Post by ravenwithoutcause on Dec 6, 2004 20:11:29 GMT -5
Betterman, a 1999 26-episode TV series, is being touted by Bandai as a horror story. I'm glad to hear this, because while there are plenty of dark, violent anime series, vewy few of them succeed in establishing a genuinely creepy atmosphere-- Vampire Hunter D and Psycho Diver may have been supernaturally-charged thrillers, but they're quite low on actual scariness. In terms of that, they're outstripped by less horror-oriented but still creepier fare like Serial Experiments Lain and Perfect Blue. Few horror stories can genuinely fill me with that sort of wonderful unease, so I'm always happy to see another potential candidate. While it takes a bit to build up steam, Betterman definitely succeeds.
At first, however, Betterman is almost comedic. This is because the central character is Keita Aono, an affable, bespectacled geek who wakes up after a strange dream one morning and heads off to school, where he realizes that the new transfer student in his class is actually his childhood pal, Hinoki. Before he gets a chance to talk to her, she's called away-- but he bumps into her after school, when his typical bumbling leads him through an unguarded side entrance to the new theme park, Bottom World (so named because it's subterranean).
Something terrible has happened in Bottom World-- scores of people are dead, apparently having gone mad and torn each other to pieces. But Keita doesn't know this-- all he knows is that there's something sinister lurking in the park. The viewer gets treated to some marvelously creepy images (mostly unseen horrors in the dark, and a woman who flops along the ground like a dying fish), but the atmosphere is kept light by Keita, whose constant, bellowing flight from the monsters gives the show an almost Scooby Doo-ish tone at first. Then he meets Hinoki, and all hell breaks loose.
Since this is anime (and specifically, since this is an action show by the creators of great big robot show GaoGaiGar), it turns out that Hinoki is the pilot of a robot-- a big, boxy, inelegant machine that's alternately referred to as a neuronoid and a kakuseijin. The neuronoid is unique for a number of reasons, chief among them the fact that it requires two pilots to operate. (We saw the same thing in the completely mediocre De:Vadasy.) Hinoki's co-pilot has apparently gone insane, leaving her crippled; fortunately, Keita bumbles his way right into the empty thingypit, and discovers that he can actually pilot this thing.
After a brief, jarring battle in which the pair are saved by a mysterious, rainbow-haired entity (Hinoki sports a similiar coiffure herself), Keita finally starts having things explained to him. The owners of the robot are from a big company called the Akamatsu Corporation-- under the direction of another company called Mind Warp, they're using technology to systematically hunt down an enemy identified only as "Algernon." Almost nothing is revealed about Algernon in the first five episodes, other than the fact that they want to destroy humankind, and they're very dangerous. Because of his aptitude with Hinoki and the neuronoid, Keita is labeled as a "Dual Kind," and asked to continue working with Akamatsu. (His official job title is "head diver," which makes sense once you have a look at how the neuronoids work.) Happy at being reunited with his childhood friend, thrilled at the prospect of seeing and using the latest military technology, and intrigued by the bad guys, Keita accepts.
The remainder of the first volume's episodes flesh out some of the characters and story. We don't learn more about Algernon, despite their constant attacks, but we learn about Sakura, the Akamatsu's eerily prescient psychic girl, and about the shadowy, rainbow-haired benefactor. According to Sakura, who's able to pick up on subconscious "noise" from people in the local area, the entity's name is Lamia, and due to his inexpicable (and immensely powerful) shape-changing abilities, the group has opted to refer to him as "Betterman." By the end of the volume, the team has two more head divers-- and an Algernon-controlled enemy within the organization, trying to kill them all.
Betterman is a show I've been looking forward to for a long time, which probably colors my perception of it a little bit. It was created by the same team who made the enormously entertaining (yet largely unknown among American fans) GaoGaiGar, not to mention the animation for several of the Viper series of hentai games (which I have never, ever seen-- honest!). Its characters are colorful, streamlined, and cartoonishly exaggerated, which counteracts the horrific atmosphere of the series somewhat. The characters also stand out against the very plain, utilitarian mecha design, by master designer Kunio Okawara (who pretty much defined the look of mecha in the late 70s and early 80s with fare like Gundam). Betterman was created in widescreen, and the animation quality is generally very good cel-based fare. The music is appropriately haunting, particularly the dreamlike opening theme.
The DVD presentation of Betterman seems fine. Video quality is good (though it does seem a tiny bit washed-out in parts-- not sure if this was a deliberate effect or due to the condition of the masters or what). The dub is by Ocean, which meant that I mostly ignored it (it sounded adequate in the parts where I spot-checked it, but I've never been a big fan of Ocean.) The Japanese dialogue is entertaining, largely because they're so good at screaming and gibbering, which Betterman has plenty of. The small raft of extras includes a textless opening and some production art, as well as physical extras like a neat reversible cover and a heavy, glossy foil card. Bandai put some solid effort into this release, and it shows. The pertinent question is, does Betterman establish a sufficiently creepy atmosphere in its first five episodes to really pull off the "horror" label? My answer is yes. The show is laden with wonderfully eerie moments, and as it progresses, it gets weirder and weirder. My favorite episode on the DVD is episode 3, which basically plays like an anime version of the classic Twilight Zone "Terror at 20,00 Feet" vignette-- Keita and company are forced to fight off a malevolent crowd of faceless mannequins on a plummeting cargo jet, while a shadowy, cowled head murmurs, "Die... die..." at them via the communications system, over and over. Moments like this are truly exceptional; they give Betterman a crazed, almost Lovecraftian feel. Coupled with the show's low-key comedy and superhero/robot trappings, Betterman comes off as a very original series. Betterman isn't laden with pulse-pounding thrills, but it's engaging, atmospheric, and weird. Try it, you'll like it.
Bottom line, an 8/10
