Back in the Day - Project A-Ko 02/20/2010.

Sailor-suits, giant robots, space aliens, a superhuman heroine, a heiress and a blonde cutie.

For an anime movie, Project A-Ko comes fully loaded and more well equipped than a luxury sports car. Project A-Ko was masterminded by Katsuhiko Nishijima, the director and main writer for the original story of the anime. It was basically his baby, it was what anime was like at the time and just how ridiculous it all was. It’s a parade of satire that runs the entire gamut of genres from one end to the other making no apologies. That time was 1986, giant robots stood tall announcing their attacks, hair was every color of the rainbow and almost the only thing school girls wore were sailor-suits. While all these things were - and still are - awesome, most of the time they stayed one step away from the absurd, which somehow kept it all believable. Project A-Ko takes that extra step into absurdity and shows anime clichés and themes taken to their extremes. It does this mostly through parodies of several other anime titles that had come before Project A-Ko. From the biggest space operas to the most brutal fists, the big names are poked and prodded.

The story revolves around A-Ko, B-Ko and C-Ko, whose names are a play on both the popular suffix ko of girls names in Japan and extras in anime (aka girl A, girl B and girl C). A-Ko is our red haired superhuman protagonist, C-Ko is her miniscule blonde cutie friend and B-Ko is the purple-haired heiress antagonist who wants C-Ko’s friendship for herself. Morning after morning it’s A-Ko dragging C-Ko by the arm, running and jumping through Graviton City like a Saiyan smashing and bashing everything in her path (including the mysterious figure that‘s been watching them) hoping to not be late to school. It’s quite the feat that little C-Ko doesn’t lose her arm each morning. Yet, each morning she has to deal with B-Ko, along with her robots and mechas, at the front gate of Graviton High. This quickly escalates to the point that B-Ko finally decides to take A-Ko head on with the help of her newly developed power suit that makes her look like a leather clad dominatrix (which is great because it matches her personality). This fight ends up spilling out into the city destroying anything and everything within the vicinity. It goes on all the way to the fight’s culmination aboard a humongous space ship (a satirical reference in and of itself).

So where and how does a space ship fit into it all you ask? Remember that mysterious figure I mentioned earlier? Well, this figure was keeping an eye on A-Ko & C-Ko, reporting back to said ship while it was still in space. Those on the ship have been searching for their princess that went missing 16 years ago and based on the data collected by the mysterious figure, they think they have finally found her. Once they believe without a doubt their princess is on our little dirtball, they descend from space to scoop her up. This causes a bit of a scuffle with the local space army and then the air force once they breach our atmosphere. It makes for some great action sequences filled with the special effects of the time. It is just a little scuffle though, a ship as large as this one doesn’t have much to fear - until it meets A-Ko, B-Ko and C-Ko that is. B-Ko won’t let anything get in her way of beating A-Ko to get C-Ko and A-Ko refuses to be beaten by the likes of B-Ko, so anything that gets in their way is just asking for it. The ship sure does ask for it too, by getting right in the middle of A-Ko and B-Ko during their big fight. Before you know it the ship is going down in flames heading right for the middle of the city, directly towards the structure that caused the destruction of Graviton City 16 years prior.

Project A-Ko delivers a combination of action, comedy and spoofs like no other. The action is top notch stuff; there’s no repeated punches and kicks like you see in DBZ. The big fight between A-Ko and B-Ko alone makes this anime worth watching with A-Ko’s super strength and speed and B-Ko’s dominatrix power suit, whip and wrist mounted missile launcher. A-Ko even uses a tank’s cannon and calls it out like it’s a special attack. One of the neatest, and easily most memorable scenes, in the anime is when A-Ko has to skip from missile to missile on her way to the space ship that’s firing them. The action’s speed is faster than most as well; once it gets going it really gets going. The comedy isn’t left out because of all the action; it’s happening right along with the action, if it isn’t in the action itself. When Project A-Ko goes over the top it goes higher than Mt. Fuji. That goes for both the comedy and action, and once it grab your attention you won’t be able to slip out of it’s clutches. Most of the comedy is physical and sight gags; there isn’t much choice if it wants to keep up with the action. Yet most of those gags are based on one anime or another, so the spoofing is going right along with the action and comedy. The three work very much like a comedy trio, complimenting one another just right and fitting together naturally. Project A-Ko set the bar high for mixing action, comedy and satire together for future anime. For that alone it’s a must watch for anime fans.

The animation looks old because it is old. This is 1986 I’m talking about here. That doesn’t mean it’s not quality stuff, it’s very much so. It’s the age when anime was still completely hand drawn and colored, and Project A-Ko makes for a shining example of such. The colors are bright and crisp, the movement is smooth and fluid and the detail is off the charts. The music was all recorded and made in Los Angeles, CA, so don’t go watching the dub thinking they changed the music and lyrics of the theme song. At the time doing such a thing was a big deal, but they were also pushing to make Project A-Ko a big deal early on in hopes it would be a smash hit. Well, it must have been popular in it’s day since they went on to make 3 OVA sequels and then an alternate reality spin-off. None of them captured the brilliance that was the original, but they were each still worth watching on their own.

Getting your hands on a copy of the US DVD is going to be a little tough. Central Park Media filed chapter 7 bankruptcy last year in April, which is a shame because their Collector’s Series release of Project A-Ko on DVD was one of the best anime DVDs they ever put out. It was an improvement in both video quality and extras over their original DVD release of Project A-Ko. The video was remastered and it probably only looked better when originally viewed in Japanese theaters in 1986. When it comes to DVD extras, the DVD was a superb example of what to include. From behind the scenes at the animation studio to the recording room of the music, you get a very in-depth look at what went into the making of Project A-Ko. One of the best extras wasn’t even on the DVD, but in the case with the DVD - the OST on CD. You really got your money’s worth with CPM’s re-release of their Project A-Ko DVD. I’ve checked around and it’s out there, but at no price I suggest anyone but true lovers of this anime to buy at. What I recommend that anyone wants to own and watch this DVD to do is to keep an eye out for it at anime conventions in the dealer’s room. Many dealers typically have a bargain bin of sorts that will have titles that have gone out of print or are just outright obscure and that’s your goldmine for this DVD. You might have to dig deep and often to find it, but your chances of finding it at a cheap and reasonable price is there. Who knows, you might find other buried treasures of anime while you’re at it.