Dual #1: Visions Pioneer 100 minutes English/Japanese English Subtitles Released: 09/26/2000 Reviewed: 02/21/2006

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Kazuki Yotsuka has this little problem, he kinda looks like Makoto from El Hazard and he sees giant fighting robots all over the place. The first problem can naturally be explained by this show being an AIC production. We've seen this in other fine programs like Bubblegum Crisis 2040 and Tenchi Muyo! This really isn't anything new, they've been passing off a lot of very similar character designs for years. The whole thing with the giant robots is a little more difficult to reconcile. I don't imagine Japan has the proper drugs to deal with hallucinations of living in a 70s anime. Somehow I just don't think a prescription for Zoloft is gonna do the trick, and I can't even begin to conceive what marketing campaign for a medicine named "Robot's Fist" would entail, but I doubt it'd be anything good.

Helpless in front of his imaginary metal friends, Kazuki turns his insanity into something useful and decides to become the best fanfiction writer ever! This boils down to him spending a disproportionate amount of time ticking up stories on his laptop about the magnificent battles that occur right before his eyes. In the process he kind of dumps all his friends and becomes a total introvert, the poor sod. Nobody ever told him that there was no money or fame in the world of fanfiction... Things all change when the resident hot girl of the school, Mitsuki Sanada, shows some interest in his fevered babblings. Kazuki is noticeably suspicious. The youth regards her as any dork would, with complete and utter disdain. Nerds are not a very trusting people, especially when members of the fairer sex are concerned. But here's the surprising thing: she really is interested in his BS. Turns out her father is the incredible smart (and quite crazy) Ken Sanada, the psycho who works out of his basement and believes in crazy things like parallel worlds. It's his idea that there's another world out there and it's directly responsible for all the things that happen in ours, such as economic failures and people not believing in Mr. Sanada's ridiculous hypotheses about parallel worlds.

According to the Sanada the elder, who bears a minor resemblance to Mr. Fujisawa of El Hazard, it all started 22 years ago. An alien artifact was discovered at a construction dig and the foremen ordered it destroyed so their project wouldn't be delayed. This is just par for the course where contractors are concerned, they don't let nothin' get in their way! I guess I don't know exactly how it works in Japan... but here in the Tristate area the Cosa Nostra doesn't have time to dick around with funny green rocks. That's time better spent extorting grocery store owners and whoring out women! This is where the split happens. In one reality the rock gets trashed and in one it doesn't and now we have to find out why. Ken Sanada decides it's time to send Kazuki to this other world and let him meet the giant robots that have been scaring the crap out of him for so long. Almost immediately Kazuki comes upon his favorite white robot, the good guy, whom he's named Hartzenen. Hartzenen is in a bit of a bind, seeing as how it's being attacked by a big black robot with missiles. What is Kazuki to do but remove the felled pilot and and beat the crap out of the offending metal thing himself? Even though he has no experience in giant robot fighting he accomplishes it with plucky aplomb.

Does the whole "No experience put pilots remarkably well" thing strike a chord with you? If you've ever heard of anime it probably will. It's not only the focal point of Evangelion, but many, many other giant robot programs as well. The biting of Hideaki Anno's baby is obvious. Pilots have "life sympathy" instead of "synch ratio", instead of the only pilots being 14 year old children, they're now all women. Except for Kazuki. There's also a weird robot-type girl with an apparent social dysfunction that's basically par for the course in shows like this. Much hilarity ensues! I have avowed time and time again that this humor is totally wasted on me, but Dual doesn't go out of its way to be offensive and oftentimes it seems like that's all you can ask out of a cartoon All the same, I don't like when inexperienced pilots are big pussies, because I don't see how that's super entertaining. I much prefer the Ryouma Nagare "let's bust some heads!" school of inexperienced robot piloting. It makes for better action, and I'm not watching robot cartoons to see blushing highschool kids. Some people like to say Dual could be named "Tenchi In Tokyo-3", being a weird kind of mixture of the Tenchi style and Evangelion. I guess someone out there must like it -- there is a thing or two that's okay -- but it sure as heck ain't me.