Hello and welcome to Guest Review Wednesday on Okazu! I’m thrilled to welcome back Xan, with another terrific review! Settle in and give Xan your full attention, and get ready for a retro ride into anime – and our own – pasts. ^_^
Iβm Xanthippe, creator of the comics Pandoraβs Tale and Thinking Too Much to Think Positively. Today Iβm here to talk about the long-overdue Blu-ray release of the anime probably best remembered as Tenchi Muyoβs peculiar younger sibling, El-Hazard: The Magnificent World OVA 1 + 2 Collection.
Itβs hard for me to be objective about a show that I have a lot of personal history with, and El-Hazard might just be the most personal of all. This was the first anime I loved, my first online fandom, and my introduction to Yuri. In fact, it was the first media Iβd ever seen in which a gay character was just there, a part of the main cast, existing for something other than a punchline or to make a point. It might be hard to imagine these days, but in the mid-nineties, this was a revelation.
Itβs also probably true that a show in which a boy has to pretend to be a missing lesbian princess with the help of said princessβs girlfriend might have held some special appeal for a closeted trans girl who was mostly attracted to women.
Some years ago, Erica reviewed the first OVA which comprises the majority of this set, and I mostly agree with what she had to say, so Iβm going to try to avoid covering too much of the same ground here. But for an overview: El-Hazard was an isekai before there was such a thing as isekai. Taking cues from Edgar Rice Burroughsβ A Princess of Mars, this is the story of three high schoolers and their teacher who are transported to a fantasy world, gaining strange powers along the way. Protagonist Makoto and teacher Mr Fujisawa are pulled into the politics of the royal family, who are quick to take advantage of Makotoβs resemblance to the missing Princess Fatora, and Fujisawaβs newly-acquired super strength. Wannabe tyrant Jinnai finds himself among a civilization of giant insects, who quickly appoint him as their commander, while his sister Nanami has the misfortune to be deposited in the middle of a desert.
I appreciate the amount of care Nozomi Entertainment put into this collection. The cover is the same one used for the most recent Japanese Blu-ray release, and Iβm admittedly not a fan of the art or the bluish color palette β I feel that the sandy-colored cover of the old DVD collection better captured the feel of the show. On a brighter note, Iβm happy to report that the numerous Easter eggs recorded by the dub cast for the DVD release have been preserved, and compiled into a short feature. Theyβre a mixed bag in terms of quality, but they prompted a few smiles, and itβs just nice to see the effort made to preserve a part of the show I feared would be lost with the change in format.
The original, seven-part OVA is easily the strongest incarnation of the series, and this remastered version looks gorgeous. The background artists took full advantage of the fantasy setting, giving us one lovingly detailed painted environment after another. This OVA, while probably not being quite long enough to do its large cast justice, manages to tell a complete story with a satisfying conclusion.
El-Hazardβs second OVA functions as more of a side story. Loosely adapted from some of the El-Hazard radio dramas, itβs half the length of its predecessor and never really reaches the same heights. The animation is noticeably rougher, and with no remastered version available, these episodes have been upscaled to HD. Itβs an improvement over previous releases, but the drop in visual quality between the first and second OVAs is still quite noticeable. Thatβs sort of OVA 2 in a nutshell: itβs fine. If you enjoyed the first OVA enough that youβd like to spend a couple more hours in the company of these characters, this should scratch that itch.
Probably the most notable element of the second OVA, at least from this reviewβs perspective, is that we get a lot more of the showβs lesbian couple, the bratty Princess Fatora and her adoring consort, Alielle. There are elements of these characters that havenβt aged all that well β the archetype of βgirl-crazy lesbian who doesnβt respect boundariesβ is something I suspect weβre all tired of at this point β but damn it, I canβt help but love these two. At the time, I didnβt see stereotypically horny lesbians making a nuisance of themselves so much as I saw two queer women who were loudly, insistently proud of who they were. Thereβs a moment late in the first OVA when Fatora, who has been absent for the story thus far, asks with the most knowing smile if Alielle tried to cheat on her while she was gone, and it speaks volumes about their relationship. Fatora knows as well as the audience that Alielle has been chasing girls the whole time, and is mostly just amused at her attempt to deny it.
Another aspect of El-Hazard that still stands out today is its English dub, often cited as one of the earliest truly high quality anime dubs. Ironically, it succeeds in part because it hails from an era when dubs werenβt held to the same level of scrutiny as they are today; the dub script has plenty of little additions here and there to spice up the comedy that I suspect a modern dub wouldnβt get away with. In the original, Jinnai names his insect lackeys after characters from the sitcom Sazae-san, a reference that would be immediately familiar to Japanese viewers but lost on almost anyone else; in the dub, theyβre named for the Marx Brothers. A scene in which Fatora tries and fails to impersonate Makoto has some discussion of his dialect, which doesnβt translate particularly well into English; the dub takes a different approach and delivers what I still consider one of the funniest lines ever uttered in an anime dub.
The strong script is ably delivered by a mostly excellent English cast. Especially notable is Robert Martin Kleinβs Jinnai, a radically different take on the character compared to Ryotaro Okiayuβs booming tones. Meanwhile, Melissa Fahnβs performance as Alielle conveys some depth I personally feel was lacking in the original, and is altogether more believable as a royal consort, while still maintaining the originalβs peppy charm. Finally, on this rewatch I was particularly impressed with Nanami, a character who feels a little underused, but is nonetheless played with great energy by Lia Sargent. It would be remiss of me not to point out one sour note with the dub, though, and thatβs the use of a certain homophobic slur beginning with βdβ β though thankfully not aimed at either of the showβs openly lesbian characters. The Japanese script uses no such term, so Iβve no idea what happened here, but itβs a downright weird choice in an otherwise great script. Despite this wrinkle, I still strongly recommend checking out the dub for an altogether funnier experience and what Iβd consider to be the definitive versions of these characters.
As I said, I agree with much of Ericaβs review of the show, so my overall ratings are similar, with a few exceptions:
Art β 8 (The remaster really lets OVA 1βs gorgeous background art shine)
Story β 8
Characters β 7
Yuri β 7 (bumping this up a point for the extra focus Fatora and Alielle receive in OVA 2. They even get to frolic adorably in a lake! Canβt say no to frolicking.)
Service β 4
Overall β 8
As a teenager, I adored this show and wanted to lose myself in its fantastical world. Then I got older, became more conscious of its flaws and backed away from it, perhaps a little embarrassed by my earlier enthusiasm. Well, now Iβm even older and I can sayβ¦ honestly, it really was a fun little show, and I can see why my younger self was so enthralled with it. To be sure, there are parts of it that show their age, as one might expect of a show from 1995. At the same time, the show is queer in a way that felt downright subversive for its day, and holds up far better than many of its contemporaries.
When I reviewed this volume in Japanese, I noted that at last, two of the three participants in this love triangle are aware of the fact. But, as strands of hair are cut, braided, tied and woven, the cocoon becomes ever more claustrophobic.
