Customer Reviews

Rumik World:Fire Tripper [VHS]

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Rumiko Takahashi is one of the most original manga ("comic book") writers in Japan. She is responsible for two of the best-known manga/anime series, Urusei Yatsura (Those Obnoxious Aliens) also called "Lum" in the US, and Ranma 1/2. One of the traits of all her writing is her awesome use of plot twists and twisted plots, and Fire Tripper may be her best! The story begins with a bandit attack during the medieval period in Japan. A house is burning and trapped in the house is a tiny girl-child. The roof caves in and, just before the burning mass falls on the child, she vanishes! In the next scene she appears in modern-day Japan where she is adopted and raised by a childless couple. And this is only the beginning as the now teen-aged Suzuko is rocketed back into the past by a huge gas storage tank explosion! Twist is piled upon twist as Suzuko comes to realize just who the warrior Shukumaru really is! A very beautiful ending featuring a traditional Japanese wedding ceremony crowns this excellent adaptation of Ms. Takahashi's excellent manga.

Attention, all you Urusei Yatsuru, Ranma 1/2, and Maison Ikkoku fans-and the rest of you who know a really great anime when you see one-Fire Tripper is quite possibly one of Rumiko Takahashi's finest works, even if it is only a one-shot story, as opposed to a long-running series. This could be a predossessor to Takahashi's latest story, Inu-Yasha; modern day high school girl Suzuko is walking home with young neighborhood boy Suhu when a power plant explodes, and Suzuko finds herself transported to Japan's medieval age. There she meets young warrior Shukumaru, who wants to make her his wife. But all Suzuko really wants is to find Suhu and go back home. On top of everything eles, an enemy army is preparing to invade Shukumaru's village. Even though the video is only fifty minutes long, we really learn to care about the charecters during the time we know them. The dubbed cast is done by british voice actors, which for me only added to the apeal. Though some might be bothered by this, keep in mind japanese charecters speaking with english accents isn't really anymore ridiculos than when they speak with north american accents, and the story is still every bit as memerable and affecting. Buy it. You won't be disapointed.