SUMMARY
Every
hundred years, magical Majong tiles appear. Those who posses these
tiles will have any wish granted to them. To obtain a tile, you have
to defeat a series of monsters.
In the latter end of the 20th century, 5 young women are
competing for the prize. There is Cherry Pai, an S&M Queen
wishing to become stronger. Combat Cyborg Lemon Pai, who wants to
become human. Cute little Milky Pai, an alien invader, Peach Pai, a
wizard and pop idol, and Su-Chi-Pai, perhaps the strongest of the 5.
However, these women are so busy fighting against each other, none of
them may get to defeat the first one!
DVD VISION TEST
VIDEO: A beautiful looking transfer, Hirameki has done a
fantastic job. The colors are perfect, there are no pixels, no wrinkles,
no defects.
AUDIO: Good audio mix on both the English and Japanese. With all the
fighting on this disc, you can imagine how loud it is. The dialogue is
center base, with the music and sound effects hitting you from all sides.
EDITS: No edits to the episode at all. On the "making of",
the trailer for the Su-Chi-Pai II strip Majong game has been eliminated
because of obscene material.
EXTRAS: There is a behind the scenes segment called "Clear The
Su-Chi-Pai, which stars after the feature is over. There are CD-Rom
extras like wallpapers, a clock, and a calendar, that can be installed on
your computer, and uses the information from your computer.
WIDESCREEN REVIEW
STORY: The
series is based off of the strip mahjong game Su-Chi-Pai. Since the
original game had nothing in the way of plot, Director Ide actually
created situations and a plot, to make it more interesting.
ACTING: The cast on both versions perform well, but I was not bowled over
either. With the exception of superstar Rika Matsumodo, no one else
really stands out. The English cast is decent, but the "1920's
Mol" voice for Lemon Pai is truly annoying. If you don't know
what I am talking about, rent "Chicago" and listen to Rene
Zelwelger.
FAN SERVICE: Well there is, and their isn't. It seems
they can't make up their mind to go all the way, or not at
all. Mind you, the female characters are all very attractive,
with nice bodies. Also, check out Ms.
Su-Chi-Pai.
CONCLUSION
Idol Fighter Su-Chi-Pai is a one shot anime that tries
to be everything, and succeeds at nothing. At times a titillation
film, other times a parody of Sailor Moon, and the rest an action flick,
there is so much, with so little time, they just can't seem to make up
their minds.
The first 15 minutes of the episode is spent introducing the
characters. So, that leaves them 15 minutes to further the plot,
such as it is. I will cut the writers some slack, because they
really didn't have anything to go on. If you have played any of the
"strip" games from Japan, the whole purpose is to win the round,
and get the girls to take off their clothes. To build an anime out
of that would be tough. Still, they could have tried a little
harder.
Those of you who are interested in buying it because
"Kenichi Sonoda" did the character designs need to hold up a
minute. While he did design the characters for the video game, there
was a different person who did the works on the anime. She took his
original design, and modified it for the animation. So you sort of
get a 50/50 mix.
Like the staff of "Su-Chi-Pai", I give Hirameki credit for
working with what they got. The threw in just about everything they
could find. The making of segment was interesting, and they even
dubbed it so that those who don't watch subs could enjoy it. The
wallpapers, calendar, and clock were nice too.
So, I was shocked when the message (in Nipponglish by the way) came up and
told us "The rest were omitted due to the obscene
matters." This means that the trailer mentioned during the
"Clear the Su-Chi-Pai" segment has been removed. While I
understand that they are looking out for the 15+ they say the title is
aimed at, alienating their core fan base is a risky move. Not that I
am saying that we should clamor for Hirameki to release a
"trailer" version. However, I hope they will not leave anything
out in future releases.
Idol
Fighter Su-Chi-Pai is a cute little film, with little substance.
This is one you can either take or leave. It all depends on what you
are in the mood for.
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