Anime Abandon: Venus Wars

[@hannibalharkonnen7612]

Honestly I loved it... I didn’t go in with high expectations. Cool action scenes and an excellent ending, the classic hand drawn animation looks great too.

[@brodysexy1177]

Hundred percent agreed

[@CRITTERBUSTERS]

IMO Venus Wars is Unfocused at worst, definitely not boring at best. The action, Music and art design is incredible. And I can watch it for that alone.

[@Ardhamon5000]

For how "bad" this movie seems. Honestly the animation is actually very top notch here. Holy shit the art style and animation just screams 80s and 90s animation which honestly is okay with me.

[@ellnats]

true, though the dubbing could chill ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut

[@yayo3879]

The movie isn't bad.

[@ShadowSonic2]

@@ellnats They had to make it sound that weird, to match the lips

[@ellnats]

@@ShadowSonic2 i know, thats the joke

[@kris_0520]

Japan had a lot of money to burn on anime in the 80s

[@chang82]

I still loved this anime for its visuals. The background layouts were awesome.

[@powerist209]

9:36- I just read the manga and I think it detailed some of your issues. Ishtar and Aphrodia are basically sci-fi equivalent of feudalism where Earth act like a liege lord but gave them too much autonomy to the point of them being warring states thanks to distance. And the dispute were about the two trying to conquer a region set as a neutral zone, but again distance.

[@GDark08]

I like how one of the villains is just Ghiren Zabi from Gundam with longer hair.

[@davidspring4003]

hun, I'm not taking you into battle "because you're a girl," I'm not taking you into battle because YOU'RE CRYING BEFORE YOU EVEN SEE ANY VIOLENCE!

[@RavenRyy]

Well said ser. Bravo.

[@rodolfomartinez3414]

This movie is a masterpiece and a work of art. This first time I saw it I just wanted to draw like Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the character designer. The mechanichal designs are awesome too. Just watch it and remember this is all hand an no PC!

[@edwardlecore141]

The themes of hopelessness and the cynical portrayal of the leaders of every side were well done. I agree, Yoshikazu is a great artist to emulate.

[@MeepChangeling]

One of these days, idiots will realise you don't just push a button to get digital animation to happen. Frankly, it's harder to do that pen and paper animation.

[@cpgrad07]

I would love to see the Sage review the original Mobile Suit Gundam.

[@Caitlynn552]

I find it cool that there was a Secret of Mana reference in here.

[@fafillionaire]

Venus Wars was my favorite anime growing up, Vampire Hunter D a close second ... honorable mentions Project A-Ko, Tank Police, Record of Lodoss War, Cashaan Robot Hunter

[@MightyPinto]

Fun Fact: The guy who voiced "Lord Dilandau" (real name Gen. Donner) in this anime is Peter Marinker. Marinker's most notable role? Capt. John Kilpack of the EVENT HORIZON. LIBERATE TUTEMET EX INFERIS

[@ShadowSonic2]

And he voiced Captain Goto in the Patlabor movies

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

I remember watching this movie in Sci-Fi channel back in the 90s!!!!!!!!!! HOLY FUCK!!! this movie is awesome, Bennett does not know what he is talking about

[@daydaviddunn]

22:30 thank you sage Thank you every other KZbin reviewer who does that for us We all think it but it's great when someone else does it

[@slovaPL]

Guys, don't listen to this "expert", it's a good movie, decent plot, well animated, feels like any mid-80 action movie, just watch it with japanese voiceover. And, well, main antagonist (he's not evil TBH, he's just enemy commander) looks like from Zeon because... characters were designed by the same person who did charadesign for gundam.

[@harmonicajay91]

21:45 ...Best. Rant. Ever.

[@dasaggropop1244]

and then the neighbours called the cops for domestic abuse XD

[@ellnats]

take that ya fucking karens

[@SMAXZO]

Hey, apparently Gihren Zabi, Admiral Delaz and Jerrid Messa survived their deaths in their respective series and wound up in this one....though I don't remember Gihren growing his hair that long.

[@Lockon5500]

Sorry I just looked it up I know the reason why you look at those characters in think of Gundam characters they designed the same guy who designs every character Gundam series within the universe century since Zeta Gundam... Hiroyuki Kitazume. And that's only because Bandai visual will have a part in this steaming pile of shit's production

[@josephglatz25]

Why'd they send Susan Summers to Venus? So she'd get killed pursuing a story and they'd never have to see her again, isn't that obvious?

[@thehoodedteddy1335]

Pretty much. If you had this bitch in your office, and have a chance to send her millions of miles away with a chance to never see her again, you'd be crazy NOT to send her

[@TheWipal]

Sailor Sedna And if they tried to fire her she'd start crying and call em a misogynist and say she'd write a story about em and if her boss was a female she'd say the same thing.

[@arthas640]

I half expected her to rip her dreess off to reveal that shes the Susan Summers from Fantastic 4, and then start kicking ass.

[@gutspuck721]

I will not watch your review this time because I happened to watch Venus Wars and it was a blast man! Amazing Anime, great soundtrack, I will not say the plot was genius but the world building was amazing, you felt living in that world while watching

[@Macsly56]

A good anime you might want to check out, Sage, is Irresponsible Captain Tylor. Based on what I've seen of your reviews and your criteria, this one should be right up your alley. It fits the cut off points you have and even has Crispin Freeman as the voice of the main character. :) I find your reviews very entertaining btw. Keep up the good work!

[@Quixikat]

When I was younger, there were a few Anime that were on a major network every Saturday night. Venus Wars and Tank Police were two that I absolutely loved. Venus Wars was a futuristic battle between military with big tanks and civilians with lighter equipment in a harsh environment. And if you don't think thousands of screaming fans would go to an event where people drive dangerous vehicles around at top speeds just in the hopes to see them crash, you've never seen the news after a crash in the Indy 500. People lap those accidents up like they were candy in gold dishes. It's not exactly high art but it's fine for what it is. It's hard to imagine a group like Nascar going 'more dangerous, faster vehicles that will get us bigger ratings? YES PLEASE!' Plus as for the news reporter girl, I think she's just a woman who's gotten her way by bullying and playing the gender card to get to where she's at. Whether it's the top of her field or just high enough to not be a low level reporter, she's used to getting her way by shouting or turning on the waterworks. Then someone she actually cares about gets hurt and she goes out after them.

[@TheHi-FiHour]

Uhhh..."Summer Wars" Bennett...your move.

[@SMAXZO]

Don't forget Super Robot Wars...OK, they changed it to Taisen but my point stands.

[@kebnekaiser2588]

Maybe Sakura Wars, too?

[@DigiMega351]

The 2000's Genma Wars was bad, not the other versions.

[@autobotstarscream765]

Bennett, 5 years later... kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4u1ap9_rMR6ask

[@GeneralJerrard101]

So I'm legitimately curious, who is the worse character? Naru? The reporter here in Venus Wars? Donovan from Night Warriors? The Gongero girls? Angel from Angel Cop? Or maybe the asshole rapist from Doom Megalopolis? Sage needs to make up his mind.

[@RabblesTheBinx]

Definitely the Ganguro girls. They made me want to stab out my eyes and drive spikes into my ears.

[@GeneralJerrard101]

Oh yeah, maybe it could also be the beetle guy from Landlocked. Or the aliens for A Wind Names Amnesia. But since I've seen none of them (except a couple episodes of Doomed Megalopolis) I feel the worst character is Sage whenever he calls Akira a bad adaptation as if he ever read the manga which he clearly didn't.

[@MusicFan752]

Tough call, but if I had to choose in numeric order, first being the least worst the last being the most god awful, though don't get me wrong, all of them are still awful. 1.The Gongero Girls 2. Donovan 3. Angel 4. Asshole Rapist 5. Reporter and the worst of them all....... NARU. That's at least my best guess, though I'm surprised no one brought up Asuka or Kagome.

[@chocobros1]

Coec_15324 its probly the ganguro girls

[@GeneralJerrard101]

Naru from Love Hina

[@autofox1744]

I have Venus Wars on LaserDisc! Quite frankly, it's an audiovisual treat, and given that's all I expected, I really like it!

[@GhostofSash1m1]

The ending is one of my favorites in all anime. In my experience, the themes of invasion, occupation, and resistance are on point. I really enjoyed this film, but I would have loved to see a perspective from an Ishtar soldier.

[@noobiesmurf]

I like that her solution to not getting to ride shotgun is to cry. That provides his point.

[@calebb7012]

This anime is alot better than most that comes out of Japan in 2020.

[@MsSphinx91]

The cat reacting to his exposition dump was hilarious!

[@doughembree3299]

it's definitely interesting to note that the director of Venus Wars, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, was known for being the original character designer/art director of the first mobile suit gundam series back in 1979, as well as the creator of the Gundam: The Origin manga which came out rather recently, so when you mention the guy looking like he came straight out of the principality of zeon, you weren't far off! Also, he's clearly much better with manga titles and working with other people's stories than he is at creating his own.

[@deltaknight2764]

5:50 That one, the Mad Max thing. Did you ever want to BE in a world like the series WITHOUT the earth going down to hell and back?

[@RangerJackWalker]

Many of the character designs are reminiscent of early Gundam. The Zeon reject looks like a mix of Gihren Zabi and Anavel Gato. The guy at 17:30 looks like Jerid Messa. And plenty of others are vaguely similar.

[@saintsheepy6682]

The original Japanese version gets rid of half of the anime's problems (which mostly are due to CPM's awful dubbing, Susan's much less annoying in the original version for one, but on the downside, Katsuhide Uekusa's acting as Hiro is wooden as he's a better singer), but it's still flawed, probably part of the reason being it was an adaptation of a manga and had to cut some things out. The manga isn't finished also, Yasuhiko was so disappointed with how the film had mediocre box office business (having to compete with Kiki's Delivery Service, for one), that he was unable to bring himself to face the property again and prematurely ended it.

[@GabyGeorge1996]

Sue looks like Mrs Brief from Dragonball

[@ironwolf5802]

They sent the reporter with the cat scratching voice to Venus so she wouldn't be on the same planet as us.

[@TheCo11ection]

na bro, it was made +20 years ago, and you are watching it as a +40 year old man. If you saw this movie when you where 10-15 in the 1990s and watch this movie, you travel in time. Its a fucking good movie for the time. I tries to do all and nothing.

[@jimmycryptids]

Awww but I love Venus Wars

[@AmeagLuz]

Any chance you will be reviewing an old fantasy comedy ova, like Bastard!! or Dragon half?

[@lionelplayerone]

The injured soldier looks like Jherid from Gundam Zeta

[@PKMN37]

Well, Sharknado is intentionally bad but we still enjoy it. I guess it depends on who you ask.

[@luciusnetheril]

What do you mean, you don't know?! Where else would you send your most grated, obnoxious and infuriating waste of space of employee?!

[@baburik]

25:17 that hanchman holding the girl: "I'm not going to die from a bullet penetrating her skull and my heart because our general is not a killer! war is the killer!"

[@StormsandSaugeye]

It's a classic and I will occasionally rewatch it because it's enjoyable. However, the problem I have always had with this film is that it is VERY unfocused.

[@breanna3557]

That song at the end of this movie is the best

[@terryandjoe]

Ok, this was the opening to so many anime when I was a kid. This was the shit!!

[@OnDavidsBrain]

3:11 From then on you could have just spent the entire review eating a bowl of Ice Cream. Would have been better then sitting through Venus Wars.

[@eareimaj]

First instance of Chekhov's fart?

[@Densaku]

In the video game Destiny the faction that colonized Venus was called Ishtar as well. It's a coincidence or someone at Bungie actualy saw this "movie"?

[@ShadowSonic2]

Well, Ishtar was a Sumerian Goddess. Worshiped by people in Mesopotamia. Probably she's associated with "Desert" cultures.

[@80sMTV]

Actress who voiced both Albi & Susan also did Elvira from X (the movie one). No joke

[@TopsideCrisis346]

Admittedly, this movie was what tided me over until such time as I could find/watch better anime. It served essentially the same purpose as Sailor Moon did after my local station canned Ronin Warriors. I'm not saying it was good, just that it was better than a lot of the stuff I had available to me in my youth. And if you think that's sad, you should've tried being an otaku on Camano Island back in '95. T_T

[@TopsideCrisis346]

Oh, and Sage - the two anime I mentioned above. Review those. Please. No, seriously, I'd like your take on them. And, at least in the case of Sailor Moon, I'm sure I'm not alone. At least I think you'll enjoy Ronin Warriors as much as I did, cheese and all.

[@salokin3087]

Bloody beautiful! Nice Job!!

[@odracircomix7359]

this anime was not that bad at all.

[@delete---7593]

?

[@Strideo1]

This movie rocked. The animation was top notch.

[@nodinitiative]

Ummmm....the "running motive" on injured legs is "war scars". People in war or occupied areas do get injured. The idea about Venus Wars is "anti-war" and how to deal with occupying powers. This movie should have been at least 2hrs 30mins long or 13-25 episodes long, in which they could explain more on the plot and characters. Just make your own filler to the compressed plot. My country has a history of foreign occupation, so I know the meaning and feeling of "Venus Wars".

[@driftercarbon]

So, basically, "My movie had a plot, but then I took an arrow to the knee"?

[@557deadpool]

Tom Krystinik dammit Google, add a +1 feature to the app already

[@driftercarbon]

No regrets.

[@deans-rewind2882]

nodinitiative what country is that?

[@FelicianoCookie]

I remember towards the end of the movie she comments on going back to Venus for her vacation...SHE DID HARDLY A THING TO CONTRIBUTE TO HER JOB (half the time you don't see her writing stuff down unless she has an audio recorder) HOW IS THAT NOT CONSIDERED A VACATION. Sorry that was a random thought...

[@zoidsfan12]

Not gonna lie, every time he says Venus wars I heard penis wars. Which is only reinforced by the line about akira feeling castrated.

[@mrpurple11]

Oh but the animation was so pretty :(

[@CornishCreamtea07]

Because Shichiro Kobayashi was the art director.

[@ironmaster6496]

PRETTY COLORZ

[@otherprisma7354]

just because it looks pretty well animated doent make it a masterpiece.

[@The8BitChampion]

Venus Wars is well animated and great :)

[@animegatari5634]

+The8BitChampion Of course; and am totally disagree with the review.

[@The8BitChampion]

+Animegatari It's on blu ray now :)

[@otherprisma7354]

how about story?

[@slovaPL]

decent story, well animated, just good movie. GOOD MOVIE. That's all.

[@XarasFox]

*sigh* I have to agree with some points here, but in the late 80s/early 90s, you were lucky to find ANY anime at most video rental places, and I have fond memories of this one (as well as Lensman, Sol Bianca, et al). I can't help but chuckle at all the kids who started with Naruto, DBZ, Cowboy Bebop, or whatever that look back on the really old stuff and complain. ... ... oh gods, I think I just sounded old...

[@thewindthatblows]

I started with DBZ Kai, Cowboy Bebop and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. Yet I still think this movie is pure repetitive belic tedium. I would rather watch Gundam 0079, Gundam 0080 or Area 88 for a more complex (or unique) approach to war and less long ass action scenes. And these came before Venus Wars

[@sozaj]

I think that the villain is less Dilandau and more Ghaleon the Zeon General.

[@mariawhite7337]

Am I the only one to notice the 'wounded' insurgent has a THUNDERCATS symbol on his suit?

[@LorenHelgeson]

Even with all that you said in the beginning about humor and laughter, I'm surprised that I still get a chuckle out of that "Baou has a laser cannon" line, even after seeing it dozens of times.

[@TanukiDigital]

Don't know what you're talking about here... this movie was great! (speaking of the subtitled version of course)

[@jamiemoll2484]

Dude this was 93' or 94'! Anime was completely a brand new margin in the U.S.! When I saw this Akira and Ninja Scroll I never appreciated Disney or Warner Bros. the same. Keep Dragon Ball everything. I wish there was more cool shit like this!

[@CarlosIXAth]

9:31 The reason why that guy who looks like Gihren from Gundam looks that way is because the character designer, and director, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, was also the one who did the designs in Gundam and Zeta Gundam.

[@austinvoelker9270]

What the heck, that guy at 17:26 looks so much like Jerid from Zeta Gundam.

[@alexkai1907]

The character designer for this movie was Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, who not only was the author and the artist of the original Venus Wars manga, but was also the character designer for the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. He also did character designs for Gundam F91 and many other anime.

[@charlesballiet7074]

I sont understand why 80 anime looked so technically impressive and evocative yet the plots and characters are just aimless and hollow

[@doscuramenos]

2:00 - Disagree... I can actually laugh at something I really understood, and not only to answer some feeling that came about something I could not completely process mentally...

[@blanddull6881]

Shit must have hit the fan after Three’s Company.

[@YowLife]

29:06 FART

[@ellnats]

dosnt that kinda ruin the unexpected nature of it?

[@HeilRay]

Its eerie how several of these characters look like Gundam characters.

[@kaihedgie]

That's because they actually were designed by the character designer behind Zeta and ZZ

[@HeilRay]

kaihedgie Huh...the more you know

[@DigiMega351]

Too late, already saw it. Don't worry, I watched the subbed version, and I enjoyed it, despite its flaws.

[@pyrolee17]

It just occurred to me that that reporter girl is voice by beauty from bobobo and now my hated has solidified

[@markletts2000]

Sage, you've got to smile when you look back at that hair.....👍🇬🇧

[@TheNightshade43]

I like how the random homosexual soldier was either ignored or given an eye roll by other soldiers as he hit on Hero as if to say, not this again! Were we meant to laugh at the feminine homosexuals? Were we meant to be repulsed like Hero was? Characters like him are used now days for comedy so it's not like we can just put the label of Japanese humour or eighties phobia. At least he was entertaining.

[@Loader2K1]

You need to watch the original Japanese version of this film with English subtitles. It's a lot more enjoyable.

[@lornbaker1083]

Every major city is filled with hacky street artists. From venus to new new york to port terminus orbiting pluto. Where there is urban civilization. there will be hacky street artists.

[@outis9694]

Did he just made a silent but deadly fart joke

[@TheHumesMusic]

Watch the subtitled version. As far as anime goes, this is one of my favorites.

[@Kitsune10060]

i'd rather have the scene from SEED Destiny where Athrun punches Shin on repeat, but, eh, to each their own

[@MegaSaifo]

"And for some reason this guy's posing like he is taking glamour shots" laughed my ass off " 26:10

[@Electric_Bagpipes]

It just looks good, and feels realistic. _quite_ tropey though, and too predictable because of that.

[@soup9587]

Is it possible that the injured leg motif could symbolize that the government and people of Venus don’t have a leg to stand on? I don’t know lol I’m just rolling with this one.

[@protoculture289]

The animation always reminded me of the Metal Slug games.

[@dionwoollaston5717]

Only the metal slug games are awesome

[@TakumProti]

I CANNOT believe that I'm not alone on that. I've thought the exact same thing!

[@Spirit_Chaser]

This review hurts my head just like the MAL reviews for this that scored it low. The knit picking is unreal. Too much "I don't like it because I just don't like it," without a reason that makes sense.

[@Elementa2006]

Hmm.... Most anime fans I came across on the internet seem to like this anime. Might need to watch it myself before I decide if its as bad as Sage made it out to be.

[@Elementa2006]

@Kiezer Soze haven't watched it yet

[@Elementa2006]

@Kiezer Soze life got in the way

[@Dravianpn02]

It's not. You should watch it.

[@DavidpuzzlerU9738]

You know whats even stranger?.. this whole anime is in the context as if '' it took place in the 80's.'' dream on. ..

[@ellnats]

this anime does actually look like a gundam series, gundam F91 to be exact, but characters in it look like their from other series, that soldier that injured his leg looks like Jarred Mesa from Gundam Z, and the badguy looks like Girhen Zabi from the orignal series, just with sepiroth hair, and hiro actually looks like Seabook from gundam F91 (how fitting) even some of the military uniforms look like Earth Federation uniforms

[@dmaa88]

I was genuinely waiting for that fart sound, I figured it was coming, I knew I'd giggle, but I ended laughing like an idiot when it came on, job well done good sir.

[@AGrayPhantom]

Holy crap is it ever obvious those bikers have never held a gun before.

[@KomeRad]

The animation is still gorgeous.

[@CrimsonFox36]

you have a beautiful rage voice

[@TheWorst-]

8:53 Gigantic excavator....not backhoe.

[@klemenkljun4561]

"Baoh has a laser canon!"

[@captain_hat6247]

20:08-20:11 *Ahhhhh* I could watch that clip over and over again.

[@neonsamurai4604]

same

[@CpsLock3]

11:40 HOLY SHIT Kenny did survive

[@The_Mojave_Mailman]

That was the best fart joke lmao

[@gj1234567899999]

I actually liked this anime. A lot of your criticism seems nitpicking.

[@jaymartinez55]

There's a really underrated anime movie called Big wars, its pretty good you should check it out.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

25:46 yep just ignore that in this same scene hiro(after getting hit on) has a daydream sequence about him after seeing him and also the gay guys death scene...

[@autobotstarscream765]

Bennett has very high standards for anigay content. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWSvamiwaquDkNk

[@ToxicMonster5]

funny enough i've watched this anime when i was a kid, and this is the first time i'm hearing it in English. my dad had this on vhs and it was in Japanese

[@GreenTygur]

While I appreciate Sage reviewing this movie, because this movie deserves all the attention possible, for better or worse, I have to challenge Sage's ability to critique films. Was he really confused about the purpose of following Susan Summers at the beginning? She represents the audience. She is the vehicle in which we are presented how life is on Venus. It's to set up the setting. That's basic movie making. How can you miss that if you fancy yourself a proper critic? And yes there's many subplots in addition to the main plot which are just as enjoyable. It's Twin Peaks style storytelling but predates it by 2 years. The subplots do infact add to the overall theme. It's about being young and wanting to live life but being stuck in the confines of a shitty world ruined by society and politics. The sequence where Maggie is hiding Hiro from her father really got to me. I also had a shitty and controlling father that I had to hide everything from, good or bad, because he just wouldn't take the time to know me as an individual, it's always about his own wishes. Was Sage ever a teenager? Or just really sheltered?