Ranked #2668

Megazone 23

Wow.

When i originally saw the trailer for Megazone 23 on a random anime dvd, i couldnt help but to be fascinated by the fast pace and 80's soundtrack that i was watching, and i knew i had to get this anime.

As a major fan of old school anime, i ordered the Megazone 23 collection with all the aspirations of old school anime glory, and i must admit, it took me for a ride that ill never forget. With this review i hope to give my own opinions and insight on what has currently become one of my favorite anime titles - Megazone 23.

Story -
As for story , Megazone 23 is quite original. I have a large anime collection, and in all my years of watching anime have i never watched anything with a story like this one. its an original piece of work that has managed to become nostalgic and stay fresh at the same time, and it also manages to merge quite a few genres together, such as - mecha, romance,action,sci-fi, and even post apocalyptica. Megazone 23 has something for everyone thats for sure.

ART -
When it comes to the Art Department, Each part of the Megazone 23 collection has its own style. Part 1 offers a strictly old school style which could only be described as "80's animation". Part 2 is also animated in a late 1980's animation style, but it is slightly different and more detailed than Part 1. Parts 3 & 4 are animated in the mid 1990's animation style, with cleaner animation with a more modern look. Though each Part is animated in their own different style, i didnt find it taking anything away from my viewing pleasure, Each Part had its story to tell and i greatly enjoyed the series despite the animation changes.

Sound-
The sound is basically one of the things that got me hooked on Megazone 23. i really enjoyed the 80's style and music that Parts 1 & 2 were infused with. The look and sound of everything fit together really well and made it a great experience altogether, whether it was 80's rock, or pop, or sythesizers. As for sound effects, i felt they were done quite well too, especially with the vehicles (motorcycles). I bought the ADV dvd collection, so thats the only version ive watched, and i must say that the dubbing was done really good in my own opinion.

Characters -
As i watched Megazone 23, i really found myself liking some of the characters, especially Eve and Shogo. The music they used with the character Eve basically made her an instant legend when it comes to anime Idols, right up there with Macross and everything, and it is certainly for good reason. Shogo was a pretty cool character too. in Part 1 he was stubborn and hot headed, but as Part 2 rolls around you can tell he has matured a bit. Yui changes a bit fom Part 1 to Part 2 as well, and Part 2 introduces alot more minor characters that are pretty cool too. all in all, the characters of Megazxone 23 in a whole are pretty memorable :)


Overall-

As a whole, I really found myself enjoying each and every Part of the Megazone OVA. I liked the originality of its story, the old school 80's style presentation of music and animation, and the characters were interesting and kept the series fun to watch. Although i didnt mind the animation changes, i know everyone may not care too much for them, but if you can look past those changes and focus onthe story, then im sure youll enjoy Megazone 23 just as much as i did. If you are looking for an anime that is original and one of a kind, then Megazone 23 has everything you could possibly ask for :) read more

Thank God for the OVA boom that was single handedly started by Megazone 23 (pronounced Megazone 2 3). The story by the way the title is based on what Japan was called back in WW2.

The story is pretty hard to get into, but once you get it it's there. Here's a sentence to sum it up: The main character, Shogo finds a bike, a bike that's top secret to an organization. Oh, and the world is only Tokyo and they live in a spaceship that people aren't aware of.Not very novel, right? Wanna know why? Because Megazone started it. The story was originally supposed to be a multi-episode series compounded into a large series. There's a big flaw in this. There are many loopholes that happen. Where are the organizations? Who's who? What's going on? After about 10 minutes you start to understand, but it's pretty difficult to understand what's going on early on. Basically there's three more OVA's so it's okay to not understand at the moment. Overall, not bad but the loopholes are very hard to understand.

The art is amazing. The palet and the facial designs are very cleanly done, just like back in the day when hand drawn cell animation was around. My big complain is that things change. In some scenes there's a pillow that's big and pink. In some scenes it's a simple pillow. Honestly, I'm suprised I catched that but a normal viewer probably wouldn't notice. There are some great realism in the art though. There's McDonald's and Coke all around this anime. It's VERY realistic. The art is well designed and if you can get past the flaws in this artwork it's not a big deal.

The sound is amazing. From the pop idol singing to the '80's soundtrack it's all amazing. I really felt like I was in that time and place. The english dubbing is excellent, and I wish I could say that for the Japanese version. The J. dubbing is terrible. The flaps don't match and the voices all sound like they're on steroids. For all you sub fans you might be turned off by this. It would be unfair to give the audio a 9 since the Japanese track is terrible.

The characters are pretty great. The loud mouth, the cool guy, the girl willing to sleep to the top, and the aspiring actress. Add in a guy trying to commit a coup and you got Megazone. The characters are anything but one sided but I couldn't get a feeling for them. I seriously only got to like Yui and Shogo. I have to admit I LOVED it when a certain hot-headed-bitch gets shot in the head. I have to say though that there are alot of characters that come and go. Just remember Mr. Coup, Shogo, and Yui and you should be good.

You know I want to give this anime a 10, but it doesn't deserve it. It just had too many loopholes and it suffered from changing artwork. It is however one of the best OVA's I have ever seen. I'm going to give it a 9 because it's a must see. Frankly, not seeing this is ground enough to have your otaku license revoked.

Pros:
+ One of the visuals I have ever seen. (Epic color palet)
+ It keeps you gripped with a great storyline.

Cons:
- Some of the backgrounds change when they shouldn't.
- Characters come and go.

This anime is 9 "OVA BOOMS!" out of 10.
This anime is out now by ADV films, go out and buy it.

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