Anime Reveiw AD POLICE TO PROTECT AND SERVE

The A.D. Police saga is one of the fan loved series spin-offs from the BGC anime franchise. As the cyber crime ratio rises in MegaTokyo escalates, political pressure mounts towards the A.D. Police to stop the increasing numbers of mutating cyborgs known as VOOMERS. During this surge of outbreaks, the friendships between members of the AD Police’s Elite team are stretched out a bit to one degree or another.

Small Background history

The year is 2020, and after a devastating earthquake, MegaTokyo also known as Genom City, was being rebuilt at the hands of the cyborg VOOMERS—Voodoo Organic Metal Extension Resources—built by Genom Corp, whose office tower now dominates the skyline. The machines, known as Voomers, have become an integral part of life now, doing heavy construction and maintenance, in addition to more mundane and menial chores. A number of these nits have been known to go rogue for one reason or another, and their destructive rampages can be fatal. To counter this increasing menace, the Advanced Police were formed as an elite police division, focused on Voomer crimes.

Setting is 19 years later after the Quake and the ongoing rebuild of MegaTokyo – Circa 2039

ADP Officer Kenji Sasaki has to come to grips when accepting Hans Kleif as his new partner. He has his own personal demons to deal with, if he is to deal with what faces him and faces the A.D. Police as well all the while investigating the Cyber-espionage and keep the VOOMERS from wreaking havoc on MegaTokyo into a Techno-Warzone. He tends to be the lone point man in his own regards, he takes risks, he also has attitude adjustments that reflect on being someone who is not really that much of a “team player”, but he is good at what he does, and that is what it takes when dealing with machines that have the capacity to take down a building with a few well places blows to the infrastructure, and where lives are at risk.

Unfortunately, the free spirit does not work well with social skills, Kenji’s first meeting with his new partner Hans Kleif, who transferred in from the NP (Normal Police) of Germany, is well let’s be honest, it was less than friendly. Kleif is the good looking Action Hero/Officer type, being shot in the line of duty and losing part of his long term memory and with a possible love interest with the doctor, who is supposedly help him out in trying to regain those memories makes him one the characters the viewer will somehow relate with and stay engaged with the story.

Let’s introduce the rest of the team! We have Jose Collins, who is also the team leader and the demolitions expert. Next the rather tall and blonde explosives expert, Karen Jordon who hails from New York City USA. Then there is also her partner and bud at the bar Ms. Mary Malone who hails from California USA, the resident firebee and aerial combat vehicle pilot. Then comes the part of who they report to, El Jefe Ms. Nancy Wilson also from New York USA as well, who is over the operations of this ADP Squad. Being involved over a city with a growing Voomer threat, crimes are high, as well as something new developing in MegaTokyo.

The Voomer market has expanded worldwide, creating opportunities to insert a criminal element involving mafia/yakauza organizations one especially known is The Backers syndicate, exporting Voomers of questionable background to other companies in need of said merchandise. One of the more notorious of these crime syndicates leaders is Mr. Liam Fletcher, who becomes a major suspect for the A.D. Police, since a series of incidents start to end connecting and centering around the Backer syndicates operations.

Now I love the BGC Franchise as a whole, I have watched all the OVAs, The TV Series, The Manga and Magazine articles over the years. The Three part OVA Set from 1989 comapred to this 1999 pre-quel, you can’t really compare the two series. I liked the OVA as well as The TV series they are both engaging but the TV series has a more intertwinging and plotline which was what got a hold of me and kept my interest. Now with the OVA series it was more due to the individual stories and how they intertwined and yet didn’t as well.

It did have a equal gritty feel to it but a different sense on a social scale, there is a better interaction with cast development and intrigue, and there is a definite sense of “Action Hero” involved in it as well. Back to the TV series, as I went through I got a sense of familiarity growing within the team structure and how Hans and Kenji started to work more as a dynamic duo (No pun there huh?), but at the same time also building a better working force as well as you’ll see as you watch it yourselves. Lots of great involvement on character interacting and some plot catching scenes to keep the viewer engaged and wanting to watch to the end of the series.

The story development has some weak points like any other story, but the character design was well thought out, however the uniforms were a bit inconsistent as far as uniformity was concerned. This world here shows a more realistic environment of a Japan that has been hit by an earthquake and is still recovering from said disaster even after being 19 years later. The story has a gritty but enjoyable feel to it for those of us out there that enjoy a cool cyberpunk type environment, RPG games, graphic novels and the ilk.

ADV has this out on the Market as a 2 DVD Boxed set, in my opinion its well worth getting and the pricing is more than reasonable. Some of you may not be a big fan by reviews, but I have seen and read what’s out there regarding the BGC/ADP Franchise that’s been translated in English and I am impressed and own a copy of this box set myself. The Artwork and the fact that it also has a decent opening and closing textless video theme sequence was also an added bonus as well.

Cool things in Robotics and arduino! PLUS Daicon III is 30 Yrs old this year!

I was recently checking out some more of the Omnibot projects there were out there & came across a Robotics Hobby Master the Bot Master, who admins botbuilder.co.uk & I emailed him requesting a possible guide on the project he did with his Omnibot. Here on this link you’ll get a feeling on how he built his using Arduino as the control module for it.

Now he used the arduino as the controller but he an add-in from here to control the motors, & used this ping back sensor to avoid collisions. He did a great review/write up on this project hold the same concept. Once I get the necessary parts he & DJ Sures will be able to lend me some advice & help. Here take a look at his & DJ Sures projects involving The Tomy Omnibot, l I think you’ll find them as enjoyable as I am. The one that especially creative was the one that was repainted and converted into a pc, with a mouse cradle for the right arm, which I though was a nice touch.

In anime related news, it had occurred to me & I kick myself for it because its been 30 Yrs since it was made & shown at a Particular Tokyo convention mainly the Nihon SF Taikai Cons Daicon III (1981) & IV (1983)Directed by Hiroyuki Yamaga Music by Koichi Sugiyama, Yuji Ohno Kitarō, Electric Light Orchestra –ELO (Twilight which is also used in the TV series Densha Otoku ).

Distributed by DAICON Film Release date(s) 1981 (III) 1983 (IV) Running time approx -5½ mins for III & – 6 mins (IV) creation point was Japan Language English & Japanese So for Hiroyuki Yamaga and Crew and the cutie that is the Daicon Bunny-Chan We say Happy 30th Anniversary and we love you and the work you brought to us which still goes strong to this day and is loved by otakus around the globe!

Air Doll – A Movie on Par with Densha Otoko

Ok, so I decided to do a write up on this movie. Let’s get this out of the way 1st. It’s not the fact that she’s a blowup sexdoll, so get the childish giggling out of the way with now ok? We done yet? Good, now let’s get to the seriousness of the movie, shall we?

This is the story of Nozomui, a doll created by a Doll Master of a fashion, who gives her a soul thru his work. Afterwards, she becomes Hideo’s (Middle aged Otaku) partner. She after awhile decided to go out into the city while Hideo-san is at work and while during these little ventures in the city she comes across people who share the same type of thoughts she does. Am I just an empty vessel to help fill the void of who was supposed to be where I am now?

She also discovers love, the truth behind, and other insights that we normally take for granted. I have only watched the clips of this movie that was presented at the 2009 Cannes Festival, but I’ve been an anime/manga/pc/game/rpg Otaku for 34 yrs and married for 15 yrs. (God bless my wife for putting up with me lol).

I can see JUST by watching the clips reading some of the articles out there as well? this is one of those movies that will indeed be not only entertaining but also quite moving as well. More can be found here at the website itself kuuki-ningyo/Air Doll the Movie. I do hope there will be some serious commentary on this rather than just “Oh hahah sex doll OMGWTHBBQ” crap that seems to be out there in droves.

Code monkey & Me

Am I codemonkey? or Am I Otaku? I am Otaku, why? for I wake up to theme of Robotech (Macross era) and eat white rice and and green tea for my morning breakfast. I prefer watching Shinchan VS the morning news. I like reading Andromeda stories VS The Andromeda Strain. I like model building rather the roof repair. So I love my family and protect my way of life, for I am Otaku and this is who I am.

Office Otaku, inner office hijinx

I thought this had enough hilarity to share. I have to admit, this is something I actually saw happen to two people I worked with when I was with microsoft on the MSN project in mac/pc techinical support. Quite a unique experince ot actually watch something like that develop in a inner office enviroment.

Needless to say, things didn’t go as well as expected . They did get married, but she divorsed him as soon as she got the breast reduction job she needed for health reason. Very uncool of her to use him like that, and I was suprised to have heard what had happened. But he remarried after a few years of recovery, he’s happy and again suprise he’s working at the same company I am working for as well. He in sales and billing, and me in tech support.

Otakus Unite! One LIFESTYLE One LOVE!

They called us geeks, dorks, dweebs, and other such derogatory type names in hopes to make us feel inferior. But seems the joke is indeed on them! We have invaded the mainstream media, we help control you’re TV, your entertainment, your reading habits and such. We’re spreading across the global more rapidly with each passing year.

We are the otaku; we are the ones that helped out with the audio and video departments, the cosplay events, the comicfests/conventions the gaming guilds. We volunteer when the “popular” trends don’t want to touch it. We may love anime, manga, figures, games, capsule toys. Pocky addictions and such.

But we’re also the ones people look more towards as well when it comes to the fun stuff as far as events go. Why? Because we’re not afraid to show who we are and what we are o-t-a-k-u.  Fanboys, Fangirls and yes -_-; even furries (DON’T SAY IT ! if its rude) seem to be more fun than your average because we like our shows we even at time emulate our fave characters or even take on some of their behavioral quirks from time to time depending on the situation.

We wished we had maid cafes in the U.S. and have photo events like that in akihabara and such. We want more events we want to spread the word of the otakuism, we are your past. Future and present.  We will be involved in your everyday aspect, and you won’t even know we’re there. Anyways, my day is done enjoy the segment and realize we outnumber you, just accept it.