Ranked #3688

MD Geist

Wow, I'm honestly surprised that this is the first review for M.D. Geist on MAL.

Particularly surprised considering how old, "well-known" and (in)famous this particular one-episode OVA is. M.D. Geist is really not any better or worse than most of the subpar anime series that was released to the U.S. from the early 80's to the early 90's. In some circles, it's particularly infamous but not so much for what it actually is or how bad the story is, but more on that later.

Story: 5 (Medicore)

The story begins in the far future, where humanity has colonized space. One of the planets, Jerra, lost contact with Earth and civil war broke out between a grassroots rebellion and the ruling planetary government. To counteract the rebels, the government created the M.D.S., or Most Dangerous Soldier (yeah, seriously) program, which would create bio-engineered soldiers capable of taking on any mission. The first fully capable soldier from the program, M.D. Geist, was so unstable he was locked away on an orbiting satellite until it crashed into the planet's surface, unleashing Geist upon a divided and war-torn world.

Of course it's easy to make any work sound cliche through a basic, boiled-down premise, but with M.D. Geist, that's all you get. A "twist" thrown in is that Geist is more interested in chaos than actually helping either side establish order, but as any M. Night Shaymalan fan can tell you simple twists wear thin real quick. A legitimate twist does come at the very end, way too late to salvage anything. The story is certainly not going to carry this OVA at best and at worst, is just downright bizarre and disturbing.

Art: 5 (Medicore

And neither is the art style, which as far as I can tell is completely unremarkable compared to contemporary works. There's not much to say about this category, so we're moving on.

Sound: 2 (Dreadful)

The sound or music quality isn't really all that spectacular, but neither is it really all that bad. What really brings it down, however, is the voice acting, which is a nice segue into....

Character: 3 (poor)

Actually, the characterization of Geist isn't all that bad. His voice actor (who is otherwise most notable for providing the voice for background or minor support characters, and sadly passed away a number of years ago) remarkably carries off a tone not unlike Vin Diesel's performance in Pitch Black, perhaps all the more appropriate given just who Geist is. Geist is a very one-dimensional character, but when all you crave is wanton chaos and destruction, it's easy to let that one slip by. However, this all at best makes him a rather average if not interesting character, and the rest of the cast and voice acting is simply dreadful. At the top of the list is Freya, whose character model is actually pretty damn sexy for what we're dealing with, but is a completely flat, unmotivated character whose actions are performed solely to remind the audience that she's not a zombie, and worst of all, her voice actor is just atrocious. Seriously - I had to listen to someone drag their fingernails across a chalkboard as therapy after listening to her grating work. Though at least she probably still had a lot of employment in the past eight years or so - going to places like Abu Grahib and Guantanamo Bay where her voice no doubt provided valuable interrogation work. Geist and Freya are the only two characters the OVA wants you to care about (but not the audience) which probably is the reason why all the other characters to appear are either mind numbingly bland or have bizarre character designs whose only purpose is to remind us of how stupid 80's fashion accessories were. Oh yeah, they also have another purpose - to die horribly.

Enjoyment: 5 (Medicore)

Really, the massive amounts of gore being splattered against everything is probably actually the most enjoyable aspect, and perhaps the only reason why this OVA is worth watching. Otherwise, this work just comes off as bland as everything else in it.

Which gives M.D. Geist an overall score of:

4: Decent

Yup, it's...decent. Just...decent. Come for the blood and guts (you'll probably find it so over the top you just can't help but enjoy it) and admittedly pretty good action scenes, stay for the...well there's nothing to stay for.

Fun facts: This was, bizarrely enough, the favorite anime of John O'Donnell, who happened to be none other than the CEO of Central Park Media, one of the largest distributors of anime in the English speaking world during the 80s and into the early 90s. So enthralled was he with M.D. Geist that he made Geist a part of the logo of CPM at the beginning of every anime intro that was licensed by them and even bought a rare vinyl record of the OST. And in the ultimate show of love for a particular anime, he and CPM funded and commissioned entirely on their own a sequel, M.D. Geist II: Death Force, of which you can read about in my review of that work. More information on both the sequel and John O'Donnell's bizarre love affair can be found at Justin Sakis' "Buried Garbage" column at Anime News Network. read more

You can't go wrong with violence. Add a few squashed heads, some bloodspray and a few impalements, and the entertainment value of even the most mundane stories gets jacked up a notch or two. MD Geist is somewhat of an infamous title, partially because it has its fair share of gooey, squishy, splashy gore and partially because of its banal story which has earned it the title of "worst anime ever" in the minds of some critics. MD Geist is not quite that bad, but it proves, surprisingly enough, that even gratuitous lazers and head-crushing aren't enough to make a good anime.

Story: 2

MD Geist starts out with a fairly cool Mad Max turned cyberpunk vibe, as mecha and soldiers in powered armor slaughter each other with various machine guns, lazers, and cybernetic appendages. Our hero, Geist, is then seen wandering around the desert beating up random buff dudes clad in lots of spikes and leather, and before long finds himself the leader of a biker gang. It's all down hill from there.

After jumping into some random fight and beating up a bunch of mini mecha with spears and knives (srsly!), Geist decides to play soldier and joins the army. There's some random briefing about a doomsday device and suddenly Geist and four or five other soldiers are attacking a heavily-guarded fortress swarming with mecha. Yeah, you guessed it, Geist kicks a bunch of ass, fights a main boss, and after a totally random plot twist the show's over.

The story is tired and generic, but unfortunately that is the least of its worries. The main issue here is that it doesn't make any freaking sense. What's up with the random doomsday device, and why is the government of earth entrusting its future to four or five mooks and some random biker who just joined the army for the lulz? No wonder they're getting their asses kicked. Of course, you could argue that a show like MD Geist doesn't need a decent story, but there are other ultraviolent shows (Ninja Scroll, Guyver, Hellsing Ultimate), that not only make sense but have a badass story as well, so that's no excuse.

Art / animation: 7

MD Geist is an old series, but it looks pretty good. It has its fair share of still shots but that is typical of low-budget anime. The art itself looks quite good, fortunately. The mecha and powered armor designs are cool, and the landscapes have an appropriately gritty, desolate feel, especially the urban environments. The character designs show a suitable 80s attitude and the fights are animated decently.

Sound: 8

The characters in MD Geist are supposed to be cardboard cutouts of badassery and the seiyuu do an acceptable job. No Oscar material here, obviously, but nothing to complain about, either. The various machine sounds, explosions, and dakka dakka all sound great, and the velveetalicious 80s rock soundtrack fits the mood to a T. Again, it's nothing mind-blowing but it works.

Characters: 4

Nothing to see here, folks. MD Geist's characters are all wallpaper, including the hero. They are completely lifeless and completely uninteresting, except when they are kicking ass.

Geist is supposed to be a complete psycho hell-bent on destruction, but until the ending he just comes off as an ambitious guy with hardcore ninja skills. Geist is more or less rational and in control of his emotions for most of the OVA, as shown by his resistance to Vaiya's seduction and his manner of carrying himself during the encounter with the soldiers. For that reason the ending comes off as pretty contrived and stupid, even though it sounds cool on paper.

Vaiya, the 80's T & A, is also pretty dull. She's basically a manipulative bitch who tries to use Geist and fails. You won't care, trust me. The soldiers are just there to get their asses kicked and move the sorry excuse for a story forward. Nothing to like, nothing to hate either, really.

Enjoyment: 4

In theory, MD Geist is all about kicking ass and turning futuristic soldiers into piles of gibs. And to a certain extent, yes, it delivers. There are some cool moments, such as the scene when Geist jumps off his bike and impales a mobile suit pilot through the cockpit with a fucking spear. That's right, a fucking spear

Too bad the fights make up only about 35% of screen time, because the rest of the show is a black hole of stupidity and emptiness which will surely eat away at your brain cells. Furthermore, the end boss battle is not that great. Geist's creators possibly put slightly more thought into this battle than they did into the preceding scenes, but by then I was enraged by the nonsense story, and I sure as hell expected more than a WWF match with robot armor to make it worthwhile. There's just too much filler (or "story," as some would have it) in between the fighting, which makes Geist frustrating as hell to watch.

So in practice you are watching a 45 minute OVA for about 15 minutes of decent fighting. That is half an hour of time spent watching boring characters and a completely useless plot develop. You could spend that time flying a kite, saving starving ethernopians, inventing time travel, or for god's sake at least watching something that doesn't suck.

Overall: 4

MD Geist isn't the worst anime I've ever seen, it's just pointless. The story is godawful, the characters are dull, and even the battles and violence are fairly unimpressive. Avoid unless you're really bored or have a fetish for violent 80s anime.
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