Vinasu senki

I remember seeing this title in the Anime section at Tower Records years ago, and loosely recall reading about it and maybe seeing a preview or two.

So I bought a copy and was very pleased with a very solid story about a colonized Venus that proved to be an allegory for turmoil in the middle east, complete with massive fire fights, daring heroics, and fanatical religious overtones.

Venus, as some of you may know, is world embroiled by a massive greenhouse effect by sulfuric acid clouds, creating molten like heat on the surface. This film shows us a terra-formed Venus suitable for human habitation. But, humans being humans, they bring their ways, good and bad, with them to the worlds they form to call home.

There's the dashing loner teenager who races bikes for a living, his caring love interest who helps harbor him during times of crisis, the spunky and energetic reporter who is also a one-woman video crew, and the older and wiser veteran bikers and pit crew chief. Then there's the malevolent and monomaniacal Saddam Hussein type who has initiated the entire political conflagration on colonized Venus.

Race scenes, battle scenes, massive tanks and air ships, tracers shooting through the air, espionage--it's all here. The voice acting in the original Japanese language is typical Japanese; marginally over the top, but all the while complimenting the film at the same time. The music is okay (though I can't remember much of it), the translated and dubbed English dialogue is okay, but the restraints and compactness of the Japanese language as usual give the English translation a rushed feel (nothing new to anime fans, or anyone who's seen a dubbed Japanese film).

The animation is above normal for a Japanese feature, but isn't quite up to Disney specs. Still, it's very watchable and entertaining.

Nothing deep here. This is a good simple action film with some comments on the situation in the middle east. Good action and battle sequences, as well as romance and heroics. If you're an anime fan, then give it a shot.

Enjoy.

I only bought this video to hear the voice of Bradley Cole who does Will, but to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. They are the most interesting little animated characters I've ever seen. It was easy to forget that they were animated at all. Sci-fi is not on my priority list but I've already watched this video 4 times.

This was a very pleasant surprise and an unexpectedly cool movie! I had never heard of Venus Wars before and I think it's a shame that the flick hasn't got more recognition, because it really is one good film. The action sequences are spectacular, the characters are interesting and the animation is fantastic. The dubbing on my version was actually not half bad although I would have preferred the Japanese version.

Venus Wars is an original and very entertaining mix of over-the-top battles, politics and a love story, stylishly directed with both traditional animation and live action blending seamlessly. Top it all off with a soundtrack from Japan's answer to Dokken and lots and lots of gunfire and you have this fun and imaginative anime which deserves to be seen and recognized.

It's 2089 and Venus is a thriving Earth colony, but it strives for independance and wars with Earth breaks out. Venus is split into two parts, and we follow a group of friends living on one side of the divide who before the war spent their time racing motor bikes, but they end up fighting in the war. A young reporter from Earth follows them around and eventually becomes part of the Venusian resistance.

Nice animation, well developed characters and plenty of love loss and struggle ,makes for a great film, worth watching if you're an anime fan :)

I first saw this back on the Sci-Fi Channel when they used to show Anime on Saturday morning at 9 pm. I may have been 15, and it was my first exposure to anime, and I watched every single week. One week they showed Venus Wars, and I loved it when I first saw it. Something about it really stuck with me, atmosphere, story... I never forgot about it. Then recently I had an opportunity to order a copy and I did. I popped it into the DVD player, hoping that it would be as good as I had imagined it... it was. This movie just plain rocks. Every character is textured and believable, and the animation, while not being mind-blowing, is just perfect... it relays the grim reality of war time on Venus perfectly and the atmosphere it generates is what I remembered the most about it.

If you like anime that has an awesome story, good animation, I would suggest tracking this down.