Gall Force: Eternal Story (1986) Anime Movie Review

The Gall Force multimedia franchise started out as a 3D photo novel published in Model Graphix magazine. It featured a group of female soldiers designed by Kenichi Sonoda in spaceships battling monsters. The ship designs were also seen as an attraction due to the model kit design inclinations of the magazine. Not long after, a feature length movie made by Artmic, AIC and Youmex, directed by Katsuhito Akiyama (Sol Bianca, Bubblegum Crisis, Battle Athletes daiundôkai) and written by Sukehiro Tomita (writer for the Sailor Moon anime and movie trilogy) was released in 1986, basically rebooting the storyline and lore of Gall Force and adding several new characters.

The story presents an intergalactic conflict between the Paranoids, mechanical aliens, and the Solanoids, female humans. During an outer space battle, the Star Leaf starship is set to defend the planet Chaos from the Paranoids. Its crew of seven consists of officer Eluza, second-in-command Rabby, officers Catty, Pony, Patty, Ensign Rumy and a rogue pilot named Lufy who crashlands on the ship. The cosmic soldiers unite to obey their orders coming from the high ranking leaders, but a secret and mysterious conspiracy unfolds, which can change the course of the war and the fate of the races in conflict.

You'll be hard pressed to find a weirdest and yet more typical example of what anime is. You have a group of cute-looking animated girls in warfare against humanoid creatures in a surreal and outlandish storyline involving not only the usual space opera tropes but also dreamlike visuals and a plot involving the creation of mankind along with unexplained or ambiguous moments that make you think not only about the garden of Eden but also about life and humanity with j-pop music rocking on the soundtrack. This has always been a strange movie to me because of this odd mix of what can only be boiled down to being personal obsessions or metaphysical ideas in the vessel of an action sci-fi anime movie. However, is not that out-of-nowhere considering the peculiar elements in the original Sailor Moon trilogy by the same writer, there's that touch of vagueness and profundity inside a cute genre story that you don't really see often.

The characters are all solid and instantly recognizable. Sonoda did a great work with the designs and they translated as beautifully as the designs for Bubblegum Crisis and Gunsmith Cats would be years later. While there are distinct enough personalities among the members of the group, none of the characters get any particular psychological focus outside of some moments but part of the beauty of the film is how each one of them is part of a larger whole that must organize in order to achieve things. We do get to see them with their own personal struggles for brief moments but they ultimately get their defining traits based on what function they have inside their faction and community. By trying to relate this to the history of humanity and the genesis of the human race I can't help but to think that this collectivist attitude is present throughout. I also wanna add that the nudity seems less exploitative than in other shows and feels more like a way to show either vulnerability or the beauty of the human form.

When it comes to the animation department I have nothing but praise for the incredibly detailed spaceships and monster designs. The flashy lights and dynamically animated intergalactic movements of the ships, the explosions, lasers and the beautiful landscapes it illustrates are all expertly crafted and wonderful. The first massive space battle is a highlight. All of the voice actors are also solid, perfectly delivering their lines with enough emotion to charge their characters with a sentimentality that really moves you. 

The movie never drags nor becomes repetitive because there is always some fascinating twist or new dramatic scenario that captivates you, one moment you will be in the heat of a space missile fight, then you will be inside a ship as a monster lurks around, and next thing you know you are seeing the girls survive in a paradisiac land. The solid pacing along with the splendid visuals are what drive the movie along with the sweet music by Ichizō Seo. It's a technical marvel that was released the same year as another anime staple from the time known as Project A-ko. 

I definitely recommend this first Gall Force entry for any newcomer to the franchise or to a veteran anime fan who hasn't seen it in a while. It's a beautiful anime sci-fi experience.

They Will Kill You (2026) Movie Review

They Will Kill You is a 2026 action horror film directed by Kirill Sokolov and co-written by Alex Litvak. It stars Zazie Beetz, Myha'la, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette. Produced by Andy and Barbara Muschietti, via their company Nocturna, and distributed by New Line Cinema.

Asia Reaves (Beetz) escaped from an abusive household in her youth and now works as a housekeeper in a strange New York City high-rise, but unbeknownst to her, the building hides a sect of devil-worshippers who are bent on committing a bloody sacrifice.

While you might expect some kind of grindhouse-style wild and exaggerated action flick judging by the trailer and the tone this film presents itself with, in the end the influence isn't so much exploitation cinema itself, but rather, the films that were already paying homage to cult films. The needle drops, the camera movements and the type of shots are all reminiscent of Kill Bill and Django Unchained. They Will Kill You takes more influence from Tarantino and the likes than anything else. It's the homage to the homage dressed in a layer of modern day preoccupations with race, trauma, a tragic past linked to social issues and even fights between the economic classes. Nothing of this is really pointed out by the film itself but the implications in the film's storytelling elements are pretty evident.

The main story is pretty straightforward, deliberately simple and direct so the filmmakers can construct a variety of action set-pieces with almost absurd levels of violence on display, which are truly the main focus of the movie. This deranged blood-soaked violence is honestly kind of weightless and too wacky to fully work, people will get their body parts cut off with no effort and while the choreographies themselves aren't bad, the way the script resolves the action sequences isn't very satisfying the majority of the time. The CGI gore isn't bad, and there's a fair amount of practical special effects, but the way the film is shot and color corrected makes it feel a bit dry and lacking flavor, something the Tarantino films had.

The bizarre antics and inner workings of the villains is just a very controlled attempt at being insane, the ludicrous final fight scene had its fun moments but the forced looniness of it never actually registers as genuinely mad, it's just juvenile and slightly weird, this is especially the case if you have seen a lot of faux grindhouse movies that truly commit to the over-the-top factor and give you some unreal and demented images. This film never actually goes out of its way to achieve that, but it's a film that works well since the actors are competent, the effects are well made, the brawls and fights are dynamic and fast, sometimes even creative. It's nothing else but an entertaining popcorn movie, not that it tried to be anything but that, but it can only reach that level.

Outside of some reservations, I do recommend the film as it's a very effective fun romp from beginning to end, only ninety minutes and ultraviolent. You can't really go wrong with it if you know what to expect.

AD Police Files (1990) Anime OVA Review

AD Police Files is a three-episode OVA series from 1990 that takes place in the same universe seen in Bubblegum Crisis, it’s actually a prequel, something evident since it revolves around Boomers, and produced by the same company but done by a different creative team to keep the franchise alive. It's hard to say that it fits our blog because it doesn't have the main group of girls as protagonists, it really only features a few characters from the original show, like Leon, but it's quality makes it worthwhile as it is mostly an anthology series focusing on a different case involving the fictional police force, the ADvanced Police, from the franchise.

In the first episode, The Phantom Woman, some officers encounter a horny prostitute boomer who get her biochemical balance all screwed up because of her sexual desire, setting her loose and going into killing sprees. In the second episode, The Ripper, a serial killer stabs and mutilates girls, a young policewoman is on the case as she believes the culprit is human due to the sensation that there are feelings involved. The third episode, The Man Who Bites His Tongue, is basically the animated cliffnotes of Robocop, but evil, showing an officer named Billy being turned into a Boomer and losing his humanity and self-control. This last one is probably the weakest because it's kind of derivative but it's still very well done.

Ultra-gory, deranged and grotesque, this untamed OVA series is kind of a very strange concentration of the things that were presented in Bubblegum Crisis but condensed in a shorter running time and increasing the filth, devoid of any established main character and nearly completely undomesticated. Right out of the gate we are presented with violent and bloody images that add to its grisly tone, mixing in some sleazy eroticism and sexual references or allusions throughout.

The fact that it's a very short anthology series, completely episodic, means that you won't get to really relate or know the protagonists to a deeper degree but in 20 minutes you understand them because of the very on point and well-crafted storyline and characterizations that allow the characters to breathe and live in such a short span of time. The length isn't an issue when it comes to simply being entertained by the show but I do wish they delved deeper into the potentially interesting characters, like the police lady with a robotic arm or the sweet officer from the second one. They have what it takes for a complete series or at least to carry a movie or longer OVA but here they are essentially just minor compared to the plot, which is the focus.

While not entirely successful, this attempt at expanding the world of Bubblegum Crisis will probably deliver the treats as the animation and subject matter are both juicy but you won't get to invest much in the storylines as they go by pretty fast. Recommended if that's what you are looking for.