Transistor (Playstation 4: 2014)

This week for a change of pace I take a look at a game I recently got from Playstation Plus, Transistor. Transistor is Sci-Fi based Action RPG from Supergiant Games, a studio created in 2009 who are well known for their work on the similar game, Bastion. Transistor was released in May of 2014 for both Playstation 4 and the PC, it met with pretty favourable reviews online and was even nominated in a few categories at the Game Awards and IGN's best of 2014 awards. At the time of writing this I have just completed the game myself. I truly enjoyed myself with this title and I can see why it was nominated for a number of awards. So let's try and explain exactly what it is I enjoy about this game and why.

It would be best to start with the plot, now I don't really want to spoil the plot for this game but the general outline of it is that you wake up as a woman who goes by the name of Red in a city called Cloudbank, Red was a famous singer within the city who had been a victim of the 'process', a machine like enemy controlled by a group named the Camerata. Red wakes up within the city unable to speak and soon comes into the possession of a giant sword like weapon called a transistor.

The transistor is embedded into the corpse of an unknown man who seems to have been close to Red, as Red begins to use the sword she comes to realise the soul of this man is now a part of the weapon and does the talking for her while the Camerata begin to hunt them down for an unknown purpose. I really enjoyed the setting for this game as it kept with the post 'end of the world' type scenario we've seen in Bastion but updated it to a industrial almost cyberpunk style future, full of sky scrapers and more.

The setting almost feels like a more cyberpunk styled Coruscant from Starwars, but it does not always stick to this theme, there are certain areas within the game that are almost like a mini hub world for the player where you can practice your skills and take part in challenges, this Hub takes the form of a small personal island complete with hammock and beach ball. I think this works really well as it really does juxtapose the tall buildings to a more relaxing area that makes you as the player feel like you can just chill out for a few moments before heading back to the action.

There are only about four or so characters in this game with two of them being the main focus, those are the protagonists Red, who as you may of guessed is the red headed women we play as and her sword the transistor, although we never hear Red speak until the end of the game her characterisation works really well, what I particularly enjoyed was the only way we can actually see what she is thinking is when she comes across a terminal and uses the response feature to type out what she would like to say to the transistor.

The transistor itself is what really steals the show however, just by having an inanimate object be your main point of contact for the entire game worked really well for me as you slowly begin to piece together who he may be in relation to Red and how and why he became stuck within the transistor itself. I feel as though this game used these characters well in the short space of time in which it takes to finish the game.

In terms of gameplay the game actually starts out quite simply and slowly becomes more complex as you begins to unlock new abilities. The main focus of the game is to battle small waves of enemies as you progress. To do this you primarily use your transistor, however the battle system allows for you not only to slow down time which depletes with the more moves you use but also to customise your move set as you begin to level up.

This is done by using functions which come every time you level up, a function can be an ability that will harm the enemy or in rare cases be one that helps the player for example one function allows the player to use a short dash in order to escape combat. The complexity comes when you add a function as an enhancer to another, with one example being the Spark function which is a wide area attack on its own, but if you were to add that to another function it would enhance that functions area of attack without changing how that attack works.

For those who like an added challenge there are also functions known as limiters which unlock in the same way but are optional. These work as a limit on you as the player in a multitude of ways such as your ability to recover you action bar after depleting it, but while doing this is multiplies your experience thus allowing you to level up quicker. What I like about these is they are not necessary if you just want to breeze through the game. I believe this system puts a nice complex spin on the system we're perhaps used to in games like Bastion and really defines the genre.

A quite neat feature I enjoyed on the Playstation 4 version of the game was the use of the controllers light source on the back flashing in unison with the transistor when it spoke to you, although it was not really a necessary edition to the game overall it was quite interesting for me as a player as it was almost like 'yeah the transistor is my tool as is the controller, so they are one in the same'. It may have been more interesting to those viewing the player however as my mum, who hasn't played a video game since Columns on the Sega Megadrive (Genesis) kept commenting on it say how cool it looked to her.

The art style of this game is truly amazing, if you're familiar with Bastion you'll know the style in the Supergiant Games tends to follow a colourful almost painting like ascetic where both the player and the scenery look at though they belong together at all time's much like that of a painting. Transistor continues this aesthetic but rather than the vibrant colours of greens and reds, this game focus' more on lighting with darker shades of yellows, golds and browns to show the lower areas of the city, such as alley ways etc.

The game also makes use of harsh whites and blues in order to present the more open areas that have not had their light sources engulfed by the huge buildings of the city, this is what I mean by the cyberpunk style, in that although it doesn't really focus on too much neon like purples or greens it uses the blue to almost make it seem like a natural light source on things like windows and signs. Whatever it is I think it works really well and kind of gives off this cyberpunk vibe while at the same time by using golds and browns on the lower sections it makes it seem as though the city is a miss mash of a lot of different elements, making it have a quite original feel to it.

The interesting thing about Supergiant Games is that they have a huge focus on voice acting yet at the same time there is only a minuscule amount of characters or entities that do actually talk. In Bastion it was the Narrator who would pretty much describe what the player was doing as they did it as well as give us the plot of the game. In Transistor it works very much in the same way, as Red has lost her voice it is down to the Transistor itself to talk for her.

This works not by describing what she is doing or thinking but just by commenting on the world around you and what the transistor personally thinks, for example if you were to constantly use the same attack to beat an enemy the transistor would comment something akin to 'well... that works'. I feel like this worked really well as it didn't need to give us the story it kind of left us in the dark a little just like how the characters would feel at the time.

The voice actor for the Transistor, Logan Cunningham is fantastic, he has worked with Supergiant Games previously as he actually voiced the narrator of Bastion, yet he brings something new to the table with his often franc and sarcastic character, rather than give an old town prospector sort of vibe that we're used to in Bastion. I believe he was chosen again in this game as his voice talents practically lead the "cast" of Bastion. Again his role in this title is very similar to the former but his ability to lead the game in a different tone is note worthy.

Music is also a huge factor in their games and this title is no different, Darren Korb returns to compose the soundtrack as well as vocalist Ashley Lynn Barrett for a number of songs. Korb described the genre as "Old-world Electronic Post-rock", which really seems to fit the style and setting of the game, I'm not a musician myself but the use of the pianos and electric guitars really seemed to work both when inside and outside of combat. The entire soundtrack was uploaded to Youtube by the developers so if you're interested I would really suggest giving some tracks a listen.

In terms of length this game is not particularly long, it should not take you any longer than around 3 to 4 hours depending on if you're the type to do the challenge missions or not. In that respect it makes for a great game to get in to as you wait for bigger longer titles to come out, it also works out great for someone like me who does not really have the time to sit down and be super invested in a game anymore.

It does have a replayability aspect however in that the original ending is sort of left open and the games trophies entice you to replay with a gold trophy for doing so, I don't believe this adds anything to the game story wise, but it will definitely be something I get around to eventually, if only just to try out a few more of the huge variety of weapon combinations and perhaps eventually platinum the game.

Throughout this review I've mentioned Bastion and the similarities it shares with this game, I really enjoyed both titles and look forward to what Supergiant Games comes up with next, but the question remains which titles do I prefer? This is a pretty tough question as each title has aspects I enjoy more than the other and vice versa. Overall I think I enjoyed Bastion more, because if was the first title I played and had a more interesting story than Transistor did, I felt the use of the narrator telling this story to the player also worked much better than in this title.

However I think in terms of gameplay, replayability and score, this title works much better. The ability to customise your moveset to such a degree keeps what could be classed as repetitive gameplay fresher, it also entices the player to come back for a second playthrough by unlocking new abilities and therefore new customisations. I feel like the music made this title perfectly mixed the feelings of loneliness in a post catastrophe hit world with the sort of cyberpunk theme and felt sombre at times while quickly picking up the pace to make the player ready for a battle.

This is not to say that Bastion should be skipped out by any means, in fact I would suggest playing that title first before moving on to this one as you can really see where gameplay wise they improved a great system.

Overall Transistor is a fantastic short game that really is worth your time, if you have Playstation plus I would seriously suggest downloading this as soon as possible. Even if you're not the type who enjoys replaying titles or even challenges I do not think you will be disappointed with this game, it would be the perfect title to play if even for an hour every other day just while you're between games.

As always thanks for reading this review, let me know what you thought on Twitter @ScatmanBegins

Dragonball: Episode Of Bardock (OVA: 2011)

 
This week I take a look at another obscurity within the Dragonball franchise titled Episode of Bardock which was originally a spin-off Manga published in 2011 issues of V-Jump by Naho Ooishi who was relatively new to the franchise with only being hired in 2009 and having experience from producing the Manga adaptations of Yo! Son Goku and friends return as well as the Dragon Ball Heroes card game. The original reason for this Mangas creation was actually due to DB Heroes which is a card based arcade game in exclusive to Japan which primarily features a lot of 'what-if' scenarios with one of them being Bardock becoming a Super Saiyan. This Manga set out to explain this 'what-if' scenario in more detail, perhaps as a way to have more people be interested in the game.

In 2011 Bandai along with V-Jump decided to create an animated adaptation of this Manga along with the re-release of The plan to eradicate the Super Saiyans as a part of the SSSS Project, which has been described as a way "to take the first step towards new developments and further expansions of Dragonball titles." This was originally released for streaming online and then later in March 2012 on a disc that came with an issue of V-Jump. Finally it was made avalible to fans worldwide with the release of the Dragonball Z game for Kinect on the Xbox 360, which I'm sure nobody picked up because it was terrible.

As Bardock was such a popular character within the franchise thanks to the TV special featuring him the studio decided it was time for this expansion on his character and his story after his 'death' at the hands of Freeza. The general outline of this story is that after being killed during the destruction of Planet Vegeta Bardock wakes up on a mysterious planet that looks similar to that of Planet Vegeta. As he awakens he soon realises he is being nursed back to health by two small aliens named Ipana and Berry with medicine similar to that used by the Saiyans and Planet Trade organisation.

Shortly after two Space Pirates arrive and claim they are to conquer Planet Plant, cementing that this is indeed Planet Vegeta in the past, Bardock makes short work of them and decides to take off alone. In the next scene a Freeza like being named Chilled (HAH) arrives to the planet and pretends to be the Galactic Police in order to get close to the inhabitants of the planet, he soon finds out his underlings were killed by Bardock and decides to seek him out. Berry begins to suspect that something is amiss here and warns Bardock, however Chilled has already begun to start terrorising the planet, which sends Bardock in to a rage as he remembers the death of his comrades.

Bardock then attacks Chilled after mistaking him for Freeza, Chilled overpowers him at this point and begins to gain the upper hand while stating he is the 'strongest in the Universe' much like Freeza was known to do. As Chilled is about to deliver the finishing blow Berry jumps in the way and takes the hit, causing Bardock to remember the destruction of the Saiyans and thus become a Super Saiyan.
Naturally Bardock lays the smack down on Chilled much to the appreciation of the Plant people and does a typical heroic walk off into the sunset.

We then see Chilled just moments away from death on his ship informing his underlings of the transformed warrior he had just faced known as a Super Saiyan, he then informs them to warn his descendants of this warrior, suggesting that this is how Freeza came to fear the Saiyans and also that Bardock may have been the original Super Saiyan of legend.

Like most of the Dragonball OVA's Toriyama did not have much involvement at all especially in terms of the story, which he was totally absent from, it seems he was only really involved with the design for Chilled as around the time of the Mangas release some concept art was shown in V-jump. Although he was not very involved with the project it would be interesting to see what he thinks of the project as he is a known fan of Bardock and did use him again shortly afterwards in the Jaco Manga.

I really liked the design for Chilled and naturally it followed the style of Freezas first form as it was designed by Toriyama himself, but it also put a spin on it having him be much shorter in appearance than Freeza, yet much more menacing looking thanks to the Orange colour scheme and the twisted almost Devil like horns. Chilled seems to be much more demonic and impish looking when putting him next to his descendent, he also reminds me of Freezas son Kurieza from the Neko Majin Z Manga with his short stature.

I thought Chilled was a pretty decent addition to the DB universe as a way to explain how Freeza came to learn of the legend of the Super Saiyans and why he feared them so much, but I feel like it would have been just as good to have the original Super Saiyan take the role of defeating him rather than Bardock, I just feel the entire use of Bardock in this special is kind of silly. This is partly because It's quite ambiguous as to why Bardock has suddenly woken up in the past.

Time travel is not really a new concept to the franchise with the Android saga featuring it prominently and I think it can work well but it is a tricky subject to work around and to just have it thrown out there that Bardock has suddenly gone back in time with no real explanation really did annoy me, not that this is something they studio have come out and said is 'canon' or is part of the time-line but to have a character who is afflicted with the ability to see the future you would think that they could have worked that in to the OVA as something to do with his sudden time travelling.

I feel as though this story could have just been made to introduce an entirely new Saiyan to us who started off the legend itself by defeating Chilled and it would have had the same effect. I understand that Bardock is a popular character and I'd be lying if I said I did not want to see more of him but I feel that having him suddenly become a 'good guy' in saving a bunch of aliens from a Freeza lookalike and doing some heroic walk off into the sunset is just a little strange for his character. We've always seen Bardock act like a typical Saiyan in that he loves to fight, to kill and to win.

We have seen some examples of him caring with his sending Goku to earth and his love for his wife in Jaco, but I just don't feel like he is the type to care enough about third parties in his battles. It is fair to say he was just acting on his hatred for Freeza at that point but still it is a little strange.

I generally feel pretty mixed on this OVA in that I really love that they are doing all these new projects with the franchise but I feel as though they are creeping closer and closer to fan fiction territory in some cases, especially with the DB Heroes game where everyone can suddenly go Super Saiyan 3 or 4, which is fine in the 'what if' scenarios the games follow  but need to stay away unless explained well in the Manga or Anime format. This is where this OVA fails for me more than anything, it doesn't try to explain anything it just seems to be there for the sake of it being there, for the sake of pleasing some fans who just want to see Bardock go Super Saiyan and just to keep the franchise going.

That is not to say I did not find enjoyment in it at all, I generally liked the fight scene between Bardock and Chilled because it gave us an unhinged Super Saiyan using as much anger as possible to throw Chilled around like a rag doll rather than use any martial arts techniques or constantly use beam attacks, It really did show how Bardocks hatred for Freeza had sent him to a boiling point where he would just explode. It does end in your typical beam struggle fashion but I do like that it didn't actually kill Chilled outright, it let him linger on much like the fight between Goku and Freeza.

I felt Chilled really was the strongest part of this OVA, but I think that may be down to the performance of his Voice Actor Ryūsei Nakao who also voiced Freeza and Cooler, I feel he brings such a menacing and evil portrayal to any villain he plays within the franchise and it really works, especially when you consider that without a voice you're just looking at a small goofy looking imp of a character who really does not look as though he could be the most powerful being in the universe with the command of thousands of underlings and more.

I feel like Chilled did come in to his own slightly too rather than being a copy and paste of  Freeza, yes the same characteristics and motives were there but we almost get this look at a character who has not yet reached the infamy of his descendent and has to resort to much more sneaky and shady tactics in order to get what he wants, such as pretending to be Galactic Police officers in order to get information, rather than just killing civilians outright much like Freeza did on Namek. Overall I believe he was a great addition.

I also enjoyed the animation style used within the OVA, it seemed to be slightly better than Plan to eradicate the Super Saiyans as it used a brighter colour palette and did focus much more on details such as battle damage and backgrounds as well as the fight scenes use of decent choreography involving spins, grabs and throws. I'm clearly no expect on animation but I feel that with every piece of animated media from the franchise from Yo! Son Goku onwards has constantly improved and reached the quality we see in Battle of Gods.

Overall I did find some enjoyment in this OVA with it being a nice excuse to see Bardock again and seeing someone else from Freezas race getting the shit beat out of them. I also enjoyed that it kept to a small 20 minute time frame as the Manga was quite short itself and while I am happy that the franchise during this period did decide to branch out and create a few more animated features I feel as though this is the worst of the bunch, not to say that this is a terrible stain on the franchise but I just personally do not enjoy it anywhere near as much as the other features I've reviewed recently.

I see a lot of people online argue about this being 'canon' to the franchise because it got a Manga adaptation but then again so did DB Heroes but I think the beauty with this franchise is is that there are a bunch of things that are perhaps questionable but it's really up to you if you want to take this as what actually happened or not, personally I just like to keep this as a 'what if' story, but I feel like this franchise has such a wealth of those kind of stories that it just works to have one of them animated, I would even be open to more myself, who wouldn't like to see the return of Tiencha from Budokai 2 right?

I'm still on a huge DB hype at the moment and I will not apologise for it, but thanks for checking this review out, let me know what you thought of it on twitter @Scatmanbegins I'm all for constructive criticism or any feedback at all. See ya next week.

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman by Akira Toriyama (Manga, 2013)

This week I take a look at a relatively new 'one shot' Manga series by Dragonball creator Akira Toriyama titled Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, which follows the story of Jaco and Alien who works for the Galactic Patrolmen and his mission to earth to stop a recently launched Saiyan pod from landing and destroying the human race. Along the way Jaco crash lands and befriends the earthlings while he works to fix his damaged ship and ultimately complete his mission.

Yes that's right, Jaco is set in the same universe as Dragonball and briefly has some cameos with characters from that series, however it if very much it's own story. The best way I could describe it is as Prometheus is to the Alien franchise, in that it is set in the same world, may have the same themes at times and call backs to certain characters and such as the original but is very much a smaller story that may or may not lead in to the events of its predecessor.

The very brief outline of the story after Jaco lands is that he befriends a scientist, Omori who he asks to help him repair his ship, as they slowly begin to bond they decide to go to the local city to pick up some supplies, it is here where they find a young girl, Tights in danger after being cornered by some theives and soon rescue her. After returning to Omori's Island the gang begin to find ways in which they can repair the ship. We soon learn that Tights is going to be sent in to space and unfortunately that her rocket malfunctions leaving Jaco to save her. Because of this heroic feat Tights decides to get her family and the Capsule corporation to help Jaco. After the ship is repaired and Jaco considers his mission complete we are shown a brief overview of the next few years and see Bulma visit the gang before she heads off on her very own adventure to find the 7 dragon balls.

This Manga was originally published weekly in 2013 issues of Weekly Shounen Jump and was written and drawn by Toriyama personally, in mid 2014 it was then released as a collected volume in Japan and finally in the US and UK in January 2015. Described as 'a slightly foolish, fun story... of friendship, and poison.' by Toriyama this was originally supposed to be released around the same time as Battle of Gods but as Toriyama is known for his perfectionism he got quite far behind as he was doing 'most of the work' alone.

In a comment on the Manga left by Toriyama he admittedly states 'There aren’t many action-scenes, and no cool characters appear. It won’t make you emotional, there are no thrills or suspense, and of course, it’s not the sort of wholesome work that will remain in your heart.' He seems to have just wanted the freedom to do a small project of his own much like that of Sandland and even took to using only a computer to produce the work as he wanted a 'picture-book' feel to it. He states he feels as though is it cool that it was being released worldwide but did worry that a lot of Dragonball fans would not enjoy it due to its lack of action and Japanese themes.

It is clear that Toriyama was doing something 'different' with this Manga and whether or not that would be received well was still unclear to him at the time, hopefully with this review I will be able to explain what exactly is different with this series and where its strengths and weaknesses are, but first lets look at the main characters.

We'll start with the titular character Jaco, who is a member of the Galactic patrolmen which is a role that he finds great honour in as he is a 'super elite'. Jaco seems to be modelled on your typical Grey alien with hints of Ultraman about him not only in looks but in his roll as a protector. Jaco Is an interesting character in that he fights for the good of the universe and all of justice, but if he's outmatched or he begins to get annoyed at those who he is protecting he wont hesitate to leave or let the planet be doomed, perhaps this is why he took the job to destory Goku as he knows he is only a child and not a fully grown Saiyan.

This character is the funniest of the three main characters in that he gets rather annoyed at the little things like people being unable to draw his likeness correctly, but also because he is alien and therefore does not get earth customs, one particular part where he shows Tights that he pees from his head by urinating on her and thus missing Goku's ship land on Earth meaning his mission was a waste is probably the funniest part to me.

While he has these moments he is also shown to be a good friend overall and always willing to help out if needed, while he is goofy and does tend to get a lot of things wrong his character is quite refreshing to see and really does carry the cast of this Manga overall, it is easy to see why Toriyama described him as one of his favourite characters he's ever come up with.

Next we move on to Omori who to me was just an okay character I did not really have a problem with him but I really felt like Jaco stole the show. Omori is your typical older guy who has become a loner due to certain circumstances and does not want to be bothered by anyone, this is something we see time and again in films,television and comics so I was pretty happy that Toriyama moved away from that almost instantly with only a few calls backs with Omori saying 'I hate humans' every now and then.

I feel like Toriyama originally wanted to portray Omori as a character similar to that of Mr Fredericksen from UP as we're introduced to him as a widower but this time by his own fault due to creating a time machine and the testing going awry. And although he this does explain his overall grumpiness at the start it is quickly forgotten about, but perhaps this is because Toriyama just wanted to focus on the comedy rather than anything depressing, which would make a lot of sense.

Finally we have Tights who if you had not already guessed with a name like that is Bulmas unheard of older sister and a double for a pop idol who is due to fly in to space to sing because the government thinks it would be a great idea.  We soon learn that she wants to be a sci-fi novelist and has a great interest in anything sci-fi related. We can see examples of this when she finds out that Jaco is not just a kid in a mask but a real alien as she soon forces her way in  to both Jaco and Omori's busines. In this respect she is much like her younger sister who we've seen time and again want to be involved with what the 'a-team' are doing such as going to Namek or wanting to see Freeza when he arrives on Earth.

Tights is quite a likeable character in the same way as Bulma is in that she can actually be useful rather than decoration as we see when she begins to search for and eventually produce the material needed to power Jacos ship. I feel as though her use in the story was needed and she became the balance between Omori's seriousness and Jacos child like nature although I can see why many would feel she is shoehorned in as a link to Dragonball, in a way it is quite simular to the use of Tarble in that they've pretty much thought up an existing characters relation to advance a plot.

But as I've mentioned in other reviews this new expansion of that universe does not particularly bother me and I do welcome it, even if it does slightly change some pre-existing characters or introduce entirely new ones.

There was quite a lot I enjoyed about this Manga, and admittedly I have never really read anything
from Toriyama other than Dragonball and one chapter of Dr Slump but I really did find this refreshing to read, It does retain some original DB charm but at the same time moves in to a comedic tone of it's own with the huge focus on Jaco being an exaggerated Ultraman type hero, you could argue that Tight is a recycled Bulma to some degree but I feel like she bounces off the other characters rather well and in general the cast is pretty good in that regard.

I enjoyed this in its 1 volume format and really don't believe it would work as well as an ongoing series, I have recently picked up some other One-shots from Toriyama and hope they also work well in this format but in Jacos case it really works as a small story that never really had a huge effect on much within the universe it is set in yet that does not mean that it is not a great addition to that world.

I quite enjoyed that this did not particularly focus on any real action save for maybe one or two scenes, from a man famous for his over the top hulking super being battles again this was refreshing, even if it was not in the style of DB in that it focused more on hand to hand battles this Manga worked because it moved away from that area.

The illustrations as always were pretty spot on for a perfectionist like Toriyama and the focus on simple character designs really fit with the tone of this Manga. In all you can tell this is a Manga that Toriyama had a lot of fun with.

As this was only a short story there was not too much that I had a dislike for, other than Omori to some degree. I did find that there was not really too much time to focus on other characters like the government agents who felt like they were meant to be more important than they actually were, some expansion on the Galactic Patrolmen may also have been nice.

People may think that Toriyama is tampering with a series too much at this point and mixing up established facts within that series such as Gokus age as seen in the Dragonball Minus chapter when he lands on Earth and Bulmas sister. However as he wrote it it's something they have to consider as the facts, and while some little things like that do make me think if they were necessary, a lot of the fan community does seem to really dislike it, but I think Toriyama knew this when writing it.

Overall this Manga was quite good, it was nothing amazing in terms of story telling but it felt like something Toriyama would write due to it feeling like the original Dr Slump and Dragonball Mangas as there was some action but overall it is a comedy based story. I think it is pretty cool that Toriyama is expanding on his universes like this as he has done in that past with SandLand also being set in the DB universe, in fact I'm pretty sure the majority of his Mangas do share that universe.

This was definitely refreshing to read for myself as I haven't really read a proper physical Manga in at least 5 years and to have one be purely comedic rather than the like of Berserk and other Mangas I usually read was great, I've certainly thought about ordering some other comedic titles because of it and hope to find something with a similar style.

I would recommend this Manga to anyone who is just looking for a short read, primarily a DB fan of course as it does have a lot of references etc, but I think those who have no knowledge of DB could find some enjoyment out of this for sure. It's just great that we actually got this released in the West and for such a cheap price (in the UK at least) I think you'd be missing out if you did not pick this up at some point.

But we're not done... There was a small extra story included with this Manga, one a lot of fans of DB were probably a lot more interested in.

With the official Mangas release came a  very short (around 6 or so pages) bonus chapter titled Dragonball Minus Which is set around the same time as the Father of Goku TV special and just prior to Jaco. It follows the now slightly changed story of when Goku was sent away from planet Vegeta and also introduces his mother Gine, some examples of Saiyans who are not warriors and the Saiyans knowledge of the Super Saiyan God legend.

The story beings with Bardock returning home after a mission  after Freeza demands that all Saiyans return back to planet Vegeta, Bardock believes there to be something more to this especially when he is told that Freeza has been asking about the legend of the Super Saiyan and the Super Saiyan God. Soon after this Freeza decides in a months time he will destroy the planet as he does not want a potential uprising.

We then see Bardock in a way we've not really seen any pure blooded Saiyans act on their own planet and that is as a proper sort of Husband role in that he returns to his 'wife' and child while the narrator explains as a warmongering race it is quite difficult for them to reproduce. Bardock rather suddenly decides he wants his son to be sent off of planet Vegeta immediately for his own safety as he believes Freeza is up to something.

We find out that it was actually Bardock who programmed Gokus pod for Earth and that Gine was the one to inform Raditz of his whereabouts. As Goku leaves we see his parents look up at the sky and warn him of the Galactic Patrolmen and as this is happening we see Jaco take off for Earth to stop Goku.

Overall I did not mind this chapter but I did find it a bit odd that it did not try to work its way in to the popular Bardock TV special as I felt that almost perfectly set up a good run down to the destruction of planet Vegeta. I feel as though Toriyama could have used a little more time on this chapter rather than just showing Bardock suddenly decide to send Goku away in the span of one panel, he could have easily set this during the TV special and had Bardocks visions be the leading factor in to these decisions and that would not have taken away the introduction of Gine or anything else from this chapter.

I think what is most interesting about this chapter is that slightly changes some parts of Gokus origin such as his age actually being around three years old as he has been in incubation, Bardock being the one to personally send him along with Gine and perhaps Gine being a 'good natured Saiyan' which suggests that perhaps Goku actually got the way he acts from his mothers side as it was apparently not as uncommon as we were lead to believe that a Saiyan could be good natured. But of course this does not change that fact that Goku bumped his head as a child.

While you could argue that of course the special was not specifically made by Toriyama and he only did character designs and some pointers on the plot, it is clear by his decision to add a brief cameo of Bardock in the Freeza saga of the Manga that he did the special or at least the story it presented. Of course as he produced this chapter we sort of have to take this as exactly what happened, but I'm such a huge fan of the TV special I just like to think of this as an accomplice to that even if there are certain contrasts.

I believe that because the TV special is so popular amongst fan that it is no surprise a lot of fans had slight issues with this chapter and found it to be Toriyama meddling with things just to better connect them to the new movie or to boost the sales of a new manga, but then again they released a OVA recently where Bardock was somehow sent to the past and went super Saiyan against freezas descendent, thus starting the fear in that family towards them and this was something that was not written by Toriyama, so I believe this is quite tame when put against something like that.

Overall I did not mind this chapter and felt it was a nice little expansion to the franchise and the Jaco storyline, It was nice to get an idea of who Gokus mother actually was and have a slight expansion on the Father of Goku storyline but I think I enjoyed it more because it was a chance for Toriyama to actually have a little go at using a character from a special that he did not really create, he was always been a fan of this character so it was enjoyable to see his spin on events, maybe it did not work out as well as the fans has hoped but it has its charm in its own little way.

Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans (OVA Remake, 2010)

This week because I'm still on a major Dragonball hype we take a look at a bit of an oddity within the Dragonball franchise, an OVA originally titled Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans which was originally released in 1993, re-released in 94 and then totally remade in 2010. Although each version has slight differences in the way the story is presented the general storyline  remains the same and is quite interesting due to its look at the past of the Saiyans and their planet Vegeta.

The plot begins with a brief history of the Saiyans arriving on the then Planet Plant, originally the home of the Tuffle race, we soon see that the Saiyans began to exterminate the Tuffles, steal their technology such as scouters and eventually conquer their planet. We eventually see that there was a survivor of this attack named Dr Raichi who uses his super computer Hatchiyack to contain the hatred from the Tuffle race. Before he can use the machine however he is weakened from the battle and must escape to the edge of the galaxy, vowing revenge upon the Saiyans.

After many years we see Raichi now in a more alien looking form state his machine is finally ready to extract revenge, he soon locates the last remaining Saiyans on Earth and sends some 'Destron Gas Machines' to the planet which will soon kill the entire human race. With these Gas emitters located across the planet the Z fighters soon find out and begin to destroy them, eventually they reach the final emitter only to find four old enemies waiting for them, Freeza, Cooler, Lord Slug and Turles.

After a short battle they see that each of these enemies is made from the Gas and is therefore immortal, interestingly it is Bulma who rescues them when she creates an agent that stops the gas. The gang now know they have to locate the culprit and because this remake is a shorter version we suddenly see them skip to an unknown planet where Raichi is located.

After making quick work of Raichi we see the super computer taken a physical form and begin to get the upper hand on everyone, with Goku even commenting that he may be much stronger than Broly, after a one sided battle Goku learns that Hatchiyack is left completely open to attack after he uses his Revenge Cannon and with a perfectly timed attack from everyone they finally destroy him and the planet he was on, returning home.

As you can see from that short summary this version of the OVA is rather concise and does tend to rush through the original hour long story but it is still very much worth a watch and has an interesting history behind it which we're going to take a brief look at.

Originally this OVA was released in 1993 on two VHS cassettes as a 'visual guide' to the Famicom game of the same name and served as an animated walk-through of the game. This is pretty interesting as to this day I have never heard an example of an animated walk-through other than this, perhaps it was a way in which to make sure guides would be sold for this game and perhaps many who actually did not own the game still picked up this VHS as it was a fully voice acted and animated feature.

Following this games popularity and the release of Bandai Playdia console the OVA was split in to two separate games, Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Shin Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku -Chikyū-Hen and  Uchū-Hen, meaning the earth chapter and space chapter. This was done as the Playdia console was more a home entertainment system for younger children with the majority of its releases being anime themes quiz's with educational value in which the player would press a button and see a FMV play out.

Now I remember a number of years ago there would always be this 'lost movie' of Dragonball and you'd find a 'fan edit' of sorts made up of parts from the Original VHS' and Playdia consoles release of the OVA. From what I can find as there were many options in the Playdia versions of the game resulting in bad endings some people would release a version comprised of the main story and release it for download on sites like Limewire (remember that one!). Because most Western fans were not aware of any Famicom or Playdia game relating to this they assumed it was just another one of the films released for the series but like myself they just had to have it.

If they were anything like myself they would have found a really low quality and poorly subbed version of the OVA, I can remember thinking it was a really cool piece of the franchise because it was so obscure. It's fair to say there was never any reference to this OVA again outside of it's release in the Japanese dragonbox collection in 2003 and a few foot notes in reference material. As it is so obscure there is not much information on how much involvement, if any Toriyama had in the project, I can imagine it was like most of the films in that he may have given some direction on what to do with the Tuffles as he did in the Z series and perhaps some character designs here and there.

The OVA was not really heard of or expanded upon at all after 2003 until the release of the Xbox 360 and Ps3 game Dragon ball: Raging Blast 2 in 2011, I cannot seem to find a concrete reason as to why they decided to reanimate this but regardless I think it was a great way to show not only Japanese fans but fans around the world something new and something they may never have heard of, I feel like the Dragonball universe really has expanded this way a lot recently with Episode of Bardock being released as a Manga and OVA, the new films and Jaco the galactic Patrolman. I honestly don't want it to end, Id love for them to continue this trend.

Interestingly a similar storyline incorporating the last remaining Tuffle storyline is shown in Dragonball GT, much like this OVA we see that the Tuffles created a Machine/Tuffle Hybrid creature named 'Baby' to extract revenge on the Saiyans. Whether or not this saga was inspired by this OVA or just wanted to use the existing Tuffle and Saiyan history is hard to say but we can see clear correlations between the two. Personally I can find some enjoyment in GT because at the start it has the charm and adventure feel of the original series but I did find the Baby Saga overall to be pretty weak other than a few episodes, so I would much rather have this OVA as a representation of a Tuffle based threat to the protagonists, especially as it does not involve the tired formula of Vegeta being turned evil.

What I did enjoy about this was that you can kind of see why Dr Raichi wants to have revenge, his entire planet was taken from him and every member of his race was killed, it's not like he just wanted to kill, to conquer and enslave like Freeza or even because he wants to be the strongest being in the universe, he generally has a motive and reason to attack the Saiyans. While we can argue that the being we see in the film is not actually him but a Ghost warrior representation by Hatchiyack that's gone a little haywire the motive still stands.

I also enjoyed the use of  movie characters such as Slug and Turles who we have never really seen much outside of their respective films, although they turn out to be ghosts it is still nice to see them return, especially in the case of Freeza and Cooler who we have never seen interact at all, although they have been resurrected in some form as seen in the twelth movie and in Freezas case the soon to be release Revival of F. It is also pretty odd to see Freeza working with a Saiyan who looks like Goku, even if it is not really him.

I do believe that this remake is the better version of the OVA to watch not only for its decent animation and because it is much more easily avalible but because it cuts out a lot of the unimportant factors of the original such as the gang splitting up and fighting random looking monsters defending the numerous machines across the world. However the remade version is only thirty minutes long which some people may prefer but I honestly would have liked it to be a bit longer and maybe have the fights last longer but I still enjoy it for what it is.

I actually really enjoyed the designs of the two new villains with Raichi looking quite similar to Dr Myuu and the machine mutants from GT with a more organic mutated humanoid look, his outfit was a little wacky however, I would have liked to see him do more rather than just use a shield constantly thinking that would be alright.

Hatchiyack was a design I really did enjoy because it was rather simplistic instead of giving him horns, a tail and all sorts of other appendages he was just a big dude with a few gem looking parts around him, although I feel like the older version of the OVA coloured him a lot darker which I did prefer to the more pinkish colour we see in this version, overall I thought he looked pretty good. I am aware that in the older version Hatchiyack does have a 'final form' of sorts where he just looks beefier with protruding shoulders and a lot more gems across his body and i'm glad they left that out of this, I felt it looked a little dumb but perhaps if they did include it it would make for a longer OVA overall.

While there is a lot I did enjoy about this OVA there were some things I believe could have been improved, such as the pacing. When we move from act to act rather than showing the characters locating an enemy or making their journey or even discussing where they need to go we just see a brief fade to black and then the next act for example when they realise they need to locate Raichi the next scene is them suddenly there rather than even having something as simple as Goku locating his Ki and teleporting there with everyone, which we know he can do as he does so in order to return home.

I did feel he fights were a little lacking and the main villain only seemed to have the one attack that he would just continue to use over and over, I can't quite remember if he did use more in the older version of the OVA but for this one they really could have improved on him a little in that respect.

Overall I think this is a great little OVA to watch if you have the time, it's not too long but it's also not super important either, I think it's most interesting because of the History behind it rather than the content itself but it does make for a good inclusion of new characters as we've seen from its inclusion with Raging Blast 2. I think this also stands to show how committed Toei have become to the fans worldwide by releasing this to the rest of the world for the first time, it seems they really understand how important this Anime is across the globe and while they may just be capitalising on that popularity at least it means we as the fans can continue to get new content so many years after the show was over.


Thanks for checking this review out, sorry it was a little later than usual.

Next week: I dont even know yet

Dragon Ball Z: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! (OVA Special 2008)

This week we take a look at a short Dragonball Z OVA produced in 2008 to celebrate 40 years of Weekly Shonen Jump, this OVA takes a more comical approach than what we're used to in terms of Dragonball Z Movie's and Specials and revolves around Goku and his friends. Set two years after the defeat of Kid Buu the Z fighters meet for a party arranged by Mr Satan to celebrate the grand opening of his new hotel, which was gifted to him for taming Buu. During this time of peace we see that Goku and his family have become Radish farmers and Goku has been itching for a fight, which is great because luckily for him two new fighters are on their way.

As the party continues we suddenly see the arrival of a spaceship and meet a new Saiyan who actually turns out to be Vegeta's brother, originally deemed too much of a low class warrior to be royalty and sent away to a planet much like Goku was. Tarble acts much like Goku in that he is kind and gentle, which is not something we've seen from many other Saiyans until the recent release of the Dragonball Minus chapter which shows us Goku's mother and explains that there were such things as gentle Saiyans.

We soon find out that Tarble was seeking Vegeta out to help him defeat a threat in the from of two of Freeza's old henchmen Abo and Kado. These two are a sort of tag team who have now reached a power level closer to Freeza's, who both Vegeta and Goku know they will have no trouble with, so they decide to let Goten and Trunks take them out. After a short battle both teams fuse in order to finsh the battle off however Gotenks loses for reasons unknown to me, meaning it's up to Goku who makes short work of them.

Like the majority of villains within the series, Abo and Cado are then invited to join the party, which is something that also happens with Beerus in Battle Of Gods. This is particularly interesting as the setting is also very similar to the setting of that movie. Perhaps Toriyama, who was not involved with this OVA other than the basic concept, used this setting for inspiration during his work on Battle of gods, it could be argued that he also used the idea of the remnants of Freeza's army still being around as inspiration for the soon to be released movie Revival of F.

I generally enjoyed this OVA as it finally gave us something new for the series after so long outside of the video games, I felt that excitement of coming home from school just to watch a new episode all over again when this was released, it really did give me a huge feeling of nostalgia, so I am perhaps biased in this review in that I cannot really find a fault with it however I can see some aspects which certain fans may have had a problem with.

What I really enjoyed about the short and found interesting was that the Animation style seems to follow the colour palette and style of the original Manga rather than the series itself, this is particularly clear in the way the backgrounds are presented. Perhaps this is because the special is specifically in relation to weekly Shonen Jumps anniversary or perhaps it was just a new take they were trying as there had not been any 'canon' Dragonball related features for a number of years at that point.

Regardless of the reasoning the animation presented throughout the short was a treat to any Dragonball fan at the time, I am generally not a fan of more modern Anime's style in that they all seem rather bland with little to no shading save for a select few such as Jojos bizzarre adventure, but this short really does seem to make use of a new modern style of animating in a great way and from what I've seen of the new movie it really does seem like this is the bridging gap between the series and the style used within Battle of Gods.

It was also great just to see characters like Launch, again if only for a moment as it seemed like Toriyama forgot about her and a lot of the older Z fighters after the Saiyan saga, which is understandable as characters like Yamcha and co could notreally compete with the likes of a Super Saiyan. As I originally watched the show as a child this though never really bothered me as I did not know the history of those characters, but after re-watching the original Dragonball you can see how important these characters used to be.

To have these characters seemingly relegated to a supporting cast was really disheartening to see after the Saiyan saga, I even appreciated filler episodes where they would train with King Kai and fight the Ginyu force. It is a shame that Tien is absent in this short even when appearing on its promotional poster as unfortunately his Japanese voice actor had recently passed away, regardless however it is quite enjoyable just to see that even though a lot of these characters do not have too much relevance to the story, they are not forgotten in this short as well as Battle of Gods

I think what I really enjoyed about this short was that it had this original Dragonball tone to it in that it was a bit of fun and did not take itself  too seriously, with many comedic moments and even fan calls outs like Goku saying in hindsight compared to all they've been through Freeza was not much of an opponent. I know a lot of fans had quite a few problems with the tone taken in this short, especially with elements like Vegeta's as of then unheard of Brother Tarble, who is a weak excuse for a Saiyan of royal blood and was exiled.

I think a lot of fans got in to this series with Z and really found it to be more of a serious show overall, which is fair to say with the constant battles going on within the show and the stronger and stronger enemies, with little bits of comedy interspersed when possible. People tend to forget that if you look back to the original Dragonball the series had huge amounts of comedic elements right from the get go with Pilaf's gang, Oolong and Goku's general Hick attitude, it was much like Toriyama's previous work Dr Slump in that it heavily relied on these values.

I feel the introduction of a character like Tarble really uses those elements in that yeah its really stupid and maybe messes with what you perceive as 'canon', but that's what Dragonball was like, it can introduce characters whenever it feels like, they can be as strong or weak as you like and they can even be entwined in a characters past, but it does not matter, it does not take away what makes the series special in anyway, it just adds to it.

Perhaps I say this because it was my first Anime and I watched it from when I was about 8 year old, it really did shape a lot of stuff for me and I think no matter what they add to the story over the years, I'll continue to eat it up I even like to check back with that Dragonball Heroes arcade game just to see all the crazy what if characters they come up with like adult Gotenks and stuff (which is animated if you want to check it out on youtube). There always seems to be this idea that any change to something you used to watch as a child is 'Ruining your childhood', but I think you've got to keep an open mind in some respects, especially in the case of this series.

I think the use of the original Z Opening song was a great addition, as well as it visually mirroring the original opening but in a more updated fashion with the inclusion of Vegeta, Trunk and co it was really charming to see, not only for myself who has been a Dragon ball fan since it originally aired in the UK, but also for those fans who began watching during its original run in Japan, truly this special had the correct tone in celebrating Weekly Shonen Jumps 40th anniversary by taking one of its most popular series and using that as a way to boost the nostalgia factor of the celebration for many.

Although the Ending uses a new song, 'Orange Hero' by Jealkb it makes use of nostalgic imagery by showing a short montage of Kid Goku, his meeting with Chichi and then the expansion of his family over the course of Z which just brought a smile to my face to see how far Goku had come over the course of the original series as well as Z. The song is also really catchy which always helps, although I don't believe there was ever a full version released.

Overall this short is a nice fun little look at what life has been like for the Z fighters and a great little nostalgia booster if you have notwatched the series in a long time. Id say it's a really great thing to watch before you see Battle Of Gods which Im going to do shortly. It almost makes you want to have a whole new series, but perhaps with the new movies being released this will be the extension we were hoping for, I believe a bunch of movies would probably fair better than an entire new series any way, but who am I kidding if they were to release a new series id watch it all and i'm sure a lot of you would too!.

As always thanks for reading this, sorry it was a little shorter this week, at least it wasnt Gundam related right!?

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War In The Pocket (OVA 1989)

This week I decided to take a look back at an older entry in the Gundam franchise which I have not watched for at least 7 years or so, this series was quite special to me as it was the first one set in the overarching Universal Century time line that I watched and thus introduced me to the conflict we see time and again between the Earth Federation and Zeon, while this series is set towards the end of the Original, it is not required to have watched the original series before this as it is pretty self contained.

War in the Pocket was the first OVA produced in the Gundam franchise made to commemorate the franchises 10 year anniversary (Which has only just recently reached it's 35th) and also the first
Universal Century piece not directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino. With this came a desire to move away from the norms of the franchise which tended to focus on pilots who were classed as 'Newtypes', eg: the believed next step in human evolution who had adapted to the move to space with a heightened mental awareness, which in Mobile suit combat terms made them a much better pilot as we see in the original series with Amuro Ray being a young boy who slowly becomes an Ace pilot thanks to being a Newtype. This move away from the idea of Newtypes was in order to focus on the more civilian and general solider aspects of the war as well as a way to entice new viewers to the franchise.

The story follows the experiences of a young boy, Al set during the One Year War and how the war was brought to his small colony after The Principality of Zeon finds a prototype Gundam is being tested by the Earth Federation in secret at their base. As the story progresses we see that Al is more entwined to the war than he realises, with his friendship with Zeon grunt pilot Bernie being used against him without him realising as he begins to help them spy on the location and manufacturing of the gundam, therefore giving them an edge in combating it. With Al being just a child he soon begins to realise that all he has done to help his friend could end up with Zeon gaining an edge in the war and Bernie being Killed in Action.

The OVA was directed solely by Fumihiko Takayama, who at the time had only worked as a director on a few episodes of a number of Anime such as Macross. Takayama was partnered with character and art designer for the OVA, Haruhiko Mikimoto who is perhaps most famous for his work on Macross  and Gunbuster as he used a distinctive style for his characters perhaps most noticeable in the way he drew their eyes.With these two names linked to the OVA it was set up to be a success, but with it being the first non Tomino work of the franchise it could be a risky move. However this series remains popular with a number of fans as it was a short series that introduced them to a very self contained story within the franchise, this is also true for Western fans as it eventually aired on Toonami after the success of Gundam Wing.

                                                      

The main focus of this OVA is on three characters, Al, Christina and Bernie who represent the civilian side, the Earth Federation and Zeon respectively, while these are our three main characters it is Al who is given the most screen time as he is connected to both of the latter characters in some form and primarily acts as our eyes throughout the entire event. Al is an 11 year old school boy who is interested in the war and mobile suits in general, perhaps this interest stems from the fact that his father is always away from home as he works for the Earth Federation in some form, although we never really get detail on what his job actually is we know it is to do with either the test of mobile suits or then transportation of them.

With this interest in mobile suits, Al eventually witnesses a small battle in his colony and follows a struck down Zeon suit to the forest where he eventually strikes a unlikely friendship with Bernie by threatening to call the police if he doesnt let him see his gun and other items, while this meeting is only short over time these two begin to cross paths again, eventually ending with Al finding their hideout and offering to join them in locating the secret mobile suit being developed on to colony.
While Bernie generally does enjoy Al's company during this time he is aware that his team is only using his innocence against him and this naturally leads to a number of issues over the course of the OVA.

Christina is an Earth Federation test pilot for the Gundam 'Alex' who we are introduced to as an old babysitter and neighbour of Al's, Christina is kind of the innocent, girl next door type until we see what she can really do when she's testing out the Gundam. Chris seems to act as the voice of reason in some instances for Al, such as explaining to him that in war it's not wrong to fight to protect the ones you love even if it means harming another, which ultimately give Al the motivation he needs to find Bernie and make sure his colony remains safe overall.

While Chris a part of the main cast she is only seen a handful of times, but this is not to say she is underused, I believe by having her mostly viewed as a civilian by Al and Bernie it provides that air of mystery about her. While we as the viewer eventually do find out that she is a test pilot for the federation it is still difficult to get past her good natured and caring appearance that we see her in whenever she is with Al, which is not to say her being a MS pilot makes her seem more gritty or tougher but because we rarely see her on screen in this way it is hard to make an overall judgement on her character as a whole.

Lastly we have Bernie who is a character we do not really get to see until the final scene of the first episode as his Zaku crash lands after a battle we hear off screen from the children's perspectives. Bernie is a rookie pilot for the Principality of Zeon who was sent out in his first real MS battle, only to be shot down pretty quickly, while his Zaku is out of commission he meets Al and wants nothing to do with him as he has to get back to his mission, shortly after we see these two cross paths again and see them working together.

Bernie starts out as a character who finds Al nothing more than a hindrance, to himself and to his mission. However his commanding officer finds a use for him and puts Bernie on a babysitting duty, over the time they spend together Bernie slowly comes to see Al as a little brother, who he really does care for. As we reach the end of the OVA we find out that Bernie is the only hope to save the colony from a Nuclear attack, and while he finds this a very questionable act by his own side he knows he must defeat the Gundam in order to save not only Al, but the entire population of the colony.

Interestingly about this character is that it may be one of the earliest attempts within the franchise to show that all members of Zeon are not necessarily evil as they are portrayed to be in a lot of the media surrounding this franchise, Bernie acts as the portrayal of a solider who much like a member of the federation is just fighting for what he believes in, and while he may not be the most experienced pilot he will do what he can to stop the federation from winning, ultimately ending in his unfortunate death.

This OVA is generally well received and has many aspects that work well for it, perhaps the most useful being the length, of course with this being an Original Video Animation it is expected that it will be a tad shorter than the typical 50 episode main series, but with 0080 the director chose to make this a very concise entry in the franchise, with 6 episodes at around 30 minutes each, while in the present this may not seem too odd, with an example like Gundam Unicorn clocking in at 7 episodes more recently, it is generally expected now that an OVA series will have it's episodes clocking in at 45-60 minutes long.

I believe by having this concise frame the story actually works a lot better, not only for being a good entry level show to watch but also for the story itself, there is no need for any filler scenes and the pacing works really well, while you may feel in this case they could rush a lot of aspects and perhaps this may be the opinions of many, but I feel as thought it kept the important battles fresh by not having the characters knowing who each other were and therefore no need for them to have a 5 minute or so chat breaking up the action. This was an event that took place over just a couple of weeks there is absolutely no need for it to be dragged out, especially when there is not much Mecha combat to break it up.

In terms of voice acting and the soundtrack both work really well, I personally watched the English Dub this time around so I will only comment on that, as far as English releases go this worked very well, perhaps because it was only a few characters that we were focusing on, but the main characters were voiced particularly well, with Al being one of those rare examples of childs English dub voice not being annoying.

Wendee Lee who is perhaps most known for voicing Faye Valentine in the fantastic dub of Cowboy Bebop voiced Christina and naturally did an excellent job, of course we know today that Lee has a huge number of VA credits to her name and with earlier examples such as these it is not hard to see why, she perfectly puts across her soft voice in Christina and really puts the image of her across and the kind and caring girl next door.

Lastly we have Bernie who is voiced by David Hayter who most known for voicing Solid and Naked Snake in the Metal Gear Franchise until recently. While we're used to a rough and gravely voice from Hayter when he voices Snake, when he voices Bernie it couldnt be more different, with Bernie we get a voice similar to Hayters normal voice but taken slightly higher, this perfectly puts across that the character is a rookie and not used to the harshness of War, almost as if he is a fresh out of college guy who has just entered the 'real world', Hayter does well to put across the feeling that while Bernie is with the traditionally 'evil' Zeon, he's a pretty nice guy.

In terms of the soundtrack I have no real complaints, both the Opening and Ending themes work really well with the series, being softer songs that give a more sombre tone rather than your typical 80s J-pop. The imagery used within the Ending works particularly well with a number of stils depicting children during the war, from them playing on the wreckage of machinery to a child crying. 

Like most OVA's the Animation is quite good, especially in terms of character designs however  while the animation is great it is not as good as some examples of work by the same art designer in 1984's Macross: Do You Remember Love, which to be fair was a theatre released Movie and not just an OVA so more than likely had a much larger budget.

Much like the 08th MS Team this story does have a focus on a Romeo and Juliet trope, however unlike the former there is no good ending and it is nowhere near as intense in this series. it is portrayed more as a crush between two people and both of them are not aware of the others status of the enemy, although there is this element to the story it is merely touched upon as the two never really seem to be close to one another in the small time frame the OVA is set between, however we do get that hint that they do both like each other.

I believe that rather than shoehorning in a romance sub plot and merely touching upon the subject it actually gives this series some good marks, it helps to show that overall War can take people away from one another and also hinder the chances of people even getting to know each other. This rather depressing message fits with the tone of the overall show in that War is an awful thing. Many fans, myself included feel that not having Bernie and Chris together really is one of the bigger depressing factors of the show, as they never really got that chance. Perhaps their story would have ended up similarly to that of Shiro and Aina from the 08th MS Team had they found out who each other really was.

Now while this OVA in my opinion does do a number of things right and really is up there as one of the better animated features in the franchise there are a few smaller aspects that many people may not enjoy or perhaps have a problem with.

Although it isnt something that bothers me personally, one reason that a lot of fans of the franchise may not find this OVA to be too great is because of the lack of fight scenes, although the battles they do show are very well animated and include great units like the shotgun wielding Kampfer, the fights are generally second fiddle to the story and relativity short, other than the battle between the Gundam and the Kampfer and the final battle between Bernie and Chris, none of the other units skirmishes are particularly memorable.

In order to move the story along there are a few questionable notes such as the Zeon special forces team instantly guessing that the space port was housing a newtype use Gundam, which we later find out is the case and was intended for the use of Amuro Ray the protagonist of the original series. I find this quite strange for the character to instantly leap to this idea because at that point in the war not many people knew about the Gundam other than hearsay and to instantly think there were more in development specifically for a newtype like Amuro was a little odd.

I feel the final acts of the show are rather irrational on Zeons part as the commander of the fleet in that area decides that because he believes the squad he sent to destroy the Gundam has been K.I.A, the only way to stop it being acquired by White Base and Amuro, would be to Nuke the entire colony. I understand that a lot of times Zeon has to be portrayed as this Nazi like evil and that if Amuro did receive the Alex Gundam then the war would probably be over even sooner, I feel like this decision is a little crazy even for a bunch of guys who later on drop a whole colony on Australia and then on Dublin... but only because its not that difficult to send in another squad, you already knew where the unit was housed man just send in another squad, you don't need to nuke anything.

Overall, A great piece we can take from this is a civilian child's look at the war and how it may or may not effect them, as we see in th first episode most of the kids find the War to be cool in that giant robots are fighting on Earth and in space, we even see them being more on the side of Zeon originally because at the time they were the only ones to have 'cool mobile suits'.  As time progresses and the war is brought to their doorstep on the colony they thought was safe we really begin to see how effected their lives have become. In a way that is a sort of commentary on wars even today in that a lot of people may not think much of a war going on in some part of the world until something happens on their own doorstep.

Of course in the case of Al we clearly see these effects take hold more as he is our point of reference for the ordeal, it is fair to say he experiences are quite a bit more important than those of a regular civilian during the war as of course he was close to two soldiers from opposing sides. More so on the side of Zeon as he uses some pretty sneaky tactics to get himself further entwined with Bernie and his team by pretending to be Bernies younger brother, as he's just a child it seems he just wants to be a part of the war effort because he thinks it's cool, ultimately this would lead to the Zeon gaining more information and the team using him.

It is only during Episode 4 when his friends begin to tease him for liking Zeon Mobile Suits and after he is caught in a battle at the federation base that results in the death of 200+ including children, that he begins to question if those he has admired are truly the 'good guys' in this war or just as bad as the other side. This focus on the clouding of  a childs mind is always at the forefront of this OVA, without exploiting his honesty and admiration for Mobile Suits it's fair to say perhaps the Zeon squad may not have got as far as they did in this event, although the decision by Zeon to Nuke the colony because of the Gundams whereabouts may have happened regardless.

In the end Bernie leaves Al an important message, he leaves Al all the evidence of Zeons exploits and plans to destroy the colony, he states he has to fight, not because he hates the Federation, but because he is a solider, 'whatever happens dont go hating the Gundam or the Feddies, they're just people doing what they believe is right'. The real tragedy of this is that the Nuke launch was prevented way before Bernie planned his attack on the Gundam, meaning he never really had to fight or die. When Al realises this we see the true effect of the war on him as he looks on in disbelief at his two friends unknowingly fight each other to the death.

With this tragic ending to the series in the last scene we see Al in front of his now destroyed school taking in all that has happened to him during this event, and although we see Chris survived the battle and is safe we know that many including Bernie were not so lucky during the One Year War, Al begins to cry at this thought showing that now he truly understands the tragedy of war and that it isnt as 'cool' as his peers seem to think it is, in stark contrast to his two friends who just tell him, 'Dont worry there will be other wars with plenty other cool mobile suits for us to look at'. Which in the Universal Century time line couldn't be more true.

In the end this story is a depressing tale of what the 'One Year War' had become and how smaller parties became effected, although it was made back in 89 it still remains a popular choice for a lot of fans with many watching it around Christmas as thats when it is set, I feel that overall this is an entry in the franchise that has not lost its spark or message, it remains a great entry in to the UC time line for those who don't want anything to heavy and even stands on it's own as a very self contained entry. It is definitely a series I would recommend to anyone wanting to get in to the franchise overall or even Mecha based Anime in general as it has great animation, memorable characters and a neatly concise story.

Although it can be pretty depressing I feel as though it works in this setting and while that may not be for everyone, if you can handle a little bit of sadness in your Anime I am sure you'd find this OVA to be really entertaining in its own way! If the thought of Chris and Bernie not being together is too much though, At least In Gundam Valhalla (Gundam Build Fighters), We know they can all be together.... right?

Thanks for giving this a read!, next time it won't actually be something Gundam related!, If you want any further recomendations on Mecha Anime hit me up on Twitter @ScatmanBegins.

Mobile Suit Gundam, The 08th MS Team (OVA: 1996)

Mobile Suit Gundam the 08th MS team is an OVA series produced between 1996 and 1999 by Sunrise which falls in to the Universal Century time line of the Gundam franchise, this time line spans a multitude of series leading from the original 'Mobile Suit Gundam' to in many ways the latest series 'G no Reconguista', rather than getting in to the specifics of this time line however we shall primarily focus on this OVA.

This series is set during the 'One Year War' depicted in the original series between the Earth Federation and the opposing Principality of Zeon, however what this series focused on was not your typical young boy finds a super weapon trope that is apparently in the majority of Mecha related Anime, but it chose to follow the 'average' solider during this war and the struggles that came with it, there are no plot armoured protagonist Mobile Suits in this series, but a general ground combat suit designed to look like the original Gundam in order to strike fear in to the enemy.

At the time this was quite new for the franchise as it never seemed to focus much on the grunt units or the behind the scenes aspects save for side story mangas and audio dramas that may have been released during a series run, and it is fair to say now with examples such as 'Gundam Unicorn' that
lower or grunt units to get their time to shine a lot more often perhaps thanks to this series showing off that fans really can appreciate units other than the power houses they are used to seeing. (And of course showing Bandai that people such as myself will buy as many grunt suit models as they need).

This series consisted of 12 episodes released between 3 years and remains to this day a popular choice amongst Gundam fans as a series not only to recommend but also revisit, however how does this series fair now, lets take a look in to this deeper. The 08th MS Team had always been one of my favourite series within the Gundam franchise, perhaps due to the fact it was one of the first I had watched after getting in to the series a number of years after 'Gundam Wing' aired on UK television, or perhaps because the tone of if is rather different from the other series I had watched, regardless I decided to re-watch this OVA series recently to see if it still held up in my mind, unfortunately it did not, but why is it that my opinion of the piece could change?

Good points:

With most OVA's it is expected that the animation quality will be top notch for it;s time, and this series does not disappoint in that department, although now it is not anything to be in awe of the animation quality presented is quite charming and does set the tone for the series with the darker colours representing the grittiness of the battles ahead and the type of terrains they will be fighting on. The animators also make it a point to show the weathering effects on the machines rather than having them typically looking brand spanking new every battle, we see clear indications of rust, dirt and battle wearing on more or less all of the suits in some for or another, something we generally do not see in other series, movies or OVAS surrounding this franchise.

The battles themselves are also a great factor in this series, with the MS being a lot slower, clunky and ill equipped compared to what we see in more modern series, these units had to rely primarily on shell ammunition rather than the beam weapons we're used to in Gundam, team work, planning and above all tactics, as we see in one episode where the gang are camped out in camouflage in the Dessert (hiding a robot can be tough!), or when they team use their support vehicle to listen in to the radio chatter of the enemy and spring an ambush on them, sadly this kind of combat is absent from the latter half of the series which we will get to other than one particular battle where we see how and ace of the enemy does things.

My personal favourite part of the entire OVA is that of the fight between the 08th Team and Norris Packard's Gouf Custom (Seriously youtube this shit), In which it is an entire grunt unit against a single and powerful Ace unit, although the team had planned for such an assault they did not account for Norris' own tactics in which he would rappel from building to building, hide behind debris and know exatly where to hit the enemy in order to take out vital parts of their machine such as the main camera, I personally thought he should have won the battle and left the team limping however with him being the enemy and up against the main character this wasnt very likely.

A particularly great moment in this battle is when the Gouf Custom leaps upon a tank unit and impales it with its sword, splattering the oil housed within the unit all over the facial area of the attacker almost as if it were a hunter catching its prey.

Honestly I have not actually watched the Japanese release of this series and have always gone to the English Dub, now I don't want to argue which is better overall but generally the dub for this series is very good, I have no complaints with any of the performances and in fact thing the VA for Norris in particular was pretty great. While the OST is nothing to write home about overall both the Opening and Ending themes for the series are great and something I always seem to be humming, the Opening in particular is pretty great at giving you an idea of what you're in for visually too, so be sure to check that out.

Bad Points:

One slight flaw I found with the series was that it never truly goes in to why each character joined the war and what their motivations were save for a few off hand remarks or in the case of Shiro a very short flashback to the gassing of a colony (Also depicted in Gundam 0083 Ova) that he may or may not of lived on and his horror at what the Zeons had done. We only get this flashback after the Director change and again it only seems to be Shiros we see, perhaps the original director wanted to keep their reasons hidden as they were just 'cogs in the machine' or maybe it was just another case of Federation = Good, Zeon = Bad that we've seen in most of the Universal Century time line. Personally I could have done with some look in to the past of the major characters in a little more detail as Shiros motivation to stop Zeon did make some sense, however this goes out of the window with the Romance sub plot.

I think what one of the major problems surrounding this OVA series was its focus on Romance as a sort of sub plot that eventually with the change of Directors halfway through would take center stage, this romance between the protagonist Shiro and a Zeon solider Aina was the typical 'Romeo and Juliet' story we're all familiar with in which two members from opposite and often fueding sides come together in one way or another and falling in love. In this case it is a member of the Federation and a member of the opposing Zeon who have been fighting a war as depicted in the original 1979 Gundam Series.

This romance begins rather suddenly when the two are locked in a small skirmish during the first episode in which Aina is testing the abilities of a new MS, as these two become locked in battle they eventually both wind up without MS and alone in the remains of a battleship, thinking they may die before rescue eventually comes from them, they put their differences as soliders aside and begin to help each other until they are saved, eventually they get to know each other and Aina leaves Shiro with a watch to remember her by. Shiro is pretty smitten with her but believes they will never meet again.

It is only closer to the director change that these two do meet again but this time with Aina testing a Mobile armour, which in Gundam terms is a giant Mobile suit capable of mass destruction. The team again have a few skirmishes with Aina and she begins to realise that it has always been Shiro and his troops that have been standing in her and her brothers way during the war, but this does not change the way she feels. Only closer to the end of the series with the climatic battle between the team and the Ace unit pioleted by Norris, Ainas close friend and at times father figure that the two begin to get a bit over the top with their feelings.

One examples being that Shiro begins to scream he loves Aina and will marry her whilst beat the tar out of the enemy unit with the lopped of arm of his own MS, and with Norris' death Aina goes full depression mode and decides all the federation need to be wiped out, until of course her brother does the same thing and she then decides its wrong because she knows Shiro is an alright guy during the final battle. Eventually these two become M.I.A after the last battle and it is only during the end of the final (and mostly filler) episode that we see these two have been living in a shack and are expecting a child, which is actually the best ending any couple have had in Gundam. It's fair to say their relationship had it's oddities.

A lot of these decisions can be linked to the change in director from Takeyuki Kanda (Eps 1 - 6) to Umanosuke Iida (Eps. 7-12), although this was not something that was an executive decision by Sunrise as unfortunatly Kanda passed away during production. At this point the show became focused more on the Romance sub plot, moving away from characters who were not Shiro and Aina and also attempting to make the show slightly more 'flashy' in terms of Mobile suit combat, which was not necessarily a bad decision as it did bring one of the greatest battles in the franchise with the 08th team being pitted against a single ACE unit, but it is rather clear when watching the OVA when the directors were changed.

Overall I think this series does still hold up and is a great place to begin if someone is looking for a well animated and short introduction to the Gundam series and more specifically the Universal Century time line, as it does introduce you to the key elements of the Feds Vs Zeon Campaign albeit from a perhaps more misinformed perspective of the ground troops who never saw the major battles set in space during the original series. It also goes well with another OVA series set around the same war but from a civilian perspective (Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989). I would say that to me however the series ended with episode 11, as episode 12 just feels like filler with some of the side characters searching for Shiro and finding him right at the end with a now pregnant Aina, but you guys may enjoy that episode.

The series really does show you that War in these circumstances does have its effect on the characters, it shows you how important team work can be in these situations and it shows you a lot of tactics used as well as the downsides of Mobile suit Combat such as having to use spare units parts for your own MS and having to routinely clean the machine do it doesnt get clogged, it's something I wish other series would take note of, how many times do you hear about what maintenance needs to be done of the titular robot, how often do you even see the mechanic team doing anything?

There is a lot mecha series could take from this OVA both in terms of what they could focus on and what they could avoid but again this series does still stand on its own and is a relatively short series at 12, 30 min episodes for anyone regardless of their knowledge to enjoy, I would strongly recommend you check this out if you are curious about Gundam or just want to see a new spin on Mech anime.

Thanks for giving this a read, it's a little rough around the edges but hopefully you'll give me some pointers and come back for more if I ever get around to it

Perhaps next time I'll review 'War In The Pocket'.