mbauer728

A forgettable, albeit not terrible, short OVA. The main problem is that it comes off feeling like an unsuccessful pilot episode. The reasoning for the main character doing what she's doing is never resolved, and as such it feels tacked on and unnecessary. Little is fleshed out, and while there's a couple of laughs, there's not much substance and it really isn't worth seeking out. It's ultimately harmless, though.

Ever wondered what a 70s Corman chase film might look like as an anime? Give this a look. The entire plot of some kids stumbling into something crazy which leads to tons of wacky, over the top chase scenes reminded me a lot of the Corman films of the 70s. The alien sub-plot is pretty second rate though, I'm not sure why they even went with it. Hell, I don't think those involved knew what to do with it, as the ending is incredibly flat and ultimately hurts an otherwise fun flick. I should also mention the animation style, which oozes cool. I honestly have never seen anything else like it. It's hard to describe, but at times it looks almost silhouetted, but with super high contrast colors. It genuinely looks like a moving comic book. If not for that awful ending, this would have scored higher.

Crazy 80s anime about people going nuts in space and getting massacred? Sign me up! Except this kind of sucked. The story was flat, the characters were all just fodder for getting killed, and by the end I had actually already started forgetting all about it. I may have liked this better if the copy I had wasn't super dark, which led to a lot of confusion in darker scenes where I couldn't see what was going on. Sadly, I don't think anyone will ever bother to remaster this, so as it stands, I'll likely never give this a second thought.

Your basic, generic "demon girl that becomes friends with humans and defends them from monsters" story. It doesn't help matters at all that this is 30 minutes and SUPER rushed. I actually thought it was based on a manga, and almost fan-service to those in the know, but I can't find any info in regards to it being a manga. It feels like they had a script for a much longer story and just jammed it into a half-hour. Some of these shorter OVA's still work as they come off as almost like a failed pilot episode, where funding fell through, but you still get a nice little introductory story. This though doesn't even have that. Something like Devil Hunter Yohko or Vampire Princess Miyu are much better choices in this same vein. Even at only 30 minutes, this felt like a waste of time.

When I choose to watch a sci-fi anime that takes place in space, I go into it expecting a certain style. What I don't expect is a deadly serious, hard sci-fi space opera that takes tons of inspiration from guys like Asimov, Kubrick and Wells. That's exactly what Space Fantasia: 2001 Nights is, and it caught me off guard. This is not something you see every day in anime; I don't need more than both of my hands to think of other anime films/series that use the genre in the same way. The film is really good, telling 3 interconnected short stories that span centuries and the universe itself. Nothing is taken for granted in this; the scenarios are grounded in science and realism like the bulk of early serious sci-fi is. It's all very artistic, heady, and speculative, and if you're into that type of sci-fi, you pretty much need to seek this out. It's almost a crime that I didn't know this even existed until a little over a month ago; why this has never once been licensed for release and officially translated into English is a real mystery, and a shame. I could see this having a large, vocal fanbase if more people were aware of it.

I saw this film at a film festival about 5 months or so ago, but since it's just now received a wide US release, I figured I'd post my thoughts. First off, I'd like to put out there I love horror films probably more than any other genre of film, and I really enjoyed Trainspotting and The Beach. Soooo...lets put those 2 elements together, and something great should come out, right?

Not exactly....

This movie is pretty awful. It starts off amazingly enough. The first 45 minutes are great. I was really drawn in, and was expecting to come out of this film with a good experience. But things began to go downhill, and quick.

The first 45 mins are a solid horror outing. There are some great scares, and an excellent atmosphere. Then we move into the second phase of the film, which is a road trip across the UK. Any horror or suspense, or just about anything really entertaining is lost here. But whatever, the movie hit a bump, and the climax should be better.

Not so. This is the worst part of the film. Here we turn a zombie horror flick into a military operation. At this point, the zombie's become null. The whole point of the film is lost. Instead of the zombie's being the problem, it's now the soldiers, and this is where the climax happens. We are no longer at all focused on the problem that started the film. It's almost like 2 different films smooshed together.

So in the end, the only thing worthwhile about this movie is the first 45 minutes. But with everything that goes on for the next 70 mins, those 45 mins don't matter at all. Pass on this one.

Final Verdict: 3 out of 10