VANDREAD

A two season anime which came out around 2000 and 2001 consecutively having 13 episodes in each season and two ova which covers a summary and ova exclusive scenes of the series.

An anime series taking place in a far future where male and women are at war with each other and living on each of their own planet. Tarak for the male and Mejer for the female.

Two planets at war both planets inhabited by human species one planet Mejer an all-female planet and Tarak an all-male planet.

The two planets were colonized by humans who left earth hundreds of years ago looking for planets to colonize as earth is slowly dying due to over population and pollution. The planet Mejer and Tarak are just two of the colonized planets of the human species and no other alien species were introduced in the series. The colonization was later explained as a means of “farming” of the remaining humans on planet Earth as they “Harvest” each planets later on as it was explained by other humans and the data that team Vandread got while doing battle on what they thought were aliens.

Each planets harvested for specific organ, one planet for the spine, another for their voice, another for skin and so on. Planet Mejer and Tarak are being harvested for their genitals which I think was the reason why they were separated from the start I guess to preserve the organs like one planet who use telepathy because their voice are the ones that are being harvested.

The story has three male and a huge number of female characters stuffed together in one ship and forced to worked together in order to survive after they got thrown off in another part of the universe after getting blown off by a space missile and travelled by hyperspace or wormhole by accident.

There are a lot of characters to cover in this series not to mention a two season with 13 episode each, I will only cover some notable characters and events which I think will summarize the entire series.

The series mainly follows Hibiki Tokai one of the three male characters and the pilot of the vanguard or bangata a humanoid robot supposed weapon of the males to fight the females. He accidentally became the pilot of the bangata after accepting a dare from his fellow engineers on retrieving the marked bangata with his initials on it. He was exposed to a blue/white light along with three females Dita the youngest of the three dread pilots and is a UFO fanatic wanting to meet aliens (males) and the one who got a lot closer to Hibiki from the start to the end of the series. Meia a stiff and strict leader of the dread team and the trio dread pilots who also got exposed to the light emitted by the peksis. Lastly is Jura the bustiest member of the trio pilots who is also the classiest member of the entire female space pirates. The last THING that got exposed were the three dreads, the bangata and the navi droid now called PIYORO.

       

HIBIKI TOKAI                                            

After being exposed to the light Hibiki the pilot of the bangata that got exposed can combine with the three dreads and form three different modes with various functions for specific uses. The first to combine was Dita who pilots a blue dread and can combine with the bangata to form another bigger humanoid robot armed with two shoulder cannons which can also be used as arm blades or blasters. Mostly used in rescue missions and also the most common used of the three modes. It later got an upgrade after the red peksis incident in season two.

DITA

The second to combine was Meia who pilots the white dread and once combined transforms into a bird which I think is either a falcon or an eagle. This mode is basically for speed although it was used on one episode when both Hibiki and Meia had an argument with each other about males not needed in the operations of the females and the other is the Christmas episode where they worked together to take out a hidden enemy planning to surprise attack them while they are relaxing for Christmas.

MEIA

The third was Jura whose dread was as mentioned in the series the “ugliest” of the three modes as it turned into a crab. This form is more on defense and not much weaponry in this mode as well as the speed is not on par with the Meia configuration. This mode was able to shield an entire planet which they were trying to save as the atmosphere of the planet was not good for the humans causing them to be sick as they are born.

JURA and BARNET

The combined forms are called VANDREAD combination of BANGATA and DREAD thus VANDREAD. Three forms Vandread Dita the humanoid form, Vandread Meia the bird mode and Vandread Jura the crab mode. Later in the second season all four vehicles combined into one along with Pyoro who also got exposed in the light. Trying to call the combined form Vandread Pyoro but failed as it was called Super Vandread where all three individual abilities were combined into one. A humanoid from with speed and defense of the other two forms.

The other characters Duero the doctor and Bart the helmsman also have their own perks and their own moments to shine. Duero who got to shine in the first episode along with Hibiki was introduced to be like a mad doctor in the series and had growing interests in the female anatomy specially in the episode where one of the females was checked and he mentioned that a parasite is growing inside her which in turn was she was pregnant (yes pregnant and I am not sure how the heck it happened). Along with Duero he is often seen with either the young nurse Pai (she looks like Nico yes also her personality as an idol wannabe) and Parfet the engineer who later seemed to have a growing interest in Duero which was shown in an episode where the male room was flooded and that she offered Duero to stay with her while the room was being repaired but oddly Duero chose the clinic along with his odd equipment which showed the dismay in Parfet’s face.

DUERO

   
BART season 1 and 2 he shaved his head


BC (has a surprise)

Bart on the other hand was another character who grew in the series from the start as a loud mouth coward to an almost loudmouth almost courageous wise guy.  He is often the guy who voice out the demands of the male group also he was the one who promoted that both parties should work together in order to find a way to get back to their own star system. He took a liking to BC or Buzam the second in command of the entire female space pirate, who has a BIG SURPRISE in season two, yes that SURPRISE if you get my point.

The leader of the space pirate Maguno and also the pirates are called Maguno Pirates. She is more than a hundred years old and one of the “First Generation” of the female population of planet Mejer. The reason of her becoming a pirate was not really explained in the series.

MAGUNO

Other notable characters in the series are Gascogne the big muscled amazon in the pirate group who isin charge of the deployment of the dreads and also in charge of reloading the dreads while in mid combat so to compare her with a game character she is a tank/support character. The next character is Barnet a spunky pilot who is mostly seen alongside Jura which shows in the series as if they are in a relationship (don’t mind the same gender relationship in this series since the characters grew up in a culture where males and females grew up in two different planets and are waging war against each other). The next character is Ezra the only female pirate who became pregnant in which the issue of how the females reproduce really got me puzzled, the males reproduce via cloning by combining two male DNA in a factory and the females well they get pregnant by combining well cells from both eggs I think and also takes months before one is born. The next character is Rabat the Rat Merchant this guy is always trouble every time he shows up along with his female companions Butan who is an orangutan who every time she sees Pyoro always chase him. Misty is the last female and non Mejer character in the group in the series she is supposed to be the last human from earth and was sent in space hoping to find an answer to save the humans from extinction (I think that is her purpose).

So that was a rough summary and character introduction I can give for the series without giving too much spoilers for those who has not seen the series.

So the series is more like humans trying to save themselves from extinction by colonizing but later on finding out that Earth is slowly dying and the humans that stayed on the planet decided not to die and in order to survive they harvest parts from each planets for various organs to be used as spare parts for their own use.

I guess this is how the writer envisioned how humans will try to survive in the far future once earth starts to become a planet where humans cannot evolve in order to survive. Deciding to use colonization of other planets became an option but later on Earth humans decided not to die but to use the colonized planets to take the parts they need so they can survive and become like immortals. Brutal way to survive.

But all in all the series was an enjoyable series to watch from start to finish during its time in 2000 and 2001. An almost harem series during its time since from the start it is more like another Tenchi Muyo like series where the male character is suddenly surrounded by a number of female characters ganging up on him trying to win his heart. But this series is not like that in a way, the only female characters in the series out to win the heart of the male character are Dita and Jura, Meia was more like the equalizer of the supposed to be harem where she only comes to the male character when needed and tries to control the other two girls and make them concentrate on the battle or other situations on hand.

Not too ecchi or not too much skin is revealed in this series considering the tight suits the girls have been wearing in the entire run specially the sultry suit of Jura where she is almost naked because of the deep V neck and Barnet wearing an apron where I almost thought she was only wearing her panties but she was wearing a one piece backless body suit or leotard or whatever it is called.

So this series I can recommend to those looking for some classic sci fi anime series with a mix of comedy and action. Don’t expect too much skin in the series since they controlled the exposure and concentrated on the comedy action part which is fine with me.

So yeah another highly recommended anime for those looking for something different to watch.

CLASSIC CARTOON part 1

I grew up watching different and many cartoons and TV shows before being drawn to anime.

In RANDOM ORDER

A number of Cartoons which I remember watching will be listed.

1) MASK 

One of the cartoons that got stuck to me, a group of crime fighting heroes driving special vehicles that convert into an alternate form for combat. I had a toy or two way way back then which I played with until it got broken parts and well I don't know which box it was placed in the storage. Very entertaining and something I watch and wait for the next episode. Aired 1985 to 1986 and I think I got to watch this around early 90's in local network which I think was RPN 9 during that time as an afternoon cartoon I think. So yeah this is one of those cartoons  I watched back then.

2) INHUMANOIDS

Scientists wearing armors that looks like Ironman armor Mark I doing some exploration beneath the surface of the Earth and fighting against giant creatures that well rule the Underground world of the Earth.

3) SKY COMMANDERS

High tech mountain climbers armed with backpacks that shoots lines of ropes and traversing from one mountain to another while the villains use flying machines and use the lines of the good guys to travel as well.

4) POLE POSITION

Siblings driving high tech cars with A.I. computers or monitors which they attach to their respective cars and without those talking TV's the cars will not work, well they will work but not as efficient as it has to work.

5) JACE AND THE WINGED WARRIORS

I can hardly recall if I watched this one but I do recall watching with similar vehicles. But yeah this seemed really familiar to me and I have to dig more to watch this one again. Nice rides by the way.

6) SUPER MARIO BROTHERS SUPER SHOW

Saturday mornings were not complete for me when this was being aired. Live action Mario Brothers and later the cartoon starts, and before the show ends the actors come back to end the episode while eating pasta or whatever.

7) RAMBO

GET ME RAMBO!!! Still can remember that line every time Rambo is needed. Not much really to say about this series except I have seen both the cartoons and the movies

8) RAINBOW BRIGHT

Yeah I also watched this show back then, fun to watch I remember Rainbow Bright teaming up with a male character that uses stars as his power or weapon.

9) GI JOE

JOE - JOE!!! COBRAAA!!!! heheheh classic battle cries during my childhood and while playing with my GI Joe toys (I wonder where those are). I was choosing which opening to use and I guess this one is the best having to see both sides in battle while the theme song plays.

10) He-Man and She-Ra

the classic siblings separated and later ended up having the same destiny to protect and fight evil in their respective dimensions. He-man versus Skeletor and She-ra versus Hordac. recently He-man received a reboot of the series and also seen and yeah I liked the series and now She-ra is getting hers but I am still waiting to see the series and I have seen the sneak peaks of the new She-ra and yeah my reaction at first was "did they made a boy wear a She-ra outfit?" But that is something for me to wait and see since there are too many wild reactions for the new She-ra series which will be airing anytime soon. Still the classic for me though

11) TURBO TEEN

A teenager and his car merged into one. Yeah I wonder how many kids back then tried to copy that guy while he was transforming into a car. Cold makes him human and Hot makes him a car (hey Ranma car version hehehe). And look his clothes also becomes part of the car. His enemy is a monster truck. 

12) BRAVESTARR

Speed of the Puma, Eyes of an Hawk, Ears of the Wolf, Strength of the Bear. and is this guy related to that comic strip character Brenda Starr? hehehe.  Wild West type sci-fi cartoon. A cowboy that looks like a Native American and a talking horse that can transform humanoid like figure named 30-30 and carries a giant shotgun bazooka as his weapon.

13) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Now this one fun series to watch seen the classic 80's cartoon series and later turned into a live action trilogy film and later got two new live action films which for me were both great. the series later got several reincarnation with different stories and now there is a new retelling of the series where the leader is Raphael and not Leonardo and not to mention they are all loose cannons in the new series (as if they were never loose cannons to begin with) 

14) SILVERHAWKS

They  fly in space, they have wings, they have a pilot that plays a guitar and uses it as a steering device and a weapon. wings comes out from their sides to fly in space. Their enemy is half octopus, and I was still innocent back then and tentacles were just tentacles for me but now... that is for another review. Not sure if I saw the series to the end but yeah I enjoyed watching this series as well.

15) TRANSFORMERS

Transformers one of the most memorable cartoon series that i have watched. Alien robots transforming into vehicles and accessories, A giant robot that can turn into a gun which a fellow robot can use and sometimes a human, a giant robot can turn into a portable pocket sized walkman and can launch his cassette robots. I was amazed back then, until I grew a bit older and later rethink how the heck do those robots change their sizes and weights for humans to use and carry them but they transform into a robot bigger than a two floor house. Other series came out after the generation one series I was able to to watch the series where a cyber cube has been flying around and changing the scenes and later on the movie and Optimus died and was replaced by Hotrod later known as Rodimus later known as one of the hated Autobots in some transformer forums, why not Ultramagnus became the leader? hehehe

16) TIGERSHARKS

Tigersharks, yeah humans turning into seabased creatures everytime they dive into that pool in their ship and transforms into sea creatures. I don't think they got a chance to meet the Thundercats but I do recall watching this almost same year when Thundercats aired. Liked watching this series the leader turns into a shark, one turns into a dolphin, a walrus, I think one turns into a whale shark and the female turns into ... she gets an octopus as a her head (now I start to think why did they do that to her).

17) CARE BEARS

Care Bears, cuddly little bears they have crests on their tummies that they can shoot to fend off evil.  Not that much I can tell about this series except kids will love watching this series.

18) THUNDERCATS

THUNDER - THUNDER - THUNDERCATS HOOOOOO!!!!! One of the series I always wish i never skipped an episode watching. Can't recall if I ever got to see all the episodes which was aired in our country back then but after many years a reboot came out in year 2011 and I was able to see some episodes but I doubt the series was ever finished and no additional season has come out yet except for that crazy Thundercats Roar series which I really doubt I would ever watch.

19) SABER RIDER (BISMARCK)

SABER RIDER opening

BISMARCK opening

A cowboy, a racer, a rich horseback riding kid (that sounded wrong in many ways) and a lone girl member in the party (now that sounded a lot wrong in so many ways). I first got to see the Saber Rider version which is English dubbed and only got to know that there was a Japanese release which I still have not completed yet. The main characters in both series is different, in the English dubbed version the main character is the horse guy Saber and the main character in the Japanese version is Fireball or known in Japan as Hikaru. So basically once I start watching the Japanese version there will be a lot of differences in the flow of the story.

20) MY LITTLE PONY

Yeah there wasn't much to watch back then no cable only local channels airing shows licensed for local broadcasting. But hey I was watching to be entertained and this was entertaining for me back then.

That will be all for now I will be posting more classic cartoons that I watched back then

(credits to the owners of the videos)

ROBOT JOX

Robot Jox one of the classic old school (hopefully not forgotten) robot movie I have ever seen.

Released in November 21, 1990 this movie is more like a post apocalyptic film where nations fight with giant robots as their representative instead of having thousands of soldiers fighting in the battlefield.

The battle takes place in a huge outdoor arena where spectators also gets to watch at the risk of getting killed while watching.

The film centers only with two powerful nations and what else is a better match up but Soviet and United States of America battling it out with two giant robots with rules of Last Man Standing.

For a 90's film this movie features motion capture filmography technique for the robot fight scenes and the pilots controls the robots with their movements. Yup new kids who are reading this the controls for the robots in this film is similar to the controls used in the cockpits of the Jaegers in the Pacific Rim films but this one features the cockpit having only one, ONE pilot to control one heavy metal robot loaded with weapons, transform and fly and wreck each other to bits.

No giant monsters in this movie since the pilots themselves seems to be monsters already since they want to whack each other to a bloody pulp (if robots here ever bleed they have same effects in the mecha anime series where robots bleed oil and fuel)

One of the best scenes in the film other than the whacking robots

While browsing for some pics of the cockpits I came across this one with a question if there were deliberate references for the classic Robot Jox film from the Pacific Rim film well for me it can be either a coincidence or whoever suggested that pose is a fan of the Robot Jox. I have not read much of the Pacific Rim background even though I have already seen both Pacific Rim films to see if there were any relation to the two films.

This film is highly recommended for those looking for heavy metal giant robot action film from the 90's but of course be wary of the age viewer discretion since this classic film is way too damn bloody on some scenes and some kids might consider copying the fight scenes which most kids do.

(credits to the owners of the pics and vids)

On to the next review/reaction... yes I am an Old School guy 

Update on Gun Gale Online

I know this is late for an update since the series ended last July 1, 2018 and well I was just lazy to make an update on this.

But heck here we go.


The Gun Gale Online which is a spin-off of the series Sword Art Online (which i never got to finish but i will be watching it since I am now doing a reaction/review of the spin-off). The series began last April 8, 2018 and ended last July 1, 2018 with 12 episodes for the season run, a bit short but this is typically how long some some anime series go these days and long running anime are quite rare these past years in my book.

So the series centered on the main female character Karen Kohiruimaki who is too conscious of her height, being tall for her age made her shy and too aware of people around her. This made her try to find ways to make her forget or distract her from the issue of her height.

This is where her friend Miyu Shinohara who plays online games introduced her to an online game called Gun Gale Online which was released after the game Sword Art Online was shutdown due to issues of players getting stuck online and dying after they are killed in the game itself.

The game GGO was different and uses a different interface which is supposed to be safer that the Nerve Gear which was used in Sword Art Online game. She later tried the game and ended up creating a character which is the exact opposite of her in the real world. Well that was her reason why she tried playing the game, divert her attention when she gets home and play as someone who is different from her real world self.

She was later known as the Pink Devil or the Pink Munchkin that became popular to other players as a Player Killer.

she later meets with other characters namely Pitohui a girl clad in black shape revealing suit, M a sniper and later her friend Miyu enters the game as Fukaziroh.

The game has no danger of having players getting stuck in the game and not being able to log out or having to die after they die in the game itself.

For the entire run of the 12 episode series and compared to similar genre anime series where the characters play online VR this one made it to my top 5 and the four titles on top of it are all from the //.Hack series which I will review on a later time.

One of the key features I look for in an anime series or movie is the growth of the characters specially the main characters and their supposed partners if they have one. In this series Karen/Lenn slowly grew out of her shell and slowly interacted with other characters even though they are the human characters of the other avatars in the GGO world. She learned to come out in the open and face the "Real World" with hew new found friends and overcome her fear or her being self conscious of her height and embrace what she has.  This was shown from episode one up to the end of the series and this is one of the series which I wish they made a bit longer or give it a special OVA if not a season 2 which I doubt they will make a season 2 for some reason.

Back to the series, GGO Gun Gale Online yup I will recommend this series to anyone who will be asking me what I can recommend to watch even if they don't give a specific genre they want.

Well that's my update review for GGO series a 12 episode anime series which is for mature teens due to the violence and languages used in this series run. So on to the next review.

(credits to the owners of the vid and pics used)