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R4 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Saturday, 09 April 2005 13:16 |
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Page 2 of 2
OVA2.1 - The Bride of Roshtaria
The Bugrom and the Phantom Tribe
have been defeated, and normal life has returned to Roshtaria. Unable
to return home, the gang from Earth are making the best of the
situation - Jinnai is still with what's left of the Bugrom, looking for
a new way to take over the world, Nanami has started her own
restuarant, Makoto is researching El-Hazard's ancient civilisation in
the hope of finding a way to get them home - and Fujiyama-sensei's
getting married. Or is he? When Fujisawa goes missing on the day of
the wedding, the jilted bride vows to track him down, and drags the
rest of the gang along with her. Meanwhile, Jinnai's search for a new
home for the Bugrom leads to an unexpected discovery...
OVA2.2 - Awakening of Kalia
Jinnai's
found himself a new Demon God - Kalia, although she doesn't seem to
have the same obedience circuitry that Ifurita had. She does claim to
know the location of an unbeatable weapon, however, so she has Jinnai's
full attention. Meanwhile, Makoto and the gang find themselves in a
hidden world when their ship crashes - and Ifurita is there to meet
them. She doesn't seem to remember any of them, however, and wastes no
time in attacking them. Trying to find out what's wrong with her,
Makoto gets close enough to read her soul - and finds out that this
isn't the Ifurita they knew. The master of this Ifurita is an old man
who also came to El-Hazard from another world - and who else should
find there way here but Fujisawa, and following not far behind, Jinnai
and Kalia...
OVA2.3 - Ifurita, Farewell to Destiny
With
Jinnai and Kalia safely past Ifurita's defences, Kalia reveals her true
nature and abilities - like Ifurita, she has amazing powers, and the
ability to drain the life from living things. Jinnai's all set to use
her to help with his plan to take over the world, but Kalia has other
ideas - there's something in the temple that she wants, and she's not
about to let anyone stand in her way. The priestesses alone don't have
enough power to overcome Kalia's abilities, but perhaps Ifurita will be
able to...
OVA2.4 - Promise for Reunion
With Ifurita
defeated, it seems nothing can stop Kalia's plans with the Trigger for
Destruction now assembled and operational - if she gets the opportunity
to use it, it will mean the end for El-Hazard. She may have made
something of a tactical error, though, by taking Miz captive, as
Fujisawa's determined to get her back. Yuba thinks he may have a way
to reactivate Ifurita, although it carries a high price, while the need
to destroy the Trigger for Destruction quickly means there may not be
enough time to rescue Miz...
El-Hazard 2's reputation among fans is almost the polar
opposite to the first series - abomination, terrible, cash-in and other
phrases are what you'll hear if you dare mention its name.
There's even a school of though that says that even though this series
is included in the set, you shouldn't watch it. I'm nothing if not a glutton for punishment, though, so I did.
I wouldn't go so far as to say I wish I hadn't, but it certainly wasn't
the most enjoyable 2 hours of my life - and the difference between the
two shows is particularly jarring when you watch them
back-to-back. The personalities of the characters have been
messed with to make this more comic than the original OVA, while the
story lacked that epic feel. While the first El-Hazard kept you glued to the screen, this couldn't.
As a standalone show, it probably wouldn't be too bad - but carrying the El-Hazard name mean high expectations, and El-Hazard 2 doesn't live up to them.
And finally...
The OVA Collection comes in perhaps the most gorgeous packaging I've
seen - describing it wouldn't do the artwork justice, so here's a few
images...
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