SONIC SOLDIER BORGMAN aired on television in Japan in the mid-1980s and, despite its cliched "monster of the week" formula, was one of the more popular television offerings of its day. It also brought the character designs of Kikuchi Michitaka (of SILENT MÖBIUS fame) to the foreground of anime. But, after the end of the series, with several of the main characters dead and the rest having gone their separate ways, what story could possibly be left to tell?
It has been three years since the end of the series. Ryo works for NASA as an engineer on a large rocket project. Anise, fellow Borgman and lover, has been reduced to flipping burgers in a restaurant. So naturally, when she gets a letter offering her a professional job in a big, Japanese, high-tech project, she jumps at the chance. Ryo, however, is as indecisive as ever and so she leaves for Japan without him.
Chuck Sweager, the third Borgman, is a police officer, as is his girlfriend Miki. When she witnesses a fight amongst several cyborgs she tells Chuck, who says flatly that it cannot be possible, since the only living cyborgs are Ryo, Anise, and himself. But she convinces him and they investigate. Anise arrives for her new job, and when they meet for dinner they explain the situation to her. Anise volunteers to sneak around the Heaven's Gate project, which they believe to be the source of these new cyborgs. Ryo, meanwhile, is en route to Japan to go after his girlfriend. Accompanying him is Hussan, one of the two surviving researchers on the Borgman Project, who has been asked to appear before the Tokyo Police to help investigate. Once the entire cast is in Japan, things begin to get complicated.
The story is another treatment of a popular sci-fi theme: megalomaniac wants to hurry the human race to its next evolutionary step. In that regard, this OVA is nothing spectacular. However, it is the familiarity of the characters and their shared pasts that holds the story together. They all get involved in this incident for different reasons, but in the end they are all in it together and must work as a team to survive. And the references to the television series help to add depth to both the characters and the situations they find themselves in. More than once, characters remember fallen comrades and friends—especially Memory Gene, the one who oversaw the Borgman Project and created the Borgmen.
But this video is different from the series as well. The plot is more complicated, and the events are a little harder to piece together; it is a more adult story. But it manages to catch the spirit of the old show and hold onto it while moving into a new area. There is a lot more sleuthing and a lot less shooting in this OVA. Like the PATLABOR films, LAST BATTLE builds on what has come before and takes it in a new (albeit much less indefatigably complex) direction.
The animation, since it is an OVA, is a cut above the quality of the series. Of particular note are the cityscapes, which continue to maintain the mystique of a future just around the corner, mixing high-tech with the familiar to create a plausible future. Character designs have been handed off to Motohashi Hideyuki, which may be a disappointment to the fans who were drawn to BORGMAN by Kikuchi's designs. However, Motohashi does an admirable job of retaining the characters' recognizable features while making his designs slightly different. Probably only the most devoted of Kikuchi fans will notice the difference in the designs.
Music was also one of the most recognizable assets of BORGMAN; the style possessed a pop-rock cyberpunk feel much like BUBBLEGUM CRISIS. However, while songs are sprinkled liberally throughout the video, they don't capture the enthusiasm or the energy of the earlier BORGMAN songs. Since many of these songs are intended to play second fiddle to the action on the screen, this is hardly a surprise. The opening and ending themes are marginally better, but on the whole the music isn't what it could have or, perhaps, should have been.
And while on the topic of music, for some reason a live-action concert video follows the OVA. The performers are the voices for Ryo, Anise, Miki, and Dust Gead (the bad guy from the TV series). The voice actor for Chuck couldn't make it. Perhaps he had a sudden attack of good taste. The voice actors cruise and crash through BORGMAN tunes, some better than others. But the overall cheesiness of the "concert" setting is enough to elicit laughter. Those readers who have seen the "live action" parts of BUBBLEGUM CRISIS's HURRICANE LIVE will know what to expect. Only worse. Still, this isn't part of the OVA and can easily be ignored by stopping the tape.
BORGMAN: LAST BATTLE will be an instant success with many of the fans of the television show, and will probably win a number of new fans. The OVA, while not perfect, is smart enough, slick enough, and entertaining enough to stand out amongst the rest of the current crop of American releases. Fans of science fiction and cyberpunk will most likely be pleased with what they find.

SONIC SOLDIER BORGMAN: THE LAST BATTLE Copyright © 1989 NTV / Toho Co. Ltd. English Subtitled Version Copyright © 1997 Toho International Co. Ltd. Released in North America by A.D.V. Films VHSSO/001S 80 minutes $24.95