“Space Invaders” – Mars of Destruction (anime) – 1/10 Notebooks

"...why I'm so sympathetic to the monsters. The answer is simple. Because I am one." ~Laurell K. Hamilton

Genre: Sci-fi/Horror

Review Status: Complete (1 Episode/1 Episode)

Licensed: No, it’s not licensed in the US. Thank goodness.

Art/Animation: Even though this was made in 2005, the animation would only be acceptable in 1990- MAYBE. It’s choppy, slow, inconsistent, and in some places non-existent. The art is standard, nothing exceptional.

Dub Vs. Sub: There is no dub. The sub, however, is overdramatic and perhaps the sorriest thing about it is that the voice actors seem to be trying. It’s not done well, though.

Summary: Some time after a space mission to Mars ends in destruction, strange monsters called "Ancients" begin appearing around Tokyo. A group of specialists consisting of three girls and one troubled young boy must fight the Ancients until they can come to understand exactly what it is they are fighting. When one of the Ancients tells them that they are the true invaders of Earth, they must search within themselves to grasp what truly is reality. (Source: ANN)

Review: This is a title that is well-maligned in the circles of anime fans as being one of the worst anime out there. Just to see whether this could hold up to such high standards, I gave it a shot.

There is no exaggeration when people say that this is a terrible anime. It starts out somewhat promising, with some lovely classical music, along with some shots of Mars and space to go along with it. And then you get to the re-entry of a spaceship into the atmosphere, which is dialogue set to a still shot. It doesn’t get any better from there.

This is filled with some of the worst dialogue and logic I’ve ever heard. There was an astonishing leap of logic when someone said that DNA from Mars started humanity on earth (wha?) and another man said that it meant humanity originated in Japan. There was an assertion by one of the ‘aliens’ that they had been awakened by the virus that had destroyed life on Mars, even though the aliens had only shown up a few months before and life on Mars had been gone for thousands of years. The worst of it, though, had to be when the characters were in the hospital. They were in an ICU unit, not surgery, but you heard calls for a ‘heart massage’, and someone said that the girl whose head had exploded wasn’t going to make it. Really? I would never have guessed! To top that off was the interesting way that guns didn’t injure the “Ancient” at all until the young man on the task force had shot him once. Then the bullets proceeded to rip into the alien’s flesh.

Of course, a train wreck of this proportion would be nothing without some stellar characters to carry it through. You have the members of the elite force that are young teenage girls of multi-colored hair. None of them are ever given a name. The only one that seems to be of any importance is the guy, who’s forced into a suit that should give him some serious internal injuries, and forced to fight these creatures. Too bad all we know about him is that his father created the suit and that one of the girls on the team likes him.

There is no reason to like or care about anything in this OVA. The characters are cookie-cutter, the plot entirely nonsensical, and the animation completely sub-standard. It’s a complete waste of the space it takes up, on the internet, on cellulite, and in my mind.

Overall, only watch this if you haven’t seen anything worse than Speed Racer, and you need something to compare it to.

Recommended: Um, no. 16+, though, for the gore. People are killed in this- one girl’s head explodes, two cops have holes shot in them.

Other titles you might enjoy: Anything else. However, for some shows with similar, better storylines…
Ga-Rei Zero (anime)
Macross Frontier (anime)
Super Dimention Fortress Macross (anime)
Gantz (manga)
Birdy the Mighty: Decode (anime)
Bubblegum Crisis (anime)