Project A-ko Versus (Project A-ko: Uncivil Wars) is a 1990 action sci-fi anime OVA mini-series divided in two parts: Grey Side and Blue Side and is a reboot of the Project-Ako film and OVA series. It was directed by Project A-ko's original director Katsuhiko Nishijima and written by newcomers Yuji Kawahara and Shôichi Tsuji. The cast includes Miki Itô, Emi Shinohara, Michie Tomizawa, Kazuo Oka and Tesshô Genda. These OVA'S are basically unrelated in plot and characters but they do retain the same designs and part of the energy of the original, transplanting the girls into a sci-fi setting.
In an undetermined intergalactic setting, A-ko and B-ko are two space bounty hunters who catch giant creatures in a desert planet. Fate has in store for them more than what they can chew as they find C-ko, a small princess kidnapped by space pirates. What begins as a simple crime turns out to be a menace for the universe as a powerful sorceress possesses C-ko's body and gets her evil plans going.
Continuing the Project Ako franchise by making a straight science fiction story with little to no resemblance to the original concept was quite a wild move on their part because this really could have been titled just about anything else and it still would have made sense and be understood, it didn't need to have any connection to the Ako series whatsoever. Having said that, what we do get is quite cool on its own. Yeah, it stands apart from the franchise but fits perfectly into the landscape of anime shows with female friendships at their core, having A-ko and B-ko be more similar to Kei and Yuri from Dirty Pair than their original incarnations. C-ko is also shown as an actual small child which makes her usual behaviour make more sense even if she is dumbed down and aged down explicitly in the story. The three are cute together and have some hilarious moments.
The new villains are very cool, particularly Liza Chichi, who engages in awesome combats with A-ko, who still has super human abilities in this version but not in an overpowered way as she has to put up a fight against Liza. The action sequences are expertly crafted and dynamically boarded with very smooth animation once again. The change of setting makes things be a bit more generic, we see space shuttles and some typical desolated planets instead of the high school, so that type of contrast gets mostly lost on the change of setting but we do get some notable fight scenes sprinkled with some spicy touches, so it's a bit faithful to the spirit of Project A-ko in that regard.
Blue Side has a lot of great moments, but the set up of Gray Side I found to be the most engaging, especially because it all seemed to build up to something outstanding or at least an exciting climax with a lot more action and stakes, and while we do get a good ending I think the writers were hoping for more OVA episodes that never came because the way these conflicts are resolved don't really close much and it all feels too scrambled and loose to be a proper ending. I could see the rivalry between A-ko and the blondie get more complex or reach a more impactful breaking point if they had gotten more episodes.
It's overall a very highly recommended OVA series but don't expect to come back to the same characters in the Project A-ko saga, because you are not, you are gonna be exposed to a brand new universe that is a lot of fun on its own.
No comments:
Post a Comment