Ranked #5096

Tatakae!! Iczer-1

(SPOLIERS)

This is an interesting Sci-Fi. Not really like a lot of the Mecha Genre I have seen before. While most like this might fight aliens, this wasn't half bad. Now of course it was very cheesy. But that is more of it's age talking.

Nice visuals for an 80's Anime. Yes they are very 80's. But it's some of the more nicer ones, as opposed to the sloppy hand drawn, looking Anime out there.

Music quality, again speaks for it's age. Heavy Synthesizer use, took away from what could be a good quality score.

Dubbing Quality, hard to say. Now I'm trying to be fair on it basing on it's age. If this we're made say 2 years ago, I would find it rather mediocre, or flat out bad. But it's okay. Yeah some rather dry expressions, but nice. Wendee Lee gives a great performance as always.

It has a nice tone. Dark sleek, depressing, post-apocalyptic world. You really feel sad when the Aliens Take over Nagisa's Parents. And when Iczer must kill Nagisa.

But there is a lot of fan service. Plenty of nudity, and some sexuality. What's up with that? I don't know. But oh well.

So overall, cheesy, but in a good way. Flawed, but worthy. read more

NOTICE
This review includes all three installments of the Iczer franchise. Too unimportant too have three different ones for the same premise.

PROLOGUE
Iczer was quite an original experience when it came out. It was the first series to combine seemingly un-combinable genres. Please bare my several parentheses Τhe girly Mahou Shoujo (magical girls) genre met the Shounen (for boys) Mecha (giant robots) genre and the Seinen (for men) Gekiga (tragic stories) genre. The result was not exactly good but it did stand out thanks to its originality.

The follow ups though were hardly special or remotely interesting. Instead of trying to evolve the idea further, they went for completely stereotypical formulas, effectively killing the franchise with their notion of appealing to the masses with more mainstream looks.

ART & SOUND SECTIONS: 6/10
All its optical and sound elements are common in most science fiction series. BUT! … There are many scenes that are very attractive and depressing, in spite of their commonness. Do you like yuri (lesbians)? Check! Do you like nudity, depravity, meaningless deaths and the sort? Check! Do you like grim atmosphere and not a sight of a good ending? Yes, check here too! You won’t be disappointed to see all these between fights with super chicks and giant robots! Hi Hi Hi! … But, seriously now, if you can’t stand depressing stories, Iczer 1 is not for you. Don’t ruin your psychology just to watch some nude/mass destruction scenes. The other two installments are far less grim but they mean nothing without watching this one first.

STORY SECTION: 2/10

The story is clichéd as hell. Alien invaders want to destroy Earth and a super powerful space girl comes to the rescue.
To hell with the scenario! Iczer 1 is about sex, violence and death. There are characters who have goals, like world domination, avenging the death of a loved one and protecting your family, but who gives a damn? There is no real character development and all of them have stereotypical personalities. It’s the chick fights and the mass-destructions that you’re really going to like.

The sequel, Bouken! Iczer 3, aimed at younger ages and removed the Gekiga element. The result was that of a more appealing and mainstream series but also of a clichéd story that most anime fans are fed up with. And although it is supposed to be a direct sequel, no real explanations are given about how Earth fully recovered from the first invasion or why all humans don’t even seem to remember those events. Has Iczer-1 used her powers to revitalize Earth and making everyone forget the tragedy, thus only a few years have passed since the first invasion? Or perhaps millions of years passed and history repeats itself? These holes make the scenario even worse than it already is.
Plus, the main character is not Iczer-1 anymore. It’s her little sister Iczer-3 (Iczer-2 was a bad guy and never got any leading role). The change of main character from a sexy woman to a giggly girl makes the story seem even more childish.
And there is no yuri (lesbo relationships) anymore! How can you like a series that has removed all its depravity that made it good? Gah!

The story in Iczelion has no ties with the previous two Iczer series. It’s more of a remake or alternative setting. Which makes things even worse, since this way it lost a story continuity that could increase its value. Sen-shoujo Iczelion aims at even younger ages and specifically only girls. So, it removed even the Mecha element. What are we left with? Mahou Shoujo. Lame, boring, one of the same Mahou Shoujo. The producers must have had a death wish, or something.
Plus, the main character is not longer one of the Iczers. Previously, Iczers were powerful space heroines that fought evil throughout the universe. Here, they are undermined as cute little robots that need a female human host in order to work. This is so reminiscent of most Mahou Shoujo series that the story almost begs you to ignore it.
And yes, no signs of depravity that made previous installments a bit interesting. So, there is absolutely nothing interesting in the story. Also, the series only lasts for two episodes and ends without a conclusion. The project must have canceled because of too much dullness. Which is a good thing, in this case.

In all, the story was already a 4 for me at first and gradually dropped to rock bottom later on.

CHARACTER SECTION: 3/10
Heck, they start from bad and move to terrible. Iczer 1 had at least a lot of gore to make the main heroines look somewhat interesting. Iczer 3 was about a silly loli and her evil counterpart, while Iczelion was a bunch of stereotypical magic girls. How can there be character development in only two episodes? You hardly get to see them. There weren’t prevailing characters, even in the prequels, but here you literally don’t even get to enjoy them. Carton heroine team, carton villain pair. You can’t like them, even if you try.

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTIONS: 4/10

The action scenes are decent in Iczer 1. There are nude/yuri/sentimental scenes to keep you interested in between. I have seen a lot better elsewhere but its genre-mixing originality simply makes the whole deal much better.

The sequels to this series lack a lot. Iczer 3 had some decent action scenes and a few sentimental ones that I found interesting. But I have seen a lot better elsewhere and if you try to watch this series as a stand alone, you will generally find it boring.

As for Iczelion… After seeing the previous two installments and a hundred Mahou Shoujo series with MORE than two episodes, I can say with certain that this series has no reason for existing.

The small duration and the superficial personalities do ruin most of the fun. It was an ok watch but nothing special after you finish it.

SUGGESTION LIST
Project A-ko, Dangaizer 3, Bakuen Campus Guardress, Ikki Tousen . Series with chicks kicking ass.
Choujin Locke, Blue Sonnet . Retro series full of death and gloom.
Sailor Moon Super S. It also had a change of leading role from a woman to a little girl. And the story also suddenly turned from grim to cheery. read more