Now let's look at an Anime based on a Sega Master System game.
The planet Maris is under attack from a malevolent race known as the Nohzas. The humans are granted access to three guns containing a powerful energy known as Zillion which can one shot kill most beings. Using these guns are an elite team of teens called the White Nuts, no that's not a typo, that's what they're called but at least the translators were more kind to give them the name White Knights.
Our team consists of idiot hero JJ, who now I think of it looks suspiciously like Yuri on Ice's JJ.
Champ who acts as the leader.
Apple who keeps them in check.
Dave who is support and carrier pilot.
Amy and Mr Gord who give orders.
And to tie it to Sega, Opa Opa is here.
I want to like this, I really do, but it's very formulaic; the Nohzas attack a major target, White Nuts are deployed looking like a laser tag team, JJ does something stupid, at least three times an episode and they somehow make it out having foiled the Nohzas attack.
It doesn't help that the guns are stupidly over powered and only fail on command for plot devices, not made any easier by the lack of character development with the exception of Apple who still makes the anime watchable.
The soundtrack is brilliant though, I'd be happy just getting the CD Soundtrack.
Dub is not that bad but stupidly rare as they only dubbed five episodes and the OVA.
Zillion seems to have some unique factoids.
1. The anime featured in music video Scream by Michael and Janet Jackson.
2. Opa Opa is likely the first Sega character to appear in an anime and one of the earliest examples of a guest character.
3. Zillion the game was so popular in Brazil that it prolonged the life of the Master System long after it was defunct and Japan even had to make merchandise exclusive to the region.
4. It's also Production I.G's first ever anime.
5. The dub was also sampled on the single Cyberpunks by Del the Funky Homosapien (the rapping ape that once sang with the Gorillaz)
6. The guns were modelled on Sega's Light Phaser Gun for the Master System.
Pretty unique title.
Final Verdict: It's formulaic but an okay watch, it's place in anime and gaming history is a lot more interesting as well as the soundtrack.
Okay I'm finished with yesterdays rant so lets review something nice and fluffy as we dive into one of Sega's lesser known franchises Lil Pri.
The world of Fairyland is in trouble as all the happiness is being drained from it's lands so the Queen sends three magical pets to awaken the three legendary idols based on popular fairy tale princesses in order to restore happiness into the world. To do this, three young girls, Ringo, Leila and Natsuki are transformed into the teenage idols of Snow White, Cinderella and Kaguya respectively who sing their pop songs and restore happiness to both Fairyland and Earth.
This sounds like one of those shows for girls that you'd easily get annoyed about but it's actually surprisingly good, mainly because it pays homage to the 80s Magical Idol shows but also starts a trend of extreme color palettes and impossible idol dresses that are now common place in today's shojo line up with the likes of PriPara, Pretty Cure and Aikatsu, and it's biggest selling point, the songs are surprisingly catchy, the comedy is quite amusing, the characters are likeable apart from Vivi the Cat whose appearance felt forced, and while it remains basic in it's plot and somewhat predictable, it's touching moments can make even the hardest anime fan cry.
It's definitely not to everyone's tastes, Japan's take on Anime for young girls is somewhere in the region of Hatsune Miku meets Disney Princess which definitely sounds like the worst combination in the world but in reality it really isn't as bad as the pretty sparkles make out.
No English dub but I did hear a Korean dub which is surprisingly good, research for you, you never know what your going to get.
Final Verdict: Definitely not to the average anime fan's tastes but if you do manage to look past the sparkles you do get to watch a good anime.
Welcome to the A-Z Review season; we first start off with the no comment vote winner, Aoi Sekai no Chuushin De, translated in English as World War Blue. Okay you might think this is an obscure anime title but in reality it contains a lot of well known video game characters in humanoid form. So from the picture below lets introduce you to some of the cast.
So from left to right we have...
Tejirov: Blonde guy with the rod, likes to solve all his problems by filling the gaps with his long rod, he's also a colossal pervert as well as being a genius tactician, he represents Tetris.
Opal: Archery girl, makes bad puns, is an expert archer but later becomes good at shooting energy blasts, she represents Fantasy Zone Opa Opa.
Nel: Young girl with the claw, good at sensing her surroundings and reacting quickly to avoid attacks, based on the same Nel from Phantasy Star II.
Gear: Blue haired shirtless guy, has super speed and is a little angsty, represents Sonic the Hedgehog.
Myomut: Guy with the closed eyes and sweet sword, is a great hero but only says yes and no most of the time, represents Shigeru Miyamoto with the designs of Dragon Quest.
Crystal: Girl behind Myomut, represents Final Fantasy series.
Karvai: Pink haired girl with hammer, very happy girl, represents Kirby.
Zelig: Guy holding the mask and dressed like a samurai, bit of a dick, great at gambling, represents Link from Legend of Zelda.
Marcus: Big guy on the end with the mustache, is actually the villain of this series, represents Mario.
Okay to put the story into summary, this is about the Console Wars of the early 90s told as if it were an actual war and every character is fighting for each company they represent with name changes to protect the properties each character comes from, although for the sake of keeping things simple I will use the names of the characters the cast are based on to describe the plot.
Right at the beginning Sonic's best friend Tails gets killed by soldiers from the Nintendo Empire. Fueled by revenge, Sonic joins the Sega Army and quickly gets placed in a team with other friend Nel and reluctant archer Opa Opa, led by traveling mercenary Tetris.
Meanwhile the Nintendo Empire are having to fight traitors in their own ranks as Sega's rise to power starts creating chaos among the other nations.
Sonic's first mission leads him to Castle Hope in the Taito Nation where he must save Sega's Lead General Alex Kidd, who is later revealed to be Sonic's father; with no chance of saving Alex Kidd, Sonic absorbs his power and proceeds to wipe out the Castle, from there we begin the war in full.
Basically that's the opening from the first two and a half volumes of the manga as well as the short OVA.
So yeah this review is a work in progress and may change at a later date when I eventually finish the series, for now I can honestly say, I want to see where this goes. I especially like the designs chosen for the characters, especially Kirby's character being female, not the only Gender reverse character, Street Fighter's, Fire Emblem's & Pikachu's characters are also female. But overall I like how different they portrayed Sonic, he actually looks like a respectable hero with no arrogance to speak of and that's quite a positive image for a character that badly needs a reboot.
Final Verdict: I really want to see where this series goes, I'm hoping it lives up to my expectations, I wish it were more popular because it's doing a lot of good for these characters.
