Genma Taisen

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Ghenma Wars, Great War with Genma

Japanese: 幻魔大戦

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Information

Type: Movie

Episodes: 1

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Mar 12, 1983

Producers: None found, add some

Licensors: Central Park Media

Studios: Madhouse

Source: Manga

Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Supernatural

Theme: Mecha

Demographic: Shounen

Duration: 2 hr. 11 min.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 5.17¹ (scored by 2,093 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #12426²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #7672

Members: 6,347

Favorites: 7

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

From the depths of space he is coming...

Ancient beyond understanding, his power is immeasurable. He has destroyed half the universe and is on his way here. He is... Genma.

Only two people are aware of the imminent catastrophe: Princess Luna, a modern day prophetess and Vega, a cybernetic crusader from a world long since ravaged by Genma. Determined to spare the Earth from a similar fate, Luna and Vega must try to mobilize the most potent psychics in the world. Together, this army of fledging psychic warriors must succeed where billions have tried... and failed.

But will they be able to gather their champions in time? Genma's agents are already on Earth to ensure that their master meets with no opposition!

(Source: AnimeNfo)

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Background

No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Genma Taisen
Alternative version:	Genma Taisen: Shinwa Zenya no Shou

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Luna

Main

Koyama, Mami
Japanese

Vega

Main

Emori, Toru
Japanese

Azuma, Jou

Main

Furuya, Toru
Japanese

Announcer

Supporting

Yada, Kouji
Japanese

Transylvanian Chamberlain

Supporting

Miyauchi, Kouhei
Japanese

Salamander

Supporting

Utsumi, Kenji
Japanese

Genma Daioh

Supporting

Satou, Masaharu
Japanese

Chief O'Reilly

Supporting

Mugihito
Japanese

Gangster

Supporting

Shioya, Yoku
Japanese

Yogin

Supporting

Saikachi, Ryuuji
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Ishinomori, Shoutarou

Producer, Original Creator

Rintarou

Director

Emerson, Keith

Theme Song Arrangement, Theme Song Composition

Otomo, Katsuhiro

Character Design, Key Animation

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Opening Theme

No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.

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Ending Theme

"Hikari no Tenshi Children of the Light (光の天使 CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT)" by Rosemary Butler

Reviews

May 28, 2021

punishedsneed

Recommended

Genma Taisen is thoroughly gorgeous. Its visuals are just what you'd expect from when it was made and whose behind it. The animation carries this movie, really bringing a lot of its concepts to life. I wonder why it has a 5.15 on here, though I'd estimate that because while the visuals are well done and interesting, the story probably doesn't hit for most people. I'd say the story here is only just decent, and most of the characters, besides the protagonist, are pretty flat. Still, the movie is a long, winding journey full of interesting visuals and scenes, so I wouldn't pass up on ... watching it if you're interested in anime movies from this period.

I imagine that Genma Taisen's weaker links are a result of its format. It's a movie, and like many anime movies from this period, it's more then 2 hours long. Also like other anime movies from this period, it's trying to fit a lot more then it can into film's more limited format. While with a series like an OVA or a TV show, you have anywhere from 10 to 50 episodes to work with, movies rarely exceed two hours and twenty minutes, and when they exceed two hours to begin with, there's a good chance they'll start to drag.

Considering how many characters this movie has, and how only one of them, our protagonist Azuma Jo, gets any real development, I believe they just didn't want to cut out anything. They came up with these characters and especially wanted them in place to make the story seem more globally significant, since the other characters are from places like Taiwan, India, New York City, etc... Basically, they had these characters designed and mostly thought out, but struggled to make them do anything but just appear in the story. Only one of these characters gets an introductory scene - the rest are just basically flung into the plot.

But even these weakly developed characters are better then the plot, which is presented in a rather dreary, apocalyptic fashion, but is basic and predictable underneath that prophetic window-dressing. Bad guy energy wants to destroy everything, the universe's life energy intervenes to make sure that doesn't happen, and so our story begins... in the end, something about love being greater then hate; you know, typical feel-good messaging. The movie comes off as quite New Age. The New Age movement is where it gets its psionic abilities, its global nature, and its basic spiritual themes of love conquering all, yadda-yadda. Maybe since I'm normal and don't subscribe to any New Age spirituality, and instead rely on hierarchal Catholicism, this wishy-washy message comes off as boring. Don't get me wrong, pure dualism can be thematically interesting, but not here. The plot itself is a device; a device to give us the movie's stunning visuals and animation.

And since it gives us that, I can't say it's so bad it isn't worth watching.

When we look at anime and even film, half of it is plot, characters, writing, and the other half is visual. A movie can be mediocre on one half if the other half excels. It won't be a masterpiece, but it'll be "good." And that's why I'll call Genma Taisen "good."

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Oct 24, 2018

neetonatto

Mixed Feelings

This movie has severe pacing issues. About 15 minutes in I decided it would be a good idea to speed the movie up 10%. This was a good idea, as every single scene hangs on and drags juuuuust long enough that i would forget what it was that i was concentrating on. My brain kept wanting to jump out of the movie, I couldn't get settled in for a single moment. I haven't seen many anime with this kind of problem. The story is very simple, so i wasn't really lost at all the entire time, it's just that it was directed in such an ...

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Dec 28, 2018

matthigh

Not Recommended

An eighties classic movie with lots of high-powered staff that worked on it -- and yet, as classic as it may be, it comes away...lacking.

The main storyline is set up very early, as a galactic scourge is coming to destroy the planet, and the fate of the planet falls on the shoulders of a young Japanese boy, unaware of his latent abilities. Helped (and hindered) along the way repeatedly by a cast of misfits that guide him how to use his powers or try to destroy him, he fumbles along towards the inevitable showdown.

It certainly is ...