Customer Reviews

Earthian: Final Battle [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First of all, a warning: If you have NOT read the manga and/or have NOT done some research of your own by reading fansites, etc., then do not be surprised if you come out confused at the end of the video. The main reason for this is probably that this "Angelic Collection" is indeed a collection. When Earthian was first adapted from manga to anime, it came out as four separate OVAs. However, later on AnimeWorks came along and took all four, compiling them into one DVD together...

OVA 1: Beginning of the End

This was the first Earthian OVA to be released, and at the end credits after OVA 4 you will see that its copyright date is fairly earlier than the other three. The art in here is different than OVAs 3 and 4, and sports the signature retro-style of earlier anime titles.

This OVA introduces the main concept of the Earthian series, which is the Judgement system of Positives and Negatives, and the fact that if the humans recieve a large quantity of negative marks then Planet Eden will rule Humans out as a destructive, evil, race unfit to maintian possession of Earth, the most beautiful planet in the universe. If Eden does happen to come to this conclusion, they will have no other choice than to kill off the entire human race.

Unfortunately, this OVA does not focus all that much on the angels' task of Judging. Rather, we are drawn into a plot where two bio-human lovers who have escaped from a lab are trying to gain their freedom and independance. Chihaya and Kagetsuya try to help the bio-humans, but then Chihaya is captured by the scientist who created the bio-humans, a man named Dr. Ashino, who wants to run tests on Chihaya to find out more about his beautiful black wings.

I found this one to be mediocre, and though it started out promising in the beginning, as the story progressed, I lost my enthusiasm in what was going on. The ending theme, "Mother" was beautiful and delicate, a sweet and satisfactory ending that fit into my perception of what Earthian music should sound like.

Shonen-ai Content: 3/5. When Kagetsuya goes in to save Chihaya from Dr. Ashino's lab, he finds his partner with a wound on his chest. He kisses the place to make the wound disappear and Chihaya blushes.

OVA 2: Fallen Angel

This OVA takes us away from the events of OVA 1 for a moment. We are introduced to three other angels: Miyagi, a male positive angel like Chihaya; Aya, a female negative angel with a crush on Kagetsuya; and Sapphire, a.k.a. Cliff, a former Seraphim who is now a Fallen Angel or "Lucifer" that was exiled from Planet Eden due to a form of cancer that turned his wings and hair black.

Chihaya, who has been having nightmares about his black hair and wings, decides that he wants to hunt down this "Sapphire" to find out whether or not his dark attributes are cancer or just a natural trait. As usual, he ends up getting involved with everyone else's problems and for a while forgets about his own worries.

This one was pretty good, though I can't say why without giving away the climax.

Shonen-ai content: 2/5. At the end, Chihaya asks Kagetsuya if he would come and comfort him were Chihaya to suddenly fall ill and start dying. Kagetsuya sort of pulls Chihaya into his lap and tells him not to be ridiculous; that he isn't sick. Nothing too showy here, but you can at least kind of get the idea that these two are in love.

OVA 3: Angelic Destroyer

My favorite of the four. This is where things really start to pick up.

Chihaya and Kagetsuya are on a mission to save two young angels who were kidnapped and are being interrogated by Dr. Ashino (yes, the same guy from OVA 1, but older and crazier). After splitting up from Kagetsuya, Chihaya takes a turn somewhere deep into the lab where he sees a sleeping figure; a black-winged angel just like him: Messiah. In an attempt to get Messiah's attention, Chihaya reveals his angel form so that the other angel can see. Messiah awakens to see the change and this information becomes incrypted into his memories, eventually forming in him a "heart" of sorts. Although Messiah was intended to care only for destruction and power, his love for Chihaya is strong enough to overpower any influence that Dr. Ashino holds over him.

As I said, this was my favorite Earthian OVA. The ending theme, "True Romance" by Maki Ichihara, was SUPERB. I was so overwhelmed by its beauty the first time I heard it that I burst into tears.

Shonen-ai content: 5/5: We have a bed scene between Kagetsuya and Chihaya (I won't go into details, but suffice to say that they don't go all the way), and plus there's the fact that Messiah is obsessed with Chihaya in a way that can't be anything but love.

OVA 4: Final Battle

Here we see Messiah again, and he is hell-bent on finding Chihaya. Dr. Ashino also reappears and by this time he has become QUITE annoying. VERY MUCH SO. We also have a bit of bloodshed here. This episode is maybe the most violent and hardcore out of the entire series.

The ending theme, "The Destinies", also by Maki Ichihara, is lively and adds a semi-happy note into the end of the OVA, probably to signify that everything has been resolved and now things will be alright.

Shonen-ai Content: 3.5/5. We have some exceedingly mushy scenes between Messiah and Chihaya and although they don't kiss or anything, Messiah does once acknowledge Chihaya to be his "special someone". And, oh! what's this? Could Kagetsuya be jealous?

Anyway, after reading all of this, if you really want to get into this and find out exactly what was missing and why some things seemed to just hang in midair, you're in luck. Tokyopop has announced that it has licensed the Earthian manga, which will probably be coming out sometime around September 2005.

The three tape Earthian OAV (Original Animated Video) series is based off of a shoujo (girl's) manga series by Yun Kouga. The story is about angels who live on Eden and who have been watching over the Earth and the Earthians (humans)to determine the fate of the Earth along with the Earthians. Pairs of investigators are sent to Earth to study the activities of the Earthians. Each team is made up of a plus checker and a negative checker. This OAV series follows the lives of two angels, Chihaya (a plus checker) and Kagetsuya (a negative checker).

Chihaya an angel who was born abnormal with black hair and black wings feels a strong affection for the Earth and the Earthians. His affection leads him to become personally involved in the lives of Earthians. As a result he meets two bio-humaniods, Taki and Takako who have escaped from the cruel hands of a mad scientist. Chihaya's encounter with the two compromises both angel investigators safety and causes the Earthians to become aware of the presence of angels among them.

This is a very unique, stylish, and fun anime series that all anime fans should own.

Okay, two points to make here. One, if you don't like shonen-ai (um... boy love) too much, then this won't be too bad for you. There's only one really gross scene, but it's so short, I don't see how it can be offensive. Two, if you really like the really lovish scenes where they kiss a lot and all that, then this won't really help you much. As I said, the only time I saw them kiss was this one time in the third episode, Fallen Angel. The art's okay, and it reminds me a lot of Gravitation, meaning it's totally kawaii- cute. I trust Yun Kouga, and I totally trust this show. I liked it, but it didn't really stick to the whole Judgement theme they depicted... The plot pretty much circulates over particular peoples throughout... You decide if you really wanna go through with this one.

The problem with the Earthian OAV series (OAV = Original Animated Video; an anime that was released directly to video) is that you really have to read the manga to get it- the anime leaves out major plot points, and, from what I've heard, adapts some of the *least* interesting stories from the manga. This particular piece, "Angelic Destroyer", starts with an unexplained rescue, shows Chihaya and Kagetsuya much further along in their relationship than they'd been at the end of the last part ("Fallen Angel"), and talks about events viewers have never seen (and will never see). Also, it's the first half of the last OAV (In Japan, it was one OAV); the story ends in "Final Battle". Still, the story does stand alone to some extent; though it helps if you've seen the two previous Earthian OAVs, "Beginning of the End" and "Fallen Angel". That said, I will say that I did like what I *did* see in this OAV. The animation is beautiful (as it is in all the Earthain series), and I really like the characters. In "AD", we meet a new character, the black-winged angel named Messiah. Chihaya, also a blacked-winged angel, wants desperately to know why his wings are black; and will go to any lengths to find Messiah in hopes of finding out why they share this trait. Will his search for Messiah prove to be his salvation- or his destruction?

The reason I first got this box set was because I heard from a friend that it had shonnen-ai (boy's love) in it. I was a bit dissapointed, for the romance didn't really come until the third episode, but it was still good. Earthian is only four episodes. It's about two angels; one has to record the bad side of humans, and the other the good. Then there's a main plot going through the four episodes, with side plots to make everything more spaced out (in my oppinion).

I would recommend this if you wanted it for the story, but if you were like me and only got it for the boy's love, then I'd say get something else.

Ok so Earthian as an OAV might not be the best thing out there, but for the time it was made (which is early 90's or late 80's I don't remember) it's a great anime. Certainly there aren't many indications of a concrete story, and the characters can seem cliche at times, but I still loved it.

The quality of animation far surpassed some of the more popular anime being sold currently, of which I shall not even mention *turns green*. And I do thoroughly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read the manga yet, in fact I'd say to watch this then read the manga, you'd have a steady introduction to the cast.

And about the whole "angel" and "heaven" theme, I think the mangaka said that the original idea was to have the people with wings as an alien race, who live on a different planet called Eden. And by watching humans and their behavioural patterns, they could basically decide whether to leave us alone, or stop our growth so that it doesn't harm their planet.

First of all you must know that what you have here is not precisely what it says. The main plot, the earthian's judgment take a secondary place, and what you have here it's more the relationship between the characters and Chihaya's (the black angel) situation.

These episodes cover all the anime made. The first two were made on 1989 and the other two in 1996, so the difference is clear; also the plot style. Even so that all of the episodes are dramatic and tragic, the first two deals with more drama than the last two, these ones are more on the action side.

In order to enjoy it, know this, these aren't episodes with continuity, so you won't have here a whole story, what you get is 3 different stories of this same universe, the only ones related are the last 2.

Other thing, the series has a a yaoi element; boys' love. It can shock, especially, since it's not until the 3rd episode that you know this.

If you can tolerate that and the failures it has, you're going to have a good, very tragic series.

I just finished watching this anime and I have to say that I enjoyed it and I am not a fan of shojo anime. The story involves Angels sent down from Eden to decide the fate of Earth. The characters were designed with an amazing amount of detail along with the backdrop. The second story was a bit weak but it was still enjoyable. However, there is a huge gap between the second and the third stories, so pay close attention or you might be confused. The characters were developed rather well, except that Chihaya's character (one of the main ones) was extremely annoying, but that made him hilarious at the same time. I couldn't stop laughing, so it was forgivable. All in all, the anime was very good.

I love all of Yun Kouga's work and Earthian is probably on the top of my list. The characters are just beautiful and wonderfully thought out. Chihaya is adorably sweet and innocent as her counter part is a strong silent type that doesn't express his feelings often. However when a third party comes into the picture Kagetsuya gets a little ticked off which is very cute ^_^ Angelic destroyer is actually a story that is not set in the manga but was suppose to happen after the manga ends. ^_^ the tape also includes a wonderful interview with Yu Kouga herself and you also get to see a gallery of her work.

I love this anime, and would reccomend it to fans of shounen-ai and angels everywhere. Although the scenes involving Kagetsuya and Chihaya could have beenmore detailed, I still loved it. I've heard that the manga is much better, but I still can't read Japanese.