SUMMARY
In the year 2040, a rouge comet crashed into the Earth.
While many were able to flee into space, millions of Earth were left
behind to die. Those on Earth that survived formed into tribes called Shioru,
while the ones in space called themselves the Dobias.
400 years later, the Dobias return reclaim the Earth from strange
creatures dubbed Siliconians. These adaptive
creatures proved to be formidable adversaries, so a special para-military
team called Geisters was created. Armed with superior
equipment and the best personnel, these men and women are the best
the Dobias military has to offer.
The return of the Dobias does not sit well with the members of
the Shioru. They feel that the Dobias in general, and the Geisters
in particular, are a bunch of killers who only want the
Earth to themselves. The ruling Dobias council isn't too
thrilled about the "savage" Shioru either, and make plans
to eliminate them. Now Geisters Captain Dean Honos along with
Alcon, Cris, Victor, and former Shioru Shai Tanna are caught in the
middle of a three way war between the Dobias council, Shioru rebels,
and the Siliconians.
They have also become guinea pigs for chief scientists Elecia new
bio-combat armor, the Armored Arm.
DVD
VISION TEST
VIDEO: For a first release Anime Crash has done an
excellent job. There are no pixels, color bleeds or edge enhancement
to be found.
AUDIO: It's audio by Cybil. On the English
5.1, Japanese 2.0 and English 2.0, the sound goes up for the intro
to each episode, down for the opening, up for the actual episode,
down for the closing credits. When the audio goes down, it's
very fuzzy, with little surround sound. During the actual
episodes, the English 5.1 will knock your socks off. It's very
aggressive, with a full bodied sound that travels across the sound
stage. The Japanese and English 2.0 are quite loud, but they
don't have the directionality of the 5.1.
EDITS:
The episode titles are conspicuously absent, but it would be weird to
use the original Japanese open and close but omit the titles.
Also, and this isn't really an edit, the closing song on the English
5.1 is different than the one on the Japanese and English 2.0.
This isn't a big thing except the subtitles are only for the version
on the 2.0.
EXTRAS: As this is a joint Korean/Japanese production, Anime Crash has
thrown in the original Korean open and close. The only other extra
on the DVD is a dull picture gallery consisting of stills from the 5
episodes on the DVD and a trailer for "Ki Fighter" In the packaging, the cover is reversible and you get a free Geisters
pin.
For the first time, there are actually commercials from another
company! Looks like Tofu has purchased some ad space with Anime
Crash. Pretty clever.
WIDESCREEN
REVIEW
STORY: It's "Guyver" meets
"Blue Gender". Written by Naruhiko Adachi and Tokiko
Inoue, Geisters is a pretty typical journey into the Sci-fi genre.
It does have lots of action and some decent characterization, but
there really isn't nothing radically new or different.
ACTING:
It's not bad, but it's not great. In a side by side
comparison, the Japanese voice actors are light years ahead of
the English actors. The Japanese actors inject a lot
more energy and anger during intense emotional moments. The
English dub is hobbled by the mediocre acting of the supporting
cast, and the lack of any real emotion by the main cast.
FAN SERVICE: Well, we do get to see the ripped Shai in her spandex
tank top and stretch pants, but that's about it. While one could
say that all the similarities to other anime is fan service, it only applies to parodies.
CONCLUSION:
Earth
has had it's share of nasty invaders. First it was the Invid. Then it was the Blue. Now,
it's the Siliconians. Unlike their counterparts, these
"aliens" are home grown mutations. Fortunately,
there is an elite team of heroes who are ready to kick some monster
butt. Geisters is a throwback to the earlier days of anime when plot and
character development took a back seat to the action. While
this isn't necessarily a bad thing, this does limit its
potential.
Geisters is a pretty straight forward animated
"sentai" series. You have a team of 5 (each has
color coded hair) who fight a never ending battle against evil
monsters and terrorists. Once the alert is sounded, these
"five teenagers with attitudes" take off in their
"Aliens" inspired transport ship and kick but. This
series even uses the age old practice of introducing the characters
at the start, then have an episode centering on each person before
the next big fight. The political machinations of the Dobias
and the Shiro does add some mystery to the story, but it's not
enough to carry the ho-hum script.
For a lot of people, the
animation really turns people off. Many of us have been
spoiled by shows like "Gravion" and "InuYasha".
Sometimes, we forget that popular shows like "Blue Gender"
or "Virus" are made with miniscule budgets, requiring lots
of sacrifices. The animation isn't horrible when compared to
other low-budget anime. There is a very "Peter
Chung" vibe to the whole thing, perhaps because it was
co-produced by a Korean company. The motion of the traditional
animation moves pretty smoothly, and the CGI is pretty cool. Unfortunately,
the blending of traditional and CG animation isn't done very well,
and in some places, it's down right painful.
The acting is decent
with both casts. At least with the main characters, the
Japanese and English actors do well, but the Japanese are way better
at the soul wrenching battle cry. One big thing really I noticed was that there
are times where the English dub voices didn't synch up with the mouth
flaps. While this happens all the time in Japan, it doesn't very
often in the U.S. I don't know if it's because the ADR script came a
little short in the translating, the ADR director didn't
know how to do their job, or if it's a technical issue. What ever the
reason, I hope it gets corrected by volume 2.
For
a first release, the overall presentation falls a little short. The video is
excellent, which is
a major plus. During the episodes, the audio is kickin'. During the
opening and closing, it's too low. The limited extras and no
subtitles during the songs on the English dub are minuses in my book.
At least there is five episodes on this disc, not three like other
titles.
Based upon my review, most of you are
thinking that I don't like it very much. Actually, I enjoy it
quite a bit. There is plenty of cool action, the characters
are sufficiently bad ass, and there is enough "conspiracy
theory" stuff to keep me interested. That being said,
I'm not going to lie and say it's the greatest thing in the
world. It isn't. Geisters: Factions of The Earth is a pretty
average exercise in the Sci-Fi genre. It's a good one for new
fans to start with, but the more experienced anime watcher may want to wait on this one.
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