Venus Wars (1989)

I have been a fan of anime since the mid 90s, and therefore I am hooked on the old-school (pre-CGI) titles. This is one of the best, and a personal favorite. To me, the CGI flicks just lack the artistic soul of good old fashioned anime where talented cell artists drew EVERYTHING. There really is no comparison, in my book. If I wanted something that looked like Metal Gear Solid, I would just stick with video games. But, back to the Venus Wars… This is sci-fi done right: after years of terraforming (and a comet strike), Venus has a breathable atmosphere and can be colonized by man. Unfortunately, he brought with him his constant bickering which leads to the inevitable war. A group of motorcycle racers becomes caught up in a fight for freedom from a neighbor turned oppressor. The story is complete: it has the small human drama and the high-level political intrigue. The battle scenes are fantastic and the future-war machines look incredible. As with most anime, this one is geared for the adult audience, with violence and swearing, but nothing beyond PG-13 territory. I have the English language dub version (I just don't like subtitles). The actors are great and music is superior. The story is smart and will appeal to the older audience. One outstanding idea is the monobikes they ride; one-wheeled motorcycles with gyro-stabilization. All motorcycles they have follow that basic design. They are used for basic transportation, racing, and for combat. Far out! All in all, you would be hard pressed to find a better sci-fi anime, and I have dozens in my collection. Also, check out Bounty Dog, Appleseed, Vampire Wars, and Angel Cop.

When he wrote this adaptation of his own manga Yoshikazu Yasuhiko was already renowned as a manga creator, illustrator, character designer and director. Joe Hisaishi wrote the stirring score, and he had worked musical magic for Studio Ghibli on My Neighbor Totoro (1988) the previous year. The rest of the senior staff brought solid reputations and worked in top form to make Venus Wars a glossily produced, well-designed, exciting piece of science-fiction. The mecha designs are excellent and the moody, deep-toned backdrop paintings set the tone for a bleak war story where youthful passion runs into reality with devastating consequences.

I first saw this back on the Sci-Fi Channel when they used to show Anime on Saturday morning at 9 pm. I may have been 15, and it was my first exposure to anime, and I watched every single week. One week they showed Venus Wars, and I loved it when I first saw it. Something about it really stuck with me, atmosphere, story... I never forgot about it. Then recently I had an opportunity to order a copy and I did. I popped it into the DVD player, hoping that it would be as good as I had imagined it... it was. This movie just plain rocks. Every character is textured and believable, and the animation, while not being mind-blowing, is just perfect... it relays the grim reality of war time on Venus perfectly and the atmosphere it generates is what I remembered the most about it.If you like anime that has an awesome story, good animation, I would suggest tracking this down.

I only bought this video to hear the voice of Bradley Cole who does Will, but to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. They are the most interesting little animated characters I've ever seen. It was easy to forget that they were animated at all. Sci-fi is not on my priority list but I've already watched this video 4 times.