M.D. Geist/Death Force: Director's Cut (1986/1996)
Animation Production: Nippon Columbia/Central Park Media
Released by: U.S. Manga Corps
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

My first encounter with M.D. Geist took place at the same time as Bubblegum Crisis in a local super market in Puerto Rico (see Bubblegum Crisis review for details). The video which pre-dated the U.S. Manga Corps release was dubbed in Spanish and nowhere near as polished in terms of video quality and sound as the official U.S. release, but along with Bubblegum Crisis it made quite an impression. At the time I don’t think I had seen anything quite as dark and gritty as M.D. Geist and it certainly felt different from all the more colorful mecha-oriented anime I tended to (and still do) enjoy.

Seeing how this show along with Project A-ko and Bubblegum Crisis led the charge for domestic anime companies (U.S. Manga Corps uses Geist as their corporate logo if that says anything) I would have to assume that many anime fans were as impressed by this OVA as I was at the time. Now the question is whether it holds up to the test of time.

Story

"Classified as too unstable, the genetically engineered soldier, Geist-02, was permanently imprisoned aboard an orbital satellite. But when humanity unleashes a doomsday device that will annihilate all life, Geist-02 must return to save the world that tried to destroy him! " -- DVD Box

Review

This collector's edition of M.D. Geist includes both the original OVA and it's follow up, Death Force:

M.D. Geist
The most dangerous soldier, Geist, a genetically engineered soldier whose only purpose in life is to be a perfect fighting/killing machine. This unstoppable weapon proved to be so powerful and uncontrollable that ultimately he was confined to an orbiting space satellite. However, it would not be long until he made his way back to the planet and start wreaking havoc once again. Will this god of death be the undoing of a human populance already struggling to survive?

M.D. Geist II: Death Force
Geist has unleashed the ultimate equalizer in the unending war that has crippled planet Jerra, Death Force, an army of unstoppable robots whose sole mission is to exterminate all organic life forms. Only another most dangerous soldier, MD Krauser, equipped with technology that can fool the Death Force sensors will be able to put a stop to this doomsday weapon and save what remains of human society in this desolate planet, but M.D. Geist has other plans. Will he continue to foster a hellish rule over this world as a god of death?

Seeing the new director’s cut of M.D. Geist I’m happy to report that the original OVA now makes more sense than it originally did and the editing is slightly better thanks to the new sequences that were intertwined with the original ones. The story also benefits greatly from the inclusion of Death Force which further examines the characters, provides the M.D. Geist world with some much needed background information & history and extends the original story in a way gives us a completely new perspective on the events that take place in it.

The original M.D. Geist OVA holds up surprisingly well for being close to 20 years old now and despite having a story that at times is hard to understand. The M.D. Geist OVA was never intended to be a great narrative project however and it needs to be looked at with that in mind. This is a project that came together as a way to explore where anime could be taken outside of the carefully controlled and censored TV haven that had been the only medium for animated works in Japan until the mid-80’s, when the OVA revolution finally gained momentum with titles like this one leading that initial charge.

This is an anime done to take advantage of the less restrictive medium and showcase more graphic violence and sexual depiction that could have been otherwise. From the explosive first scene to the final showdown in the mechanical palace deep in planet Jerra’s underground this is one graphic, but entertaining ride. Eyes explode, guts are splattered, heads are decapitated, it's all here, depicted with a no-hold-barred-style that doesn't shy away from showing the viewers what the results of these skirmishes are.

Now, while the first OVA was very gripping with its use of graphically violent action scenes, it did lack in the plot and characterization department, something that even the director agrees with. Therefore to rectify this to a degree (and celebrate the 10th anniversary of M.D. Geist at the same time) a follow up episode was produced that would flesh out some of the backstory of this universe and tell us more about the people that inhabit it. This result of this project was M.D. Geist II: Death Force.

Taking place a year or two after the events of the original story Death Force focuses not on Geist, but rather another most dangerous solidier, M.D. Krauser, who like Geist is a genetically engineered soldier designed to be a perfect fighting machine, but in his case something happened and instead of yearning for battle, he strives to become the savior and ruler of what remains of society in planet Jerra. In some respects he representes the anti-Geist, he is a God of life who is determined to put a stop to not only the Death Force robots, but also (and more importantly) Geist.

I was surprised by how close this second chapter in the story felt to the original in terms of feel and overall look despite having more up-to-date animation. In fact viewed back to back you could say that both episodes come together to form one single OVA or movie. Whereas the first one was solely focused on the action Death Force does a better job balancing the gory scenes with more character development ones that look to round our the cast a little more and give us a more insightful understanding of why this world has ended up like this. Like the first one some of the editing here is confusing and character motivations are not always fully explained leaving us to wonder what it is that drove them to act a certain way, but despite this is it a significant improvement over the original one.

On the product side this is THE definite version of M.D. Geist that all anime fans should own. This collector’s set, in addition to the two OVA’s also includes a commentary track with Koichi Ohata & Riku Sanjo, an art gallery, Geist Rider scrapbook, an M.D. Geist trailer, alternate angle graphic novel, storyboards, music video, trailers for other CPM releases, scripts, storyboards, ground zero comics, character sketches, soundtrack with downloadable MP3 files, and cast & production info. Of these the commentary by Ohata & Riku Sanjo is easily the most interesting and the one reason everyone should get this set. It really ads to the experience by giving you a better insight on what it was that these guys were thinking about back when the OVA’s were first made.

In addition to this already impressive collection of extras there is also a bonus DVD included with this package that includes storyboards for Death Force with corresponding video, text excerpts from an interview with Koichi Ohata, mechanical designs, character designs, concept designs, production cels, color storyboards and some other DVD-Rom only features (same for the previous disc).

The audio and video quality is about what I expected with the first OVA looking better than I anticipated, despite some scenes that looked blurrier than the rest (I imagine this is a result of the new director’s cut reshuffling). The Death Force episode looks great and the sound is an improvement over the original. Overall I think they were both handled as well as they could have given the age of the materials.

Final Thoughts

Fans of Koichi Ohata will love this set and with CPM’s new lower priced release coming in at $9.95 there is no reason everyone should hunt this one down and see what us old fogies are taking about when we mention M.D. Geist as one of the anime OVA’s of our days.

Fantastic release of a very fun anime classic.

Jeffrey Couto