Shelf Life

Capture the Flag

Unfortunately, the high of watching Flag got muted when I popped in both discs of the Dragonball Z double-feature—The History of Trunks, and Bardock the Father of Goku. There's hundreds of thousands of fans who live and breathe Dragonball, but I've never really been one of them. I've enjoyed some movies, I've hated others, and I've never had the patience to watch the entire Dragonball/Z/GT franchise, so I don't always have the best frame of reference when it comes to movies.

I'm not really sure why Funimation decided to pair these two films together, but as the titles suggest, the first one tells partially of a segment in Trunks' youth. Originally aired as a TV special, it's kind of awkward as a standalone feature. Right off the bat, Goku dies. It then flashes forward a few years to a future where the world is getting thrashed by androids. Trunks and Gohan get beat up a few times, but eventually the title character ends up climbing into a time machine to make sure that Goku doesn't die. I realize I just spoiled the entire special for you, but trust me, it's not that big of a deal. Nothing really happens; people just grunt a lot.

Still, it's the better one of the two specials. The second one is Bardock the Father of Goku, another made-for-TV special that features a lot of HGH-jacked men, and an immense amount of little boy penis. Seriously, I saw Goku's infant penis maybe eight times the entire movie. The main character of this little diddy is Bardock, a Saiyan soldier who serves under Frieza. Due to a series of circumstances, he's actually able to see into the future. This would be a really great gift, if it didn't come with the nightmares and bad omens that such abilities almost always come with.

So, after a pretty bad life and plenty of ill visions regarding his son, the special eventually fizzles out with Goku landing on Earth, and another shot of his junk. Good thing Funimation was able to use some sweet Sum41 and American Hi-Fi songs as the ending theme! Who wants to hear the original ballad (still available on the Japanese-version tracks) when you can hear Deryck Whibley rocking out?

Although these two discs come in a pretty neat tin case, they're not really something I'd push people to buy. For starters, these are TV specials that were wedged between episodes, so they're kind of random, and honestly, their production values are kind of awful. They're not any worse than the production values you'd see in a series that runs several hundred episodes, but when you're spending $30, you kind of want it to be worth it. Chances are, though, if you're scrambling to buy this, you're probably striving to complete your DBZ set anyway, so price probably isn't an issue. For casual fans of the show, though, I really don't recommend it. You barely get a scrap of new character insight, and because they were one-hour specials, they don't really have a beginning or an end—just lots of scenes you would've eventually gotten with the TV series anyway. Verdict: this is something for hardcore fans only.[TOP]

The next set of heroes I watched didn't hit up the muscle milk as much as the Saiyans, but they were still able to hold their own pretty well. The second volume of Venus Versus Virus is infinitely more interesting than the first, but the pacing still seemed a little ragged to me. It's nice to see the girls making progress on perfecting their powers, as well as discover some crucial facts about the bad guys they're fighting, but none of it really comes as a surprise. A lot of the major plot reveals are just thrown out haphazardly, so it doesn't have the same impact as a well-timed, suspenseful twist.

In these episodes, the girls continue onwards with their Virus-busting activities, but with increased testing and experience, Sumire slowly learns how to control her berserker powers. No longer the insecure klutz she used to be, she's grown a lot, and it's nice to see her taking a bigger part in the agency's goals. At the same time, Lucia does quite a bit of soul-searching to realize her true origins. It's quite shocking to her, but rather than letting it get her down, it ignites a spark in her that gives the series much of its vitality.

Incidentally, I mentioned last week that action anime have a huge obsession with dream sequences and alternate realities. When Sumire walked in on a dream-like scene to see Lucia's childhood self, I almost crowed in delight. It's almost a prerequisite now, so much so that I'm tempted to make a chart of every illusion I've ever seen in an anime.

Still, I have to admit that the show is pretty cute. The girls are supposed to be all deadly, but they definitely prove that it's possible to be strong and feminine at the same time. Lucia is an amazing heroine, and even with her incredibly tortured past, she still takes care of business. She's also cute as heck, which makes her that much easier to root for.

In the end, Venus Versus Virus is definitely worth at least a rental, especially if you're craving some supernatural demon-busting action. It doesn't have a huge amount of variety to add to the preexisting little-girls-killing-monsters genre, but it's fun, it's action-packed, and the storyline is one that's tried and true. ADV isn't exactly prolific right now, but there's no harm in adding this to your queue, just to wet your tastebuds.[TOP]