Anime Review: Project A-Ko 4 (Final)

Time for a little more Project A-Ko fellow Otaku & Metalheads.

I’ve been looking at this quirky little universe for years on this blog. On & off for almost a decade at this point (My 1st review was all the way back in February of 2015), it’s been a wild ride within one of the quirkiest anime settings I’ve ever seen. Today, however, we come to Project A-Ko’s end.....sorta. There is technically one entry after this, but that’ll have to wait until a later time. For now, let’s us have one final adventure within the world of Project A-Ko, so get ready for the 4th review of this OVA series. Simply titled......Final. Let’s begin.

Story/Setup
Taken from the back of the DVD Case:

“A MYSTERIOUS STATUE IN THE DESERT, A STRANGE SYMBOL IN A STONE, AND MORE MISSILES THAN YOU CAN SWING A MECHA AT! On a quiet day at Graviton High, while the kicks are fast and the missile barrages are booming, Miss Ayumi ponders just where her life is leading. Meanwhile, out in the deserts of Iraq, scientists have unearthed a strange artifact bearing a symbol just like the one on Miss Ayumi’s pendant. Strange things begin to occur, and the strangest of all is Miss Ayumi agreeing to an arranged marriage. WIth handsome hunk Kei, of all people! Still carrying a torch for the dashing young man, A-ko and B-ko take their fight to the school’s gym-turned-wedding-chapel, even as a massive fleet of aliens bears down upon the Earth. As the mecha are mobilized and missiles start to fly, C-ko wonders to herself, where does she belong in all of this? It’s the final chapter of Project A-ko, and it won’t go out without a bang!”

As per usual, this is a story that just fits the world of Project A-Ko. It’s over the top, it’s wacky, it shows off the setting’s colorful characters, and it’s oddly charming in places you wouldn’t expect. Like the descriptor says, it’s the final chapter, and you can definitely tell. More so than any of the prior 2 OVAs, Final does conclude the series as a whole. That being said, there is one copout right at the end. Without going for complete spoilers, I will say that they do try to conclude things on a surprisingly serious & sad note.....only for them to backtrack on that not long after. If anyone has ever watched Final, you’ll know what I’m talking about. For anyone who hasn’t seen this, you might throw your hands up in the air. Trust me on this.

Animation
Read my 3rd review for details (Link Below)

Voice Acting
Read my 3rd review for details (Link Below)

Characters
Final’s characters are the ones you’ve seen plenty of times in the prior OVAs, and here they aren’t much different. They’re still colorful, they’re still funny, and they’re just as weirdly charming as they were before. That being said, because this is the last time we’ll ever see them, all of their storylines are wrapped up with a bow, seemingly completed. Then of course there’s the story copout I mentioned above: there was a chance that some of the characters would have been a little more mature by the time Final was done.....only for things to be turned around almost immediately. This doesn’t ruin the overall OVA (Like the copout with the story), but it definitely does hurt the experience.

Availability & Pricing
Kind of like when I talked about it in my Cinderella Rhapsody review, there aren’t many DVD copies available on Amazon. Luckily, the few copies that do exist are fairly inexpensive, starting at $19.95 (Excluding shipping & tax). New Blu-Ray copies aren’t bad either, as they start at $21.49. Either way, both options aren’t that taxing on your wallet, and it’s nice to see that the pricing isn’t bad.

Other
If you’re curious about at least watching Final, click on the link below. It is the VHS edition, so expect a little bit of audio issues (Animation also seems faded a little):

Project A-Ko 4: Final (English Dubbed) [VHS Screener]

Overall Impression & Rating
Final definitely feels like an ending to a series. Sure, there is a story copout or two, but it really feels like this world has been packed up nicely, and it has a nice red ribbon tied on to complete things. The world of Project A-Ko has been a quirky one, and it’s nice to know that there are still fans of it here in 2024. If you been invested in this franchise for a long time, then Final will seal the deal for you.

Final gets a 7.5 to 8 out of 10.

So that was my review for the 4th & final OVA in the Project A-Ko series. Like I said at the beginning, there is technically one final entry into this franchise, but that’ll have to wait until another day. So, with June coming soon, it’s time for my annual summer festival, and I got something interesting planned. See you on the first of June!


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If you’d like to see what I thought in the last review I did of this series, click on the link below:

Anime Review: Project A-Ko 3 (Cinderella Rhapsody)

Anime Review: Dirty Pair (OVA)

Time to bring anime back to the blog  fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

Not since June of 2023 have I reviewed anything from one of the cornerstones of this blog’s history, and to be honest that annoys me. When I started my little corner of the internet, I was doing the best I could to balance both metal album reviews & anime reviews, but over the near decade that I’ve been doing this, I’ve seem to have been moving away from anime more & more (Though I still did anime-themed posts). I’m hoping that this is the start of going back to into those, and I’ve definitely picked a classic. The series in today’s review is nearly 40 years old, and is pretty iconic among old-school Otaku, and certainly has a little weight today among it’s fans. So, let’s not waste anymore, and take a look at quite the Dirty Pair. Let’s begin!

Story/Setup
Taken from the back of the DVD Case:

“Criminals of the universe beware - the Dirty Pair are back in action! It doesn't matter if you're the warden of an infamous prison, a robot that's literally armed to the teeth, or that snotty little kid who thought it'd be fun to hijack mankind's biggest space cannon. If Kei and Yuri get orders to bring you in, then these two Lovely Angels will use any combination of beauty, brains, and brute force to bring you to justice! The OVA series feature production by Sunrise (Gundam, Outlaw Star, The Vision of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop) and Studio Nue (Crusher Joe, Macross). This value-priced DVD collection contains the complete 10-episode, direct-to-video series and features remastered image and sound. DVD Features: Scene access, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo for English and Japanese dialogue, English subtitles and English on-screen translations. PLUS: clean opening and closing, U.S. trailer, liner notes and Nozomi Entertainment trailers.”

Let’s get this out of the way: the Dirty Pair OVA doesn’t have a deep story. To be exact, it doesn’t have a deep overarching story. Each episode is practically it’s own thing, but the opening one does establish the basic theme of the show. That being said.....I kinda like that approach to storytelling in this series. Each episode is pretty easy to consume, and you could technically watch everything past the first episode in any order you want. It’s not even a heavy series in terms of it’s tone, but there are some moments in certain episodes that hit surprisingly hard. Definitely contrasts with the more lighthearted elements, and that’s great if you ask me!

Animation
For being nearly 40 years old, it’s amazing that this OVA still looks as great as it does. Sure, it’s shows it’s late 80s style of animation, but it still looks fantastic! The colors are vibrant, the backgrounds have quite a bit of detail put in, the various ships & vehicles all look & move nice, and the character models are all distinct from one anothers. Sure, you can tell it’s age in many aspects (Especially matching up the dub voices to the movement of the lips), but the old-school style of animation is missed by a lot of Otaku & Weebs. Myself somewhat included.

Voice Acting
The voice acting for Dirty Pair is surprisingly good. I didn’t know this until fairly recently, but the OVA was originally released under ADV Films, and every once in a while their dub work was.....curious, to say the least. In the case of this series, it ended up being pretty good! Yeah, there’s a couple voices in the more minor roles that perhaps aren’t as up to snuff as everything else, but overall the voice acting is really good in this OVA. Pamela Lauer & Jessica Calvello in particular are absolutely fantastic as Kei & Yuri respectively. Speaking of which.....

Characters
Kei & Yuri steal the whole show! Sure, there are plenty of other characters that work alongside them, and each episode is filled to the gills with secondary individuals, but the Lovely Angels dominate each & every scene there in. Kei is the quintessential 80s anime tomboy: she’s tough, she’s smart, and she knows how to fight. However, she also knows that she looks good, and in a few moments shows off her feminine side quite well. On the other side of the coin is Yuri, and she’s the Yang to Yuri’s Yin. Yuri is gorgeous, sweet, feminine, and rather gentle at certain times. However, when the pressure is on, she can fight just as well as her partner, and even taps into a certain kind of fury if need be. Both girls complement each other nicely in any situation, and nobody can every tear them apart!

Availability & Pricing
Good luck finding this OVA!

It’s been a while since I watched an anime where finding a physical copy takes a lot of work to find. The original ADV Films version is practically impossible to find (Outside of some rare exceptions), and the 2012 re-release from RightStuf only has one unopened collection on Amazon as we speak, and that is currently going for $129.99.....but there is free shipping. Ebay will definitely be the only reliable place to find it, regardless of the condition. I was fortunate to receive the OVA collection a few years back from a friend as a Christmas gift, so I never had to buy it myself.  

Overall Impression & Rating
The Dirty Pair OVA is just a lot of dumb & simple fun. Sure, the availability is a giant issue, and it’s more simplistic way of telling it’s story might not be for viewers who like some depth to their series, but there’s just this special kind of Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk charm that oozes from every pore that you can’t help but be charmed by it. Coming in on 4 decades old in 2027, it still manages to pull some weight in this modern anime era, and I for one am thankful oldtaku & new find it a treat. Lovely Angels indeed!

The Dirty Pair OVA gets an 8.5 to 9 out of 10.

And that was my review for the Dirty Pair OVA. I’m so glad I was able to get this series when I was able to, as it’s a stone cold classic! In an era where modern anime reigns supreme (For better or for worse), it’s nice to watch a show that’s filled with so many old-school vibes. So, I got another anime review for next time, and it’ll be near the end of a classic series. See you next Friday!


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If you’d like to watch the series with subtitles, click on the link below:

Dirty Pair: OVA (Nozomi Entertainment)

If you’d also like to listen to the soundtrack for the series, check out below:

Dirty Pair OVA Soundtrack (Full Album)

Album Review: Devin Townsend's Empath

Happy belated birthday Empath!

On the 29th of March in 2019, Devin Townsend first solo album in years was released, and to say anything other than amazing would be a crime. Coming in like a Prog Metal juggernaut, it took the fanbase by storm, and wound up being one of his most highest rated releases of last decade. It would make it to no. 3 on my top 5 albums of 2019 list (Read Here), but in the just over 5 years since it came out, I’ve grown to love it even more than I did back then, as it’s healing energies are perhaps needed now more than ever. Upon listening to it again in recent memory, it seemed only right to celebrate the album’s 5-year presence on this planet, so without further delay.....here’s Empath!

Background
Taken from Devin Townsend’s website:

“I have been ‘holding it up to the light’ for the whole process in hope that the effort and difficulty that went into this project ultimately helps people.

My career has spanned several decades and I have been trying to work through the phases that present themselves in order to learn more about myself. I knew that Empath was on the horizon several years back when I became restless in my musical world and began to feel a pull towards something uncompromising. I felt a need to confront a fear of myself on some level if I was ever going to be able to progress as an artist. The result is this album you hold in your hands, and it was a heck of an experience bringing to completion. It is not an easy listen, but I hope my reasons for doing it are clear. It was about taking it all apart and laying it out for myself to take stock of.

I needed to explore a lot of avenues, and it took me to some frightening places. By the end of the process though, the resolution that came from ‘going there’ proved to me that I had become capable of moving past it.

The theme of Empath was always about going into that fear – the uncertainty of life and ‘middle age’ – then confronting it and coming out the other side of it with some sort of realization. Although life is not easy, it can be within us to rise to those occasions that are demanded of us and I wanted to write something that represented many angles of life with an overarching theme that ultimately is one of hope in uncertain times.

In a world that is more divided than ever, Empath was written in order to participate in all those emotions that bubbled up over the past two years without judging them or letting them define the process. I feel that when we do so, we are more able to understand how others, different from us, may feel. Empathy is a trait that seems to be equated to weakness in this day and age, when ultimately it is the one thing that could help us understand each other.

Music, in my opinion, does not come from us individually. Maybe it comes from a collective pool of human experience, and artists ultimately have the job of pulling that from the ether, filtered through our own trip, and then simply trying to do a good job in representing it?

Regardless, I’m proud to be able to play for you all and hope my work in a small way does justice to the inspiration from the infinite source. I am humbled by it. Thank you to the countless people who help and support me on this journey, there’s no conceivable way I could do my part of this without friends, family, co-workers and the audience. It means so much to be able to participate in this and I do not take it for granted. Thank you again.

My intention with representing this music is only to help and honour. I hope you enjoy this and hope you may find some catharsis here. Please take care of yourself and let’s stick around… we can do this. Don’t give up.

With all my love and light.”

Basic Description
You’re Going To Be Okay.

Let’s rewind the clock a bit: it’s March of 2019. By that point, we’ve had a little over 2 years of donald trump, political tensions between both sides was getting hot, a giant majority of us were probably not doing our best, and perhaps most soul crushing of all, us 90s kids were in our early 30s at that point. Coupled with a lot of other political & social factors, it’s easy to see why the whole “Doomer” attitude was really beginning to kick in then, and just this overall blanket of hopelessness getting put on us all. Then, Empath comes out, and just hits a lot of us right in the feels. Devin’s always had a positive disposition on a giant majority of his releases, but this one is perhaps the living embodiment of that word. There’s still some rough patches here & there, but I dare you to find just a single song on here that purposely crushes your soul into a thousand pieces!

Best Track
It is an absolute crime to pick just a single song off of Empath as the best track. From opener to close, you will experience what might very well be the most spiritual thing that Devin has ever crafted, and considering how awe-inspiring a lot of his music was before this is saying something. That being said, if I had to pick a favorite tune, then it’s gotta be Spirits Will Collide. Though the totality of Empath is devoted to the feelings of getting through the worst of things, it’s on this song that the message is most apparent. The instrumentation is loud & bombastic, but there’s immense feelings of hope and comfort with each note. Vocal work is interesting here, as it’s split between a giant choir & Devin himself. HevyDevy does a really good job here, as while he's loud, it's oddly not as overwhelming as you think. Again, any of the songs off of the main album could be put here, but Spirits Will Collide just hits right.

Spirits Will Collide

An of course I gotta point out the Tests Of Manhood tune known as Methuselah. Whereas Spirits Will Collide was loud & bombastic with plenty of emotion, Methuselah funky & soft with plenty of emotion. The instrumentation is played rather ethereally & strange, and Devin’s vocals and rather soft but not in the realm of whispering, & the end result is equal parts weird yet oddly cozy. However, it wasn’t just the more interesting using of instruments & HevyDevy’s singing that got me to really like the song. Here’s the story!

It’s opening night for Avengers: Endgame. My Mom got me & a friend tickets, so I drove up to his place, and then we drove to the nearby mall he lived close to, and to say inside the theater was packed was an understatement. Every seat from all the way in front to the high seats in the back, there were people of all ages watching what is perhaps the truly final good live-action Marvel movie. The credits roll, and we make our way back to his place, and then I went home. I had just gotten Empath about a week prior, and decided to put Tests Of Manhood in the car stereo. I don’t know what it was, but something about driving through the streets at midnight, mixed with the oddly calm vibes from outside the car, made for a weirdly comforting time. Definitely can’t replicate that today!

Methuselah

Worst Track
I hinted at this in my review of Lightwork late last year, wherein I said that it was too calm and relaxing at times. Empath suffers from a similar issue, in that at times it’s too loud for it own good. That feeling is relaxed on Tests Of Manhood somewhat, but on Empath itself? For an album about how it’s going to be okay & not to kill yourself, it’s surprising at just how loud a lot of the songs are. Like on Lightwork this doesn’t make the music bad in any way, but it does clash with how the music is trying to be presented.

Other
If you’re curious about listening to this album & Tests Of Manhood, then click on the links below:

Empath

Tests Of Manhood

Also, interesting fact: Empath cost Devin $100,000 to make (Translated from Canadian & includes Tests Of Manhood), which means that this is HevyDevy’s most expensive record to date at this time.

Overall Impression & Rating
Empath was a massive breath of fresh emotional air for many fans 5 years ago, and oddly enough would act as a piece of body armor for enduring the harsh year after it. Even before all of that plague-ridden time, it was a spiritual bandage for those within the HevyDevy community, who were seeking something to alleviate the mental pain & anguish they were more than likely feeling at that point. Even if you didn’t listen to this back in 2019, I recommend this to you now. If the rest of 2024 gets as bad as I think it might, we’ll need al1 the help we can get.
    
Empath gets a 10 out of 10. It may have been at my no. 3 spot back in 2019, but the emotional impact & incredible quality makes it a number 1 in my book!

So that was my belated birthday review of Devin Townsend’s end-of-last decade smash that was Empath. Hopefully, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel by the end of this year, but until then we can only wonder. In the meantime, I got a few anime review ideas in the works, so I’ll see you soon!

Album Review: Alice Cooper's Road

Alice Cooper.

What is there to say? For over 6 decades, one of the pinnacles of Shock Rock & Heavy Metal has carved a niche for himself, and he’s never left it. From the more humble times when a chicken was killed in the crowd, to hitting rock bottom when drugs & alcohol gripped him completely, to regaining control and embracing faith, & all the way to now, our dear Alice has lit the stage with the ultimate example of showmanship & scares. It didn’t matter what record you were listening to (Save for a rare few), as the myth & mystique from Mr. Cooper surrounded you, and wouldn’t let go until it wanted to.

In recent memory, Alice has put out 2 albums since the start of this decade: Detroit Stories back in 2021, and the subject of today’s review, Road. Released on the 25th of August in 2023, this album is also something of a concept/personal record. Whereas the previously mentioned release was all about the musical history of the city he came from, Road was about.....the Road! In the man’s own words:

“The concept’ll be, where do we know’ em? The road. That’s when we see each other all the time,” Alice explained. “I want you guys to write anything about the road. I don’t care if it’s funny, tragic, silly, horrific — it doesn’t matter. And then we’re gonna take it and we’ll mold those songs into an Alice Cooper album. So it’ll be 13 songs, different stories that tell one big story.”

And it wasn’t just the stories & themes that gave Road it’s character, but the musicians as well. Unlike prior release, Alice got his touring band in on this, which included guitar wiz Nina Strauss (She was also on Detroit Stories if I recall correctly). However, even with a proven group of musicians, Mr. Cooper had a strict requirement when it came to recording the album. More specifically, he wanted everybody in the studio together when it came time to record. In Mr. Cooper’s own words:

“I want everybody to play at the same time. No beds. I don’t want to put a bed track here. I said, ‘You guys are good enough to just play it live,'” he recalled. “What this does, though, is it doesn’t give the song a chance to get old.”

The end result of all this work is Road. A highly personal album about life on the road, and all of the struggles & optimism along that path. Alice himself has lived this for an incredibly long time, and plenty of the musicians in his touring band as well. On top of that, Road is the kind of album you put in your car’s stereo system (If it still has that kind of thing), put the windows down as the sun is setting, and just letting the music play as you drive. The music is really good stuff, and in comparison to my review from last week (As well as my final no. 1 review in November), it’s perhaps the most optimistic out of the three.

So as to what I think is the best track off of Road, it’s gotta go to the first single revealed for the album, I’m Alice. While some of the lyrics might come across as goofy to some, it’s also a fun look into the mind of Alice as a character: the showmanship, the personality, the fact that he knows what you want, and that you & him won’t forget the other. Alice’s singing is still on point, and everybody in the band is doing a damn good job as well. Nina Strauss shows that girls can kick just as much ass on the guitar as guys can, and I hope she stays in the band until things end. As a way to open Road & to show off what it’s about, I couldn’t think of any other song than this one.

I’m Alice

So, if there aren’t any bad songs on this album, does that mean it has any issues? Well, it does have one problem, but it actually took place after the record came out. I hinted at it last year when I did my top 5 albums list (Read Here), so I’ll summarize it here: in an interview, Alice was asked about the issue of transgender people (Kids & Youth more specifically). He said that he understands it in some cases, but basically said that more often than not it feels like a “Fad”, and then said something about “Wokeness” (Which immediately dispelled whatever fake conservative point he was trying to make) or whatever. This caused a minor stink among the metal community, though the only real damage that was done was a deal with a makeup company was ultimately cancelled causes of what he said, and the stink in question didn’t really last all that long. Now on the one hand some of the stuff he said was really stupid, and really disappointed me since Alice was one of the good ones, but on the other hand he didn’t go into a wild rant in his answer.....so I guess that’s okay?

Road gets a 10 out of 10. One political fo-pa post release aside, it’s a testament that the classic king of shock still manages to put out consistent, well-produced, meaty albums filled to the brim with fantastic songs. If he can get one more album out before he retires or passes away (Hopefully it’s the former), then he’ll have cemented himself as an eternal icon of Metal & Rock.

And that was my review for Alice Cooper’s 2023 release, Road. An absolutely wonderful release, it’s further proof that the old-schoolers of Heavy Metal & Rock still know how to put on albums that will stand the test of time until the world ends. So, now I have my honorable mention & no. 1 album reviews locked in for November, but we have quite a ways before then. See you all next week!

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If you’d like to listen to this album, then click on the link below:

Road

Also, if you'd like to read the interview where I got the quotes I used above, check out the link below:

Alice Cooper Didn’t Want Concept Album ‘Road’ to Sound ‘Perfect’ like Supertramp (SiriusXM)