[Guyver Spawn]

This is what I watched in January. I didn't watch much due to being busy with work. So this is what I watched.

Guy: Double Target - The first anime that I watched in 2017 and I decided to check out after hearing about it over the years. Trashy ultra violent anime from the 80's and 90's are a guilty pleasure of mine. Titles like Mad Bull 34, Apocalypse Zero, M.D Geist, Baoh, Genocyber and Angel Cop are over the top violent and often incredibly cheesy. These titles have so much blood and guts that they are so much fun to watch. Guy: Double Target is just as fun as those anime titles, but I feel like it could have been better though.

The animation was pretty good, the action was nicely done and the monster designs are awesome. The bad dubbing makes these type of anime enjoyable because the dub is so awful on every level. Like titles such as M.D Geist, you don't get much a strong story in the anime since the story and the characters are poorly written. However the anime makes up for it with over the top violence, gore, nudity, bad dubbing and sex scenes. My biggest issue with the anime is that last episode felt really rush.

This anime felt like it was made to be a 6 or 13 episode OVA, but we end up getting two episodes instead. I think this anime was capable of a lot more than just two episodes. Overall, Guy: Double Target is a new guilty pleasure of mine. I recommend Guy: Double Target for people that like Urotsukidoji: Legend of Overfiend, M.D Geist and other 80's-90's gore titles. If you don't like any of those types of anime, avoid it. I give Guy: Double Target a 7/10

Babel II (1992 OVA) - I remember hearing about Babel II growing up and my blockbuster had VHS copies of this anime back in the day. Seeing that it's from the creator of Tetsujin 28-go (Gigantor), I finally decided to check it out for the first time. I end up really enjoying this anime. The animation is pretty great for its time and the music is really good too. I had to watch the dub since subs for the Japanese version is hard for fine until the new DVD release is out. The dub from Streamline Pictures is not bad, but I would like to watch it subbed again one day.

What I enjoy about this anime was the story because I find the idea of the Tower of Babel being link with Aliens to be really cool. I also found the villains to be cool and interesting. Our main hero "Koichi Yamano" is a pretty cool character but I felt like they rush his character development pretty quickly. His powers to summon three powerful beings (A a shape-shifting black panther, Giant Robot and a Rodan type of monster) to be pretty awesome. Too bad those beings didn't do much in the anime.

Another issue that I had with the anime was the supporting cast felt weak and the last act of the anime feels very rush. While this anime is not great, I think Babel II was very enjoyable from start to finish. It had a cool premise and awesome action sequences. If you want something with strong character development and deep writing, you won't find it in this anime. If you enjoy old school OVAs or 90's Shonen anime with cool fight scenes like DBZ, Yu Yu Hakusho or Flame of Recca, I suggest to give this anime a watch. I give it a 7.5/10

I'm now curious to check out the manga, the original 1973 TV series and the 2001 reboot TV series.