Virus:
Virus Buster Serge Volume 2
(Manga Entertainment DVD)
(2003)
review by Big McLargehuge

Okay, it’s clear to me that this DVD is number two in a series of three. That said, I can honestly say that for the entire 120 minute running time of Virus: Volume 2 I had no idea what in the hell was going on. Subsequent viewings failed to clarify plot, character motivation, or milieu.

This utter incoherence isn’t a failure of the series. It’s just my dumb luck that I watched the sequel before the original.

So, screw the story, let’s talk about the visuals.

Virus’ character designs my Masami Obari are very stylistic, even for anime. The design reminds me more of Peter Chung’s Aeon Flux/Reign designs with overly long torso’s long spindly legs, and lots of anatomically questionable muscles, than of the Sailor Moon, Akira, Battle Angel Aelita characters.

The only real stylistic drawback is that most of the characters are kind of hard to distinguish from one another. Here’s a hint for figuring out who is who, for men use hairstyles, for women, bra sizes.

Hey, it ain’t much but it helped me.

The animation is above par for a television series. Characters move fluidly, and considering the detail in their bodies, this is pretty impressive. The backgrounds are rather standard TV quality, but that’s okay.

Overall the presentation, and I am going to go out on a limb and say the story, owes alot to Masamune Shirow’s “Ghost in the Shell” in that the characters appear to be somewhat cybernetic. They can also flip around and generate an armored battle suit.

Um... Okay, before I embarrass myself any further let me stop trying to describe elements of the story...

This disc contains 4 episodes, each one in two segments. These are:

Incubating the Succubus, Behold Change or Die, Another Boy Missing, and Behold Change or Die 2.

Just a little peeve here, the DVD menu simply shows the four episode titles and their number. But the menu links aren’t lined up properly. For example, clicking on the episode Behold Change or Die, actually opens up the second segment of Incubating the Succubus. Add this to the overall impenetrability of the story and it makes for a frustrating viewing experience.

Manga really does a nice job with their titles, and Virus isn’t any different. Manga really packs their DVDs with stuff. Virus: Virus Buster Serge Volume 2 contains both an English and Japanese language track, Dolby 5.1 stereo on the English dub, Mecha design boards, character design boards, and a whole slew of Manga trailers, merchandise, and previews as well as web links.

On the whole I’d recommend buying the first volume first then this one, then the next which according to Volume 2 packaging, will contain an interview with director and character designer Masami Obari.