Studio Pierrot is a first class animation house and they prove that with every release. Over the years they have given us such hits as Fushigi Yūgi, Great Teacher Onizuka, Naruto, and Yu Yu Hakusho. The range of genre for their shows is diverse, but I don't believe that they had ever tackled a giant monster anime. Well, at least until Neo Ranga came along.

Neo Ranga is an interesting series because of the way that it's set up. Instead of doing 13 or 20-something episodes for the show it actually winds up being a whopping 48. Don't go getting your panties in a bunch just yet though because the run time here isn't as long as it usually is. These episodes clock in at around twelve minutes a piece instead of twenty-five and they are paced different because of that. Recently the Bottle Fairy series released from Geneon followed the same time structure, but it only offered thirteen episodes on two discs. This thinpak offers all 48 episodes spread across five discs.

This is the perfect example of a show that starts out incredibly strong, but kind of fizzles out towards the end. When the series begins the first few episodes are fully of a certain kind of energy that just crackles and brings you to the edge of your seat. What is this creature that's destroying Japan and how is it connected to three seemingly innocent sisters? There's just an amazing sense of mystery and excitement that speaks volumes at the beginning and really hooks you. Once you learn what's going on and the show becomes complacent while it's doing its thing; it really loses some of its magic.

When the show starts we see a monolithic monstrosity crushing and destroying its way through Japan. It's looking for its master, the king of Barous, and it's not going to let anything or anyone get in its way. But who is this king? Well, technically, the correct question would be "who are the kings?". The Shimabara sisters become tentative owners of this giant that is known as a God among the people of Barous. Their brother went to this island and wound up becoming their ruler; hence the royal relation.

The sisters each have a different view of how to treat Neo Ranga and exactly what his purpose is. One thing's for sure though, while they are staying in Japan they are going to make the most of it. The siblings capitalize on Ranga's unique and fascinating nature by marketing him as much as possible. What original seems to be a curse turns into something of a cash-cow as hordes of people flock to the neighborhood to check out the monstrosity.

Because of this influx of money into the economy the Yakuza becomes involved and so does the military. Things become somewhat befuddled as the show slides into the halfway mark and it really seems to go lose focus from there on out. There are a lot of political plot points and various other distractions that pop up. It's almost as if many things in the show happen off camera because many of these episodes feel like they are all over the place. It could have something to do with the way that the show is set up, what with the 12 minute episodes and all, but either way it just doesn't feel right.

Despite that fact there is a lot of continuity from one episode to the next, the content is greatly disorganized. I know that's something of an oxymoron but I really can't think of any other way to describe it. I mean, I get the idea for the show though after watching all 48 episodes I get the impression that the creators went into its production with just the idea and not much else. Things never really became fleshed out and the blend of concepts felt like they were constantly at war with each other.

There is a fair amount of mystery and a decent amount of humor, but the anticlimactic ending doesn't help matters much. Fans of the giant monster genre may find the show and change in pace appealing, but unfortunately I couldn't get into it. I enjoyed the idea at first though once I realized that the story wasn't really going to go anywhere and the characters were pretty generic it all went downhill. Proceed with caution if you're thinking about buying it, but I'm going to suggest a rental for everyone else.

Originally airing in 1999, Neo Ranga comes with a 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio. The show's detail isn't lost on DVD, but I do have to say that it certainly looks like a show from the 90s. Some of the colors seem faded and there is a fair amount of grain in the image along with some minor aliasing. The animation is very fluid and detailed though so in that regard the show looks fantastic. The designs for Ranga are particularly impressive but the rest of the anime is fairly standard.

As with most anime this set comes with two audio tracks to select from. Naturally there is the original Japanese which is presented with 2.0 stereo plus optional English subtitles, and an English 2.0 track as well. Both present a fair amount of quality for what they are but there isn't much directionality to play with. The dialogue for both language tracks is clear and well dubbed, but I preferred the Japanese track over the English one. One thing that I have to bring up is how well the show uses music to set the mood; especially near the beginning. It's really part of the hook that draws you in at first.

There is nothing on this thinpak that could be construed as bonus material. The individual disc releases offered some features to speak of, but as with most of these collections from ADV they sacrifice them for disc space.

Neo Ranga is a really hard show to put my finger on. I loved the beginning of it and was instantly hooked but as things progressed the tale began to unravel and became oddly paced with no real direction. It may have had something to do with the show's 12 minute episodes though I have a strong suspicion that it was the "idea" behind the series that got it made and not the content itself. Even so, it's a strong inclusion in the giant monster genre so fans may want to think about buying it, but everyone else can pretty much just rent it and be satisfied. I have a feeling this is a show that due to the way it's set up, would be best experienced gradually instead of all at once.

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