Jex
Member
You thought I was going to write about the biggest, greatest latest, Japanese blockbuster? I can’t possibly discuss that without first talking about the 1986 OVA masterpiece ‘Ai City’.
What is Ai City? Who is Ai City? Why is Ai City? These are all great questions that I do not have the capacity to answer. All I do is list the key FACTS:
Fact 1) This OVA was produced by Studio Toho, who produce about theatrical films like Seven Samurai and Detective Pickachu Movie.
Fact 2) This OVA was directed by Kōichi Mashimo, who used to make cool and fun things like Dirty Pair: Project Eden, Dominion Tank Police and The Irresponsible Captain Tylor but then became boring and started making stuff like Noir.
Fact 3) A bunch of animators and stuff worked on this, because the 80’s, as you can see here. I must admit, I only know the names of the biggest animators (e.g. Shinya Ohira) and lack the technical skill to pick which scenes were done by who. (Amusingly, one of the key animators was Nobuyoshi Habara, who you might know better as the main director of Fafner and Fafner: Exodus)
Fact 4) This OVA is based on a manga of the same name. I know this because Wikipedia told me and therefore it must be true. However, I can only assume it’s a very loose adaptation because this OVA is an almost incomprehensible fever dream.
Fact 4) Whatever I write about the plot of this OVA is summarised far better in this Engirsh song that plays during the movie (oh, didn’t I mention the soundtrack is by Shiro Sagisu?)
I think you should listen to it for all the important FACTS about Ai City:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOkaol35kow
Fact 5) Okay, really, I can try and explain the plot if you want.
So there’s these 2 psychics called K and Ai. They’re on the run from this physic organisation called Fraud, and their being chased by K2, E, Mr J and others. Oh, K isn’t really a physic, he’s a defective physic who can only go up to level 5 on his headmeter (a headmeter is like a power level that actually displays on your forehead when you power up your physic powers). Ai isn’t really a physic either, she’s a clone of K’s girlfriend, I, who got killed in an experiment when K and I were captured by Fraud. Ai is also the Trigger, whatever that means. Anywhere they’re also joined by Reiden, who is a PI that drinks a lot and has no place in the movie except to inexplicably become the centre of K2’s affection. There’s also a time-travelling cat that appears in every scene to make goofy faces. Anyway, they’re being chased by a real physic, K2, but not for long because when K2 attacks K and Ai they hold-hands and that gives K super-physic powers and he hits K2 so hard she loses all her clothes and is blown into another dimension. But not for long because Reideen helps her come back to the normal dimension, but she’s lost her clothes and her memory, although she luckily finds a bunny suit and a rocket launcher.
I haven't really spoiled anything because that’s kind of the first 5 minutes of the movie anyway.
Fact 6) This OVA really doesn’t make much sense on any level. The way it begins, the way it ends, everything in the middle, the characters, and the big plot twists – it all feels like they’ve compressed down a much longer work into a short running time. In essentially every scene you’ll find yourself asking like “Who are these people?” “Why is there a naked old man in a robot?” “Why is that cat wearing sunglasses?” and so on.
Fact 7) This movie might not be well directed but it still very pleasing to the eye. A well directed movie would be more cohesive, there'd be a logic to the editing and a clarity to the visual language. None of that is present here but it is constantly entertaining, surprising and innovative. Essentially it feels like everyone working on the movie had a lot of fun and brought their own ideas onto the project because it doesn’t feel like a unified vision. It feels like a bunch of very different, talented staff just doing weird stuff. I feel like I could post examples from just about any scene in the movie, but here's a smattering of the cool stuff:
Unusual Lighting
Cool Impact Frames
Surreal Imagery
Fun FX Animation
This Character Design
Fact 8) Ai City is the quintessentially 80’s anime. It’s got everything: physics, motorcycle chases, bunny girls, gore, neon, transforming robots, lasers, big hair – you name it -
I guess the only missing element would be an aerobics class featuring leg warmers but I will forgive it for this one sin.
Fact 9) Ai City has one of the best cats in an 80’s OVA featuring physics:
Fact 10) Project Ai has an amazing script and one of the greatest endings in anime:
Fact 11) If you want to watch something ‘good’ you should probably avoid this. But if you don’t mind sitting through a confusing mess of fun nonsense to see some cool scenes then you should probably watch Dirty Pair: Project Eden. Then, once that is out of the way, you can watch Ai City. It's certainly a more entertaining and interesting failure than Megazone 23.
What is Ai City? Who is Ai City? Why is Ai City? These are all great questions that I do not have the capacity to answer. All I do is list the key FACTS:
Fact 1) This OVA was produced by Studio Toho, who produce about theatrical films like Seven Samurai and Detective Pickachu Movie.
Fact 2) This OVA was directed by Kōichi Mashimo, who used to make cool and fun things like Dirty Pair: Project Eden, Dominion Tank Police and The Irresponsible Captain Tylor but then became boring and started making stuff like Noir.
Fact 3) A bunch of animators and stuff worked on this, because the 80’s, as you can see here. I must admit, I only know the names of the biggest animators (e.g. Shinya Ohira) and lack the technical skill to pick which scenes were done by who. (Amusingly, one of the key animators was Nobuyoshi Habara, who you might know better as the main director of Fafner and Fafner: Exodus)
Fact 4) This OVA is based on a manga of the same name. I know this because Wikipedia told me and therefore it must be true. However, I can only assume it’s a very loose adaptation because this OVA is an almost incomprehensible fever dream.
Fact 4) Whatever I write about the plot of this OVA is summarised far better in this Engirsh song that plays during the movie (oh, didn’t I mention the soundtrack is by Shiro Sagisu?)
I think you should listen to it for all the important FACTS about Ai City:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOkaol35kow
Fact 5) Okay, really, I can try and explain the plot if you want.
So there’s these 2 psychics called K and Ai. They’re on the run from this physic organisation called Fraud, and their being chased by K2, E, Mr J and others. Oh, K isn’t really a physic, he’s a defective physic who can only go up to level 5 on his headmeter (a headmeter is like a power level that actually displays on your forehead when you power up your physic powers). Ai isn’t really a physic either, she’s a clone of K’s girlfriend, I, who got killed in an experiment when K and I were captured by Fraud. Ai is also the Trigger, whatever that means. Anywhere they’re also joined by Reiden, who is a PI that drinks a lot and has no place in the movie except to inexplicably become the centre of K2’s affection. There’s also a time-travelling cat that appears in every scene to make goofy faces. Anyway, they’re being chased by a real physic, K2, but not for long because when K2 attacks K and Ai they hold-hands and that gives K super-physic powers and he hits K2 so hard she loses all her clothes and is blown into another dimension. But not for long because Reideen helps her come back to the normal dimension, but she’s lost her clothes and her memory, although she luckily finds a bunny suit and a rocket launcher.
I haven't really spoiled anything because that’s kind of the first 5 minutes of the movie anyway.
Fact 6) This OVA really doesn’t make much sense on any level. The way it begins, the way it ends, everything in the middle, the characters, and the big plot twists – it all feels like they’ve compressed down a much longer work into a short running time. In essentially every scene you’ll find yourself asking like “Who are these people?” “Why is there a naked old man in a robot?” “Why is that cat wearing sunglasses?” and so on.
Fact 7) This movie might not be well directed but it still very pleasing to the eye. A well directed movie would be more cohesive, there'd be a logic to the editing and a clarity to the visual language. None of that is present here but it is constantly entertaining, surprising and innovative. Essentially it feels like everyone working on the movie had a lot of fun and brought their own ideas onto the project because it doesn’t feel like a unified vision. It feels like a bunch of very different, talented staff just doing weird stuff. I feel like I could post examples from just about any scene in the movie, but here's a smattering of the cool stuff:
Unusual Lighting
Cool Impact Frames
Surreal Imagery
Fun FX Animation
This Character Design
Fact 8) Ai City is the quintessentially 80’s anime. It’s got everything: physics, motorcycle chases, bunny girls, gore, neon, transforming robots, lasers, big hair – you name it -
I guess the only missing element would be an aerobics class featuring leg warmers but I will forgive it for this one sin.
Fact 9) Ai City has one of the best cats in an 80’s OVA featuring physics:
Fact 10) Project Ai has an amazing script and one of the greatest endings in anime:
Fact 11) If you want to watch something ‘good’ you should probably avoid this. But if you don’t mind sitting through a confusing mess of fun nonsense to see some cool scenes then you should probably watch Dirty Pair: Project Eden. Then, once that is out of the way, you can watch Ai City. It's certainly a more entertaining and interesting failure than Megazone 23.
but not enough screen time for the protagonist.
