The show was originally going to be a full season (26 episodes) info-mercial released by Victor Entertainment in 1985 as a means of selling toys of the futuristic mech-robots the show focused on. Apparently, the show's financial backers decided that they didn't want to risk a full season and the show became a much shorter OVA set, with the equivalent to six episodes, condensing the elements of the show greatly. Depending on your point of view, this was either a good point or a bad point, since the characters and themes had less time to develop. The show was originally released by Image Entertainment on DVD several years back, and now ADV has re-dubbed it in order to address issues with the earlier release, as well as pay tribute to the show. Here's a look at the story in this re-release of the movie:

The story was set in 1986 in a city much like any other contemporary city in anime. There are some futuristic elements to the everyday life of the citizens but nothing that far out of the ordinary. The city has implemented a strict curfew for a host of reasons, primarily related to fuel savings and the fact that the city is isolated due to a previous world war. A few youth of the city are the only ones who see something wrong with the situation with a leading rebellious type, Shogo Yahagi, openly flaunting the law. When a friend of his brings him a hot motorcycle to play with, he tests it out, finding the bike to be years ahead of the souped up bike he's been riding. It isn't long before Shogo finds himself at the center of a controversy, with people being killed over the bike and the bike itself sporting various abilities that amaze the youth. Things heat up when his friend meets an untimely demise, and upon digging, Shogo finds a vast conspiracy that includes the military, the city leaders, and the situation that everyone is in. I won't say any more due to the spoiler nature of the material but you'll note that shows like Akira handled the subject matter much better.

Okay, to throw a bone to those wearing rose-colored glasses over the show, I will be the first to admit that it addressed certain global themes quite well. In short, the ideas behind the show were ahead of its time, building on the multitude of shows that were released before it. That said, the execution of the ideas was often lacking, building on various stereotypes and clichés of the genre. The material here has been released many times before, often edited to the point of being unrecognizable, under different names. It's my opinion that this release by ADV, as cleaned up as it is, provides the best version to date albeit of a weak show.

The flaws of the show were many. From the aforementioned stereotypes to the limitations of the anime itself to the writing of the show, it became apparent that the show was designed for a much longer run. The slower elements were retained for the first section of the show, making the pace of the action somewhat weak for this type of release (had the show been retooled more appropriately for the shorter length, I'm sure it would've come out better). We've come a long way in the last twenty years and this dinosaur's historical value doesn't provide the kind of entertainment that most anime fans have come to expect. It's a science fiction show with stinted writing that belies its roots, although some of us old-timers will blindly rant about its positive aspects (ignoring the negatives) in a manner that betrays their biases. I'm going to rate it as a Rent It since you'll either love it or hate it, usually not for the content itself.

Picture: The show was presented in its original 1.33:1 full frame color aspect ratio. The show is almost twenty years old and all the efforts by ADV to clean it up sure helped improve it but the print flaws, including scratches and dirt, were noticeable throughout the show. There were also the usual moiré effects and minor video noise with limited anime style (a static picture with minimal movement-far easier to animate than some of the better titles you're likely familiar with). Overall, if you can live with older releases, this was pretty good.

Sound: The audio was presented in the usual 2.0 stereo Japanese with optional English subtitles or an all new English dub done with a 5.1 Dolby Digital track. I favored the original audio but admit the vocals of the dub were done in a superior manner, due mostly to the advances in technology and age of the source material. The music seemed cleaned up over the previous release and if you're one of the fanatics of the show, you'll want to get this newer version.

Extras: The best extra, by far, was the commentary by Matt Greenfield, David and Janice Williams. After establishing his own past in anime (talking mostly of his origins with ADV rather than his unofficial distribution efforts prior to that time), Matt spoke of the cost his first copy of the show from Japan was. The others interjected here and there but it was obviously his show. He has a long history with anime and I think he'd be a better choice for commentaries than anyone else ADV has on staff (including founder John Ledford), something I hope he chooses to do in other releases. His brief discussion of fansubbing was interesting, albeit lacking in personal anecdotes, especially since it seemed to take a positive stance on the issue. There was also a paper insert that detailed the origins of the show as well as detailing some of the characters that I wished was done with more of ADV's releases. There were also some production sketches and trailers to shows like: Orphen 2, Kino's Journey, Saint Seiya, Azumanga Daioh, and Gravion.

Final Thoughts: If you enjoy the themes the show borrowed from movies like Logan's Run, The Wild Ones, and Streets Of Fire (a guilty pleasure of mine that popped up on billboards in the show here) and a host of others, you may find some redeeming value out of this one even if you're not one of the older generation that remembers the historical significance of the show. The commentary alone was worth the rental for me but the replay value was very poor. ADV releases far better shows than this on a monthly basis, something not lost on me as I write this review.

For much better anime choices, look at: DVDTalk's Best Of Anime 2003