Rating: 
Summary: Anime That Doesn't Suck!
Review: After 400 episodes of mind bogglingly crappy shows like Gundam Wing and Tenchi Muyo, I found this. Thank god for it else I might have started lobbying to cut off relations with Japan...
Rating:
Summary: Anime That Doesn't Suck!
Review: After 400 episodes of mind bogglingly crappy shows like Gundam Wing and Tenchi Muyo, I found this. Thank god for it else I might have started lobbying to cut off relations with Japan...
Rating:
Summary: This is the one that hooked me!!!!!!
Review: Everyone has a first Anime that rocked their world, everyone who's a fan, that is. I saw this first on the Sci-fi channel, and it remains my favorite to this day. Don't miss it!!!!!!!!!!1
Rating: 
Summary: Venus in Flames
Review: Gundam veteran Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's "The Venus Wars" is a great war anime with a moderately well-done, if somewhat cliched plot and surprisingly deep characters. It deals with many themes: how occupation affects people, the role of journalists in war, as well as the loyalties and feelings that drive people to fight.
Released originally in 1989, the style of animation is very much of the time with muted colors and large smoke filled explosions. The film begins with an Earth reporter, Susan Somers, landing on a colonized Venus, hoping to get a great story out of the brewing war between the states of Aphrodia and Ishtar. Meanwhile, Hiro, a reckless young battlebike racer, is busy trying to win a race for his team The Killer Commandos. After a few laps the people in the stadium notice a group of airships approaching, tanks begin to descend and the Aphrodian capital of Io is bombed. Hiro and his friends leave the stadium, running into Susan who was taping the chaos and from then on her life becomes intertwined with that of the Killer Commandos.
The film is filled with beautiful shots of the battered Venus landscape, using light skillfully to highlight the different shades of red, which is the predominant color of the planet. The action scenes are fast paced and well directed, the scene where Hiro and his team decide to take on an Ishtari tank occupying the stadium is especially well handled. With the characters treating the attack as a game until they realize just how dangerous their situation is. The film also has many somber scenes where the characters reflect on the cost of war. One scene that stood out in particular, was when Maggy, Hiro's girlfriend, is brought to tears when she sees her favorite shopping spot littered with bullet holes and bomb damage.
The Japanese voice acting is good if not spectacular. The English dub is fairly well done with the voice of General Donner standing out, being appropriately rough, yet elitist. Though the English dub script does swerve radically from the subtitle translation, changing the meaning of entire scenes in the process.
The music by acclaimed composer Jo Hisaishi is fantastic, at times optimistic and in other times crushed and cynical. Fast paced during the action scenes and slow during the more evocative moments. Though it does get redundant, since the majority of the music is just a variation of the main theme.
Overall, "The Venus Wars" is a great science fiction action film mixed in with interesting characters and a satisfying story. It is not a classic, yet it is a great war film to watch from time to time.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent sci-fi War movie!
Review: Here's a movie I really enjoyed. It's about this Mono-bike(1 wheeled Motorcycle) racing club, who's country is invaded and occupied by the Ishtarian Army. Hiro, the main character of the story, has had enough of being Occupied, and leads his rebel group into battle against one of Ishtar's Main Battle tanks, after an epic battle, and the loss of some friends, Hiro, somewhat unwillingly becomes part of the resistance. Then with the pieces in place it's time to evict the Ishtarians from his occupied home, and the 2 Armies clash in control for the capital. Venus Wars is an excellent war flick, that really brings the memory of war home to it's viewers, and sorta gives you the feeling of what it is like to be living under enemy occupation. For those of you who like Sci-fi war movies, this one is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: great animation and action
Review: I am not really a japanese animation fan, but I saw this movie a while ago and I just had to get it. I loved the carnage and action in the film(there is a lot) and I just love the ideas they have in this film. The storyline is not to complicated and the music is okay. I got the movie sub-titled so I get to hear the original language which, to me, makes the movie a little better. If you like much japanese action, then I think that you will enjoy this film.
Rating:
Summary: great animation and action
Review: I am not really a japanese animation fan, but I saw this movie a while ago and I just had to get it. I loved the carnage and action in the film(there is a lot) and I just love the ideas they have in this film. The storyline is not to complicated and the music is okay. I got the movie sub-titled so I get to hear the original language which, to me, makes the movie a little better. If you like much japanese action, then I think that you will enjoy this film.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Combat, and fast bikes - get any better?
Review: I don't care if you're an anime fan or not, you're likely to find something interesting in this wonderful film...be it the breathtaking combat scenes (which you many of, as opposed to some anime - where the scenes are fantastic but short lives), or the speedy daredevil exploits of a young biker caught in the throes of war. When one of the two continents on Ishtar moves in, devastating the weaker one, anything goes. Monobikers (racing teams of single-wheeled motorcycles) are soon caught up in the resistance movement to battle against the oppressive occupational force. The thing which caught my eye most was the fantastically realistic explosions and gunfire in this movie. You feel the thud and rocking of the tanks as they send steel rain down range, and you see the smoke, and debris kicked up in a warzone. Fantastic animation, and not bad voice acting on the part of the dubbed version (one of the better dubbings I have seen). I highly recommend it...and...a wonderful point: there are no dead parts. Many anime have a 25 minutes dead spot somewhere in the film...Venus Wars' 104 minutes are packed with action, suspense, and sorry...no nudity. But when the multi-turreted octotanks roll onto the airfield, confronted by high speed Monobikes outfitted with rail guns...you'll thank me.
Rating:
Summary: Quite OK
Review: I really liked the movie. It tells how people other than soldiers live through a war like that. What was really bad in it were those scenes were live action footage was put in the background. I found that unacceptable in this genre. Otherwise it was fine.
Rating:
Summary: Far Better Than I Expected
Review: If some one had told me this film would turn into a story of an actual war between nations, I would have watched it sooner. The reviews I had read for it made it sound like a rip-off of Akira, and the first hour or so makes you think it just might be it.A group of friends who are in a sort of Xtreme motorcycle sport find themselves in the middle of their nation IO invaded by the nation of their enemy Ishtar. They quickly find themselves under military rule, and have to deal with life changing in such a time period. The group eventually decides to do some guerilla action and attack an enemy tank that is always in their stadium. Then, just as the tank is destroyed and reinforcements are coming up, and the hero is about to be run over...a Free IO soldier fires a missile into the Octo and destroys it. Then the movie becomes a story of a nation fighting for their freedom, as the group joins the free soldiers who are fighting Ishtar all the way back out of IO. Eventually the hero, at first sympathetic, is convinced to join forces. The final battle takes place in the capital of IO, and what a climax it is. Overall, the film boasts fine animation and retro 80's anime design. The action is well done and the mecha designs even better, and the storyline is also exceptionally well done. You get a good sense of a population under foreign rule, and its good to see an anime exploring such depths. Also, the politics of a nation in exile fighting for their return is equally unique. Maybe its because I'm a political nut, but I found it all interesting. If I had known I would have enjoyed this film, I would have watched it far sooner than I did. Oh well...I bought the DVD the minute I saw it. I'm proud to own it. And thats my word.
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