As far as anime series in this vein, I remember Arjuna being specifically focused on the theme, Megazone 23 touching on it (they all left Earth due to pollution), and S-Cry-Ed dealing with the fallout of environmental concerns being but three that come to mind. The latest series with this type of thing in mind is Cybuster: Tokyo 2040 #1. While some would draw a conclusion about the choice of year used in the title, the main ideas the show discusses are timeless. The Earth, Japan in particular, is recovering from the effects of extreme pollution from past practices. A series of devastating earthquakes have left Tokyo in ruins and the government has commissioned an organization, DC, to assist in the cleanup of the city. Public service being held in high regard, scores of young candidates attempt to get into the organization, often as pilots of mechanized robots that can lift heavy loads in the cleaning process.

The show focuses on one such candidate, Ken Ando, as he applies for a position as a pilot, but also has something of a slightly ensemble feel in the initial episodes as Ken's family and co-workers come into play. DC itself seems to have something of a past but that is only alluded to in the first five episodes. Their robots look very much like cheaper versions of those employed in the Sakura Wars; owing as much to their function imperatives than anything else. The devices are smaller than the combat robots seen in most other series but these have no weaponry and are designed strictly for cleanup duty, much like the robots in the various Patlabor shows. Without spoiling the show for you too much, the paradigm of DC changes when their robots are attacked by a large robot looking much like the RahXephon or the Big O. Ken and crew are pressed into service far earlier than their limited training would usually allow for and a series of minor successes propels them into the limelight to pilot a specially designed robot that is not only much larger, but carries weapons as well; something Ken finds very disagreeable as a pacifist (another common theme in anime deals with the pacifist hero).

The first five episodes, 01: Messenger of the Wind, 02: Balcion, 03: The Collapse of Tokyo, 04: La Guias, and 05: Artillery Training, were designed more to set up the characters and organization within the future Earth background than to exactly lay out where the show would go. There was a lot of potential to the way the first episodes were handled but I've seen a great many shows fall flat immediately after the opening salvo (so to speak), so I'll reserve judgment on the series as a whole at this point. I think the writing was decent enough and the premise solid enough to warrant a rating of Rent It (due in no small part to the visual limitations) but the next volume or two will be far more likely to seal the fate of the show for me since there was so much untapped potential combined with so many common themes.

Picture: The picture was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color, as originally released in Japan five years ago. The first thing I noticed about the visuals were how the show looked muted and dirty; making me wonder if it were an artistic choice or just related to the budget of the show. The colors of the characters varied wildly, the main character of Ken looking something like a gray zombie for much of the show, and the video noise so abundant that I thought the premise of the show was to display a radioactive future for mankind. There were some compression artifacts and edge enhancement as well, making the picture somewhat worse than most recent releases. The anime style was very limited with minimal movement of the characters but this is something that many companies deal with using special effects these days so I can't be too harsh on a show that didn't use a form of trickery to disguise an inherent flaw.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of either the original Japanese or an English dub track, both in Dolby Digital 2.0 with a choice of optional English subtitles. The audio was better than the visuals in terms of quality with a moderate amount of separation during some of the musical interludes and battle scenes and slightly more dynamic range overall. Some of the dubbed voices seemed stilted but that should come as no surprise to anime fans. Due to this fact, I strongly recommend the original Japanese track (and readers should know that I'm not generally a dub snob) for its quality presentation. Having listened to both versions, I did notice that the subtitles followed the English track very closely so those who consider them "dub-titles" can consider themselves informed.

Extras: Other than a few trailers and a paper insert, there were no extras. Since there were five full episodes, I'm not as concerned in terms of value as with many other series but some decent extras are always welcome as a way to justify a purchase if nothing else (plus, they help fight bootlegs so readily available these days).

Final Thoughts: The visual limitations aside, Cybuster: Tokyo 2040 #1 seems to follow in a long history of environmentally friendly series from Japan. It looked to be changing gears in the last couple of episodes so I can't say for sure if it is going to be any good but my fingers are crossed and my hopes are high that it wins a spot in my coveted collection of anime. The adventures of Ken Ando and friends may prove to surpass the technical flaws present or not do so but that's something that'll come out in future reviews. Getting five episodes on the first DVD was a bargain but I doubt future volumes will include that many and the extras on anime DVDs have been fairly light of late so expect more scrutiny of later volumes if this pans out.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime article!