Another solid gem dug up from the artist behind Area 88 and Cleopatra DC.
Mariko Rosebank is the captain of an elite all female anti terrorism team known as CAT Counter Attack Terrorism, the group was formed after brutally losing her son and husband in an airport bombing, and leaving Mariko with a distinct rose scar, the mission chosen for the OVA takes place in Switzerland around the final days of the Berlin Wall as CAT are assigned to protect the politicians from a terrorist attack aimed at stopping the iron curtain from falling, girls of all shapes and sizes and roles take part in the mission, Mariko feels that the terrorists are one step ahead as the operation is going too well.
What makes this anime work and artist Kaoru Shintani's other works is that the female cast are drawn in a shojo style as opposed to more traditional styles of the era within the action genre, great emphasis on the eyes makes Mariko and the other girls stand out as very feminine, even larger build girls like Jessica and more mischievous characters like Irene, but are also more than capable of subduing an Edelweiss Swiss Special Forces Soldier in seconds, all their actions speak so much about the characters it's unreal that this only got a single episode, Shintani is really good at setting up 80s action manga that ticks all the right boxes and Desert Rose is such a unique gem that there is no other series like it.
A dub isn't impossible but will need some talent especially with best girl Irene.
Final Verdict: An 80s action show dressed in the finest shojo style, Desert Rose is one of the most sophisticated, unique action anime of the era and there is no other anime like it.
It's a New Year so let's start with Megami Paradise. (Yes it still says 31st December 2022 but it's already New Year here in the UK and I refuse to wait for the Americas to finish)
The title of Mamamega is passed down to each high priestess charged with protecting the Astro Star, an artifact used for purifying the Earth of it's evils; while shrine maiden Lilith recruits more Maidens to aid the newly crowned Mamamega, the former high priestess is assassinated by Yamimama and her own Maidens. With Lilith kidnapped and set up for sacrifice to rid the world of the Astro Star, the other Shrine Maidens and Mamamega step in to stop Yamimama.
This is yet another experimental anime from a PC Engine Game no one cared about, it's crowning achievement is having really amateur protagonists, seriously they really struggle to do anything to the villains only succeeding by winging it or by virtue of Mamamega saving them.
The very 90s design do make the all female cast stand out but at the same time I see this being remade as a harem or hyper sexualized like Queen's Blade, this is the same people behind Agent Aika after all but there was at least some restraint in this early work.
No dub, but considering how early this ADVfilms license was picked up, you can already guess who will play which character.
Final Verdict: A very average anime with weak protagonists that's nice looking but really shows how utterly weak the short-lived PC Engine era was.
Funny how much content comes out when you feel sick.
Yuna is a typical ditzy teenager but after winning the Galactic BishÅjo Contest, she becomes The Savior of Light, a title bestowed on the champion magical girl, along with her mecha, her forever hungry friend Yuri and an extensive cast of other girls who were part of the same contest, Yuna will triumph over evils in the universe or become a TV star following her idol Polylina.
The two OVAs tell two complete stories, the first being a rather poorly written plot of trying to frame Yuna for crimes she didn't commit while the second involves Yuna and her friends confronting a trio of killer android sisters while ultimately failing to be dramatic.
This isn't a good anime by any stretch, it's problem being it relies on the viewer knowing the games story which is very much Japan exclusive, watching the OVAs feels like we've started season 2 instead of season 1 and it really shows, this is also back in the days where magical girls were more Sci-Fi in nature.
The sub and dub battle is very much a pick your poison, very childish sounding Japanese VAs or slightly grating early era American VAs, both are terrible.
Final Verdict: Unless you know the games, this anime is a lost cause, it's poorly written, poorly acted and it's not even funny.
For the last day of Advent let's tackle My Hero Academia.
The world is full of humans who develop super natural powers known as quirks, within a few generations 80% of the population have a quirk which creates a world of heroes and villains, but for Midoriya who has no quirk, he dreams of being like the legendary hero All Might but even All Might himself who is revealed to be losing his power admits you can't be a hero without a quirk, but after witnessing Midoriya's heroics, All Might decides to pass down his quirk to Midoriya.
With a quirk to use, Midoriya heads to UA to become a hero despite his quirk wrecking his body and his bully constantly pissed off that he's even there.
Taking the name Deku, he joins a host of colourful characters as a gathering storm of villains approaches the young heroes.
I'm just going to come out and say this, it's just Naruto part one, it has better world building and much better universal laws but the plot is strikingly similar to how Naruto started.
As an anime it's fine, the characters are a bit mediocre, Deku cries every five minutes, Bakugo has a permanent stick up his ass, most of the class are really forgettable and plenty of villains are trying way too hard.
Dub is at least competent, so I won't rag on it too much.
I'm open to the series improving over time as I'm still early in watching the seasons but I already suspect where it's leading to, looking at just Season 1 alone.
Final Verdict: It created a very solid world that is full of opportunities to tell great stories but lacks the characters to pull it off successfully.
You wouldn't believe this was made in 1996.
Made as a collaboration between Tatsunoko and the Italian Group Mondo TV, Cinderella Monogatari is one of many classics made as part of a long time partnership between Japan and Europe.
I won't bore you with the plot as it's still the downtrodden Cinderella forced to live under a cruel stepmother, so let's see how it differs.
Paulette the suddenly named Fairy Godmother manipulates things in the background to make it better for Cinderella also giving her the ability to talk to animals.
The prince, comically named Charles plays a more central role as a rebellious rogue and does meet Cinderella multiple times long before the more traditional Royal Ball story.
And while the Step mother and sisters are there, we have an actual villain named Duke Zaral who tries to take over the Kingdom multiple times.
While the pacing is slow as anything, this is probably the most well characterised story of Cinderella, time is spent focussing on developing Charles and Cinderella's relationship as they play off each other, it helps the narrative that the Prince is usually in disguise, even when we do get to the more familiar story elements with the Royal Ball, Cinderella's reason for going was to say goodbye to Charles thinking she would never see him again, which is where Paulette steps in to fix everything.
If we really have to sit through a 26 episode story of Cinderella, then this is one of the only ways to do it.
Dubbing is fine, especially as English wasn't the first choice for dubbing to begin with.
Final Verdict: It's hardly an exciting watch but it's at least competent in it's characters and story telling.
