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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Paper thin plot. Tons of panties. Hurrah for Gusto!, November 27, 2002
I bought this DVD as a replacement for a much borrowed tape (which was bought primarily to complete my Aika collection and to satisfy my curiosity). Reviewing it again though was just as impactful as the first time around.Trials 5, 6 & 7 really do redefine 'fan service' way beyond what most of us would consider normal, especially Trial 6. The sheer amount of up-the-skirt camera angles, upturned bums and crotch shots has to be seen to be believed. It's quite ludicrous. Okay, that doesn't really bother me, as such. I've reached a time in my life where very little shocks me any more. But, as with the first time around, I must admit that I found it a little difficult to justify why I was watching it, other than for the purposes of pure sexual titillation. Trials 1-4 worked fine for me, even with the incredible amount of panty shots, due to there being a reasonably cohesive plot running in the background, some basic character development and silly visual humour. That kept the whole thing rolling along in a obvious direction, which was good. Also, as a stand-alone concept, this particular mini-series (pun not intended) could even be considered a 'classic', or at least a defining moment in anime history. However, the plot behind Trials 5-7 really is nothing more than an excuse for an ever increasing number of white knickered bums and crotches. Which is absolutely fine, if you accept it for being just that. As it is, the latter I can easily deal with. I'm male and I'm quite happy to admit that I like looking at pretty girls in short skirts, animated or not. Most guys do. Neither do I have any real objections to having numerous shots of tightly fitted panties paraded before me. It's a purely sexual thing. Deal with it. But the singular lack of any really creditable direction (even allowing for the 'revenge' angle) did tend to get a little boring in places. The whole thing is basically just one big glorified cat-fight, and just a little more depth would have gone a long way. The mildly saving grace of this batch is Trial 7 in which Gusto makes a welcome return, along with secret agent Maypia - although neither of them really do that much this time around. From that moment on, *some* of the silly humour that was present in the first four episodes reappears and manages to lift the whole thing up a notch. Unfortunately, it's minimal and arrives a bit too late in the 'story' to do much else. Visually though, the artwork and animation retains the good standards of the first four episodes. So no real complaints there. The voice acting is on par with the first batch too and, once again, Gusto's English dub is ridiculously funny. Overall though, the whole thing looks very pretty, and the new theme tune works nicely as well. So, should you buy it? Well, if you bought Naked Missions (Trials 1-4), it's probably worth it for the sake of owning them all. If you like nothing more than sitting around for an hour and a quarter looking at gratuitous shots of knicker gussets, go ahead and buy it. You'll adore it. If you want to own a piece of animated ecchi history, again, go buy it. However, if you're looking for a good story and that alone, then forget it. You will be sorely disappointed. Once more, as with the previous collection, whether you like it or not really depends on what you're expecting. That's what matters. Get that right and you'll be fine. On a final note though, I'm going to be objective about this. Basically, for what it does, it does it exceptionally well. There's no doubting that. It's patently obvious that the single reason for these extra episodes was to be as outrageous and as gratuitous as possible, and on that note it scores a big fat 12 out of 10. The sheer audacity of the Aika series in general and, in particular, the last three episodes is breathtaking. The producers make no bones about what its purpose is - or maybe they do - and for that you have to admire their gall and the end result. All in all, I would say that it's an excellent addition to your collection if you either like extreme anime, want to own the widest possible range of anime fare or are just prepared to accept it for what it truly is; animated soft-core porn. If none of those points apply to you, then skip it. It's your choice though. But if you're new to Aika or anime in general I'd suggest you rent it, watch it alone (unless you really don't give a damn what others think), and then decide.
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DVD ~ Aika R-16
DVD ~ design by Yoko Kikuchi
DVD ~ Artist Not Provided
DVD ~ Artist Not Provided
DVD ~ Voogies Angel
