This new Vampirella Christmas Special was written by Frank Tieri (several Deadpool comics, Red Sonja comics, Vampironica New Blood) and illustrated by Mariano Benitez Chapo (Savage Tales 2022) and Pasquale Qualano (Hell Sonja, Samurai Sonja, Gargoyles Quest, Harley Quinn Road Trip Special).
First we see Vampirella arrive at a house just in time to save some kids from an evil, bloodthirsty Santa Claus with fangs. We are introduced to the narrator: Snowman Steve, who tells the story of how this came to be. Elves and workers at Santa's workshop have been dying recently, a vampire is the prime suspect. However, Ms. Claus doesn't believe it. Vampirella is then called in to stop the newly vampiric Santa Claus once and for all.
It's a hilarious and irreverent Christmas satire, it hits all the expected bits (Santa's workshop being exploitive, Santa being sleazy with a bad marriage) but executes the jokes with such good writing that it makes them refreshing once more. Some quick and witty humor, sometimes with references but never to an annoying degree.It's short but charismatic, Vampirella is her usual cheeky self and causes a lot of carnage.
It's a clever and well done alternative Christmas special that its audience can appreciate. If you like Vampirella, you can get this one and have a good time.
Bubblegum Crisis was a Japanese OVA cyberpunk series created by Toshimichi Suzuki. It follows a group of women who dress up in mechanical exoskeletons, they are known as the Knight Sabers, and battle against biomechanical villains (mainly robotic beings named Boomers) in a futuristic Japan in the not-too-distant future year of 2032. The concept was tested by Suzuki in 1982 as Techno Police 21C, which had a similar concept. Suzuki took inspiration from a variety of sci-fi action media like Streets of Fire, Blade Runner and maybe a bit of Mad Max, to the point of recreating the opening sequence of Streets of Fire in this first episode, which makes for a highlight.
The central characters are all distinct and colorful (literally), all of them designed by the great Ken'ichi Sonoda (Gunsmith Cats, Gall Force, Wanna-Be’s).
We have Priss, a singer and dancer who also likes motorcycles and is sort of the focus of the show. There's Sylia, the leader of the Knight Sabers and daughter of the scientist who created the Boomers. Syl has the technology to fight the creatures and runs a lingerie shop as a cover. Linna is a stylish but formal woman, an aerobics instructor who was recruited. Nene is a short, pink haired girl who works for the police force. Mackie is the male of the team and he is an assistant (works mostly from the headquarters). A very lovely line up that we will explore in the following retrospectives.
This first episode introduces us to the world in quite an astounding way. A lot of establishing shots and a captivating sequence that features Priss preparing for her show and singing Hurricane. At the same time, there's a boomer attack that's stopped by one of the Knight Sabers in their iconic armor. After the concert, Priss encounters policeman Leon McNichol, who develops a crush on her.
The girls meet and discuss their next mission: to rescue a mysterious little girl named Cynthia, but the strange thing is that the kidnappers happen to be Boomers (that's not the only surprise).
It's hard to do justice to these classics, but I gotta say that it's praised and placed among the very best OVA anime series that you can find for many good reasons. I loved the simple but effortlessly conveyed story that is impeccably illustrated and expressed by its gorgeous visuals, via dynamic, detailed and fluidly animated action sequences. The tone that it manages to create purely on audiovisual terms is both melancholic, energetic, dazzling and rhythmic.
You can see that Priss takes pretty much center stage here, indicating that she is gonna be the main character, the director seems to be very much in love with her as well. Not a bad choice but, as we will see, all of the girls will get their time to shine. We get to see some of their dramatic backstories (mostly Sylia's) as well as comedic moments done through silly decisions that say a lot about the characters involved.
At 47 minutes this episode is a bit packed because it has to establish and set up a lot of stuff, like the world, the characters, backgrounds, the politics, the lore and the dynamics between all of those things and how they relate to each other. A great start that I totally recommend to anyone interested.
The China O'Brien franchise began when film company Golden Harvest decided to make Cynthia Rothrock a bigger star in America. They hired director Robert Clouse and shot back-to-back the movie and its sequel. The first movie was a good addition to the action film genre, but it wasn't anything truly special. Let's see how this sequel fares.
China (Rothrock) is doing some good work as the new Sheriff of Beaver Creek, but the quiet town gets shaken by the appearance of a drug kingpin that uses it as a hideout. So China must get back in gear and fight more criminals.
It's basically a perfect continuation of the first movie. By that I mean that it's just as clumsy and competent to the same degree as the last one, with the same kind of flaws and good moments overall. However, the fights are less dynamic, less exciting, and the drama isn't as refreshing because now we have the same generic dialogue sequences that have less of an impact because it's more of the same.
With a lot of padding, silly deviations from the main plot, crazy moments that come out of nowhere (like the striptease at the start), this sequel brings everything down a few notches by not adding a whole lot new (some sequences are so similar and so disposable that you could splice them into the first movie without much trouble, there's even a flashback that reuses some footage from the first one as filler) and offering weaker versions of scenes we already saw before.
I will say, however, that even with these flaws, you do kind of get to have a better grip on who these characters are and you also get some sweet moments of China and her friends continuing their life at Beaver Creek, which is neat. None of this saves the film overall and it's not a huge part of the movie, but the local regional charm is there.
Only really recommended for those who already love the first China O'Brien movie and want to see more of action in that vein, and even for those who are Rothrock completists. This one is average but the fact that it is a direct sequel is actually sort of remarkable in the career of Rothrock and even the one from other martial artists.
