Story: 6/10
If you are unfamiliar with this old time franchise, it can best be described as very exaggerated and over the top! Well in this OVA movie earth is living a peaceful life after many years of war with an old alien race, until a mysterious "new" alien race threatens it! Now earths only hope comes in the way of 16 year old A-ko, she is no ordinary girl though--for she has super human strength (literally). When the new alien force arrives it is up to her to save the city. This is where things really get weird too, the alien force consists of males that dress in female clothing! Now I would like to think they are simply cross dressers, but since one is overly muscular and the other is very scrawny looking--it would appear to simply be part of the humor. What follows is non-stop over the top action and comedy. The main plot is never really explained very well, for one thing we never even really know just why A-ko has these super powers to begin with. She just sort of...does! There are a few bits and piece of echhi style humor in the story, nothing really to over the top though, mostly consisting of a brief panty or cleave shot every now and then. Again, very brief though. You get some decent action scenes and explosions that come with it, but nothing is ever handled with any sort of fury in mind. As the main plot to this series is "action style comedy." So even the fight scenes themselves can be down right cheesy at times. Along with the alien force, A-ko must also handle her rival "B-ko, " who is trying to take her best friend "C-ko" away from here. (Again with the whole corny humor, only this time with the alphabet) When watching this show you simply have to know what to expect, and thus be in the mood for its content. If you like your action over the top and not taken seriously, then you’ll love this movie. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that all the action scenes are goofy, because you do get a few good action scenes here. Its just that a majority of them take a more comical style of approach, or do indeed end in one.
Depending if you get the edited version or not, there is a brief scene at the beginning that shows A-ko topless. It is very brief and never happens again, but just be aware of that fact.
Side Note: The project A-ko series comes in the form of 5 OVA style movies. However they don't always follow the same linear plot line. As some of the titles have the characters in different situations, some of which they are complete strangers to one another. Think of it as an alternate realty of sorts. (for the record, this is the first one)
Artwork: 8/10
Well 1986 was a pretty long time go, so don’t expect to see the most sharpest of special effects. This again is another one of those titles that you have to take its quality upon its production year. Meaning that this OVA looked great for its time. Nice explosion affects, somewhat unique style facial expressions and character design. Which I have to say was pretty popular in this era. The background can be pretty lifeless at times, but never really come off as bad.
Soundtrack: 6/10
Well you get quite a bit of 80’s style pop in this title, if you’re not a fan of that to begin with then you might want to put the sound low when viewing this. Its not really bad or anything, it just doesn’t give off any kind of distinctness to it. Sadly I have only watched the dub to this anime, since back then only dub VHS versions were available at video stores. I didn’t really like it at all, the English voice actors sounded too weak, and you could tell that they were simply saying lines from a script. I would like to think the the sub version is better, but it may be pretty weak in the audio clarity department, since this was made a long time ago. (other titles such as Sailor Moon suffered from the same thing back then)
Characters: 6/10
They are by no means awful, just pretty shallow as a whole. They don’t really have a certain depth-ness to them, and are not really explained very well. We never really get to know just who A-ko really is, or any kind of history behind her. Most are simply thrown into the show in attempts to make you laugh. Which to the series credit, is what its really all about. Though in truth we do get a little bit more info on "B-ko" than anyone else, which explains who she is over all, and what she is after.
Bottom Line: 6/10
Project A-ko might be too cheesy and over the top for newer viewers out there. But if you’re interested in its content I mentioned then by all means you should take a look. The OVAs are only about and hours worth, and may draw some people into the older generation of anime. While its not really a solid watch compared to other titles in this era, its also not really a bad one either. So long as you can appreciate its whole campy style of content.
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