Zeoraima-
Project Hades
(Manga Region 2 PAL DVD)
(1988)
review by Blackgloves

This sixteen-year-old OAV (Original Animation Video) is released as part of Manga Entertainment's Manga Collection and is set to remind "Neon Genesis Evangelion" fans that the whole giant-robots-in-completely-incomprehensible-plot deal is hardly original! Back in the days when English dubs for Japanese anime tended to veer on the horrendously camp side of awful, "Zeoraima: Project Hades" typified the sub-genre. For some reason, the standard story-line most fans are familiar with from Evangelion -- involving a youthful male hero overcoming great natural diffidence to merge with a militaristic robot only he can control -- seemed to hold a peculiar fascination for the Japanese. Why this should be, I don't know. Frankly ... my brain's far too fried from watching so much crazy anime to sit and work it out! Anyway, "Zeoraima" is as good a representative as any of this mad anime archetype, and we get to revisit it here; complete with its dodgy, synth-rock score and outdated eighties animation style!

The Steel Dragon Society is an exotic organisation intent on taking over the world with the aid of the Hakkeshu -- eight giant robots with huge, destructive power. The most powerful of the Hakkeshu is the Zeoraima -- but it has been stolen by Kihara, the scientific genius who created it, along with the Genome which the machine has been programmed to respond to. The Zeoraima has now fallen into the hands of the Japanese Government and, before they can go ahead with their plans for world domination, The Steel Dragon Society must locate and destroy the child who was created from that Genome, since he will be able to pilot the powerful Zeoraima and disrupt their plans.

Oblivious to all this, a teenage boy called Macato finds himself hunted through the streets by mysterious, dark-suited strangers. Eventually, he is cornered and dragged away to be banged-up in a dank and dingy cell! Having no clue as to why he is being treated in such an inhumane manner, Macato is even more traumatised when his parents turn up -- not to get him released, but to sign papers that officially hand him over to his captors and to take possession of a large amount of money for pretending to be his parents all these years! Macato has something of a breakdown over this, and his captors begin to wonder if her will be of any use to them after all!

While being transported by armoured van, Macato suddenly snaps and manages to escape from the vehicle; then, finding himself in forested countryside, he eventually stumbles into a cavern which houses the giant Zeoraima robot. His captors are a secret branch of the Japanese Government and Macato is the child who was created by Kihara to pilot the Zeoraima! The Government has been test-running the machine with the aid of a female child called Miku, who was partially engineered from Macato's genetic material. The two have a bond because of the fact that they are the only two beings able to control the robot -- although Macato's powers far exceed Miku's. At this point, the first Hakkeshu sent by The Steel Dragon Society turns up -- and Macato is thrust into a violent battle for world domination that he has no knowledge or understanding of.

Up to this point this seems to be a pretty standard plot involving good giant robots battling evil giant robots. But with the second episode, the crazy plots twists pile up until the whole story gets lost in an impossibly convoluted labyrinth. The strangeness begins when, after his first stint in the Zeoraima, Macato's personality starts to change for the worse and he becomes heartless and cold. It seems Kihara has reincarnated himself in Macato, using the boys personality as a cover. When Macato pilots the Zeoraima, it causes Kihara's latent personality to resurface as the first stage of the mysterious Project Hades! It's not entirely clear what is happening by the end; the story writers seem to have got themselves into a bit of a fix and sort of just give up the ghost. It's entertaining listening to the English dialogue writers trying to make sense of it all though! The general standard of the animation is quite good for an eighties show but seems quite dated by today's standards. There is, however, quite a phenomenal amount of full-frontal female nudity on display with almost all the female characters striping off at some point!

Manga Entertainment release this two-episode OAV in its original full-screen ratio with both English and Japanese audio tracks. Both tracks come with stereo audio options, and also English Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS. Optional English subtitles are also available.