in charge of catching them, they pull off each heist in their trademark cat suits.
As far as groundbreaking, this is likely the first largely dominant female cast in anime not under the magical girl or young girl genre, it's aesthetics were ground breaking for it's time as there really wasn't much sex appeal outside of Fujiko Mine and maybe one or two Go Nagai titles. What sells it higher is that all three women are very capable and it's a blast seeing them pull off each heist, sadly it's formula also means that if you've seen one episode there isn't really going to be many more that are different but I say it holds up better than most, just a pity Toshio is a complete dumb ass for not putting two and two together and not realizing the cafe and the thieves having the same name as well as both having three women are one in the same.
The original was never dubbed but the women all exist within the City Hunter universe and have made appearances in a dubbed OVA of City Hunter which I've not seen but I do recognise some of the cast so I'm not hopeful.
Final Verdict: Fomulaic but a fun trip through one of the stronger 80s animes of the time that really deserves more attention.
Now for another OVA but this time not a bad one.
Dr Mud has captured monster hunter Makenka and makes him a cyborg but fails to brainwash him enough to keep him in check leaving Makenka to go off on his own trying to figure out how to return to his regular body.
Meanwhile yokai police officer Dolo is trying to persuade Mai to continue her Monster Hunter job but Mai doesn't want to but a chance encounter with her sister Hikari makes Dolo think he can recruit her instead. Later henchman of Dr Mud appear before Mai and Hikari but a misunderstanding leads to a big fight at the end which drags in Makenka.
This is really what an OVA should be doing, there's already a setting that requires very little exposition, there's enough there to want more with it's rich somewhat dated animation and it's actually funny. This anime was based off a video game localised as Kendo Rage in the west rather poorly marketed I might add so it never really grabbed anymore attention but it's OVA was a better attempt at marketing a game than Psychic Force, heck even superior games like Tekken and Street Fighter have had worst attempts at this. Makeruna Makendo is a neatly wrapped up package with it's most disappointing aspect being no more episodes. Dub is non existent but the Japanese dub has some surprisingly heavy hitters of the period.
Final Verdict: This is the first OVA since Cleopatra DC I've actually enjoyed. It's still very 90s but it works for it's time period very well.
I'm pleased I get to review this one.
Kenichi is a frequent victim of bullying until he meets Miu, Miu being the granddaughter of a martial arts master introduces Kenichi to the martial arts dojo Ryozanpaku in which he is trained brutally by the dojos eccentric masters. After defeating his bullies he is then targeted by Ragnarok, a group of tough fighters who keep order and target anyone that breaks it.
This feels more grounded than most shonen which I welcome because after a while, super human exploits can wear thin, especially if it boils down to repetitive fights with the same few actions, Kenichi avoids this by mixing up his martial arts styles and the fact that it's not always him doing the fighting, the variety feeling much closer to fighting games than fighting game anime itself.
While the story is basically a bounty list of people to fight, there is an endearing quality to what goes on especially with the masters who teach some very useful techniques.
Dub is really good with many standout performances.
Final Verdict: This is what I expect from a good fighting game anime even though it isn't one, a well rounded Shonen series with a great balance of action, characters and solid martial arts.
Now here's a title that could use the love.
Yusuke is just your typical delinquent until a heroic act saving a child ends in his death; Koenma shocked by Yusuke's act means that neither Heaven or Hell can accept him so he gives Yusuke another chance of life by making him a Spirit Detective to catch rogue demons leading him to meet future allies Kurama and Hiei. Yusuke's notoriety leads him to the Dark Tournament where he must fight the strongest demons. With training from Genkai along with Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei, Yusuke must win the tournament but the more he discovers the demon world, the more demon he becomes.
I'm in two minds about this, I always found this anime started slow and the plot was meh but then the Dark Tournament gave us some really great action, it's a frustrating mix that extends to Hunter X Hunter. Yu Yu Hakusho fairs way better and easily compares well with other Shonen Jump titles but it's story really didn't draw me in as much as Naruto, One Piece and at first initially Bleach.
Dub is fair for the time, nothing to write home about.
Final Verdict: I wish I could say more but other than decent fight scenes, there really isn't much to grab hold of in Yu Yu Hakusho. It does it's job fine but I find that the story is so lacking that it can't keep my interest.
Now for a trip to the 80s.
2032 Tokyo, the city having recovered from an Earthquake has given rise to a growing gap in rich and poor allowing megacorp Genom to do as they please including it's development of Boomers, cyborgs built for jobs and war but these cyborgs have a nasty habit of going rogue. The AD Police assigned to tackle this are under funded, under equipped and likely held back because of political meddling. Enter Sylia Stingray who forms a team of vigilante women in power suits called the Knight Sabers, made up of AD Police Hacker Nene, Night Club Singer Priss and Aerobics Instructor Linna. Even if the boomers are being stopped, the conspiracies behind their creation deepens as to why they came to become rogue.
If there's any show which encapsulates 80s then it's this one, the creators took plenty of inspiration from Japan's new fondness of American film back in the mid 80s including most notably Blade Runner and Streets of Fire. Being an 80s child myself, I can appreciate the references on display.
The anime itself works well in it's setting and can pull off some decent action but the story is somewhat moot as disputes between it's owners caused the series to end unexpectedly with sequel Bubblegum Crash only barely scrapping an ending. It wouldn't be the only issue plaguing the story. The villains are written in a way that never sees them punished for their actions and even when one of their own turns against them they don't seem to do much about it. The Knight Sabers themselves are a mixed bag with Nene being a genki airhead, Priss starting bad ass then becoming one note by Bubblegum Crash, Linna who I always feel was never really suited for this and Sylia lacking an edge to her character. It's frustrating to see especially when the actresses added more drama behind the scenes with contract disputes affecting the episodes at the time.
The dub was remarkably good for it's time even going as far as to translate all the music which is a mixed bag at best in English but in it's original Japanese it's argubly one of Anime's best soundtracks.
Final Verdict: A fun cyberpunk series heavily flawed by it's troubled production history. The plot struggles to stay grounded but I find it admirable that they still pulled off a good series in spite of the story.