Plus What?

More anime, more anime!  My god, I went more than a month without reviewing something Japanese and animated… I started getting the shakes.  Even watching Memories didn’t slake my thirst, I need more!  And not just any anime but something with !GIANT ROBOTS!  Today I review an anime OVA with !GIANT ROBOTS! that the fandom considers one of the best of all time.  I found it to be… only slightly overrated.  Today I review

OVA, 1994

Director: Shōji Kawamori

The Story

It is 30 years after the conclusion of the first Space War between the Humans and Zentradi.  On the colony world of Eden, two variable fighters (jetfighters that can turn into !GIANT ROBOTS!) are being tested against each other to see which one will be selected by the UN Space Navy for service.  Unfortunately the two opposing test pilots – the reckless Isamu Dyson and the taciturn Guld Bowman – hate each other with a passion, having ended their friendship years ago over the love of a mutual friend.  Also unfortunately, this very person, Myung Fang Lone, has come to Eden to test the new AI “Sharon Apple” – a virtual pop idol singer that she is the “producer” for.  This only serves to intensify the rivalry between the two men, leading to dangerous and even deadly consequences.  Meanwhile, all may not be as it seems with the artificial being Sharon, who has the power to entrance whole audiences with her songs….

Review

Macross Plus has been called “The Top Gun of Anime.”  Personally I couldn’t say.  I have never been able to sit through Top Gun all the way through – in fact I have never been able to take more than 10 minutes of that film at a time considering I can’t stand Tom Cruise (The only movie I have been able to watch that has him in it all the way through is Legend, which was directed by Ridley Scott who coincidentally is the brother of Tony Scott who directed Top Gun.   So there’s your Useless Bit Of Trivia Of The Day).  But I can see where people get that.  The protagonist of Macross Plus is a lot like Cruise’s character of Maverick from that film and the antagonist looks a bit like Val Kilmer’s Iceman.  So I guess you can call it that, if you also threw in 2001: A Space Odyssey and, of course, the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross.
Anyway, Macross Plus has also been called the greatest Macross series ever, and even the pinnacle of the franchise.  I wouldn’t go that far.  Personally, I enjoy the original Macross more – which you don't have to see to enjoy this, by the way, even though you should – even if it is rough (*ahem* very rough) in a few spots.  Nevertheless, Macross Plus is an excellent piece of entertainment, even if is predictable and reuses the same tropes from the original show.

Yes, this anime is pretty predictable.  The characters act pretty much as you expect them to, and the situations develop likewise.  This being a Macross show, you’re also going to get lots of singing, a love triangle and missiles out the wazoo.  The show basically has two plots, and in both it’s pretty easy to figure out what’s going to happen.  I knew that Sharon Apple was going to go berserk and – what?!  Don’t look at me like that!  You know it’s going to happen the moment you see the computer!  Come on, it looks like THIS–

“What are you doing, Dave?”

 – what the Hell did you THINK was going to happen?  Anyways, the main love triangle was easy to figure out too.  What, you mean the reckless but lovable (?) hero will get the girl instead of the barely-repressed rage filled, stony-faced rival?  But that never happens!  Okay, sarcasm aside, I will say that I did like the fact that Kawamori switched the genders for the love triangle in this show but I found the one for the original Macross better as it was better done and not as predictable.

I know that my review so far makes it sound like I don’t like this OVA, and I have slapped it with some major criticisms.  But I really do like it – it has some great action, *awesome* animation (especially the opening fight scene.  WOW!), great music by Yoko Kanno and a complex relationship between three characters that resolves itself beautifully if (again) a little predictably.  I also like that fact that Kawamori, while reusing some of the tropes from the original Macross managed to twist them and make them interesting to watch again (and I have always liked the Macross Missile Swarms so I didn’t mind seeing them again here, in fact I relished it).  Sharon Apple is interesting as she is a pop idol that is completely artificial in nature (something that Japanese pop producers have to salivate over.  I mean, they’ve been striving towards this for years – a pop idol that is completely controllable – no drug scandals or the idol getting a *gasp* boyfriend or anything!).  She also ultimately becomes a negative force through her music unlike Minmei from the original show.  Speaking of Sharon, Kawamori takes time to discuss the nature of sentience and the dangers of giving computers emotions – emotions not their own but the emotions of others, others with serious mental issues they need to work out – which has been done before but was well done here so I can’t complain.  Where else can you comment on both emerging sentient artificial intelligence and make digs at the highly artificial pop music industry at the same time?  Brilliant!

Overall this is a very good OVA, and I recommend it highly.  I would in fact put it near the top tier of animated science fiction.  I don’t think however that it is the nigh-religious experience that others think it is – I think it's a little too flawed for that – and I don’t even think it’s the best Macross anime out there (which to me just might be the movie Do You Remember Love – which won't ever be released outside of Japan because of all the legal bullshit, ARGH) even though it might be the most mature.   Now all I have to do is check out the Movie Edition….

Screenshots

The most obvious way to begin an action-filled anime full of !GIANT ROBOTS!... Windmills!

It wouldn't be a Macross show without buttloads of missiles.

....Or the Macross itself.

Okay, what is it with the Japanese fetish for giant chickens?

Speaking of fetishes, for those of you with one for Japanese rope bondage, Macross Plus DELIVERS!

Quick note on the DVD:  Beware!  Some of the discs of Volume 1 of this OVA have “Movie Edition” printed on the disc, when it in fact has the first two episodes of the OVA (as it should be).  Manga Video strikes again!  So if you pick this up and see "Movie Edition" printed on one of your discs don't take it back for a refund right away (unless you really can't stand having a misprint).  Put it in your player and test it first.


Before I end this post, here's... another (gratuitous) shot of an ass-swarm of missiles!

Why?  Because I can!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Brain Powered = Brain Dead

Okay, now I can do "Brain Powered."

It's very difficult for me to write this, because I'm still angry about this show three days after finishing it.  I still don't really have my thoughts together on this... but I'll try anyway.



Brain Powered 

TV Series, 1998
Director: Yoshiyuki Tomino
26 Episodes (approx. 25 minutes each)


The Story:

Orphan is a giant alien spaceship resting at the bottom of the ocean.  Most of Earth's scientists have determined that it subsists on "organic" energy, i.e. the life force of the living things on this planet.  When Orphan rises from the ocean to return to the stars, it will supposedly kill all life on the planet as it sucks all of the energy out of the planet. The Reclaimers are a group of people who believe in reviving Orphan and sending it into space, thus causing the Apocalypse.  When this happens, a select few of humanity (guess who) along with other biological specimens will go along with Orphan in it's galactic odyssey.  Still with me?  Good.  Meanwhile mysterious "plates" (thin metallic saucers) have been appearing all over the world and have been giving birth to bio-mechanical humanoid giant robots called Antibodies.  Apparently whoever finds a plate first influences what kind of Antibody will be born in this "revival."  The Reclaimers' antibody of choice is the Grand Cher.  The type used by the UN, which actively opposes the Reclaimers and their agenda of universal genocide, is apparently the Brain Powered.  Got all that?  Yuu is a young Grand Cher pilot who happens to be the son of the scientists in charge of running the Reclaimers.  One night while out plate huntin' he runs across a plate reviving in front of a young orphan girl named Hime.  Hime takes to the newly-born Brain Powered like a fish to water and becomes its pilot.  A year later, Yuu decides that worldwide eugenics is a bad thing and decides to leave Orphan.  He steals a Brain Powered and makes it to the Novis Noah, a UN warship dedicated to stopping the threat of the Reclaimers.  And five minutes after meeting Hime again kisses her.

Whew.


The Review For Those Who Haven't Seen It (Count Yourself Lucky):

This show sucks.  The plot synopsis I just gave covers the FIRST TWO EPISODES.  And all of the explanations that I gave regarding the basic setup and terminology are not all given in these two episodes - in fact some aren't really given at all.  Which doesn't bug me that much really because I don't need everything laid out on a plate for me as I do actually have a small modicum of intelligence.  It's just that this show is so clunky and horrible in how it goes about telling it's story that I could scream.  It's all so half-baked.  New terms and concepts are introduced without any explanation or even clues as to what they are.  For example, about halfway into the show a character in their giant robot is caught in the "World Vital Net" and blown to Siberia.  What is the "World Vital Net?"  It's never explained.  I deduced while watching that it is some form of transportation grid covering the world, but exactly what it was was beyond me.  Was is made by Orphan?  Was it man-made (this does take place in the future after all)?  Does it teleport people or just blow them somewhere with a wind current?  GIVE ME SOME IDEA, SHOW!

The art and animation for this show are substandard and ten years out of date.  Looking at this you wouldn't believe that it was made in 1998 - compare this with Cowboy Bebop which came out the same year.  What's worse is that the outdated cel animation is mixed with primitive computer graphics.  The character designs are pretty good, but the mecha designs are pretty bad.  The giant robots of the protagonists and antagonists are so similar to each other that it took some time for me to tell them apart.  This made things confusing, and this is bad - in a giant robot show you should be able to distinguish one type of mecha from another.  A Gundam, for example, and a Zaku look nothing alike.

What's even worse is that this show has hideous dialogue.  I have known for a while that dialogue was never a strong point in a Yoshiyuki Tomino show.  There's usually too much exposition and characters sometimes do not talk the way that real people do, in addition to the occasional moments that I call Tomino What Moments - where a character will say a line of dialogue that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and makes me go, "what?"  And this is in shows where there are actually people other than the director writing.  For Brain Powered Tomino both directed AND wrote the script, and this is a perfect illustration of what happens when he is allowed free reign on the dialogue in one of his shows.  Luckily he backed off on the writing duties for his next two shows.  Overman King Gainer is actually a watchable show (I don't know about Ɐ Gundam yet, but it's just been licenced for a US release.  I can't wait!).

All of this really, truly sucks because Brain Powered had great potential.  It has some good themes buried underneath all the garbage - like the theme of parents opposing their offspring and the concept of the male vs the female.  It has good character designs, great music (more on that later) and a good idea behind it all.  Tomino has always had great ideas in all of his shows as well as great settings - the man is truly a world-builder.  From the Earth Sphere of the Universal Century to the fantasy realm of Byston Well, Tomino has made different places and times that you can truly wrap yourself up in.  And the same could have been true for Brain Powered.  Which makes watching this shit even more painful.  I mean, Garzey's Wing was bad, but it was so bad that it was fun to watch in an MST3K kind of way - especially if you were watching the English dub, which is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.  Brain Powered is just bad.  Personally, I hope that I never have to sit through it again for the rest of my life.

So is there even one glimmer of hope, one salvageable jewel amongst the sewage that is Brain Powered?  Yes, and it is the music.  Never have I seen a show that is so unworthy of its score.  Yoko Kanno's music is truly wonderful (as many people will tell you).  The opening and ending songs are very good (and the opening infamously features the entire female cast nude).  My advice is to buy the soundtrack. Do not watch the show.


Analysis For Those Who Have (And You Share My Pity):

Something Yoshiyuki Tomino usually excels at is great characters: likable but flawed people who the audience can identify with and root for.  The problem in this show is (once again) that Tomino takes potential and chucks it down the toilet.  Take Yuu.  He's nominally the main character.  I say nominally because I don't think the director could quite figure out who he wanted his main character to be - Yuu or Hime.  I guess for the purpose of this review we can consider them both the main characters - they main couple if you will.  Anyway, Yuu is a really whiny, angsty teenager.  I know, shock upon shock.  A Tomino show with a hormonal emo-fest teen as a protagonist, it can't be!  But the director really tops himself this time.  Remember Camille Bidan from Zeta Gundam?  He's been the epittome of the whiny, angsty teen hero in Tomino's shows for years.  Well, he's now dethroned.  Because at least his whining was somewhat justified - both of his parents are killed and he's sucked into a war against a brutal totalitarian organization (if I just spoiled Zeta Gundam for you than I am truly sorry, but don't worry, all that I just described occurs within the first five episodes so I haven't spoiled too much).  Yuu does admittedly have problems - his parents used him as a guinea pig in their experiments and his sister is a total psycho bitch - but his whining I think is disproportionate to the amount of suffering he's endured.

On a more amusing note I noticed that Yuu's main rival Jonathan was basically a nastier version of Todd from Aura Battler Dunbine, right down to the same hair/eye color.  Because when you need an Evil American only a blue-eyed blond will do.  Speaking of evil Americans, the way the United States is portrayed in this show pissed me off.  Not because they side with the bad guys - I'm not that patriotastic - but because they do it in an illogical way and with no real explanation whatsoever (there's a shock).  As I was watching the first part of this show I wondered "If Orphan is such a supposed threat to the world, why doesn't the US just nuke it when it surfaces?"  Jonathan even brings this up at one point, and I felt happy that maybe some common sense had come to the show.  That feeling was dashed though when America decides to annex Orphan as the 53rd state and take the side of the Reclaimers.  No, I think we would just nuke it.  Oh, and the US Navy is willing to nuke a shipload of refugee children and make war on the United Nations.  How does the United States in this time work, anyway?  Geybridge is able to basically get the USA to do whatever he wants.  Wouldn't annexing an alien spaceship require an Act of Congress?  Does the President rule everything?  Is America a dictatorship?  A theocracy?  You have to tell us these things, Tomino!  Ow.  My head hurts.

Another thing about this show is that it is predictable.  When Baron Maximilian appeared in the latter half of the show it only took about two episodes for me to figure out who it was.  Who could this mysterious masked figure mysteriously helping Jonathan be?  Hmm, let's see, Captain Anoah went crazy and disapearred while chasing a plate earlier in the show.  Hmm... Baron Maximilian shows up after this happens... let's see... Captain Anoah is Jonathan's mother and has a guilt complex about her son joining the enemy, Baron Maximilian seems to be fixated on helping Jonathan... hmm....  I also wasn't surprised when I found out who the Governor of Orphan was.

One last thing that pissed me off about this show, then I'm done: the ending made no sense.  Look, I've seen The Prisoner.  That show had an ending that made no sense (literally, anyway) but it was a brilliant show and the end worked as a metaphor for personal freedom and whatnought.  I've seen Neon Genesis Evangelion and that show had a whacked-out ending (which again makes sense only as a metaphor considering that Eva was basically Hideaki Anno's self-therapy session).  Brain Powered  just has a sloppy ending, an ending that makes you yell, "what the hell just happened?!" and not in a good way.  It just ends.  Nothing is explained.  Did Orphan take organic energy or nourish it, i.e. the plants?  It didn't kill everything on the planet when it went into space, did it do that on purpose because Hime talked to it or was it not going to do that in the first place?  Everyone on Orphan is sent back down to Earth and the spaceship just flies away.  What triggered this?  Was is Yuu and Hime?  Was it Jonathan finally (maybe) returning his mother's love?  Hime said that what Orphan wanted was to not be alone, so why send everyone back to Earth?  Why not keep a few people on board to keep it company?  So, what?  Orphan didn't really need long-term companionship, it just wanted a one-night stand with Earth?  Argh!

The DVD:

Since I don't recommend watching Brain Powered at all, I'm not going to talk about the DVDs that much.  The show is out-of-print (no big loss) but you can find it for pretty cheap if you really want it, though I can not imagine why.  The Anime Legends complete set compiles the previous volumes into one box.  There are extra features mainly consisting of interviews with Kanno and Tomino (who says that he's pleased with how things turned out - I hope he's lying) and credit-less opening and ending sequences, so you can see the naked chicks in all of their glory.  You know what?  Just go to Youtube so you can see the opening sequence instead if you absolutely need to see the naked chicks.  Do not waste your money on this.



Screenshots:

Because I really don't want to waste valuable image space with pictures from this show I'm only going to show two.

"Behold, His mighty hand!"

But is it more collectible than "Cheeses of the World?"