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ANIME REVIEWS

©AIC / Pioneer LDC, Inc. / TV TOKYO / Mannensha
Released in North America by Pioneer Entertainment
CLV LD PILA-1374A $39.98
VHS-Dubbed PIVA-1374D $19.98
VHS-Subtitled PIVA-1374S $29.98
Approx. 65 min.
Now available







—by Peter Cahill

We've seen this before. The "re-tooling" of a show, using the characters of a popular story that has met its end and setting them loose upon a new plot and setting. As we can see from the TENCHI and PROJECT A-KO offshoots, Japanese studios are rather fond of this technique, at least more than American studios. And why not? It works well—allowing us to see our favorite characters again, while avoiding the hazards of extending a story that has already ended well. Does HIGHLANDER ring a bell?
  The EL HAZARD franchise gets away with both! EL HAZARD 2, the sequel to the OVAs (see Keith Rhee's review of EL HAZARD 2 in EX 2.6), isn't domestically available yet, but it wasn't half bad.
  And neither is THE WANDERERS. Fans of the EL HAZARD OVAs will love the TV series. WANDERERS is faithful to the original characters—most of the voice cast have returned. Plus, the plot line is familiar enough to maintain the feel of the OVAs, but original enough to give us a great bunch of stories.
  In this version of the EL HAZARD universe, Princess Rune is much younger and seems to have grown antlers. Fujisawa-sensei has a slightly better grip on his alcoholism, but he still looks and sounds like Shaggy's older brother. Alielle's alternative lifestyle is a bit understated since there's no Fatora for her to cuddle with. Ura is much more verbose. Jinnai is more interesting here, as his plans are more complex and his obsession with cruelty truly blooms. There is no mention of any Phantom tribe, and so the evil suitor/traitor Gallus is absent. His young assistant, Nahato, is now Millie, an orphan with a role in only one episode. Nanami and Makoto haven't changed too much, aside from Makoto's greater interest in dangerous scientific experiments. Perhaps the subtlest but most important change is the feeling that Makoto is not so much the center of this universe. He's centrally important, but the series has more of a group feel to it. Makoto may not have lost any importance in the story, but the length of the TV series has allowed the other characters to gain some of their own importance as well.
  WANDERERS does have a stronger love triangle built around Makoto. This becomes a square when Ifurita shows up, and some of the cosmetic similarities to TENCHI start to show through. A good number of the female characters have fallen in love with the hapless young hero, said hero is accompanied by a shape-changing and intelligent pet, and a powerful sleeping demon turns out to be a beautiful woman. (Pretty Sammy even had a brief cameo in volume 3.) What was our Editor in Chief saying about jumping on the creative band wagon last issue? Six people in an alternate world? As Mark Johnson pointed out in his review of Quest 1 of WANDERERS (EX 2.7), the first few episodes were a bit lean, mostly character introductions. By Quest 3 things began to pick up. Now, in Quest 4, the series really starts to hit its stride. We still haven't seen more than a background glimpse of the Eye of God, but in episode 12 we finally meet the new Ifurita. She's dyed her hair black and lost about ten years of age, but she's still a sweet girl with thermonuclear capabilities.
  Ifurita is arguably the most interesting character in the series. The conflict between her kind, dutiful personality of trusting innocence and her utterly evil, ruthless orders hands her some of the best lines of the series. And her scenes with the insanely frustrated Jinnai are priceless. This is the kind of anime most of us like to watch. This is what it's all about, folks. Here is a good example of why we at EX do what we do. It's light comedies like this, as well as the more serious films such as GHOST IN THE SHELL, that bring out the best in this art form. When someone asks us what anime is all about, we point to shows like NAUSICAA, LODOSS, and URUSEI YATSURA—hoping no one will notice or take too seriously their embarrassing cousins, like DEMON BEAST or SPACE WARRIORS.
  WANDERERS is not a pinnacle achievement in animated history, no. But the EL HAZARD family of anime shows has earned a solid place among our favorites. (Ifurita graces the cover of the EX CDROM for a reason...) I guess recycling entertainment really does work sometimes.


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