Customer Reviews

Space Adventure Cobra [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Cobra is just one of those legends that once in a while the comic industry manages to develop.

Cobra himself is a gentleman of the future, a true knight aiming to rescue ladies in danger and searching for justice in a galaxy under the Mafia's utter control; but he is also a gambler, a pirate, a clown. Under his carefree outlook and indiference, beats the heart of a very sophisticated soldier, always prepared to enter in action, always quick to resolve conflicts.

Buichi Terasawa wrote the manga series in 1978 portraying a space pirate whose major purpose in life was challenging the Galatic Guild, mastered by Crystal Man (his alter ego and most important enemy). Along the story line Cobra was involved in many adventures, recipients of influences such as occidental comics: Flash Gordon (by Alex Raymond) or Prince Valiant (by Harold Foster), and even movies such as James Bond's, along with the heritage of its alikes (Golgo 13, e.g), but never losing its own originality.

Cobra Space Adventure, the OAV, was produced in 1982 by Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Great animation director Osamu Dezaki, and superb character designer Akio Sugino were the leading members of the staff. Both creators have been collaborating together in many projects, some of which can be considered real jewels of worldwide animation. Cobra Space Adventure is a direct heir of their know-how, of their special concept of animation and scripts. That is why this movie reflects not only the same humour and flooding action of the manga, but also deepens in the character's feelings and ulterior motives.

Cobra Space Adventure deals with one of the most important and renowned Cobra's Adventures: The Myra's Princesses. Three women, three sisters, seeking for the secret that lies within the tatoos they have marked in their backs. Jane, Catherine, Dominique. Will Cobra find real love this time? Will he be able to rescue them? Will Crystal Man achieve his long awaited dream: killing Cobra?

Misticism, romance, action, humour, science fiction are the basic ingredients of this film. If you like classic manga, if you appreciate well-done, wise and breathtaking anime adaptations, do not hesitate! This is your OAV.

If I had to pick an anime character who was in comparison to James Bond, it would be a tie between Lupin and Cobra. Cobra is a cool guy. How cool you ask? Well, in this film he has a cool gun for an arm, a Star Trek style ship of his own, smokes cigars and has a female robot who runs the ship. Best of all, this movie has a woman-in-distress plot, but not 1, not 2, but 3 women who are in distress! Still don't think its great? Well, the movie also boasts from full motion animation that looks very similar to Heavy Metal. Thats right. Before Akira, this title was the best at animation at its time. Theres also frequent location jumps to cool spots like a dessert, destroyed city, metropolis, winter scapes and even a nice techno dance club. To top it all off, it also has a classic James Bond style opening. The movie does contain nudity, but unlike other manly titles, its tasteful. Now about the film.

Cobra has kept himself hidden for 2 years and finally comes out with a bang. He falls for a young woman named Jane. It is revealed later that Jane wants to rescue her twin sister Chris. Chris, however, wants to stay with the evil Crystal Boy (and Im not kidding, thats his real name). Chris ends up killing Jane. To get more answers, Cobra goes to see her other twin sister, Dominic. Dominic reveals that herself, Jane and Chris are all a part of a planet and that they will become queen if one of them finds their true love. However, Crystal Boy is manipulating Chris into activating the planet and giving the planet to the Guild. After Crystal Boy finishes off Dominic, Cobra goes ahead onto the planet and finally gets Crystal Boy with his own weapon. Chris ends up realizing what she has done and does the only thing she can do. Self destruct the planet with her own body. I think the ending was done pretty well and I never got tired of the movie. Its great! And the dub is exellent. I have to admit that Cobra sounds pretty cool with a cigar in his mouth. If you haven't seen this yet, see it! I can't explain how cool this film is. You just have to see it.

This excellent animated space adventure is in the spirit of the sf graphic magazine Heavy Metal.

Cobra is the most sought-after fugitive in the galaxy. He has wronged "The Guild," the most powerful corporate entity around, and he is on the run...but not unduly worried!

Having completely changed his appearance, and equipped with an incredibly powerful weapon, the Psycho-gun, he's a very dangerous joe.

Fighting off one greedy high-tech bounty hunter after another gets him acquainted with a rather beautiful one whom he befriends. But can she be trusted? And who or what is she anyway?

Find out as you blast off into deep space and a thousand and one weird and exotic locales filled with skiing amazons, see-thorugh villains, murderous flying heads, sexy killers, gigantic prison ships, warrior robots, and massive space fleets!

Sit back push play, and get ready for one hell of a space ride!

I was 15 when I saw the Cobra TV series, back in 1987. The impression I got from this ultra-cool character lingers to this day. The stories were very imaginative, the settings amazing, the character made all his dangerous adventures look easy. Not to mention the rarity of that time of having a TV cartoon with nudity and a hero smoking cigars to breathe underwater!

I thought I was the only fan of this cult TV show until I saw Cobra in the Matthew Sweet videos which were played on MTV ad-nauseam in the early 90s. Maybe because of the popularity of these music videos ("Girlfriend" and "I've been waiting") they decided to release this atrocity to the U.S. audiences. This videotape has one of Cobra's most popular stories, but somehow they stripped all the coolness of his character. The plot now is quite incoherent and hard to follow. Very lame.

If you want to know why Cobra became a cult hit, skip this video and demand the original TV show to be released in the U.S.

There seems to be some some disappointed folks with this movie, having high expectations but being let down as they watch it. There's good reason for this: this is the version that sucks.

This is the 1998 version brought over and dubbed by Urban Vision. The main villain's name is "Crystal boy" (really? yes.) and it's completely lame. I don't even know who does the music. It's an attempt to be more mainstream anime and more energetic. Unfortunately, the story is all over the place and makes little sense. The only thing I like better about this one is the type treatment for the title on the cover of the box - it's more dynamic and more easily identifiable.

However, back in 1995 Manga did a different version with a soundtrack by Yello (the guys who did "Oh Yeah" in Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and the main villain's name is Lord Necron (a real villain's name). This is the GOOD version that you want to find. The soundtrack is more mellow but the story makes much more sense. Seriously, it's the one that's enjoyable to watch.

I don't know how products get onto Amazon, but that's the version that they should be carrying.

I watched this film at an anime festival and was not impressed. I usually enjoy space adventures, but this was lame. I was really turned offed my the lead character who seemed like a such a male chauvanist and there were entirely too many bikini wearing alien women. The plot was slow and confusing at times. It reminded me too much of Heavy Metal (which was lame too). I wouldn't recommend wasting your money on it. I thought it was a waste of time at the festival.

Space adventure Cobra is an old title that has recently been re-released and does look it too. Also on the minus side the translation to me . Seems a bit shakey and it was hard to get really enthralled by the plot because of this . But it was overall a good anime . with alot of action & more than enough provocitiveness if that's a word. to make the minor plot gaps i mentioned blend into the rest of the movie . the only real problem i have with coba is that it is not the kind of anime someone new to the genre should watch . Because it doesnt really convey the feeling of what anime really is . P.S.if your new to anime and just browseing to buy a good movie pick up a Ranma 1/2 and come back to this later.

Here's one to look for in your local bargain bin. Space Adventure Cobra was originally a manga that ran from the late-70s to mid-80s by Buichi Terasawa(who also did Goku: Midnight Eye). This was later given four different manga sequals, an outrageous TV series from the 80s, two recent OVA series, and a brand new TV series that just came out this year. But one of the most memorable incarnations was this full-length anime motion picture. It came out prior to the TV series, so it was the first anime based on the manga, and was directed by Osamu Dezaki who later went on to do the TV series too. Dezaki had prior to this directed Astro Boy and Lupin The 3rd, and since then: Might Orbots, Bionic Six, Visionaries, Black Jack, Air, and Golgo 13. His brilliant direction makes this movie visually ahead of its time.

In what seems plot with Flash Gordon in the Star Wars universe, Cobra is a space pirate who faked his own death two years ago, and had some serious plastic surgery in order to hide from the galactic mafia known as The Guild. Cobra reveals his identity to the sexy bounty hunter Jane, who has been searching for him. Jane is one princess triplets of a wandering planet., and has to rescue her sister Catherine from a floating prision on another world. She sets off in Cobra's ship along with his android babe Lady, and Cobra manages to break into the prision, but is captures by the Guild lieutenant, the cybernetic Crystal Boy. Jane finds Catherine, who is under Crystal Boy's control, and kills Jane. Cobra escapes, and then goes to find Jane's other sister Dominique on an ice planet. Dominique is the head of a group of all-women freedom fighters who are constantly at war with the Guild. Crystal Boy and his cronies show up and waste most of the snow amazons, with Dominique getting killed in the process. Despite losing both of the sisters he cared for, Cobra warps to the wandering planet to stop Crystal Boy from using Catherine to control it. Cobra finally defeats Crystal Boy, and Catherine then leads the planet away for another century.

Osamu Dezaki really went the extra routre in this movie to make it as visually seductive as possible. The 3D-like effects and backgrounds make for hell of a rush. There is some unbelievably great action and chase scenes, plus some fine fan-service for the early 80s. Fans of Heavy Metal will totally dig this flick! The movie has only been released on dubbed and subtitled VHS videotapes by Urban Vision, and weirdly enough they never put it on DVD yet, which is a damn shame because this movie is just begging for a digital re-release. If you can track down a good copy of this on Ebay or something, then set your VCR for Warp 9 to get it!

great movie pretty good plot, great action scenes pretty good design

I took a chance when I purchased Space Adventure Cobra. I guess you can't always pick a winner. Cobra is very dated and even more cheesy. The quality of the animation was pretty good so you may consider watching this one muted with the stereo on! I would have given it a 1 star, but I did actually enjoy most of the animation.