SUMMARY
Riki
is on his way to becoming the greatest fighter of all time. He has
just defeated the entire Karate club at his school. Now, this leopard
masked fighter is ready for whatever the next challenge may be.
However, his next challenge isn't another karate club, but
extra-dimensional fairies, led by the evil Fairy
Master. This nasty creature has tricked her master, the also evil Lord
Byoudo, into merging with Riki, who happens to be his dimensional counterpart. With
Byoudo trapped in Riki's body, the Fairy Master is set to begin her conquest of Earth.
Naturally, her actions attract attention . A
spirit
hunter named Yuuki, and Special Agent Zankan of the Time Police are
hot on the Fairy Master's trail and fast converging on Riki/Byoudo's
position. Little do they realize the danger that lives in the shadows.
Now Riki must fight the demon fairies of the
Fairy Master, deal with Yuuki, Zankan, the evil inside
him, and his friend Ryou.
Things are going to get messy!
DVD VISION TEST
VIDEO: AnimEigo has done
an excellent job with the restoration. While not on par with their Macross release
(hey, what is), the colors are solid, with no color bleeding, wrinkles, or pixels
to be seen. The image is sharp and the washed out look of the original video
is gone.
AUDIO: The Japanese 2.0
audio track is pretty sharp and clear. There is a richness that is sorely lacking
on the English dub track. The English 2.0 track sounds muffled, and there is
not as much directionality as the Japanese.
EDITS: Not a single
frame has been edited. The original open and close are still there, with
optional subtitles during the closing segment.
EXTRAS: Pretty skimpy. The only extra is a alternate angle
storyboard. With the animation in the upper right corner, you
can see the storyboards, with the current "scene"
highlighted. Unfortunately, the promotional trailer is not for
Battle Royal High School, but for the DVD release of "Riding Bean".
WIDESCREEN REVIEW
STORY:
Don't buy BRHS for an in-depth story. Like "Tekkin the
Movie" this is a typical "Bad ass free for all" anime.
Based off the Manga by Kuruma Shinichi, the screenplay by Itano Ichiroo is pretty straight
forward. Don't expect much characterization either.
ACTING: The English cast does a very good job.
Michael Granberry is very funny as Riki, and his Byoodo is sufficiently menacing. I really enjoyed Susan Grillo's (Nene from Bubblegum Crisis
OVA) work as Ryou. Totally different from the wimpy Nene, her tough
chick Ryou is very well done. I think she is a voice actress to keep
an eye on.
On the Japanese side of
the house, some well done 80's OVA voice acting. Like Michael Granberry, Yao
Kazuki's portrayal of Riki is the right mix of comedy and menace. One of
my favorites voice actors, Michie Tomizawa, has a small part in BRHS as time operator
Sandy. I have always enjoyed hearing her voice work, from the sexy Linna
in Bubblegum Crisis to the obnoxious Cko from Project Ako.
FAN SERVICE: There is some nudity, but is usually not presented in a very sexy way. I am sure that
fans of the manga could pick out a lot of in-jokes, but since I have
never read the manga, I have no idea what they are.
CONCLUSION:
Ever wondered what the character King from the video game
"Tekken" did before kicking Jackie's ass? Well,
with "Real Bout High School.............err, I mean
"Battle Royal High School", you may get some idea.
Before
I begin, let me say that BRHS has nothing to do with the live action film
"Battle Royal" by the late Kinji Fukasaku. Battle Royal
High School shares more with "Real Bout High School", than Kinji
Fukasaku's modern classic.
The plot is simple. Evil spirits invade
the Earth, turning innocent people into demonic creatures. The hero,
possessed by a similarly evil force, fights them on his turf, the campus
of his high school.
Some will say that this movie comes off as
"Urotsukidoji" lite, with all the raping and "three phalluses"
demons out of the picture (thankfully). Others will say that BRHS
feels very much like a video game anime, due to it's large cast of super
powered fighters who look like refuges from several different video
games.
Personally, I think that this OVA was
made for fans of Kuruma Shinichi's manga. I'm sure that those
who were faithful readers were delighted and exited to see their favorite
characters come to life. For me, the only thing that got me excited
was when Zankan activated his body armor. The design was similar to
the character of Danzaibar (which I always play) from the Play Station
game "Eretzvaju
The dub is very well done, compared
to other AnimEigo releases. All of the actors do a good job, avoiding the
overly long pauses and wooden acting that plagued other OVA's like "Riding
Bean and "Bubblegum Crisis."
While the video quality and audio
were
good, I felt that the extras were very weak. Frankly, the
storyboards by Itano Ichiroo were not
that great. While this feature may appeal to "curious fanboys
and fangirls", for me, I just found them just okay. The "Riding
Bean" trailer seemed out of place. I was expecting the trailer
for Battle Royal High School.
I also don't get
why they bothered including "liner notes" as the information
contained was not very interesting.
If you liked Baoh, then you
will love "Battle Royal High School". If your were hoping
for school girls with swords, flirty dialogue and nude transformations,
better skip it.
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