Based on an unfinished 1992 manga by Tony Takezaki, this 1994 cyberpunk/biopunk OVA is an unapologeticly brutal gore fest that relishes in nihilism, human suffering and body horror.
With Koichi Ohata, who brought us such dregs as M.D. Geist and the Ikki Tousen series in the director's chair and Sho Aikawa, who is now best known for writing Martian Successor Nadesico and Full Metal Alchemist as well as various tokusatsu shows as the series writer, Genocyber is another of Aikawa's early works in anime that consist of immature, edgy, nihilistic themes with unlikable characters as seen in the likes of Legend of the Overfiend, Violence Jack and Angel Cop.
And Aikawa's raging hate boner for humanity is on full display here.
Genocyber just feels like it was written by an angsty teenager who is angry at the world. Most of if not all of the show's characters bar our protagonist are written as insufferably evil scum buckets with absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever to people who are just one mental breakdown away from falling into insanity. Or in some cases both. All while gleefully relishing in over the top violence and gore that would make Fist of the North Star, Violence Jack, Berserk and even Elfen Lied weep.
So what's the anime about? Well, the first episode goes something like this:
At the dawn of the 21st century, all the nations of the world have pulled together to form a new one world government while in Hong Kong, scientists under the direction of mad scientist Kenneth Reed have begun development on an ultimate bio-weapon dubbed Genocyber by combining the minds and powers of two psychic sisters, Diana, a born cripple who uses a cyborg body to move around and our protagonist Elaine, a girl born with the nervous system of an animal who escapes from Reed's lab and befriends a bullied street urchin while on the run from Reed, who acts as surrogate father to the two girls. To make matters worse the Kuryu Group, the organisation funding the Genocyber project have sent a trio of sadistic cyborg mercenaries to find and capture Elaine no matter the cost.
After a violent run in with the Kuryu Group's mercenaries followed brutal and unnecessary massacre at a hospital at the hands of Reed's masked henchmen, a scuffle with her sister Diana well as a brief fight with the Kuryu cyborgs, the inevitable finally happens where Elaine's lifeforce merges with Diana. The titular Genocyber is finally born and all hell breaks loose.
Manga Entertainment UK would realase and localise the first three episodes of Genocyber before it would see release in Japan, where it would become part part of Manga's Cyberpunk Collection alongside Cyber City Oedo and A.D. Police. And if you're at all familiar with Manga's early days as a distributor and localiser of anime you likely know what to expect from the English dub, cheesy voice acting laced with superfluous amounts of profanity.
However, it wouldn't be until Genocyber's licence was acquired by Central Park Media in 1999 that the final two episodes would see a release in English with Manga Entertainment deciding not to release it at all. And likely with good reason as it's pretty much the most boring part of the series.
In all honesty, Genocyber is not an anime I can recommend to anyone. Not even the most die hard gore fan. The series revels in absolute cruelty and hatred to the point where it's as if the writer and director want the viewer to suffer. The violence is so over the top that it's just outright uncomfortable to watch and the anime makes sure you see every grizzly detail when the blood and entrails are splattered across the screen.
It's not just the adult characters in the show who get brutally slaughtered either as the anime has absolutely no shame in killing children in full gory detail as well. The first episode even goes out of it's way to show the young street urchin Elaine befriends being molested by two of his bullies while another attempts to have his way with Elaine.
No joke, the anime even shows full on child molestation just to show how irredeemably evil the bullies are in order to make their eventual karmic retribution more deserving.
The animation is actually really good for the most part and not just for the gore scenes. There are many scenes where the animation is smooth as butter, especially during the action scenes and there is some great attention to detail in the background settings and character designs, especially the Genocyber itself which straight up looks like a demonic version of The Guyver.
However, the first episode is pretty notorious for using scenes of photorealism in some parts which just looks jarring and sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the animation.
As for the story... it tried. The first episode at least has some decent ideas but is just so poorly executed and relies on exposition dump after exposition dump with it's character dialogue. Parts 2 and 3 follow the cliched man's creation going out of control trope as an experimental super weapon goes on a bloody rampage after an encounter with the Genocyber while the final episodes are just a boring chore to sit through.
If I were to say anything good about Genocyber it would be it's music.
The soundtrack has a very good music score with many memorable tunes such as the theme that plays over the Genocyber's rampage and action scenes and the ending theme song Fairy Dreamin' by Sayuri Shimizu is a somewhat romantic yet somber hard rock track that fits the overall tone of the show and I garantee you'll be searching it up on YouTube once you've heard it.
In conclusion, Genocyber is an insufferable trashy mess with very few good things about it. It's a bleak, miserable little OVA that oozes nihilism, hatred and despair at every turn and I'm sure anyone who has already seen it would rather forget about it.
For anyone who hasn't seen this series already I can only say avoid it at all costs. However, if for some reason you want to see it for yourself, don't expect to have a good time.
