Project A-ko 4: Final (1989) Anime OVA Review

Project A-ko 4 is a 1989 action comedy sci-fi anime OVA movie directed by Yuji Moriyama. The fourth Project A-ko OVA in the series is also the very last one in the original continuity. It features the voices of Miki Itō, Emi Shinohara and Michie Tomizawa. The screenplay was done by anime writer and producer Tomoko Kawasaki (Slayers OVAs, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Corpse Princess).

The aliens known as the Alpha Cygnans are back! Meanwhile, the girls' teacher, Miss Ayumi, has been behaving in unexpected and somewhat strange ways recently. A-ko and B-ko are still at each other's throats, mostly about Kei. C-ko feels sidelined and begins to feel distant to A-ko. Kei is getting married to the girl's teacher. The wedding gets crashed by the aliens, who are still looking for their princess, and all hell breaks loose during the final ceremony.

In this cornucopia of previously seen characters, conflicts, scenarios and jokes, the callbacks and familiar faces collide into one cohesive work that ties up and concludes this needless but enjoyable series of OVA sequels. A self-aware lampoon of the franchise itself as it drinks from its well in clever ways. It's a summary of all of Project A-ko's virtues and flaws in one final fun romp. Fast pace, nonsensical elements put together in a way that has them crashing down and breaking logic and reason. It's about what you expected for a proper sequel.

The characters are all their lovable usual selves while perhaps exhibiting slightly more unconventional facets, ones that feel natural and not as out of nowhere as in the third OVA. The plot points are honestly sort of arbitrary and the excess and the overflowing of characters and subplots could be a bit too much but they manage to mostly balance them out just fine by having a very solid structure that gives the proper time and place to everyone. A lot of this fits into the A-ko franchise by virtue of being carefree and more of a spoof of tropes rather than a straight reproduction of them but without degrading itself to be mocking or contemptful, much less cynical.

I enjoyed the reveals and the twists that they throw at you without warning. When it comes to the actual resolution I definitely think it's a satisfying one, it doesn't really break any continuity and goes back to the plot points that were added as a monkey wrench to disturb the stability of the first movie. Seeing how A-ko and C-ko end in this OVA is so adorable and moving. A lovely, comfortable ending that warms my heart. I came to realize that the actresses doing the voice work and the animators created very lovable and deeply engaging characters without much "profoundity" to them by simply having them exist and be so exuberant and full of personality, to the point where these crazy platonic lovers are the cutest thing imaginable.

If you made it all the way to the fourth OVA I think you will enjoy this one or just watch it regardless. It's one of the funniest ones and has a very good conclusion to the whole story. I do recommend it.

Rage and Honor (1992) Movie Review

Rage and Honor is an American action crime martial arts film written and directed by Terence H. Winkless. It stars the DTV action movie team up Cynthia Rothrock and Richard Norton, along with Terri Treas, Brian Thompson and Catherine Bach as a police chief. Interestingly enough, with this film Rothrock would start becoming an associate producer in a lot of her following films.

Schoolteacher and martial arts teacher Kris Fairfield (Rothrock) joins forces with justice-seeker policeman Preston Michaels (Norton) in order to eliminate a dangerous and powerful drug lord after a student gets murdered by the criminal gang.

The lack of Rothrock in favor of more protagonism for Norton is kind of what keeps this one from coming alive, especially at a time when Rothrock could carry a film by herself. However, the two do have some nice quips and their overall chemistry is endearing. Their moves are just as phenomenal as in other films, their fighting skills are top notch and the choreographies in this particular film are nothing short of competent and well done.  Unfortunately, the entire production is a very by-the-numbers affair, ending up as a very standard DTV product with little variety or changes.

Some stylistic flourishes are present, such as the handheld videocamera shots from the opening, which relate to a character in the movie, but not much is done with this device and when the character is practically out of the movie it just disappears. The rest is a very formulaic plot executed appropriately, only slightly memorable because of some peculiar scenes, like the alley fight with the female gang members, the slow motion sequence and the scene where Rothrock has to battle Norton. The climax is a bit underwhelming and the storyline isn't as engaging as other films of this kind but it's enjoyable as a beat 'em up flick.

Recommended for Rothrock completists and fans of cheesy action films from this era.

Project A-ko 3: Cinderella Rhapsody (1988) Anime OVA Review

Project A-ko 3: Cinderella Rhapsody is an action sci fi comedy anime OVA and a sequel to Project A-ko 2 (1987). Animation director Yuji Moriyama directs his second Project A-ko (1986) sequel. While the studio changed from A.P.P.P. to Studio Fantasia, a lot of the crew and cast came back including Miki Itō, Emi Shinohara and Michie Tomizawa. The screenplay was done by anime writer and producer Tomoko Kawasaki (Slayers OVAs, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Corpse Princess), which is weird because of the differences in characterization between this OVA and the movie, which she also wrote.

During Spring Break, A-ko decides it's time to stop hanging around with C-ko all the time and get a boyfriend. A-ko wants new clothes and gets a job in order to afford a new outfit. After an altercation, C-ko runs into the street and is almost run over by a motorcycle rider, C-ko was holding A-ko’s earring and drops it on the floor only to be picked up by the driver, Kei. A-ko then meets Kei and she falls instantly in love with him, much to C-ko's annoyance. B-ko also develops a crush on the male biker and plans to steal the man away from the redhead. When a mysterious invitation arrives, the girls get ready for the reopening of the alien resort from the last OVA hoping to get Kei to notice them. 

The love triangle seen in the other features was a solid one but now the writers tried to throw a monkey wrench and add a male love interest for the rival main girls. This sort of destabilizes the status quo and the typical formula a bit, but it creates a list of issues. The first one is that A-ko seems to be quite out of character as she perhaps wouldn't be falling madly in love with a random dude, nor do I think she would just decide to "be normal" and get away from C-ko just to meet a guy. She never struck me as boy crazy or something like that. It's not like we knew every facet of her before, and she was just a parody character after all, but there's something strange about seeing her act that way. I can buy it, however, because the pay off is worth it and everything works out in the end but boy is that a questionable decision.

Having said that, while the OVA money seems to be drying up a bit, this entry has some very good animated sequences with enjoyable destruction (even when the fights are lacking and brief), it continues in the tradition of adding fun references (even if most of them don't amount to much other than some admittedly funny gags), they do some good stuff with the secondary characters and the jokes, reactions and witty lines of dialogue can still be hilarious when they hit, which is often. So it's a well done sequel that simply has a somewhat misguided premise but in which the inner workings still function properly, even if the genius and novelty of the first movie is fading away a bit.

I also do appreciate how this new side of A-ko is awakened as she is seen behaving in an even more grounded or human way, especially after we see her at her fast food job and having money issues. This is honestly pretty sweet and shows how this character can live in the normal world and still have engaging problems in her stories. So I think that by this point, while still relying on the formula to a certain extent, the story potential for A-ko herself was slightly expanded upon.

It's a kind of daring way to break the mold a bit while still being faithful to what we have seen before in the series. It doesn't break what has been established and you can still have a lot of fun with it.