Black Magic M-66

This was one of the most entertaining OVA's I've watched in a long time. Made by the people behind Ghost in the Shell it's obvious these guys can really pull off even a 50 minute OVA. Now when watching this, it reminded me a lot of Terminator and I really mean a lot but I didn't have a problem with that since I am a Terminator fan my self. Unit M 66 is basically a Terminator with one job. Eliminate the target. The action in this anime was overall very impressive especially for an anime approaching the age of 30. Some the scenes were designed ... way ahead of its time and the suspense was amazing. The art was of course, amazing. But what can you expect from the same guy who illustrated Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed.In fact there is an Appleseed reference in this show, which was kind of amusing. The sound was pretty good. It was appropiate to all of the events happening and it had the smooth 80s suspense music that fed me so much nostalgia. Music score is very similar to Terminator's music score. There really is so much a like between this and Terminator. Characters act similar to the leads in Terminator but here you don't really get to know them that well but I give it some slack since this was only 50 minutes and there is no other anime for it, which personally I think it needs a reboot. The story is rather interesting. I'm not sure if the similarities between this and Terminator are coincidental or on purpose I don't really know. If you got some time to burn, watch this. I wish there was more to this classic. It probably is a VHS and DVD copies as this was a minor hit in Japan and did receive some attention here in the states. But overall this series is very interesting and entertaining to watch.

Two of the military's top-secret android weapons, called M-66 units, are lost and go berserk. One is hunted down and destroyed at the cost of quite a few men, but the other escapes, with orders to kill the granddaughter of its creator implanted in error. It comes down to an intrepid photojournalist, Sybel, to save a girl from a situation she has very little control over. Will she be able to do what the military could not...stop the doll-like M-66 from its mistaken mission of death?

This is a really nice anime,its fast pace and comes off as a confincing sct-fi action anime.the animation is quite ... good,i loved the colours used and the drawing looked quite realistic.overall nothing spectacular but still a good anime.

Black Magic M-66 is the sort of action OVA I wish all action OVAs could be - an all killer, no filler romp through a cyberpunk dystopia. It's got a lovable main character, a phenomenal art style, stunning animation, and nearly non-stop action. Sure, it may be light on story - but that's not really the point of Black Magic M-66. It came to give thrills, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a roaring success.

Also, there's an important distinction to be made between story and character. The story, the actual plot of how everyone gets from point A to point B is weak, but ... I must reiterate - the protagonist, Sybel, has an unbelievably strong character. She steals every scene she's in with trademark Shirow tomboy spunk and snappy dialogue, letting her bounce off the rest of the cast with ease. Seriously, she's on a fast track to being one of my favorite sci-fi anime protagonists.

Oh, and it has androids vs military action. You really can't go wrong with that.

Black Magic M-66 is a classic Ova that should be on everyone's radar. The narrative is intriguing and lends itself well to the action/thriller vibe the anime is going for. The animation holds up and is a delight to see. It is well paced, never feeling overly long or drawn out. All that being said, the best part is the character writing. The characters aren't unique or complex but, the main lead Sybel is an excellent example of a strong female character, and straight up cool. She has a lot of courage and doesn't run from danger. The ... soldiers are also well written, being competent and professional throughout. Black Magic M-66 holds up well and is extremely enjoyable to watch.

Black Magic M-66 is an OVA by the author of “Ghost in the Shell” made several years before he began working on that iconic masterpiece.

That sentence alone should be enough to get you to watch this OVA (it’s only about 45 minutes long, what is that, in the great span of your life really?), but because I’ve got a word count to deal with, I suppose I’ll write a proper review.

According to some quick Wikipedia research, this OVA was based on one story from the original doujinshi published by Masanori Ota a.k.a Masamune Shirow in 1983. It’s short, and to the point.

No complicated details about ... anything, for the most part; this film has a plot, some good lucking characters (and character design) and great set pieces. It’s a very simple action movie that doesn’t get weighed down with existentialism or any of that other cyberpunk philosophy stuff, and instead just sticks with the bare nuts and bolts.

There’s a crazy military-grade robot on the loose, and because of a programming accident it’s trying to kill the granddaughter of its creator and the only one who can save her is Sybel, a gutsy, front-line war reporter! Sybel’s character design reminded me of Ellen Ripley. That should tell you basically all you need to know about her (assuming you’ve seen Alien).

The OVA plays out like a mish-mash of all the popular western action movies from the 80’s and it works kind of brilliantly. I can imagine Masanori Ota sitting in a movie theater in Osaka on a late afternoon, drinking a beer, and smoking a cigarette, and getting inspiration to create this movie… but then again, that’s just my imagination, because the original doujinshi for this predates most of those movies by a good bit.

Moving on…

Because there’s not really much of a backstory for any of setting or characters, it’s all left to the imagination, which is great, because it lets you just enjoy the set piece action scenes, which are pretty great, even by today’s standards.

I really enjoyed this movie, finding it very nostalgic for simpler times. The background art was extremely well done, the vehicles were all overly designed in a typical 80’s anime way, but the level of detail in just the random truck that explodes shows you how much attention to detail artists paid on the little things back then. The crazy robot looks fierce, cold, and cool. Its weapons don’t require any long explanations of science or physics to understand; they’re very lazerbeam pew pew, hulk smash kind of deal. The same applies to all the countermeasures the military takes to fight the robot. We’re acknowledged to be a smart enough audience to know what “the donut” does (because I certainly don’t remember them telling us), but I find that very refreshing not being babied. No excess exposition required. Great.

This was yet another movie I found looking through the HIDIVE vaults. Crazy to think that when you go hunting for hidden gems, sometimes you actually find them.

Hard recommend. Go, grab a pizza, or a beer, and throw this on before you get back to your seasonals. I’m sure it will be a nice change of pace.

I was casually strolling through MAL and I stumbled upon this work by Masamune Nightow, who is the author of the acclaimed Ghost in the shell series.
Instead of watching this Ova first I read the manga to get the gist of it and it let me down so much. It was so random and hard to read due to huge text and unclear story. Didnt like that much. But when I started watching this I immediately knew this adaptation was better because its more in line with Ghost in the shell and its just a classic terminator esque robot kills everyone flick, It was good ... for what it was.
Obviously wasn't expecting it to blow me away, but considering when it was released I'd say it was good.
Not a must watch,but by no means a bad watch eother.

Two killer cyborgs are on the loose and while the military tries to contain the situation, a clueless reporter including her camera pops up in the middle of things. Based on a story by Masamune Shirow, directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo (worked on AKIRA, GUNDAM and GOLDEN BOY). 50 minutes of cyberpunk technology and action. The characters and the plot are pretty dumb, but I still loved it. Feels like an 80s sci-fi-action movie - doesn't take itself too serious, but excites nonetheless. I also liked the designs of the futuristic cities and mecha. Artwork seems a little bit more polished than the animations. Good show!