Imagine We Still Had VHS (Instead of Depressed Trolls like @CfuFreedom) - Agent AIKa - Naked Missions

 *Blog post started on September 29, 2020.

Adulting can be pretty hard. Yes, I know. That is common knowledge. Everything is probably just a blur to me because I have worked everyday since the 21st and even fit in the time to put 180 miles on the car to visit my parents during this stretch.

Sunday cannot come soon enough. Fortunately, the need to use up my vacation days at the bank next month has given me a few sporadic days off. Which means I should not be too annoyed about any long stretch when the retailer puts me on both days of a weekend. Seeing those paychecks further drive the point home. Here is to hoping that I can get my finances under control so that I am ready to pursue the creative scene once Chicago opens back up.

How did Styx ever have too much time on their hands? Perhaps it is because of the lack of social media. Dealing with racist and sexist trolls can take up a lot of time. I could stop, but now I have some of these assholes following me, so it must mean that I am getting good at it. If picking on me is as important as mocking The Squad and Elizabeth Warren, my ego feels good.

That is the last laugh I suppose. If I can get the point where all these sociopathic conservatives with like those below who have no respect for women's rights become followers:

@kayleighmcenany
@robbystarbuck
@Klutzy84
@Alvaroidz

@TheGoldWaterUS

I will thoroughly enjoy ignoring them like all of my liberal heroes. It is all about making them realize their annoying comments have no value, but for whatever reason, my opinions do.

Another distraction to properly using my time is trying to decide what to watch if I do not have a Red Box or a Netflix DVD. We are still two blog posts away from diving back into 90-minute movies, so that disqualifies about half of my options. Most of my remaining unwatched movies really demand a very attentive eye (The Criterion Collection and Terry Gilliam works). This is excluding all the anime.

Because I was reviewing only the first 90 minutes of series, I feel it is best that I not open anything up new and revisit what I had not reviewed. In essence, an entire series is being represented by three episodes, thus I do not want to give the wrong impressions of products that I have yet to have an all encompassing opinion on. The Blu-ray series have all been taken care of in the past four weeks, so lets go through my DVD's, starting at the letter A.

Unfortunately, this leads me to "Agent AIKa" a series I remember for its obscene amount of fan service and objectification of women. The worst thing about that is that I purchased it "used" from an FYI. I do not feel cool just selling it back. If it was a once defective DVD sold at Big Lots or a truck stop, mine opinion about reselling a resell is different.

Those initial statements maybe harsh. I did not have my critical lenses on. Being caught off guard seeing an upskirt shot of every female character, my opinion of the story may have been tainted and I could have missed enduring details. This rewatch should give this series a fair shake. More importantly, it warrants this series being a purchase instead of a rental or a torrent.

Agent AIKa - Episodes 1 to 4 (Naked Missions)

20 years after the great disaster that flooded 95% of the planet's landmass, salvagers serve a vital role for the current society, searching flooded cities for useful resources. One of the best is Aika who is essentially a super spy with her beauty, ingenuity, and combat capabilities. Unfortunately for her, her boss and former partner Gozo Aida's company, the K2 Corporation, is not flourishing because he refuses to take on missions that will definitely put his team at risk. This has allowed his competitors, primarily Gusto and Bandora, to control the industry.

Aika agrees with Rion, Gozo's daughter, that they need to turn their fortunes around regardless of the risks. They first take on an offer from a "government" agency to obtain information and/or samples of a potentially endless energy source called Lagu. Danger presents itself immediately as Neena Hagen and her battalion of maid soldiers attack the meeting. Undeterred and now equipped with her ultranate metal bustier, Aika takes to the skies in her jet to search for Lagu.

Stress is everywhere for Aika. Gusto has also taken of this mission in his far more modern fighter jet and Rion decides to stowaway in her jet. The biggest problem is a military vessel is also en route to the discovery, and they feature a greater armory than that of our protagonists. Gusto and Bandora had been shot down and not long after, a dog fight with Neena leads to a crash landing that the bustier allow Aika and Rion to survive.

 

They are soon captured, but Neena's brother Rudolph seems to be an accommodating captor who has his mindset on bedding Aika or at least find out the true power of the bustier. Rion is far too clever to remain in the Hagen's custody. She soon meets an unlikely ally in a Class A Secret Agent Maypia who may even allow her to complete the mission. Gusto is also on his way to save the day.

 

Are there too many moving parts for their escape to work? Can they afford to escape when Rudolph Hagen's plan seems to be invoking an even greater disaster. In the end, it will probably come down to her and her magical corset.

Agent Aika (1997) - IMDb

 

"Agent AIKa" is the first OVA that I have reviewed since "RG Veda", so it turned out that if I was in for an hour, might as well commit to the end of the disk. It was only an extra 30 minutes. This post reviews the first series of this OVA which was released between 1997 and 1999.

 

This rewatch was needed to be fair to this series. If I was paying thorough enough attention when I first watched the two-disc "Complete Collection Anime Legends", I would have known watching two episodes would have been a suitable amount of this rather misogynistic and rapey action comedy.

The "Naked Missions" (Central Park Media's title of the first DVD release) was definitely a product of the late 90's. Perhaps if I got around to this series when it first made it here stateside, I might have forgave all of this nonsense (Then again, I am not overly forgiving of "Knights of Ramune", another series picked up by Central Park Media.). Now, a series that features an upskirt of a tourist guide whom is only in the opening scene is an immediate turn off. It just screams juvenile. If you want to tease hentai, you need to deliver at some point.

It is not a complete failure as an anime. The story is solid enough and if you love an abundance of uniquely drawn anime girls, it may serve as a nice screensaver at a party with some "Block Rocking Beats" or Muse's "Panic Station". Sadly, wanting to shroud our primary protagonist in secrecy and not really developing the other characters leaves us with characters who are stock-photo tropes. That includes our incestuous antagonists.

While the character designs are what every otaku hopes for from gal games and the animation is solid for the most part. It is hindered by never deciding how blond Aika is, but the worst problem is with the presentation of all of the panty shots leading to everything just all blending together. The only means to mix things up are the boob grabs from the villains and the overly aggressive, non-consensual nature of the bustier in "AIKa's " transformation sequences.

"Agent AIKa" does not offer much up to an audience that is not out to celebrate acceptable perversion. That would be an audience with the attitude of, "It is not porn, so do not judge me." If you want to sample this "Anime Legend" (per Bandai Entertainment), I would suggest the Japanese-language track. The English dub sounds like the voice actors know how unimportant their portrayals of these one-dimensional characters will be. It is a generous presumption that that is the case. They may just be the worst team out there.