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Several fight schools are in conflict with each other. Fights
between the schools students are regular and bloody, as they
compete to be the best. One girl, Hakufu Sonsaku the reincarnation
of the legendary warrior Shou-Haou, seems fated to reunite
the schools as they had been in the past. Guided by special
jewels, the lives and fates of the students seem to mirror
the lives of the stones original owners, whose spirits lay
trapped in the comma shaped beads, but will their fate be
the same...?
Finally,
for all the lovers of Ikki Tousen (Battle Vixens)
the box set is in the shops and to my mind, if you like the
show, this is most probably the best way to buy it. As previously
stated in reviews, the show exists for only one purpose -
to put as much animated boobies and panties on your screen
as it can and in respect of that one simple goal it achieves
its aim without even breaking a sweat. Of course, all this
animated titillation has to have a hook to hang it on and
in this case it's a dubious story about some old warrior spirits
locked up in comma shaped jewels, called Magatama, which both
influence and empower their modern day counterparts.
Although,
it was not really my cup of tea when I looked at it the first
time, I will concede that at least it doesn't give into any
pretence. The thick hardy cardboard box is emblazoned with
characters dressed in maid's uniforms swirling round a pair
of handcuffs. Is it sexist? Well, in a western European culture
the answer would have to be yes, but it is unlikely that it
would have been viewed as such in its original Japanese cultural
setting - more of a bit of fluffy nonsense. Sure, the over
endowed girls are a sexual motif, but then we should not be
too quick to judge as ours are schoolgirls and nurses.
The box set contains all thirteen episodes, spread over four
discs, in 4:3 aspect ratio, audio is either English or Japanese
(with subtitles) vanilla stereo. Visually the picture is crystal
clear and the animation and character design are good.
Each disc comes with a set of extras. Disc one has a textless
opening an art gallery and the outtakes, which I have always
felt were funnier than the show itself. I'd love to see a
whole show being overdubbed in this irreverent way. Disc two
has the textless closing, art gallery, outtakes and a nice
interview with the director who makes no bones about the content
of the show. Disc three and the extras are getting a bit thin,
you still have the excellent outtakes, a promo video, an art
gallery and some trailers. The last disc contains TV spots,
outtakes, art gallery, trailers and the very dubious photo
shoot wherein a bunch of middle aged men take photos up a
young woman's skirt who happens to be dressed as a school
girl, all in the name of art.
Be warned this is not a show to buy for your kiddies, unless
they are teenage boys with a good supply of Kleenex, the show
has a fifteen to eighteen certificate. Having watched the
shows again maybe I'm softening to its rather odd charms as
I found it less offensive than the first time round. The story
is still pants (pun intended) but as fluffy nonsense goes
I've seen worse.
Charles
Packer
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£29.99
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£31.99
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