Rhea Gall Force (1989) Anime OVA Review

Rhea Gall Force is a 1989 action sci-fi war anime OVA that functions as a continuation of the Gall Force franchise following the events of the original trilogy. The same writer and director team up of Katsuhito Akiyama and Hideki Kakinuma was incharge of it, same animation director and character designer as well, with the voices of Michie Tomizawa, Eriko Hara, Naoko Watanabe, Hiromi Tsuru, Chieko Honda and Naoko Matsui.

Set years after the events of the original trilogy, in the year 2085, WWIII devastated a great portion of the planet and Paranoid technology found by a scientist brought an end to civilization as human guerrilla groups are fighting against the mechanical menaces previously used by humans but that turned on them. Sandy, a young and idealist soldier, meets with other humans in the resistance, such as Score, in order to leave Earth and survive as a species.

The post-apocaliptic arc begins. Everything we knew about Gall Force before isnt really that prominent here. There's no outer space battles, no all-female armies nor do we get a comedic relief or surreal imagery. The story turns into a very familiar plot about humans battling machines after civilization falls and there's only rubble and military resistance groups. I gotta say that this isnt a bad example of this type of fiction but the things that made Gall Force distinctive and original are almost gone.

Having said that, Rhea Gall Force it’s still a very solid OVA since the original team behind the last few entries worked on this one as well and you can tell that they had fun changing things up a bit by having different but well done characters designs, other beautifully illustrated locations and even some excellently storyboarded and directed action sequences in the ground as opposed to the starship fights from before, which is a nice change of pace, as good as those other battles were. A lot more bullet and machine gun action in this one, but it’s far from just being flashy spectacle, especially because the armed conflict still has some severe casualties and some intense moments of loss and death.

The main group is severely cut down and does not have as many interesting characters but the leading pair of heroines carry the OVA. Sandy is pretty much Rabby and Score is practically Lufy but she's good with guns instead of piloting. Their clashes are cute and even if very little time is spent fleshing them out, by the time Score congratulates Sandy after her mission is completed you do get to realize that they do get along after all, specially after sharing moments in combat. Aside from that, most of the characters are almost inconsequential, one-dimensional or empty, barely any of them have a set personality and others can feel stale and generic. This is most likely because of the short runtime and because the group mentality of the others is a major theme that still has resonance here.

The animation is pretty good, the movements of the robotic enemies are as neatly done as you expect from this team and the fluidity of the shootout sequences is appreciated, making things very appealing and smooth. The visuals and the animation are the strong points of this movie as a lot of effort was put into that department. Some corners are cut but it’s overall a very well made OVA.

I can totally recommend it to anyone looking for an action anime with a science fiction flavor to it. You don't even need to watch the other movies to understand the plot of this one since the scenario is so familiar and not much of the previous films is brought back or referenced directly, which is a good choice, making it stand alone for the most part. Fun characters and marvelous action.

Nemesis 3: Time Lapse (1996) Movie Review

Nemesis 3: Time Lapse (also known as Prey Harder) is a 1996 action sci-fi movie written and directed by Albert Pyun. This is the third entry in Pyun's Nemesis movie series which started in 1992. Part two, Nebula, changed the protagonist from Alex Rain to buff lady Alex Sinclair played by Sue Price, who would go on to reprise her role in part three, four and five. This third entry was shot back-to-back with part two, using the same locations in Arizona and some of the same cast with a few additions like Tim Thomerson, Jon H. Epstein, Ursula Sarcev, Norbert Weisser, Sharon Bruneau and Debbie Muggli.

The film continues right where the second one left off with Alex waking up and putting together all the things from the previous movie (there are some stock footage flashbacks). She realizes she has a half-sister named Ramie, actually she has about 20 half-sisters, but Alex is important because she has the ability to procreate and give birth to a new race of superhumans. She is also being chased by Nebula and the twins Lock and Ditko.

A lot of the same virtues present in the last films are repeated here but there are some considerable flaws that make it a step down from Nebula 2. Consider for example the somewhat extensive use of flashbacks with footage from the other film as a recap, showing you stuff that you already saw anyways. The atmosphere still feels desolated and empty in the environments but the side characters add some action and crowd the locations enough, making things more normal and rounded but less ethereal and unreal like in the second film.

The twists and pieces of new information are a mixed bag but they are really only added to extend the plot and come up with a new excuse to make the film longer. Most of the new characters are very dull and one-dimensional types who only play a small role and clutter the film by derailing the plot, the focus leaving Alex for a considerable amount of time and locking onto uninteresting side characters. However, the very best new characters are the ditzy twins that hunt Alex, Lock and Ditko (played by bodybuilders Sharon Bruneau and Debbie Muggli respectively), these silly muscle girls are hilarious and a very welcome addition to an otherwise by-the-numbers movie.

Things are getting slightly stale by this third movie, but when the film hits bullseye and works, it really works, arriving at some of the highlights of the series. Things are repeated and recycled, same places and faces for the most part, you pretty much have to take this film as one of those low budget entries in a series that were shot back-to-back and share the same attributes (Puppet Master and Trancers come to mind), if you pretty much accept that idea then you can enjoy this third film.

Inferior to the previous sequel but still entertaining to a balanced degree, Nemesis 3 has some sparks of brilliance under a derivative and barebones storyline. Some B-movie sci-fi schlock but without the most imaginative aspects or the serious plots of the best of its kind.