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In the not so distant future war has come to Japan, caught
up in the configuration are two young high school lovers Shuji
and Chise. Chise is a young clumsy and not too bright girl
who is in love with Shuji. The normality of their teenage
romance is seriously interrupted when during an air attack
Shuji discovers that Chise has been turned into the ultimate
living weapon...
The
DVD presents the first five episodes in a thirteen-episode
run of this 2002 serial. Overall the show is thoughtful, it
is never really explained just who Japan is at war with, and
to a greater extent it's immaterial as this is essentially
a love story. If the show has a fault it's in its character
design. Everyone appears to have a permanent rash on their
faces and Shuji's design with his glasses and grey hair make
him look more middle aged than the teenager he's supposed
to be. Chise looks about twelve giving the show an unwarranted
Hentai feel. That's not to say that there aren't some fan-service
elements to the show, a lot of young girls in way too short
dresses with well-defined breasts. Just which audience Gonzo
are trying to appeal to is unclear, maybe they figure that
the breasts and guns will get the guys and the love story
will pull in the girls. At the heart of the story is Shuji's
desperate attempt to stay in love with a girl who looses a
bit of her humanity every time she fights.
Episode
one, We Fall in Love, introduces us to the characters
in the moments of peace before the outbreak of war. Chise
presents Shuji with an exchange diary, which he reluctantly
agrees to write in. Like most teenagers Shuji hangs out with
his friends leading an apparently normal life until war comes.
Death and devastation rain down from the bombers killing Shuji's
friends. At the height of the battle Chise appears, transformed
into a living weapon and destroys the bombers.
In
I'm Growing, Shuji has to come to terms with the fact
of his girlfriend's double life and the hundreds of thousands
that have lost their lives. The two lovers decide to tell
no one about Chise's secret, but someone is watching them.
If truth were told, everyone seems to take the outbreak of
war too well, leaving an emotional vacuum to the show that's
hard to explain. Shuji and his friends just come to an unspoken
agreement to never talk about what happened, even though they
witnessed one of their friends being killed in front of them.
Together,
Alone shows that the cracks are already appearing in their
relationship. Shuji starts to have doubts about their relationship,
which is a little more realistic than his reaction in the
second episode. His doubts go as far as contemplating an ex-partner
Fuyumi, who as fate would have it, he runs into after she
is knocked off her bike during a raid. We discover that Fuyumi
likewise harbours feelings for Shuji, which way will the poor
lad turn?
The last episode on the disc, Fuyumi, the path to true
love continues to become fraught with danger. Shuji has to
go to Fuyumi's house to get back his wallet, whilst Chise
becomes so despondent that she asks to be killed. In this
episode the show ends on an emotional high, after pulling
the audience through a rollercoaster of highs and lows.
On
the strength of these five episodes this looks to be a show
worthy of attention, though I can't help feeling that as each
episode starts with Shuji describing the events as if they
were in the past that, in the end, things do not go well for
Chise. Will love win out in the end? I'd put a fiver on a
no.
Audio
options are extensive and in this case maybe a little too
extensive as it means that the episodes are repeated on both
discs. On disc one you have the option of English or Japanese
stereo or 5.1, disc two offers the addition of a DTS track
for each language. Though the stereo track is nice and clear
the show really stretches its legs in the 5.1 and DTS tracks,
though the addition of a DTS track adds little to the experience
making the second disc a bit redundant except for the extras.
The first extra is a thirteen-minute conversation with the
voice actors Fumiko Orikasa (Chise) and Shiro Ishimoda (Shuji)
about bringing their characters to life. It was difficult
not to get carried away with the sheer enthusiasm that the
actors have for the project, I loved the fact that they started
the piece with a live action recreation of the show. Next
up, was a piece called All about Saikano, which is
the Japanese name for the show. This is another nice little
documentary detailing the creation of the original manga and
it transition to anime, which runs to a very reasonable twenty-three
minutes. If you want to see some Japanese girls on speed then
Saikano Times is a must watch - it's a television special
of the seriously over enthusiastic kind. You'll either love
it or suffer a very bad migraine. The extras are rounded off
with some TV commercials and static colour character sheets.
Ill
leave it up to you if you think that the double disc is a
bit of a con as both discs contain the same episodes, otherwise
a good beginning for the show.
Charles
Packer
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