| Sadamitsu the Destroyer Animu Review |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|11:28 pm] |
Just finished watching another animu series today: Hakaima Sadamitsu, or Sadamitsu the Destroyer! It's a really short (10 episode) series from 2001, kind of like Kamen Rider or other transforming superhero series if you think about it. Cool stuff.
In present-day Japan, a young high school student named Sadamitsu Tsubaki is a strong fighter with his wooden sword and a feared delinquent, along with the rest of his friends in the "Corpse Gang." However, even though these troublemaking delinquents are obviously not model students, deep down they're good people--Sadamitsu in particular has a very strong streak of nobility and kindness, for he doesn't fight weaklings, protects women, even gives his opponents medical supplies for them to heal themselves, and most of all strongly detests killing. However, his values will be put to the test when one day, aliens start crash-landing on Earth! They are a bunch of vicious, evil interplanetary criminals called "Ryukeitai," and start causing trouble not long after they arrive! Following them is a robotic officer of the galactic police force, whose duty it is to "recover" all these criminals and send them back to their prisons floating through space in "gravity fields." However, when Sadamitsu interferes with this robot's attempts to apprehend one criminal, the beast is able to get the upper hand and completely destroys the robot! All seems lost until the robot's decapitated head tells Sadamitsu to wear him as a helmet. When the young man does so, he finds himself given super-powers and transformed into a superhero...Sadamitsu the Destroyer!
Now, Sadamitsu and his robotic helmet must work together in order to capture the 20 million banished criminals descending to Earth, and protect their friends! But what are these ryukeitai really up to? Why hasn't their presence made a bigger impact on society? And who is the mysterious girl, Yayoi Kamishiro, who's transferred into Sadamitsu's class? Watch the series to find out! Here's the lowdown:
1: Music: 9/10. Awesome, awesome stuff! The OP is fucking classic awesome, with a kickass retro Western feel, and for the most part the rest of the music is equally good, with some cool Spanish guitar themes in there. There isn't much variety, according to the OST, but there doesnt need to be since this is only 10 eps long instead of 50. Great stuff!
2: Animation: 7/10. It's *okay.* Standard modern anime animation. It's not bad by any means, but not quite as good as some other stuff you could find from around that time period (early 2000s) and nowhere near as good as stuff in, say, Casshern Sins.
3: Plot: 6/10. This series has been properly subbed (indeed, released in the US with a dub too--only watched the subs though) but for the most part, it's okay, with a few problems. It's very short at only 10 episodes, and though the ending was satisfactory IMO, I could see how some folks might feel a bit let down, and while most of the plot points, like those involving Yayoi, were explained to some extent, I think it could have used a bit more exposition in some places. Also, this was an effort from Koichi Ohata, the MD Geist guy, so he seems to have improved quite a lot since the 80s, with the bad direction plaguing those two otherwise actually not-bad OVAs being less of a problem in Sadamitsu. Still made some mistakes though IMO, like the last episode being kinda clip-showy. Still, okay.
The negative:
Animu Lameness: 0/10. Slight bits of Engrish, nothing to really note.
Animu Gayness: 0/10. None I could recall.
Animu Retardedness: 0/10. Nah, nothing really glaring I could make out.
Fandumb: 0/10. Although this was released in the US, it's fairly obscure, with virtually no fandom to speak of. So no problems with Fandumb.
Age-Appropriateness: Generally, I think this would do well for older teenagers and up--just a bit older than the DBZ crowd. Most of the violence is directed against aliens, but Sadamitsu does get beat up with blood and stuff, and there is a part where humans die--not portrayed with much blood and gore, but just implied, but could still be disturbing to some viewers. In terms of sexual content, there's some sexy shots of bras and panties, a panty joke in one episode, and maybe a few instances of nudity, but otherwise nothing explicit. So yeah, older teenagers IMO.
Final verdict: ANIME OR ANIMU? 7/10. Anime, really. There are far worse ways to spend the time it takes to go through 10 lil' episodes, just give it a shot if you have a bit of free time! |
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