Psychic Force

Rating:
Summary: Great, even if you don't know anything about the games
Review: First off, this is the OVA series for Psychic Force, one of the greatest fighting games ever made.

The animation in this is superb, especially for a movie made five years ago. The detail on some of the costumes (Especially Keith's) is very good. The effects on their attacks is also well animated (Especially for Keith, and yes, I do like him much). The character design is also great, and Wong is one of my favorite villains of all time (Next to Sephiroth from FFVII).

The English voice acting is absolutely HORRIBLE. Even if you normally watch anime dubbed, I still recommend watching it subbed. Watching it subbed also has better music. In the dubbed version, the Keith v.s Burn music is a dinky xylophone music, while the subbed version has a very bassy techno music. Plus, Wong's English voice acting is HORRENDOUS!

All in all, this DVD is definitly more than worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: Better than most mediocre fighting games to animes
Review: Psychic Force 2010 was a little unknown fighting game that came out for the Playstation five or so years ago. Although the graphics were a little less impressive than most fighters, it offered an interesting take on the fighting arena(you fought in a psychic "square") as well as characters with intriguing elemental powers and storylines that attempted to go beyond the "avenging his dead father" motives. Unfortunetly, little of that fighting concept makes it to the movie, however, it does succeed in rising above most game to anime movies.

Anyone who is familiar with fighting games and anime knows that the games don't translate so well when animated( The original Street Fighter movie is just one of many examples). Part of that reason is because that there is too many characters that are merely crammed in for screen time. Psychic Force did not offer a populated cast until the second game, so characters that made it onscreen, although they may have not been given much background information, managed to pull off an effective presence rather than being there for the sake of being animated.

In the year 2010, and army known as Noah rises up led by the mysterious man known as Wong. This army strives to build a Utopia for Psychicers(whom have been oppressed by human ignorance) which have abilities beyond those of normal humans. News of the new leader of this army, Keith Evans, reaches the ears of Burn Griffith who was his former friend who has been searching for him for three years. Why has Keith joined the ranks of Noah, and what are Wong's true motives? Is Keith really willing to sacrifice human lives to build his Utopia?

This is a character driven anime which focuses on the relationship between Keith and Burn. Burn was looking for Keith in the Psychic Force game and this movie shows how the two of them came about to meet. Those who adored Keith in the game may want to leave all their conceptions about him behind, what you are presented with is a much more childish and almost effeminite Keith. The relationship borders on almost embarrasing fluff, however this takes this anime in a bold step toward adding plot in a fighting game movie.

The few battles that make it to the screen are well executed, although the animators should have refrained from using stills and reusing frames. The animation is fluid, with nice colorization and shadows that accent the creative character designs. This DVD also comes packaged with fun extras, including a small cosplay contest, not to mention a catchy theme song sung by the talented Tomakazu Seki.

The Psychic Force anime makes a nice move by adding character development and smooth animation, however ends in a cliff hanger that will more than likely not be finished. For those unfamiliar with Psychic Force may want to rent this one first to see if it is their niche, those who are looking forward to more of this under rated game should check it out.