Fantasy: Then and Now continues with El Hazard: The Magnificent World
OVA from 1995-96.
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| DVD Cover |
El Hazard is directed by Hiroki Hayashi (Tenchi Muyo, Battle Athletes)
and written by Ryoe Tsukimura (Moldiver, Tenamonya Voyagers, Tenchi Muyo). Production
was done by Studio AIC, who also did Tenchi Muyo, Battle Athletes, and whole
lot of stuff in the 90s and early-mid 00s.If they did an anime I reviewed, I
mentioned it at least. It is considered the ‘sister series’ of Tenchi Muyo, as
the same people worked on both.
El Hazard concerns the tale of one, Makoto Mizuhara, an average
Japanese high school student. One day, when dealing with a self-proclaimed
rival Jinnai, he stumbles upon an ancient ruin beneath his school. There, he
meets Ifurita, who supposedly met him before and then waited in hibernation for
a long time. With the last of her power, she sends him along with Jinnai,
Fujisawa-sensei and Jinnai’s sister Nanami to the world of El Hazard, a
mystical land. Makoto and Fujisawa-sensei ended up working with the Princess
Rune Venus and her kingdom in an effort to stop an invasion by the Bugrom
Empire, a race of insect warriors, led by Queen Diva and Jinnai himself. But an
even more deadly threat lurks in the shadows, without letting either side know
it. In addition, Makoto meets elemental goddesses, Ifurita (again!) and the Eye
of God (a mystery). What a thrilling adventure!
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| What a stunning landscape, brought by stunning visuals |
Now, what makes El Hazard such a classic to me lies first in the pure
scope and depth this story delves into. This OVA spans 7 episodes, and clocks
it at around 4 hours. The first and last are 50 minutes long, with the episodes
between last 30 minutes. As such, there’s a lot of time devoted to world
building, even if boils down to simple terms: The world is divided by a river,
with Rushtaria and its alliance on one side and the Bugrom Empire on the
other. But there’s more to it, with vast
forests and deserts seen throughout and even more that we don’t see. The stunning visuals, example above, help to reinforce this.
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| L-R: Queen Diva, Rune Venus, Fatora and Aielle, Nanami, Makoto and the three goddesses |
The story and characters are also well-done. Granted, the cast consists
of Makoto (single male hero) and group of female characters (the goddesses,
Ifurita, Nanami, etc.) and their interactions with each other. Sounds familiar,
eh? Well, that’s the same setup as Tenchi Muyo except for the initial premise. Whereas
Tenchi had a harem of women vying for his affections, Makoto is set on only one
of the girls, something not used a lot in harem series. Sure, some of them vie
for his affections, but he seems too oblivious to it. Granted, the story
doesn’t focus on this too much. Instead, it deals with Makoto and his friends
trying to find a way back to the real world, which seems linked to the mystery
of “The Eye of God”. It is an ancient weapon long dormant since ancient times
and is essential to how the story develops.
The characters are very engaging. Makoto is a bit like Tenchi, above
average male hero who ends up being the key to the story. He seems a bit more
developed, as he got some brains behind his meek and nice demeanor making him
quite relatable. Jinnai, on the other hand, is a perfect foil and quite
possibly the best ‘joke villain’ in anime ever. Any scene with him is quite an interesting
gem.
Most of the other cast is very typical for anime: Fujisawa is drunk but
reliable adult role model and Nanami is a love interest in denial with a slight
obsession with money. Even the three goddesses, with their impressive elemental
powers, have expected personalities (Shayla Shayla-fiery, hotheaded, confident;
Afura Mann-cool, calm and collected; Miz-volatile and moody). Rune Venus is the
typical damsel-in-distress who doesn’t do much in the story anyway.
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| Heh-part of the reason why I'm reviewing this. |
The exceptions lay with Princess Fatora and Aielle, who are the lesbian
couple in the show. Granted, Fatora doesn’t have an active role until the last
episode, but when she does she is quite a surprise. Aielle shows up near the
end of the first episode and stays on as the token lolita of Makoto’s group,
constantly hitting on some of the other female characters, leading to much
hilarity. They may seem a bit
superfluous, but they are entertaining anyway, so I welcome their casual addition.
The English dub is pretty good as well. Been done by Pioneer/Geneon
back in the day, it has a cast that includes mainstays for quite a number of
their dubs: Eddie Frierson, Lia Sargent, Michael Sorich, R Martin Klein,
Melissa Fahn, Dorothy Elias-Fahn, Bridget Hoffman, etc. They all do a pretty
good job given the material. There are a few others (like Ifurita) where the
performance is a tad wooden. I definitely recommend watching this dubbed,
though the subbed version is decent.
Now, there are a few weaknesses to this OVA. First, the music is rather
forgettable, barring the opening and ending songs. I love the opening song,
with its rich mix of instrumental and electronic music creating an opening that
grips and hooks you in. For the first six episodes, the ending song is a jumpy
and energetic tune. The last episode, however, has a quite lovely and nice song
to cap off the ending.
This leads to another weakness: The OVA is centered on a time loop
paradox surrounding Makoto and Ifurita. Now, while this OVA has it built in
such a way to ensure it has a definite ending, there is the possibility for
sequels. This is similar to Tenchi Muyo, which had spinoffs/sequels due to
parallel universes with the same characters. And considering how successful
that was, AIC rightfully though it would work again with the EL Hazard series. To
put simply, however, it didn’t. But that’s the subject for another review down the road
At the end of the day, El Hazard The Magnificent World as a standalone
OVA is a fantastic piece of other worldly fantasy epic. It is well-done in
nearly all aspects of the production, with a few exceptions. It stands its
ground with other similar fantasy anime, like Magic Knight Rayearth and
Escaflowne, both also very well-done fantasy series. I definitely recommend it. El Hazard is available on DVD quite easily on Amazon.
Laterz
The Eclectic Dude
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