Customer Reviews

Yamamoto Yohko, Starship Girl - Complete OVA

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

 

 

The age of this show shows up even in DVD format--sometimes I feel like I'm watching a cutscene on a playstation. The animation quality is high on action, but few on frames per second, while the character designs are generic.
The 6-OVA is actually 2 X 3-OVA. The second OVA has significantly poorer animation than the first. Animation gripes aside, there's enough concepts,story, surprises and adventure that's a reason why it was shown on Asian cable TV.
Four cute girls make up the Terra team-a smartass catgirl, a fiery socialite, a demure schoolgirl, and a tomboy country bumpkin. They engage in space combat with the Ness team, called the "Red Snappers" whose most prominent member is this really stupid girl who makes remarks that hit below the belt.
The setting is a hilarious prediction of what a future space tourism industry may be like. So when the girls are not duking it out in their spacecraft, they're relaxing in hot springs or freaking out in a haunted mansion. There's a fair amount of fanservice, but I would watch this show only in Japanese.

I got to know this series thorugh the TV series, which has a tightly crafted story line and subtle character development focusing a lot on the friendship between the four girls while they travel through time and get involved in bitter coporate rivalry.

I love this series so much that when I saw it advertised on Amazon, I pre-ordered it immediately. So do these two OVAs (6 episodes) measure up to its good name?

As an OVA, the quality of the drawing is adequate, but not exceptional. (In Japan OVAs are sold directly to the public in the form of DVD/LD/VHS, rather than broadcasted on TV, so the quality is usually higher) Frame rate is smooth in most places and the character drawing is consistent throughout.

The character design is more feminine than the TV series and in fact very attractive although not overly lustful (i.e. male viewer-oriented).

Being an OVA also means that it does not have the luxury of playing time to develope the story or the characters too much. However the basic story line is intact. Youko's arrogance is carefully portrayed so that it doesn't irritate and it is amplified to a high in the last episode. (yes, arrogance can be a likable attribute, that is, in Youko's case only)

If you're a fan of the TV series, you won't be disappointed by these two OVAs, although I doubt you'll feel overjoyed either.

If you haven't watched this series before, these OVAs present beautifully designed characters, and an inventive story setting invloving coporate rivalry resolved through spaceship dog fights. It's worth watching.

I stumbled upon an older issue of "Animerica" magazine that I had and to keep things within budget, I like to purchase complete OAV or TV series and realized that a 2003 release of "Starship Girl, Yamamoto Yohko" featured both the 1996 3-episode OAV's and the 1997 3-episode OAV's on one DVD.

Going online and finding them so cheap, can't beat the price and definitely wanted to see what this series was all about.

A lot of the staff working on the OAV series were quite new at the time with the exception of director Shinbo Akiyuki who worked on sereis such as "Devil Hunter Yohko", "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha", "Pani Poni Dash!" and many more.

But if anything, the price was the major consideration and the fact that you get all OAV series available. Also, who can resist "Ranma 1/2' alumni Hayashibara Megumi (Ranma and plays Terra pilot, Madoka) working together with Takayama Minami (Nabiki, and plays the main character Yamamoto Yohko) for this series.

The episodes are featured as a total of six episodes, the first three was released back in 1996 and "Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko II" featuring the remaining three was released back in 1997.

I have a mild interest in watching the TV series now after watching the OAV (unfortunately, no one licensed the TV series in the US yet).

The first half of "Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko" gradually became better. Because the first episode of space competitions and racing around a planet was just not to my liking. But the story started to focus less on the competitions between Terra and Ness and focused more on the rivalry between the teams and storylines putting the two groups together. Mainly to flesh out some character development of certain members of the two teams.

Of course, the main thing that suffers with six OAV episodes is that although certain episodes did showcase some character development, with so many characters, despite having some speaking roles, a good number of them are just people I recognized as members of Terra or Ness and really didn't care about them at all.

Granted, with its 26-episode TV series (which took place a few years after the OAV series), I would imagine that each character would have episodes that would feature more character driven storylines and more character development.

But with six episodes, not much you can do with character development with so many characters but the staff managed to make the episodes entertaining and keeping it focused on the primary characters Yohko, Rouge, showcasing the team rivalry and then Yohko's battle between Sara Dread.

Overall, after watching episode 1, I really wasn't expecting much from this anime OAV series but once the episodes progressed, I really started to enjoy it and for its price (especially since it was released back in 2003) and the fact that you get all six OAV episodes, it is quite a steal.

As for the viewing rating of 15+, I don't recall nudity or fan service. If anything, it was primarily during the outtakes where the English dub voice actor for Lawson kept cussing when he messed up his lines.

I know many current anime fans have a disdain of watching older anime series but if you enjoy action series, especially featuring a near all-female cast, "Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko" may be for you!

The idea is this - in the future great battles between civilizations are no longer allowed. Glory, honor, rewards, treaties, ownership of planets, are all decided now by a game. Spaceships fight each other and those who win gains everything for their side. you even insert a coin to start the engines! Too bad the Terra Team suck.
Now Earth has gone back, a thousand years, to get the best fighter pilot of all times. With her at the head of her team, all girls like herself, she and the Earth can't lose.
I am not sure who the anime is pointed at. Girls? Boys? It seems to bounce all only the place. One second cute, one second the leader of the Red Snappers is jiggling her boobs in your face. It is in fact two small three episode OVAs put onto one disc and while it has some interesting extras without any real plot it's only worth watching if you have a cold or it is raining outside.
Get used if you get it at all.

a thousand from now, the great battles between civilizations have been reduced to the shoulders of a handful of chosen champions. when a war is waged, each side picks its representatives, gives them spaceships and the fight is on! of course if their champion looses, they must admit defeat and give into the wishes of the other. very handy, very civilized ... unless you don't happen to have any good fighters...

terra team has had it tough lately: ness' "red snappers" team has had things their way. even with technically superior ships, things are bleak for terra...

to make matters worse, they only have three pilots. despite a concerted effort to recruit girls from the past, the team simply keeps losing! now they desparately need someone special...someone powerful, capable, and who possess a killer instinct. a pilot of extraordinary skill to crew the new model ship. they need ... yamamoto yohko!

now if they can just convince her that a better life awaits her in the future, with new friends, new videogames and some very powerful hypertechnology (well some things just take less convincing than others!), terra might be able to defeat the red snappers for a change!