Anime of the Year 1993-III Summer - Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor 2 the Movie

Can nominate only Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor 2 the Movie and Crayon Shin-chan Movie 01: Action Kamen vs. Haigure Maou as minor masterpieces.

1. Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki: Omatsuri Zenjitsu no Yoru! 天地無用！魎皇鬼 SPECIAL お祭り前日の夜！  [AIC] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Shounen Harem Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi  After his recent battle in space, Tenchi Masaki believes that his fighting days are over. Unfortunately, his life is far from peaceful since Aeka Jurai Masaki and Ryouko Hakubi—the two women giving him the most grief—cannot seem to get along, continuing to fight over who gets to be Tenchi's lover. Since their usual romantic strategies fail, Aeka and Ryouko decide to research how to woo a man. After spending hours going through shoujo manga, the two decide to act like the girls they've read about and put Tenchi through various scenarios, with the hope that he will fall in love with one of them. Compared to original setting is finalized already, so there is room for more humor and harem stuff as there is hardly any story in special. Better, yet not great.   Overall Rating: 6/10

2. Casshern: Robot Hunter Casshan: Robot Hunter キャシャーン [Tatsunoko Production] (Finished 4/4) Tags: Mecha Adventure, Sci-Fi In the near future, robot technology has advanced to the point of self-awareness. Under the leadership of the "Black King," machines have decimated the human population and conquered the world. Those who survived the early holocaust have been enslaved for life. But throughout the hardships, a lone hero appears as the savior of mankind. He is Casshan - a fusion of man and machine driven to combat Black King and his forces to the end. This anime does not even have any credible source, just a horrible superpower flick from the 1970s. Everything remains pretty schematic, and with the rotten core no building around it can bring anything good.   Overall Rating: 5/10

3. Mermaid's Scar 人魚の傷 [Madhouse] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery Legend has it that when you eat the flesh of a mermaid, you would live forever. Yuta and Mana are living proof of this... Together, they journey to various places trying to find meaning for their existence, or perhaps even a "cure" for their situation. One day, Yuta and Mana meet Masato, a little boy who seems terrified of his mother Misa. It seems to Yuta and Mana that mother and son have a very unusual relationship. What happens when Yuta and Mana decide to discover the dark secret Masato and Misa are hiding? And what about those monster-like creatures that have been appearing? Mermaid forest prequel was plain horrible, this one is also pretty disgusting, only for those who like trashy depressing horrors.   Overall Rating: 5/10

4. Eightman After 8 Man After エイトマン AFTER [J.C.Staff] (Finished 4/4) Tags: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi Private detective Hazama Itsuru is hired by Professor Tani to investigate a cyborg parts theft which eventually leads him to meet Sachiko Yokogawa, the original 8 Man's love interest. Living her new life working for the Biotecho Corp., Sachiko finds herself involved with a new 8 Man, who appears after Hazama is fatally wounded by an unknow cyborg. Amidst a violent urban background with cyber-junkies creating chaos around the city, this other 8 Man will fight criminals in a more agressive way. Eightman was chronologically the first anime that I rated as ONE. This superhero continuation with schematic plot is disgrace to the whole cyberpunk genre. Also has some disturbingly bloody scenes.   Overall Rating: 4/10

5. A-Girl A-Girl [エー・ガール] [Madhouse] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Shoujo Music, School Romance High-school student Mariko and her elder sister Mayu are forced out of their apartment by a fire and move in with their landlord. Mariko meets the landlord's handsome son, Natsume, who is also a model. They fall in love but break up when Mariko discovers that Natsume is seeing other girls. Eventually, they are reunited, and the end credits roll. A-Girl has no dialog and is performed against a background of Japanese pop songs composed by Okada Tooru and sung in English! by SEIKA. Intertiles provide continuity, like in old silent films. It's a musical with all the dialogues shown at still black screen like in old movies. There's also pretty weird torn directorship with a lot of disjointed scenes not getting into integral picture...   Overall Rating: 5/10

6. Youseiki Suikoden Suikoden Demon Century 妖世紀水滸伝 [J.C.Staff] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Martial Arts Action, Fantasy In the early 21st century, an earthquake destroyed Tokyo. Japan lost its center of government and industry, and turned into a lawless territory. Looking for his sister, Takateru Suga learns that she was kidnapped by the powerful Koryukai gang. He decides to ally himself with a drag queen, two ex-mercenaries and a nun to destroy the crime organization and save his sister! Well, yeah, a bunch of different guys attack organization and rescue sister, sometimes it looks good, but the main question is why exactly should someone spend 45 minutes on cheap action.   Overall Rating: 5/10

7. Big Wars: Kami Utsu Akaki Kouya ni Big Wars ビッグ・ウォーズ 神撃つ朱き荒野に [Magic Bus] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Military, Space Action, Sci-Fi It is the dawn of the 21st century. Mankind has terraformed and colonized Mars. But we are not alone in the universe. An ancient race of alien beings, known only as "The Gods," has been watching mankind's progress ...and waiting. Now, these mysterious aliens have returned to halt mankind's expansion into space ...by force. Now, the planet named after the God of War will become our final battlefield, as mankind fights a desperate battle with the latest in high-tech, military hardware: hyper-advanced aircraft, orbital fighters, and gigantic, desert battleships brimming with the most advanced weaponry. But will it be enough? The aliens have awesome, incredibly destructive weapons at their disposal—including "Hell"—an unstoppable stealth carrier. But the alien's primary weapon is insidiously quiet and invisible—a mind control plaque. Incurable. Inevitable. Contagious. Humans are powerless to resist its effects, which transforms even the most loyal soldiers into dangerous subversives. Our last hope lies with Captain Akuh and the crew of the Battleship Aoba. If his top-secret mission is successful, mankind will deal a decisive blow to the alien armada. But Akuh's girlfriend is showing signs of nymphomania—the first symptom of alien subversion! It's mostly about hallucinations, gore and explosions. Often surreal development and unsatisfying ending contribute to the weak impact.   Overall Rating: 5/10

8. Bad Boys  [Toei Video] (Finished 3/5) Tags: Seinen Delinquents Action, Comedy Tsukasa, Yoji, and Eiji are friends and members of the motorcycle gang called the Paradise Butterflies. Riding the streets of Hiroshima, their goal in life is to top all other gangs in their city. Only three of five episodes are translated. This is one of three delinquents anime that were issued at a pace of 1-2 episodes over many years, and these are usually of higher quality than usual - better pace and comedy with more variation. It's generally on the same level as Shounan Bakusouzoku. I'd consider giving it a masterpiece if it was fully translated.   Overall Rating: 6/10

9. Idol Bouei-tai Hummingbird Hummingbirds アイドル防衛隊ハミングバード [Ashi Productions] (Finished 4/4) Tags: Idols (Female), Military, Music, Parody Comedy When the Japanese government puts civilian organizations in charge of the country's air force, some of these companies decide to put their aspiring idol singers behind the controls of their fighter planes. Among these groups of idol singers is Hummingbird, a five-woman team consisting of the Toreishi sisters: Satsuki, Uzuki, Yayoi, Kanna and Mina. During a taping session, video director Kudou sees some potential in these girls and jumps in to help them reach the top of the charts by directing their debut video. It's musical with idols in the first place and military as a side dish. Not bad , especially after a huge number of failed modern idol anime, but not a masterpiece .   Overall Rating: 6/10

10. Hon Ran Crimson Wolf 紅狼[ホンラン] [Streamline Pictures] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Martial Arts Action The fate of the world rests in the ability of three untested warriors to defeat an unearthly army of darkness. Sorcery, martial arts and an unrequited love, spanning the centuries, explode in an epic battle at the gates of the forbidden city. Crimson Wolf is an unusual departure for the Anime genre - rooted in real world reference, it makes the fantasy all the more believable. A cringy story with past mystical references and strangely placed nudity.   Overall Rating: 5/10

11. Ryuuseiki Gakusaver Shooting Star Gakusaver 流星機ガクセイバー [Production I.G] (Finished 6/6) Tags: Mecha, Parody, School, Space Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi A gigantic meteorite landed on earth a few years back. A mysterious capsule believed to have belonged to the aliens was discovered. Called the "black box," an international organization called "Project BB" was created to research it. Eight boys, including Manabu Yoshimura, attend International Academy, a school located near Project BB headquarters. They are enticed by their teacher Toukichi Hashiba's promise of "I'll give you class credit," and end up getting involved in his experiment. The experiment was to enter the eight empty chambers of meteorite. According to Hashiba's theory, the meteorite should strongly respond to strong human thoughts. He tells them to have a clear image of a great looking gigantic robot; if they do, something should happen... Then, a big spaceship appears in the sky and an alien calling himself Wercury appears in a 3-D image. He tells them he is from the Star of Prokimasi and that he has come to collect the meteorite of the Choshin people. If they do not hand it over, he will challenge the earth beings to a battle. Manabu and his friends are confused by the unexpected turn of events but the meteorite responds to the thoughts of the group and suddenly starts to transform itself into a gigantic robot. Then, attacked by the invading Prokimasi robot, they are forced to pull their strength together and fight back. But it is extremely difficult to put the wills of the eight together as one and the robot cannot fight in the way it should. The gigantic robot that Hashiba named "Gakusaver" and Manabu's eight; can they manage to protect Earth and the meteorite from the Prokimasi invasion? It's so silly that sometimes it's funny. But most of the time it's not. Still, among mecha it's decent.   Overall Rating: 6/10

12. Akuemon 悪右衛門 [Tezuka Productions] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Fantasy, Romance  A fortuneteller tells Hidari Taisho that he must hunt down 1000 foxes in order to conquer the country. So Akuemon, who is disliked by everybody, is hired to do the foxhunting. In response, the foxes send a female fox to Akuemon's house disguised as his wife. A story unfolds between Akuemon, who has never loved anyone, and the female fox, who slowly discovers true love in him even while tormented by sorrow over her comrades' death. This is the 6th work in "The Lion Books" series. It is also the first attempt by visualist Tezuka Makoto, Tezuka's older son, to render an original of his father's into an animated version. Well, Tezuka pulls out some old father's work, but it's not something special, don't know why to spend 25 minutes on it at all. There's just nothing gained after it, resolution is just bad.   Overall Rating: 5/10

13. Kiss wa Hitomi ni Shite キッスは瞳にして [Madhouse] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Shoujo Drama, Romance High school student Morisato Ibuki has a startling dream about kissing a prince on a white horse. The next day, the prince from her dream, Ebisu Naoto, shows up as a transfer student at her school and a guest at her house. He had indeed kissed her, in an attempt to wake her up in the morning, although he claims that she kissed him. Ibuki is smitten with Naoto, but he seems to have other commitments, to American football and to a mysterious girl called Kawahara Izumi. Meanwhile, Nitta, a shy boy in Ibuki's class, has a crush on her. Will true love eventually find a way? Being cut as at is with dream about a prince on a white horse it's full of usual shoujo stamps and due to 30 minutes length there's no time to transform that impression already. But it has time to insert some song in the middle. In this state it's nothing worthy to talk about.   Overall Rating: 5/10

14. Oedo wa Nemurenai! お江戸はねむれない! [Madhouse] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Shoujo Historical Drama, Fantasy We are now in the early 18th century, the Kyouhou era, when the merchant culture was flourishing. In Yoshiwara, the red light district of Edo, there is a popular courtesan with good looks and character, called Usugumo. She in fact is a daughter of a Christianized prostitute and Tokugawa Yoshimune (who was a real historical character and the 8th Shogun of Japan), but the power struggle in these times doesn't allow her to be with her father. Her fate is about to change when she meets the blond haired thief, Kikunosuke. With Kikunosuke, a doctor named Aoto Touichirou, who uses the yet unfamiliar Western medicine, and her pet cat, Kotetsu, Usugumo forms a thief group, the Kikugumi. In the meanwhile, a member of a mysterious group appears, aiming for Usugumo... Again, just 30 minutes, and very little explanation. As a result, it's a series of seemingly random clashes with new and new characters jumping out all the time, also a good doze of cringe with battle dolls.   Overall Rating: 5/10

15. Mellow 女郎 [めろう] [KSS] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Seinen Crossdressing, Delinquents, School Comedy A story about a crossdressing teacher handling a delinquent class. Based on the same-name seinen manga by Rin Kasahara. Not translated. Protagonist cross-dresses to hide from yakuza and uses skills gained in the underworld to deal with delinquent class. It barely has anything of notice except eternal trap flashes and stupidest imaginable "humor".   Overall Rating: 4/10

16. Naniwa Kinyuu Den: Minami no Teiou 難波金融伝 ミナミの帝王 [KSS] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Seinen Comedy, Drama The story centers around Ginjirou Manda, a loan shark who charges toichi — 10% more interest every 10 days, or 365% every year. Thanks to his unrelenting money-collecting tactics, he is feared as Minami no Oni or the Demon of Osaka's Minami business district. Not translated. Original was live action, and this is kinda its continuation. I don't see the point why would someone want to see one yakuza-like person claiming debts from other yakuza-like persons.   Overall Rating: 4/10

17. Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor 2 the Movie 機動警察パトレイバー2 the Movie [Bandai Visual] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Detective, Mecha, Military Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi Three years after the Babylon Project conspiracy is resolved, the members of Kiichi Gotou's Patlabor unit have gone their separate ways. Gotou remains with the Patlabor team, accompanied by Shinobu Nagumo, his romantic crush and comrade. Playing into the public's skepticism toward the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, a terrorist organization begins to work from within the military to cause destruction and mass civil unrest throughout Japan. Nagumo learns that the mastermind behind the growing terrorist plot is none other than Yukihito Tsuge, her former mentor and lover. Gotou reassembles his former Patlabor team, spearheaded by pilot Noa Izumi. Leading the team into a mission to arrest Tsuge, Nagumo must come to terms with her complicated past relationships in order to save Japan. It has very little to do with Patlabor franchise since mecha show up for a very little time and all the goofy attitude vanished without trace. It's a serious conspiracy story that in the end allowed its spiritual successor GITS with its tachikomas to truly shine. A lot of interesting visual instruments are used to make constant talks and observation of landscapes less boring. It was still relatively boring for me, even most vague GITS movies never could afford such slow pace.   Overall Rating: 7/10

18. Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho (Movie) Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie 幽☆遊☆白書 [Pierrot] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Shounen Martial Arts, Mythology Action, Adventure, Comedy, Supernatural Yusuke Urameshi is not exactly what you'd call an angel. In fact, some might call him down right devilish. But when he dies in an accident trying to save a child, he finds himself in the Spirit World. Unfortunately for Yusuke, his name is not listed in the Book of Enma, which means it was one big mistake! So he should return from the Spirit World, but must pass a few tests first, and become a detective of the spiritual world. So now Yusuke works in the Spirit World as a half-dead, half-alive agent for Koenma, son of the ruler of the Spirit World. This position does have its disadvantages, especially when you're trying to enjoy your summer vacation and Koenma gets kidnapped! So now Yusuke must interrupt his summer fun to find Koenma and trade the Golden Seal of King Enma for his life. But if someone other then King Enma has the Golden Seal there will be chaos in the Spirit World! What's a half-dead spirit detective to do? With the aide of his closest allies, Yusuke sets off for Magma Valley, to save the life of the one who saved his, and find out who's at the bottom of this evil conspiracy. It's called movie with 24 minute length... suuure. All it has is action that is probably important in the course of the series , but was hardly of significance for me. There's even no humor, nothing to add scores for .   Overall Rating: 5/10

19. Crayon Shin-chan Movie 01: Action Kamen vs. Haigure Maou 映画 クレヨンしんちゃん　アクション仮面ＶＳハイグレ魔王 [Shin-Ei Animation] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Seinen Action, Adventure, Comedy By finding a rare Action Kamen card, Shinnosuke Nohara and his family end up being chosen to go to a parallel world and help foil an alien invasion that is occurring over there. It's inevitable that density of jokes suffers if one story takes 90 minutes instead of 7 minutes. I was actually happy to learn more about Action Kamen and kindergarten director. There was quite a number of solid jokes in the course. Being enjoyable is all that matters in the end.   Overall Rating: 7/10

20. Ohoshi-sama no Rail Rail of the Star: A True Story of Children お星さまのレール [Madhouse] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Historical Drama This is the autobiographic tale of Kobayashi Chitose, a young Japanese girl growing up in a Japanese-occupied North Korea. As World War II progresses, Chitose begins to realize that her family will not be able to escape the effects of the conflict. From the simple disappointment of not being able to get the type of backpack she wants for school, to her father's recruitment as a soldier, the war begins to impact her life in a very real manner. But the end of the war does not mean the end of hardship for her. The Koreans, fed up with years of Japanese rule and persecution, have joined forces with a Chinese-backed communist government and are systematically making life a living horror for the Japanese left in North Korea. Fearing reprisal since he was a Japanese veteran, Chitose's father risks everything to get his family out of the north and to the US-occupied area south of the 38th parallel. A surprisingly decent autobiography during WWII. But real lives are rarely interesting, to be honest. I can't sympathize with such things as not getting the rucksack she liked or getting a needle wound or having her toy crushed by Koreans forcing to evacuate... Bigger events are shown through the prism of small events like that. And of course there's no real climax, no real resolution, so nothing outstanding.   Overall Rating: 6/10

21. Chuumon no Ooi Ryouriten (1993) 注文の多い料理店  [-] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Fantasy, Horror, Supernatural Two gentlemen from the city go out hunting. After getting lost on a mountain road they found a cheap restaurant. But everything is not as it seems. A 20 minute fairy-tale about tanuki and hunters, nothing to see here.   Overall Rating: 5/10

22. Rokudenashi Blues 1993 ろくでなしBLUES 1993 [Toei Animation] (Finished 0/1) Tags: Shounen Combat Sports, Delinquents, School Action, Comedy, Drama, Sports Sequel to the Rokudenashi Blues movie. Not found.   Overall Rating: 0/10

23. Tsuru ni Notte: Tomoko no Bouken On A Paper Crane: Tomoko's Adventure つるにのって とも子の冒険 [Mushi Production] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Drama A young girl named Tomoko visits the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. There she has a mysterious meeting with Sadako, the little girl who was 2 years old when the U.S. dropped the bomb on her city during WWII and 11 when she died from the effects of radiation poisoning. Sadako takes Tomoko on an eye-opening journey. It's 27 minutes long and does not have sub version as of now, only dub one, which is a lot worse, as usual. It's literally an anime about playing with the girl statue that sort of comes to life and seeing those days through statue girl's eyes. And radiated girl is happy, because her country does not have to wage wars ever again... sure... it's too cheesy, really.   Overall Rating: 5/10

24. Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle バトルファイターズ餓狼伝説 [Studio Comet] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Shounen Martial Arts Action, Adventure, Drama After defeating Geese Howard, legendary fighter Terry Bogard faces German warrior Wolfgang Krauser, only to suffer a humiliating defeat. Depressed by his loss, Terry wanders around the country, wasting his life through drinking. Only a young boy named Tony can convince Terry to go back to his winning ways, conquer his fears, and once again face Krauser. Original was horrible. This one has at least logical development and some character introduction. In the end it's still poorly staged fighting anime with possible appeal only for series fans.   Overall Rating: 5/10

25. Hiroshima ni Ichiban Densha ga Hashitta ヒロシマに一番電車が走った [Madhouse] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Historical Drama The story follows a girl who works on a streetcar both before and after the bomb drops on Hiroshima. Not translated. The adult protagonist already makes it decent, lol. It's mostly 30 minutes of talks, though, so not outstanding yet again.   Overall Rating: 6/10

26. Mikan Enikki Specials みかん絵日記 [Nippon Animation] (Finished 2/2) Tags: Shoujo Pets Comedy, Slice of Life An extra episode and a special of the Mikan Enikki series included as a bonus on VHS/DVD's. First special is about English and a bit about romance, so has very little humor. Second special is less than 15 minutes and about just a... parrot, another miss, so overall specials are decent at best.   Overall Rating: 6/10

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