[Guyver Spawn]

What I watched recently:

Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 - It's been a long time since I seen this anime and I never watch the dub that was made by Manga UK. This anime does hold an important piece of history in the US Anime & Manga fandom because it was one of the first anime to be released subtitled on VHS in the late 80's. So this anime did help start the licensing industry in the first place back in the late 80's. I did not see this anime until I was in High School more than a decade ago because I wanted to check out more stuff from Hideaki Anno.

While Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 is not a great title, it is a very fun anime to watch. The story is nothing amazing because the story can be predictable. I wish that more of the supporting cast was handle better because they are pretty interesting. Ellie Kusumoto and Kouji Sugimoto are fun characters, but I feel like that they didn't do much.

However, I do find the humor in the anime to be very funny at times and some jokes give me a good laugh. Lt. Kilgore is a very fun villain and can be so over the top which is not a bad thing. I love cheesy over the top 80's villains, so there is a lot of charm in Lt. Kilgore's character.

Our main character "Haruo Onose" is a pretty likeable character in my opinion. He is not the best main character ever, but I do like his personality and I can relate to his character seeing that he is a typical college student going through money troubles and relationship issues. He is a type of character that people around my age in their mid 20s can related with.

The best thing about Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 is the animation. Most of the animation in this anime is very well done and some of it looks pretty good after 30 years later. The mecha designs look awesome and the animation is very smooth looking. I love all the animation detail put into the characters, action sequences and the backgrounds. The action sequences are so much fun to watch and nothing in this anime was boring.

The music is enjoyable and the Japanese voice actors do a good job on voicing the characters. However the Manga UK dub is pretty weak and most of the English voice acting is very flat. The English dub comes off as very lazy and cheap in my opinion. Stick with the Japanese version.

Overall, Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 is a fun little gem from the past. This anime is nothing amazing or groundbreaking with the story and characters, but you do get great animation, fun characters, funny humor and awesome action sequences. If you like old school anime or mecha anime, give it a try. It's only 40 minutes and you have nothing to lose. I give Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01 a 7/10.

Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie (1982) - I remember when I rented this movie back when Urban Vision release it on VHS in the late 90's. Seeing that it has been 18 or 19 years since I seen this movie, I decided to re-watch it on Blu-Ray. I think the movie holds up very well.

I'm a fan of Space Adventure Cobra and I seen most of the original TV show. This movie was the first time that I heard about the series back in the late 90's. Not to mention this anime is the last anime to be dubbed by Streamline Pictures in the 90's.

The animation is beautiful and feels very experimental. The movie is made in 1982 and holds up very well 35 years later. Osamu Dezaki is a fantastic director and he really give this movie a very surreal atmosphere to it. The movie has a lot of bizarre imagery and I love it. It help creates the feel of sureness of the galaxy that the movie takes place in.

The story, while seemingly simple, is still pretty good. Cobra himself is a total badass and is pretty funny too. Cobra's villain, Crystal Boy is very enjoyable and has a great voice for his dark personality. Crystal Boy is probably one of my favorite 80's anime villains for how fun his character is. The other characters in the movie are pretty enjoyable and I found myself really liking them.

The movie also has a very good soundtrack and solid Japanese voice acting. The English dub from Streamline is very good and Dan Woren did a great job on voicing Cobra.

Overall, Space Adventure Cobra: The Movie is a very good sci-fi action anime movie in my opinion. This movie is a nice way to introduced people into the world of Space Adventure Cobra. The movie is inspired by pulp sci-fi such as Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Flash Gordon while having a surreal atmosphere. I wish we had more anime similar to Space Adventure Cobra. I give this movie an 8/10.