Rating: 
Summary: A Rough Cut
Review: * Masamune Shirow has become one of Japan's preeminent
manga authors, due to his imaginativeness and extreme
(sometimes excessive) technical detail. BLACK MAGIC M-66
is one of his early forays into anime.The plot takes place in some semi-mythical country
where two highly lethal "M-66" combat androids have
escaped. They were accidentally programmed to
kill the granddaughter of the scientist who built
them. A military team is trying to track them
down, and simultaneously dealing harshly with
civilians who have learned the secret of the M-66.
The heroine of the story, Sybel, is a gutsy
freelance journalist who is trying to learn about
the M-66s and rescue the girl. If you've ever seen the BLACK MAGIC M-66 manga, it
is basically sketchy early rough efforts by Shirow.
The BLACK MAGIC M-66 anime simply borrows some ideas
from the manga and essentially fits them into a
minor variation on the plot of TERMINATOR. The end result looks less like a finished product
than like a rough cut for someone experimenting
with constructing a real movie later -- something
like a "student film" if you like. It's less than
an hour long, and though it does reflect Shirow's
artwork and some of his clever technical thinking,
it otherwise has little going for it in terms of
plot or production. (At least it has a bit more
going for it than the APPLESEED anime, which is
strictly machine-made stuff that has no Masamune
Shirow flavor to it at all.) So ... I would conclude that this might be of
interest to hardcore Masamune Shirow fans, but I
doubt that anyone else would consider it much
worth their time, money, or effort. Try GHOST
IN THE SHELL instead, which if not perfect at
least has a lot more going for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: I don't know why the other reviewers gave this title four stars, but they are completely out of their heads. This disc has so many things mounting against it, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Black Magic M-66 is really for those who are a fan of the old school anime, stuff that came out of the 80s. This title is animated in that style, and was produced in 1987. The movie itself isn't very long, only about 45 minutes. The plot is basically just this: army chases renegade robots, journalist chases army while chasing after a story. Everyone is running in all sorts of directions, and after watching it, you really wonder why you wasted an hour of your life. Basically if you are into slight nudity, lots of explosions and violence you may enjoy this film for the sheer cheese. Now on to the video. It's supposedly remastered. Remastered? Does sharpening something so much that immobile objects and people's clothes look like they are jumping off the characters classify as remastered? Colors are bright but they are way oversaturated, and depending on your setup they may bleed. And for the love of a higher power, stay away from the English dub. It is absolutely horrible. The actors made me cringe in their efforts at being army men, and all the women had very squeaky voices. The supposed 5.1 English track is just louder conversations, and louder background noises. It had no apparent virtual effects around the sound stage at all.
Rating: 
Summary: An anime classic Shirow OAV series
Review: I remember reading Masamune Shirow's manga "ORION" many, many years ago and I just had to find any anime based on his work. Well, the first video I watched by Shirow was "Black Magic M66" and now it's released on DVD. Watching this anime brought back a lot of memories because it is the first Shirow anime to be on DVD. The plot is almost like the movie "Terminator" in a way but it's simple. Military going after two killer robots who have been implanted with the wrong chip by the scientists to go after the head scientist's daughter. Have no fear, Sybel - the non-fearing reporter and her partner is there. The anime is definitely 80's and somehow you think of "Dirty Pair" or other anime popular during that time. As for the DVD, the original anime I purchased was from US Renditions and now with Manga Entertainment you get a chance to watch it in English via Digital 5.1. During the anime, I kept backtracking to compare the original Japanese 2.0 sound to the Digital 5.1. You will hear some engine revs but not as much explosive sounds that I would expect via 5.1. Sometimes at some areas I felt that the 2.0 sound was almost similar to the 5.1. Also, Manga Entertainment has been known for their good English dub work. But this time, the dub work sounds similar to the dub work of other anime companies during that time...cheesy. As for special features, there is a character bio and cool promotions for Manga Entertainment and other cool DVD's from Palm Entertainment. There is no series after "Black Magic M66", it's only a one-episode anime OAV. You really have to be a big fan of Masamune Shirow to buy this anime. At 48 minutes, this OAV may be too short for some and too expensive for some. All in all, a good anime to pass over time. A definite rental!
Rating:
Summary: An anime classic Shirow OAV series
Review: I remember reading Masamune Shirow's manga "ORION" many, many years ago and I just had to find any anime based on his work. Well, the first video I watched by Shirow was "Black Magic M66" and now it's released on DVD. Watching this anime brought back a lot of memories because it is the first Shirow anime to be on DVD. The plot is almost like the movie "Terminator" in a way but it's simple. Military going after two killer robots who have been implanted with the wrong chip by the scientists to go after the head scientist's daughter. Have no fear, Sybel - the non-fearing reporter and her partner is there. The anime is definitely 80's and somehow you think of "Dirty Pair" or other anime popular during that time. As for the DVD, the original anime I purchased was from US Renditions and now with Manga Entertainment you get a chance to watch it in English via Digital 5.1. During the anime, I kept backtracking to compare the original Japanese 2.0 sound to the Digital 5.1. You will hear some engine revs but not as much explosive sounds that I would expect via 5.1. Sometimes at some areas I felt that the 2.0 sound was almost similar to the 5.1. Also, Manga Entertainment has been known for their good English dub work. But this time, the dub work sounds similar to the dub work of other anime companies during that time...cheesy. As for special features, there is a character bio and cool promotions for Manga Entertainment and other cool DVD's from Palm Entertainment. There is no series after "Black Magic M66", it's only a one-episode anime OAV. You really have to be a big fan of Masamune Shirow to buy this anime. At 48 minutes, this OAV may be too short for some and too expensive for some. All in all, a good anime to pass over time. A definite rental!
Rating:
Summary: It's not that great, but it's fun
Review: If you can find this movie used or really cheap, it's a good deal. It's not the best transfer or the deepest story, but it's got action and a cool robot that destroys things. It's a bit short, but that's okay. If it were longer, it would probably need a better story to justify sitting through the whole thing. It's a fun, old-school anime for those who want just that.
Rating:
Summary: It's not that great, but it's fun
Review: If you can find this movie used or really cheap, it's a good deal. It's not the best transfer or the deepest story, but it's got action and a cool robot that destroys things. It's a bit short, but that's okay. If it were longer, it would probably need a better story to justify sitting through the whole thing. It's a fun, old-school anime for those who want just that.
Rating: 
Summary: Combat, androids and great artwork.
Review: In Black Magic, the anime, two military android assassins are lost. This wouldn't be so bad, but for the fact they are still carrying mission information used for testing. Their target is their creator's granddaughter.
Sybel, a freelance reporter, becomes involved in the deadly cat and mouse game between the robots and the military.
Has the voices of Steven Blum and Beau Billingslea as many of the military, along with lots of violence, nudity and strong language.
Not really anything like the manga, but still fun to watch.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic action!
Review: It is the future (I think). Two powerful M-66 robots have escaped from their prison and are on the rampage. and they have one thing one their mind: destroy Dr. Matthew's grandaughter, Ferris! If you've read the story description right, you'll understand that "Black Magic M-66" is not the most cerebral anime ever made. But it has no need for that. Instead it suceeds.... Art and animation are pretty decent. The character designs hold true to Masamune Shirow's manga drawings. The frame rates are excellent. The M-66's have spidery-like moments that look very cool. However, the backgrounds are not very detailed, and at times are ugly. At one point, someone attempts to animate the background, with horrible results. What makes this movie so good is that it has delightful tension. No one can resist it. It rival's "Alien" and "Jurasic park" in this way. In one scene, Sybel and Ferris are in the same elevator as the M-66. Sybel has a special device that works as a magnet against the M-66, but the M-66 is relentless. That scene is just painful, tension-wise. The final verdict is if you like Masamune Shirow and want a fantastic action flick, look no further. "Black Magic M-66" is a classic piece of action anime.
Rating:
Summary: Poor Shirow...
Review: Masamune Shirow writes the some of the deepest and most thoughtful manga ever, but whenever they become animated, they get butchered and stripped of nearly everything that made them worthwhile reading. This is no exception, and the animation and art direction in general aren't particularly good either. Appleseed and even Ghost In the Shell are likewise vapid and shallow anime versions of his great manga, though at least GItS had some high production values behind it. In short, skip the videos, stick to the books.
Rating:
Summary: The Anime version of 'The Terminator'
Review: Okay, the film may be too short but I don't think that it hurts it at all. It's a very well paced and action packed 45 minutes of video and the climax is jaw dropping tense.
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