Kishin Corps

	Kishin Corps

If an action extravaganza starts off blazing but fails to kick into high gear in the final half, does that affect how good the first half is? Kishin Corps makes me ask that question. An 7-part OVA series released in the early 1990s, it's an adventure serial that held as its predigree Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. It lives in a similar world to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and the Indiana Jones films. And for its first three episodes, it rarely slows down. There's a charm to its WWII setting -- and who can argue with having as your villians not only the Nazis but alien invaders? It's a blast...not a particularly challenging or intellectual one, but great fun. But before you can say The Matrix Revolutions, everything just kind of stops for three episodes. This isn't to say that there isn't any action, but there's far more preparing for battle than actual battle. When there's not a great deal of depth to the character interactions -- there's no "Indy and Marion" style subplot, for example -- it becomes pretty dull. The final episode does get the show moving again, but by then it had worn out much of the favor its first three episodes had earned. (For those who'd like to read my earlier review of those episodes, which contains a bit more thorough information on the first three episodes, please click here.)

Kishin Corps starts with Taishi, a young boy who's entrusted with a special black box by his father when their train comes to a screeching halt. Moments later, Mr. Takamura is taken out by the Kanto army, and Taishi tries to run for safety. As he attempts to escape, a second party arrives--strange, ghost-like alien beings descend from the sky and begin attacking. Just as Taishi gets cornered, a third party joins the fray...the Kishin Corps. Now this isn't really giving anything away, mind you, as it happens before the title card! The episode continues from there as Maria Braun, the twin sister of Hitler's mistress, tries to find Taishi and protect him from those who would steal his safeguarded box. Taishi's been living with a bunch of street kids, and they take to Maria quickly. However, danger lurks not far behind. As the show continues, we find that the Kishin Corps are the good guys in this whole affair, and Taishi teams up with them to stop Hitler's goal of creating an army of massive armored machines that would obliterate the Allies.

In terms of setting, Kishin Corps really earns my kudos. The show mines a style and time period that are rarely seen in anime, and it adds to my attraction for the show. It's clearly some sort of alternate WWII universe, but one that's close enough to our own to be very believeable. The pacing in the first three episodes is excellent. With a colorful cast of characters that never grows too overwhelming, there's a lot to like. The third episode in particular, which involves a frantic train battle, is incredibly enjoyable. But what also separates this show out from many others is the passage of time. Taishi grows up over the course of the show. By the end, he is no longer the little boy lost with his daddy's special technology but has become a character of his own. While I was disappointed that they didn't explore his maturation more -- or the difficulty of dealing with the loss of one's parents -- I liked the fact that Kishin Corps is willing to spread out its timeline and give its characters that chance to grow up a little. I also liked that the kids who play a big part in the first episode do reappear, but they never become a distraction to the main storyline. On the whole, I was entertained.

Unfortunately, the show has gone from an A- to B in my mind because the second half just does not live up to the first half's promise. Now normally I would have liked an action piece that took the time to breathe and let its characters show an emotional side. But here's the problem...when Kishin Corps slows down, it focuses not on human relationships but on preparing for the next sortie. Frankly, nobody cares. What the creators of the show seem not to realize is that forward motion is always necessary in good entertainment. Even in good dramatic films that many people consider "slow," the human interactions are always changing and evolving. A film without some sort of movement is like a shark slowly dying when it's not swimming. And so there are lots of missed opportunities. Why couldn't we learn who the alien invaders are? We never learn anything about them, which really makes it difficult to swallow their using tommy guns in firefights. Why would the Japanese not consider the Kishin Corps to be traitors? The Kanto army was indeed somewhat of a secondary unit to the regular Imperial Japanese army, but they were still part of the Axis forces. But what it comes down to is this: Kishin Corps succeeds and fails on its ability to be an action spectacle without a lot of need for brain activity. When it's firing on all cylinders, it's wonderful, but it doesn't have the chops to entertain fully when things slow down.

Honestly, I think this show would be loads of fun for the upper elementary and early middle school crowd. The exploits of a young ruffian in WWII in the midst of mecha and aliens and Nazis would be perfect for them, and they might even forgive the slowdowns (especially since the ending, though a bit confusingly directed, is strong). Parents might be concerned for younger children since the language gets mildly salty, but most kids will have heard far worse by the age of 10 or so.

Final verdict? If you enjoy the concept of the adventure serials of the 1930s and can overlook the shortcomings of the second half of the story, you'll get a kick out of Kishin Corps. You won't find much on the anime market that's remotely like this, and even though it has problems, I still appreciate its uniqueness and many of its set pieces. Since you can pick up a new copy on DVD of the whole thing for under $7 on Amazon, it's not a bad choice to add to your anime collection.

P.S. Make sure to look for Geo Armor when you are attempting to buy this title. For some inane reason, Pioneer renamed it when they released it on DVD, apparently trying to sell it as something more accessible. Just be aware.