Megazone 23:
Part 1
Image
81 minutes
English/Japanese
English Subtitles
08/10/1999
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Megazone 23:
Image
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Yeah yeah yeah. I know. It's been another long ass break since we last talked. For that, I'm extra specially sorry. Especially to the one or two readers I have. I know the whole Cooking with the Master Chefs thing was kinda just a stopgap while you waited two plus weeks for the next splurge of reviews to come out. However, if things are lucky we'll have a banner courtesy of Jonnie Skabs and T-shirts for sale up sooner than you'd think. Then again, how often do things go well around here? Look for something before Otakon. That's the only promise I can make. As you're reading this, please keep in mind that I thought of a good way to end the review and realized I never say how good the show is. So right now I'll say "Megazone 23 is good, buy it." But maybe you should wait a bit as I hear CPM is remastering all the stuff Image did. Oh yeah, and keep a look out for the short appearance by a guy that just HAS to be Lupin the third. |
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Megazone 23 is like a staple of the Japanese animated genre as a whole. In Japan they use the Streamline dub to teach English. At least, they did at some point. Who knows what those crazy Asians are doing now? If there ever was proof in the pudding that Streamline dubbing kicked some serious ass, we'll find it now in the new cadre of elite Japanese youngsters who pay no heed to the plot and use an overabundant amount of swear words. Now that I think about it, that's kinda how I turned out. But let's talk about Megazone 23 : Part 1. "Part 1?" You say? That's right. This is one of those three super long parts deal from the 80's. It's ninety minutes long, so you're not getting ripped off on the price. The show still reeks of "To be continued..." at the end though. When are we gonna see parts two and three? Don't ask me, ask your congressman. |
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Featuring an all star cast of Taki from Wicked City and Mike Reynolds from every Streamline dub ever made, Megazone 23 is the story of a Shogo, a young punk who works at McDonalds (Makudonarudo in Japan), his magical motorcycle, and the secrets he uncovers deep underneath the Japanese highway. Megazone 23 is from an earlier time. A time when you could still have name brands in anime, a time when there was at least one sidekick who wore glam, and a time when things like giant robot trucks were quite so absolutely ridiculous. Let's not forget the sound effects. My personal favorite being "Pswhuuuuuu". Apparently it was a safer time too. Because after picking up the sexy green haired lady Yui and giving her a ride to her appointment, all he has to do is call her boss at the Hard Rock Cafe in Repongi to get her phone number. No questions asked. But forget about all that. We care about the super powered robot bikes. Shogo manages to liberate what seems to be some sort of prototype cycle from his friend Shinji, who dies soon after. Killed by the ultra-cool B.D., who may be working for the military, for himself, or maybe even for both. We're never really sure. |
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From then on in it's Shogo and his best pal Bahamut 6 (that's the bike) trying to uncover the secrets of what exactly is going on in the Tokyo underground (I mean underground in a literal sense) and why everyone seems to want to kill him. Between that he works on getting sexed up and co-staring with the beautiful Yui in a movie. Nobody ever said the show had a particularly good sense of pacing. |