Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.

Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.

Prefectural Earth Defense Force Review

They can't all be diamonds in the rough.

The anime starts with a dream sequence of an anime we'd rather watch as reality comes crashing down when an Indian student involved in an accident gets enhanced into a cyborg in order to copy the Six Billion Dollar Man, (no really that's the actual reason) but the Indian man Karmi escapes from the hospital to hide out at the local school, his creation was done by the Telephone Pole Gang who not wanting to go too big too soon decides they want to just take over the prefecture, to combat this villainy are the Prefectural Earth Defense Force who actually don't do anything as the focus shifts to the actual scene stealer, pink haired villain Baradagi.
After a few failed attempts the gang create another cyborg from the director's daughter but that ends up failing also, attempts to restore the cyborg's original bodies ends in them being gender swapped although they seem to accept their fate later. The anime closes with Baradagi dating the lead Earth Force member and a preview for a cancelled episode 4.
A weird setup for a gag comedy but one that contains setups in villains that wouldn't become popular until the 2000s.
Starting small like Dr Doofenshmirtz and having nameless minions be comic relief like Despicable Me.
It had a few good ideas but the show I wanted was what it opened up with, it seems like a waste considering how hard they went in creating the opening sequence and the actual Earth Defense Force seemed like a decent punch.
Bit too late for licensing by ADVFilms to really give it the gag dub it should've had, would've made the experience more bearable.
Final Verdict: Made the fatal mistake of showing what could've been before showcasing the actual anime, it's not terrible but hardly worth your time either.

Ah My Goddess Movie Review

Wasn't planning on this review but considering what's going on here right now, it's more special than you think.

The movie starts with a fairy named Morgan Le Fay attempting to release a god known as Celestin who was the mentor of Belldandy, upon reuniting with the former mentor, Celestin infects Belldandy with a virus in an attempt to hack the Yggdrasil goddess system in an attempt to bring down heaven, this causes Belldandy to lose her memories of Keiichi with much of the film attempting to retrieve Belldandy's memories while Morgan attempts to prevent it.
Desperate to succeed, Celestin resorts to taking over Keiichi's body in order to trigger the full collapse of heaven, it's only when Belldandy saves Celestin from Gungnir that he has a change of heart as the sister goddesses unit in song to restore the World Tree in a glorious finale of song.
The film is a reminder of how poor a character Belldandy is as she seems to keep getting dragged into heavenly conflicts, the film is needlessly dramatic as Belldandy is pulled into each scenario at rapid pace, it's messy and treads ground that the OVA already covered.
On the plus side the finale more than makes up for the lacklustre story with some epic scale in animation.
Dubbing is fine I guess, Urd is always good, Celestin sells his performance, Belldandy is poor.
Final Verdict: It never really fixes the problems the OVA had with it's story, plot and characters but it does pull it together for the finale.

The reason I reviewed this, because the day this film aired, theOtaku was born, 22 years later it still continues to be a place that I can express my thoughts on anime, I can only thank you for allowing me to keep writing.
Happy Birthday theOtaku!

Maris the Chojo Review

Funny how wrestling keeps sneaking into these mid 80s anime.

Some background first, Maris the Chojo was part of an anthology series of one shot mangas by Rumiko Takahashi called Rumic World. Of the collection, four stories were turned into OVAs.
Mermaid Forest: A horror fantasy revolving round Japan's interpretation of Mermaids.
Laughing Target: A horror in which a jealous demon woman attempts to steal her betrothed from a rival girl.
Fire Tripper: A gas explosion sends a girl to feudal Japan, the ideas were recycled into Inuyasha.
And today's subject Maris the Chojo or Supergal, the Chojo name was to avoid a lawsuit from DC on Western release.
Maris works as a member of the special galactic police force alongside her kitsune partner Murphy (who is Irish for some reason) However Maris is a Thanatosian, a race of humanoids with ridiculous strength six times that of normal humans, (about 5700 Newtons or 1284 Pounds of force) because of this strength, Thanatosians have to wear power restraits, especially as the race's planet was destroyed and all of them are refugees.
Maris used to be a wrestler but struggles with money troubles as she unintentionally destroys everything she touches, not helping her is an alcoholic Dad and a shopping obsessed ditzy Mum who keep mooching money off her.
Maris lucks out when a mission involves saving a kidnapped billionaire playboy but said playboy's kidnapper is a rival Thanatosian wrestler, leading to more trouble.
This should've been handled by the Dirty Pair creator really, mostly because Rumiko Takahashi really sucks at Sci Fi writing, even Urusei Yatsura is far from being a Sci Fi despite Lum and her race being aliens themselves.
Maris has no redeeming features as a character seeing as her calamities are mostly self inflicted, if she were a little more competent her antics would be more palatable.
The OVA isn't outright terrible and there are things that can be salvaged, it's got a decent soundtrack, the story at least makes sense, the lore is sound and Murphy is if Jacksepticeye voiced Rocket Racoon.
Speaking of the dub, it's passable considering how old the dub is.
Final Verdict: A pretty okay anime but it's clear Rumiko Takahashi has no talent for Sci Fi writing, not helped by a piss poor lead character.

Angel's Egg Review

I'm really not the type to review these titles.

Angel's Egg invites the viewer to peer through the lense of an apocalyptic looking world in which a young girl is seen looking after an egg only getting through each day by scavenging food, her only interaction is with a young man who witnesses many phenomena including shadowy fisherman chasing after ancient fish.
After a discussion about the tale of Noah's Ark and the fate of the dove that was sent out, the man destroys the egg leading the girl to chase after the man only to descend into a chasm. The lasting image is of an older version of the girl as a statue among the many figures on the spherical spaceship seen landing at the start of the film, as if it was coming to collect her.
Using the Noah's Ark story as a base as that's the only real major dialogue in this 70 minute feature, the film is describing what happened to those not on Noah's Ark, the figures of all those who perished in the form of statues, including the girl who saw over the egg at the end.
It's an art nouveau piece that allows each viewer a chance to give their own interpretation of what is seen on screen, no review, not even this one will do this film justice.
I cannot give my usual review points here, it's pointless to even bring up a dub either as there is only one paragraph of dialogue to work with.
Final Verdict: The only thing you can do is watch it yourself and draw your own interpretation of the film before you.

Space Family Carlvinson Review

Wasn't expecting to review anything today, but here we are.

Out in the galaxy is a theatre troupe of aliens known as the Saucer family, their relaxation is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a spaceship that crashes into them sending it onto the planet Anika.
A lone female baby survives the crash and with no one else willing to take care of the child, the appropriately named Mother steps in with her troupe to raise the baby.
Five years on and the human child named Corona is set for Kindergarten with Mother all to aware that her species will find her and take her home.
There really isn't much to this anime, the only thing to note is that you are watching an adorable little girl do adorable things, it's a silly slice of life that doesn't need much to be decent, in fact it's existence is a miracle in itself as it was lost media for a while until Kenny Lauderdale on YouTube reviewed it.
Obviously going to be no dub but I've been proven wrong before.
Final Verdict: A cute slice of life anime with an adorable lead character and a bunch of wacky aliens to keep it all lighthearted.
Note: I will say this, the title sucks; why name your anime after an American aircraft carrier who is named after a congressman who played a vital role in defeating Japan in World War II?
Space Troupe Family Robinson would be more appropriate or Corona no Hibi.