| Wandaba
Style Vol 1: Rocekt to Stardom
(2002)
Animation Production: Wandaba Style Production Group/Media
Factory/Imagica Entertainment/The Klock Work/D3 Publisher/TNK
Released by: ADV
Films
Episodes: 1-4
Running Time: 100 minutes
By Jeffrey
Couto
Introduction
As I read the description for this series
I started cracking up. I’m a huge fan of conspiracy
theories and when I saw that the story of Wandaba Style revolved
around a young scientific genius who doesn’t believe
we landed on the moon and is out to be the first I was ecstatic.
I even showed it to my wife and said: “See? Even in
anime world the moon landing is questioned! How can you not
believe that it was all a conspiracy!?” As usual she
laughed it off.
Ah well, so anyway, Wandaba Style! What a
strange and alluring show it is. Let’s take a closer
look at what this series is all about.
Story
"The sexy girls of the unknown J-pop
band “Mixed Juice” are determined to make it to
the top, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get there!
There’s Sakura Haruno, a down-and-out child star who’s
resorted to selling her underwear on the internet; Himawari
Natsuma, who works construction by day and sings enka ballads
at night; Ayame Akimo, a ditsy young folk singer with an entourage
of make-believe invisible fairies; and Yuri Fuyude, a rock
singer who’s too tough for her own good. When the down-on-their-luck
band mates cross paths with Dr. Susumo Tsukumo, destiny takes
a turn no one could have predicted. The girls team up with
a genius mad scientist to become the first band on the moon.
Will they be the hottest thing on the charts? Or, will they
freeze to death in space?"-- ADV
Films' Website
Review
The first volume in ADV Films' release of
Wandaba Style features the first four episodes in the series,
including:
Episode 1: Begin Project
Michael Hanagata is trying to make his new girl band, Mix
Juice, a breakout hit, but the recording company is not biting
because they don’t think that the the group anything
that will attract a large enough audience to justify the costs
of promoting them. Being the entrepreneur that he is the Genius
Manager (as he refers to himself) decides to do whatever he
can to make it to the top with this new group he’s assembled
so he decides to team up with Dr. Susumo Tsukumo, a young
scientist who’s intent on proving that the moon landings
were faked and being the first one to plant a flag on the
lunar surface.
It looks like the girls of Mix Juice are in
for more than they bargained for as they take on the jobs
of test pilots for Dr. Tsukumo in exchange for the opportunity
to have their first concert on the moon! The craziness is
just getting started!
Episode 2: Let's Drink to H2CO3
After failing to land on the moon with his first attempt due
to a Metric VS Standard System of measurement conflict (Hey
didn’t this happen in real life with one of the Mars
probes?) Dr. Tsukumo devices a new way to reach the moon,
a carbon gas propelled vehicle launch! Will Mix Juice be up
to their trip into outer space?
Episode 3: Let's Sing in the Stratosphere
After another failed attempt a new method is used to take
our brave pop idol group into outer space! A helium balloon
in the shape of a space shuttle!? This time Mix Juice has
plans for their first televised music video, direct from the
stratosphere! Will it go as planned or suffer unexpected consequences
like the other missions?
Episode 4: The Horror of 1600 Kilometers
an Hour!
Using the speed of the Earth to propel them forward! Dr. Tsukumo
thinks that he has finally figured out a sure-fire way to
get Mix Juice onto the lunar surface. However, when Kiku #8
passes out the girls’ vehicle goes off-course and is
possibly headed for Uranus unless something is done quickly!
Will someone rise to the challenge and save our heroines!?
Boy, this is as unique as it gets in the world
of anime. I thought the premise for Wandaba Style sounded
goofy enough, but I could not have anticipated just how zany
the whole thing is. Basically the idea of the story is that
Dr. Susumo Tsukumo wants to be the first person to put a flag
on lunar soil, his flag and to achieve this he decides to
send a newly formed pop singing group to the moon. The group
for its part wants to perform a high profile concert on the
lunar surface so that they can achieve their dreams of being
popular and respected singers.
At the heart of the story and what I took
as being the main theme of the show is the idea of people
being able to achieve their dreams, as impossible as they
may seem. Each of the main character has something they’re
setting out to accomplish and somehow their relationship with
the others will help make this happen. Michael Hanagata dreams
of debuting a popular new singing group and proving his talent
as a music manager, Dr. Tsukumo wants to be first to the moon,
Sakura wants to regain her past glory, Himawari dreams of
finally making all her hard work pay off, Ayame wishes for
the day when she doesn’t have to sing in front of the
supermarket with her fairy friends and Yuri hopes to break
free of her current status as a rock singer.
Needless to say that this theme gives Wandaba
Style an overall lighthearted approach that mixes equal parts
comedy, science fiction and drama, with the comedy component
being the more all-encompassing of the three. The humor was
expected just based on the pictures and description of the
show from the back cover of the DVD box, but the way it’s
executed and used was not. Sure, there were the standard eccentric
character moments that we love anime so much for as well as
your typical crazy reactions and speeches, but I was surprised
to see the amount of parody material they used too, such as
the scene where we see what looks like an 8-bit Super Mario
Brothers dungeon complete with a Piranha plant that pops out
of a sewer pipe.
The science fiction component of the story
is a particularly fun one as each episode centers around a
different method or technology to launch our heroic singing
group in the moon’s direction. There is a lot of variety
to what is done and in some instances it was quite imaginative.
I love how Dr. Tsukumo’s laboratory resembled several
labs from classic1970’s super robot shows like UFO Robo
Grandizer, even so far as to duplicate the classic tube launch
system for its pilots.
The drama piece of the show is not as apparent
or thoroughly used as the other two, but there are some good
moments here that give the characters a more well rounded
existence within the world of Wandaba Style. Most of these
come about as a result of each protagonist’s struggle
to achieve their dreams individually and/or collectively.
I would imagine that as the story progresses we might see
more in this particular are of the series.
On the production side of the equation this
show looks as sharp as any recent anime programs I’ve
seen in the last couple of months. The art style is definitely
unique with some interesting background art for certain scenes,
unique-looking characters designs and a strikingly beautiful
pastel color palette. The animation is very smooth and visual
effects are thrown in for good measure.
This being a show based on a real life Japanese
pop singing group you’d expect a soundtrack that delivers
and that it does. The opening and closing themes are very
sticky and will send you on a hunt for Wandaba Style CD’s
without doubt, I know I did. The BGM is equally good and fits
in with the whole premise of the program. Something about
it just makes it a really entertaining fit that adds to the
overall atmosphere of each episode. The voice acting for the
most part was really good, but nothing about it particularly
stood out.
On the DVD front this was another well put
together release by the folks at ADV Films. In addition to
the first four episodes in the series the disc also features
some extras including: clean versions of the opening &
closing themes, production sketches, Wandaba Style factoids,
outtakes from the English dubbed track and audio commentary.
The video and audio (for both tracks) transfers were crystal
clear and presented no real issues to speak of.
Final
Thoughts
This show is as fun as it gets. I loved its
lighthearted approach and simple story about reaching for
our dreams. The comedy wrap around it only makes it that much
better of a show.
Highly recommended for all anime fans who
enjoy series out of the ordinary or with a goofier sense of
humor.
Jeffrey
Couto |
