Virus: Virus Buster Serge

Virus Buster Serge marked the debut of Masami Obari as a director and writer for a television series, prior to this his directorial work consisted of several mecha and fighting OVAs whilst he had never been credited as a writer on these projects.

These details are important to consider when watching Virus, as it is clearly the work of an auteur in an unknown medium... and it shows.

Obari's weakness and inexperience as a writer are on full display; after the first three episodes the viewer gets the impression that there was no story planned out since the following nine episodes seem to meander with very little ... relation to the plot. It's almost as if Obari made no attempt to tell a compelling story, instead relying upon the belief that plot points could be hinted at but these are never fully developed.

Characters in this show are no better. There are no distinct personalities among any of the principal cast; they simply exist in a space, recite typically banal dialogue, and make inexplicable choices which make no sense in the context of the so-called "plot". Artistically, the characters are bland in their design (perfectly capturing their distinct lack of personality) with males sporting angular faces and chiselled abs, whilst the females possess oversized breasts and eyes - none of these characters are unique in their design. The mech design is only slightly better, but the action sequences lack excitement and are quite boring, relying on an unchanged formula for the duration of the series. Given Obari's history with the genre, this is a significant flaw.

If there is anything positive to say about the show it has to be that the sound is generally good. The English dub isn't brilliant, but there are some decent performances and the music, whilst not memorable, is passable. There is an attempt at creating images that stand out, but as a whole the show just fails to work.

Even bad anime can be embraced by fans and by the masses, even if such admiration is ironic, but Virus commits the biggest sin of any piece of entertainment: it fails to entertain.