Customer Reviews

Venus Wars [VHS]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When you go back to the 80s anime and early anime, you see less of the bouncy fanservice existent EVERYWHERE. You go back to the anime/manga back then, it had more of the violence and grit you would crave for. It had less of that feeling where it's quickly hashed out, or obviously influenced and tailored to the American viewers.

The only gripes is the views of back then, such as sexism against women (who usually play the extreme princess who can't fight), and music from that time (this is selective to some). Hiro isn't the usual gundam main character: why're we fighting? oh well, i'll fight to protect. Hiro is more of what you'd expect, a hotheaded teenager. Another, thing is that action sci-fi in general, is great at retelling lessons completely based on reality. This is no exception. Venus Wars resembles a lot of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (it only took a couple days to gain a surrender). The monobikes w/ railguns, chase scene, liberation, etc. Its all there. The rousing action, where the whole city gets pissed off and overthrows their occupiers!

After growing up on handpainted cels, you just don't feel the love and dedicated work presented in modern anime, which uses computer. It feels so impersonal and for the money. Don't get me wrong anime is great, no matter what era its from. Its just that, it's no longer as conceptual art in motion, you no longer see any of the stages, its too clean and straight lined that its like standing in a decontaminated room. Or eating a well-done steak. When you have an explosion, it's supposed to be messy, and this anime gives that to you.

This is a pretty good anime title (except for the live-action stuff, ew). The animation is great, the artwork is great, the voice acting is pretty good, and the plot is decent. The only problem I had with it (aside from the aforementioned live-action segments) was the DVD "extras." If you see the bonus materials listed on this site or on the back of the box, and think they sound interesting, don't get your hopes up. Its just the footage from the movie divided into sections for emphasis. There is no new material. For example, select Hiro from the characters section, and they just show you a scene from the movie that featured him strongly. I just figured people might want to know this...

If some one had told me this film would turn into a story of an actual war between nations, I would have watched it sooner. The reviews I had read for it made it sound like a rip-off of Akira, and the first hour or so makes you think it just might be it.

A group of friends who are in a sort of Xtreme motorcycle sport find themselves in the middle of their nation Aphrodia invaded by the nation of their enemy Ishtar. They quickly find themselves under military rule, and have to deal with life changing in such a time period. The group eventually decides to do some guerilla action and attack an enemy tank that is always in their stadium.

Then, just as the tank is destroyed and reinforcements are coming up, and the hero is about to be run over...a Free IO soldier fires a missile into the Octo and destroys it.

Then the movie becomes a story of a nation fighting for their freedom, as the group joins the free soldiers who are fighting Ishtar all the way back out of IO. Eventually the hero, at first sympathetic, is convinced to join forces. The final battle takes place in the capital of IO, and what a climax it is.

Overall, the film boasts fine animation and retro 80's anime design. The action is well done and the mecha designs even better, and the storyline is also exceptionally well done. You get a good sense of a population under foreign rule, and its good to see an anime exploring such depths. Also, the politics of a nation in exile fighting for their return is equally unique. Maybe its because I'm a political nut, but I found it all interesting.

If I had known I would have enjoyed this film, I would have watched it far sooner than I did. Oh well...I bought the DVD the minute I saw it. I'm proud to own it. And thats my word.

Venus Wars bears no resemblance to the dogmeat that Japan is turning out in terms of anime lately. Venus Wars tells the story of a group of motorized uni-cycle racers (believe me, these uni-cycles aren't your typical uni-cycles) that get involved in the war between two factions fighting for control of Venus. The film deals with hope and the tragedy of war as seen from both the folks not directly involved in the fighting, and from a soldier's perspective. The animation is refreshing and very crisp, and it sounds as if some real thought went into the music as well. The added extras are a joke, but I bought this disc for the film, not for any sort of flashy extras. If you're a fan of old-school anime, then Venus Wars definitely belongs in your DVD collection.

"The Venus Wars" was one of the best anime movies I have ever watched. It was well worth my time and it ranks right up there with "Tenchi Muyo! in Love." If your into fantasy, Sci-Fi Romance . . . Watch this movie!

I really liked the movie. It tells how people other than soldiers live through a war like that. What was really bad in it were those scenes were live action footage was put in the background. I found that unacceptable in this genre. Otherwise it was fine.

Gundam veteran Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's "The Venus Wars" is a great war anime with a moderately well-done, if somewhat cliched plot and surprisingly deep characters. It deals with many themes: how occupation affects people, the role of journalists in war, as well as the loyalties and feelings that drive people to fight.
Released originally in 1989, the style of animation is very much of the time with muted colors and large smoke filled explosions. The film begins with an Earth reporter, Susan Somers, landing on a colonized Venus, hoping to get a great story out of the brewing war between the states of Aphrodia and Ishtar. Meanwhile, Hiro, a reckless young battlebike racer, is busy trying to win a race for his team The Killer Commandos. After a few laps the people in the stadium notice a group of airships approaching, tanks begin to descend and the Aphrodian capital of Io is bombed. Hiro and his friends leave the stadium, running into Susan who was taping the chaos and from then on her life becomes intertwined with that of the Killer Commandos.
The film is filled with beautiful shots of the battered Venus landscape, using light skillfully to highlight the different shades of red, which is the predominant color of the planet. The action scenes are fast paced and well directed, the scene where Hiro and his team decide to take on an Ishtari tank occupying the stadium is especially well handled. With the characters treating the attack as a game until they realize just how dangerous their situation is. The film also has many somber scenes where the characters reflect on the cost of war. One scene that stood out in particular, was when Maggy, Hiro's girlfriend, is brought to tears when she sees her favorite shopping spot littered with bullet holes and bomb damage.
The Japanese voice acting is good if not spectacular. The English dub is fairly well done with the voice of General Donner standing out, being appropriately rough, yet elitist. Though the English dub script does swerve radically from the subtitle translation, changing the meaning of entire scenes in the process.
The music by acclaimed composer Jo Hisaishi is fantastic, at times optimistic and in other times crushed and cynical. Fast paced during the action scenes and slow during the more evocative moments. Though it does get redundant, since the majority of the music is just a variation of the main theme.
Overall, "The Venus Wars" is a great science fiction action film mixed in with interesting characters and a satisfying story. It is not a classic, yet it is a great war film to watch from time to time.

The Venus Wars was a great movie. Mainly because it didn't feature a mindless plot (a la Tenchi Muyo, Gundam Wing, Princess Mononoke) and stayed focused on its point. It was about a war, and the people who got caught up in it. There were no faries (A real problem in Anime), no magic, no super-powers. It was Man & Machine fighting against Man & Machine, and was done in a wonderful manner. Without bowing to some of the stereotypes of Japanime (Graphic nudity, sex, violence) The Venus Wars is, by far, my favorite Japanime of all time. It manages to paint a vivid picture without getting preachy or becoming insipid. Truly a great work.

This movie just downright rocked. It had good VAs, unlike most dubs, and the storyline and script seemed very realistic even though it's heavy sci-fi. Characters have deep personalities and not just pretty-face gloss. A classic, no doubt.

This movie was pretty spectacular.From the one-wheeled motorcycle races to the huge aircraft carrier-like airplanes to the look of the semi-modern but still futuristic city that the battle started in, there is deffinately something here for everyone.Plus the great story of a CIVIL war rather than the usual played out drama about a war with aliens really gave this film a good plot.And the characters are all very diverse and quite interesting.The only thing that,in my opinion,keeps this film from earning a pefect 5 stars,was the date in which it took place (somewhere around 2090,give or take a few years).Although we may establish some outposts on other planets by then,I seriously doubt that we will be able to change the atmosphere and temperature of venus enough to make it suitable for humans in just 100 years,or that there inhabitants will become so diverse and numerous that they will have wars with each other. But please,DO NOT take that to mean that the whole film is bad or anything like that.In my opinion, it is one of the greatest animated films,and indeed one of the greatest sci-fi films,of all time.This movie may not be perfect,but if you ever liked any sci-fi or action movie in your life,then you won't regret buying a copy of venus wars.