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©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




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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 wellallowing 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 charactersmost 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 YATSURAhoping 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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