My Love Affair with Anime (Part 1): The Beginning

My earliest memories of cartoons actually start with an anime: Voltron. At the time I didn't differentiate between "anime" and your everyday cartoon. All I knew was that a buncha cool looking fighters piloted big ol' machine that combined into an even cooler robot.

As time went on, I slowly began to understand the different origins of some of what I saw on television. My parents had always remarked about how cheesy Japanimation was, silly little cartoons that constantly reused the same couple frames of animation, coupled with horribly dubbed audio. Their experience growing up was with Kimba the White Lion and Speed Racer.

I was a little confused, because the bits and pieces of anime I saw were just the opposite. American cartoons featured bland, bright images in an episodic format that neatly wrapped up stories in twenty minutes. Anime tended to sport more elaborate set pieces and arching storylines, often moving into a more serious realm by comparison to it's Saturday-morning brethren.

My brother at the time may have had more of an interest than I did. He taped what he could, usually off late-night TV. I recall him mentioning the Project A-ko films a few times (which later produced the Agent Aika series), and at one point he had recorded something called "Record of Lodoss War" off Sci-Fi. I borrowed it, and was blown away.

The show turned all those fantasy novels I read and role-playing games I played into a moving picture. The visuals, bright and fantastic, the characters, clearly defined and heroic... it was epic, and I wanted more.

It oddly ended on a terrible downturn, with Parn escaping from a burning city while his apparent mentor was killed by the enemy. It was a jarring and sudden conclusion, and it wasn't until years later that I learned that Sci-Fi had packaged the first three episodes of a twelve-part OVA as a stand-alone movie.

But the seeds were sown. Any idealistic notions I had of anime were cemented with Lodoss War.

AIKa Zero

The first episode of the new AIKa series has hit the internet, and while waiting for the DVD release I indulged in a quick little preview. I didn't watch the full episode, to be honest, but it seems like it's a step towards reconciling Virgin Mission and Naked Missions. The characters are older, with Aika looked like a cross between her sixteen and twenty-six year old versions, and the story seems to take itself a little more seriously than R-16.

Oh, and the big battle has Aika taking on the entire cast of Hamlet. Definitely inspired. It's just too bad most of the fighters fall with some awkward martial arts chops, still a far cry from the frantic, over the top battles in the original Aika.

Still, it has potential. I don't know how many episodes the new OVA is aiming for, but I'm hoping it'll be longer than AIKa R-16, and hopefully with battles more reminiscent of AA.

AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission

I've always been a big fan of Agent Aika (and to a lesser extent, Najica), so I was pleased to hear a prequel was in production. Thanks to a buddy's deviantart, I found myself thinking again about the old series, and ordered both the Agent Aika Legends complete series and R-16: Virgin Mission off Amazon. I had seen most of the original Aika before, so the focus here will be on the prequel.

And it's a mixed bag. The OVA strays a bit from it's roots. The premise of an Aika in her mid-teens allows for a sillier production. It's actually a little too risqué for comfort considering the cast's age.

It further veers away by taking itself much more lightly. Part of AA's charm was it's own serious demeanor despite it's obvious ecchi cheesiness. The fact that it took itself seriously made the jokes that much more apparent, and added to the allure of cute girls duking it out.

It's kind of like the difference between a real deal catfight and a couple girls playfully wrestling around in jell-o. The staged quality of the latter gives it all a fake, manufactured feel, and just isn't as interesting or sexy.

Regardless, R-16 does have some pretty cute moments, and Aika herself is probably more likable than the stoic adult Aika from the original. Aika's later sidekick Rion is nowhere to be found, which isn't a huge loss.

The beach fight is probably the defining fight of the series (like the parking lot brawl in Aika or the rooftop maid battle in Najica) and smartly takes place in the middle episode. Aika and it's spiritual successor Najica both started off with their best, which left the rest of the respective series feeling a little empty.

All in all? It's decent. It doesn't always feel like Aika, but it does have it's moments, and it did apparently pave the way for another AIKa, AIKa Zero, which takes place sometime between Virgin Mission and the original. And it's probably a step up from Najica.


As a side note, I finally saw the live-action episode of AIka in it's entirety, and it's pretty awful. It's below B-movie cheesy, in the realm of Kekko Kamen or Ninja Vixens: mildly kinky stuff apparently shot with a camcorder. It's pretty embarrassing.

And a missed opportunity! Instead of martial arts like the show's known for, it's mostly just silly little invisible darts that render the victim unconscious. Sure, all the cute girls fall in scandalous fashion, but it's just not as fun as it could be.