Hi there! This week began with a rather goofy review, so today’s review is a serious one. It’s been around for quite a while, yet it hasn’t had a reissue on DVD yet, despite a resurgence of old shows on that format is recent years. With that said, let’s look at a review for the grim & entertaining OVA, Goku - Midnight Eye.
Story/Setup
Part 1 from the anidb page:
“Tokyo 2014: A city balancing on the knife-edge between financial prosperity and seismic destruction. It is a place where the lights are bright, the stakes are high, and where the threat of imminent destruction breeds crime like a disease. But for Gokuu Furinji, ex-cop and super-powered private detective, crime is money...”
Part 2 from the anidb page:
“Gokuu, the lone wolf private detective is back, contracted by Yoshiko, a mysterious, beautiful and very afraid woman, to find and save her brother, Ryu. Will Gokuu be able to protect Yoshiko from her step father's soldiers long enough to find her brother?
Meanwhile Ryu, the unfortunate subject of a military experiment gone bad, leaves a trail of bodies behind him and has no intention of being found or saved by anyone. Will Gokuu have to kill the man he is supposed to save? Will even his omniscient cybernetic eye and sceptre be enough to help him defeat this indestructible killing machine?”
These two stories, despite looking basic on the surface, have some depth to them. There’s intrigue, deception, cybernetic modification, love, and a smattering of other things. I think there’s moments where these stories trade spectacle for substance (Watch the fist few minutes of the first OVA to see my point), but more often than not these OVAs know how to balance these two components.
Setting
Like it says in the story for the first OVA, Goku - Midnight Eye takes place in a futuristic Tokyo. A futuristic version of one of Japan’s most iconic cities has been done numerous times in Anime, but this version feels a little different (At least for me). It’s bleak, oppressive, sleazy, and there’s this “Hey, something okay might happen to ya, but I’m gonna bitchslap it out of your hands” kind of feeling. It’s very reminiscent of Los Angeles from Blade Runner, and Neo-Tokyo from Bubblegum Crisis.
Characters
Like I said in the story & setting, the character feels very much like those you’d find in a Film-Noir, and with good reason. There’s a distinct aura of tragedy that seems to surround everyone, which already adds to the oppressive environment that these two OVAs take place in. Sure, everybody might have more hopeful (I’m using that last word rather loosely) moments, the dark nature of Goku’s world crushes those moments, and everybody falls right back into their depressing shell.
Animation
These OVAs were directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who’s appeared on my blog a couple times now. His visual style (Look in the “Setting” portion above) is very distinct, and this ties into the animation. Things are very slow paced, very methodical, and very distinct. When the action picks up, however, the pace is sped up a bit, allowing for some fast paced fight scenes, along with some gruesome carnage.
Voice Acting
Although the copies I had were subbed only, when it came out on VHS in the states, it did have an English dub. I managed to find it over on youtube, and I took a quick listen to it. The voice acting is meh: there’s definitely some effort put into some of the character’s voices, but others just don’t quite have it.
Episodes & Episode Length
Goku - Midnight Eye is composed of two episodes, each of which run at about 50 minutes (Second episode runs close to 53 minutes). If you’d like to watch them (Especially if you’re a stickler for subtitles), then click on the links below:
Ep 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN0PtwkGHyU
Ep 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7vFx3_hGmo
Just be sure to have a bottle of whiskey by your side, and the lights as dim as the sunset on the horizon.
Availability & Pricing
Goku - Midnight Eye is an oddity when it comes to being available. Despite not being available on DVD in the United States (It only recently appeared on DVD over in Japan), the original tapes can still be found with some frequency on Amazon (Availability fluctuates between new & used). Pricing for new tapes can be incredibly reasonable: the lowest start at 3 to about 10 dollars, and the highest is a respectable 25 dollars (Although there is a box-set edition from 2001, with pricing for a new copy at nearly 100 dollars!). Pricing for used copes is also not bad (Although 40 dollars is a little extreme for a used VHS), but if you’re going to buy one, I highly suggest you buy a new tape instead of one that’s potentially damaged.
Extras/Other
Since I downloaded this, I don’t know what the extras are (Since this was only released on VHS in the states, I doubt there was any extras).
General Impression & Rating
If you’re a fan of Film-Noir movies, give this one a go. The characters are serious minded, and they don’t fool around (Except with the ladies) in the slightest. You got dark but great visuals, a equally dark but intriguing and it’s surprisingly available despite being a VHS only release. Personally, this show is not my thing, but I understand the appeal of these OVAs, and I think there’s some good qualities to them. There’s still a problem or two, but nothing that really makes these movies an abomination in the world of anime.
Goku - Midnight Eye gets a 7 out of 10.
See you all next week. Until then, stay Otaku!
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If you’d like to download this show (Subtitles Only), then check out the link below:
http://www.garoo9.com/elevator_kart/?s=goku+midnight+eye
On top of that, here’s some links to the anidb pages of both of these OVAs:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=1507
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=1545
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