Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Alien 9 Japanese: エイリアン9
Information
Type: Special
Episodes: 4
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Jun 25, 2001 to Feb 25, 2002
Duration:
28 min. per episode Rating:
R - 17+ (violence & profanity)
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 6.831 (scored by 1448 users)
Ranked: #25102
Popularity: #1300
Members: 2,425
Favorites: 12 1 indicates a weighted score
My Info
Popular Tags
action alien school sci-fi |
SynopsisYuri Ootani, A girl who has been afraid of aliens, has been chosen to be on the alien party, with Kumi Kawamura, A girl who has been elected class president for 6 years and only intention to join the alien party for her to get out of presidential duties, and Kasumi Tomine. A girl who is perfect at everything she does, fights all the aliens that come in their way. But can they defeat a massive alien who has already abducted Kasumi? |
Related AnimeAdaptation: Alien Nine
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Reviews
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Objecterror
21 of 28 people found this review helpful
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4 of 4 episodes seen
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
12 Year olds grow up so fast!
Sixth grade was cake in comparison to poor Yuri Otani, who is begruddingly voted into the Alien Party at the beginning of her school year. Being singled out, she's amongst three total students who are apart of a special 'team' of alien cowgirls that traverse campus grounds when an alien happens to appear.
The anime is adapted from the manga of the same name, so a lot of continuity issues may occur once the series gets rolling, but that is not the purpose of this review. Set in no particular time frame, alien nine starts off as a quirky science fiction meets daily life anime series for these twelve-year old alien hunters. It's not easy of course as most of the nasties in the series range from strange to monstrously dangerous!
However, the three girls including Yuri Otani , Kumi Kawamura and Kasumi Tomine are put under the tutelage of Megumi Hisakawa acting as coach , nurse and instructor to each of the girls and there borgs. The borgs are these froghead 'weapons' that attach themselves to the girls heads, taking the brunt of damage and capable of morphing there wings for flight, defense and even drill like throngs for attacking.
Alien Nine, the series, is paced rather well, and the girls are simply acting there age. As a fan, I was hooked by the first episode, Nine is a series that catches you off guard, it is strange to say the least --- why exactly are these parents of the children so happy about throwing there daughters into the dangers of fighting off several aliens at any given time?!
While i am no stranger to a poor storyline, Alien Nine doesn't consist of plot holes but really an introduction or animated short of the manga. The manga, is a bit more detailed, with 3 volumes and 30 chapters which is a lot more in depth to the characters and issues that they all go through as the time passes. I won't say that there is a sympathy for the girls but they really hold there own against the increased difficulty of every alien they mean to catch.
With a supporting cast, interesting story and decent enough beginning and exceptionally wonderful ending theme, Alien Nine is one of the most underwatched series of it's time. Namely, due to it's ending which is so abrupt and ingeniously styled into the ending theme, that one could miss it and move on. The manga, for the most part explains things perfectly but the anime series is to short and bitter sweet.
Alien Nine is equally bizarre and character focused. I believe that anyone taking a look will enjoy is multilayered plot but, if you are like me, I found 4 episodes to be WAY to short, especially if a conclusion wasn't set in stone.
For what it's worth, the animation is fluid, characters are golden and it's a short glimpse into all the coming of age shows people love so much. I know when I revisit my child-hood memories of the sixth grade, it didn't include days of skating around the campus with lacross nets and talking frog helmets, it was about friends and the connections you make with them. It's short and sweet, pick up the manga it's definately worth it. read more
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angelgurl4416
6 of 37 people found this review helpful
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4 of 4 episodes seen
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| Overall |
1 |
| Story |
1 |
| Animation |
1 |
| Sound |
1 |
| Character |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
1 |
At first glance, Alien 9 appears to be a cute little anime about chasing aliens on roller blades. Thinking this was the case, I bought it. I thought that they must have been exaggerating or in complete error when I saw the 13+ rating. Not. Despite its cheery and cutesy character design, this is a very dark and disturbing anime.
I should have known something was up when I kept getting bad feelings for no reason. Things happened in the anime that made zero sense, and yet I felt completely horrible while and after watching it. When I finished the series (4 30-minute episodes), I couldn't watch anime for the rest of the week. I felt dirty, like I had done something very wrong. Although the anime was violent and disturbing, it didn't seem enough to affect me for days. Then, I discovered that Alien 9 is riddled with symbolism - and some of it not so hidden. To call it dark would be an understatement. There are blatant sexual instances represented, expressions of deep and black pain, and perverted thought processes. I would never recommend this to anyone. I have a feeling that someone who has experienced firsthand some of the horrible things the symbolism depicts would pick up on the innuendoes instantly.
Last, but not least, there is some very light yuri (girl's love) tone in the anime - and it's more obvious in the manga.
All in all, Alien 9 is, in short, to be avoided like the plague.
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Recommendations
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The opening animations and the first few episodes would lead some to think that these two are merely lighthearted shows about kids with cute aliens. Beware the Trojan Horses!
Both of these series have a cute exterior but are darker at heart.
They also have a similar feel to them and involve young girls/children and alien-like creatures that fight.
Cute shoujo at first? Check. Mons? Check. Coming of age story? Check. Half-finished anime? Check. Incredibly, incredibly disturbing? Check.
Alien Nine and Shadow Star Narutaru are disarming anime that begin making you think that you're in for happy stories about young girls and their adventures with unearthly creatures (aliens in the former anime, dragon-like monsters in the latter).
But they are not happy anime.
These two shows are deeply psychological and very dark, showing us fear and true horrors coinciding with the innocence one would associate with children.
Each anime begins by catching you off-guard only to progress further and further into the unsettling territory until they both reach their stunning and shocking conclusions.
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Both shows are about kids having symbiotic relationships with the aliens.
It seems that Cencoroll's author was directly inspired with Tomizawa Hitoshi's monsters design. Some minor details are also very similar to those in Alien 9.
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Opening Theme#1: "Flower Psychedelic: Kasumi Tomine Version" by Noriko Shitaya #2: "Flower Psychedelic: Kumi Kawamura Version" by Kaori Shimizu #3: "Flower Psychedelic: Yuri Otani Version" by Juri Ihata
Ending Theme"rebirth" by en avant
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Related ClubsYuri Fan Cube, Alien Nine Club, Animax Asia, Mindfuck-Anime-Club, Kumi Fan Club, Alternative Seinen, seinen & josei, Kasumi Fan Club, Creepy Anime/Manga Club, Central Park Media Fanclub, Borg-O-san Club, Claim a Smart Character Club, Watch Anime Together Club Headquarters
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