Cyberteam in Akihabara Volume 1: Cyber Genesis - Anime Lives
- Anime Lives
- Max Dragonard
- 11/16/04
- click here
"If you liked Pretear, Sailor Moon, or Wedding Peach, then you will enjoy Cyberteam in Akihabara"
Cyberteam in Akihabara: Cyber Genesis Vol 1
Synopsis:
Like all girls, Hibari Hanakoganei covets the latest fashion in mechanical pets ? a PataPi to call her own! But when a strange White Prince provides one, an equally mysterious Black Prince plots to steal the prized pet. It?s PataPi Densuke to the rescue, however, transforming into a powerful Diva with astonishing battle agility and amazingly bears a striking resemblance to Hibari herself! Together with the Cyber Team, the Black Prince will certainly get a run for his money!
Volume one of ADV?s domestic release of Cyberteam in Akihabara contains the first five episodes in the series which was originally released in 1998:
Episode 1: Diva
Meet Hibari Hanakoganei, a young girl who dreams of one day meeting her handsome prince. Today is her first day attending Junior High School and more than anything she would like to have a PataPi to bring with her. These mechanical pets are the current craze among her friends and schoolmates and not having one makes Hibari feel left out. However, when one mysteriously floats down into her arms in a hill outside of town, she ends up not only with PataPi of her own, but also a calling card to an adventure she could have never anticipated.
Episode 2: The Black Meteor
Suzume is Hibari?s best friend and the owner of Francesca, a strange looking PataPi that she has heavily modified with several additions such as offensive weapons and parachutes. She finds Hibari?s tale of her transforming PitaPi to be strange and rather hard to believe, however when her friend finds herself in mortal danger she is shocked to learn that her Francesca can also transform into an armored avatar, with the power to take on even the biggest challenges. Will Suzume and her PitaPi be able to save the day before its too late!?
Episode 3: Homunculus
Tsugumi is an atlethic young girl, and part of a family that specializes in the battle arts such as her mother, who takes part in the wrestling circuit. However, her true passion doesn?t reside in atletics, instead she dreams of the day she will become an Idol Singer, who will be popular, fashionable, and number one in the music charts.
One morning as she makes her way to school Tsugumi notices that a PataPi is about to get run over by a car; with a quick dash of speed she's able to save it and return the PataPi to its owner, Hibari, who finds herself amazed at the feat of heroism and skill that Tsugumi displayed in saving her Densuke. In her effort to thank her for this deed Hibari quickly becomes friends with Tsugumi, however this new friendship is quickly tested when the Metatron show up to harm our heroines! Will Tsugumi?s PataPi be able to transform and save the other Divas?!
Episode 4: Death Crow
Having discovered that their respective PataPis have some amazing powers that could be used for the good of the wolrd our team of heroic girls join together to form a new group! That is, if they can work our their differences on who will be the team leader and what the name of the group will be. Can they pull themselves together in order to overcome a new adversary!?
Episode 5: Cockatrice
A PataPi contest to determine which one is the best in town! This is the opportunity our young heroines have been looking forward to as a way to show everyone their skills and abilities in their respective areas of interest. Unfortunately when the headliner Pop Idol turns out to be a general for the forces of the Metatron, it puts on holds their dreams of winning and instead pushes them into their most challenging battle yet!
Review:
Cyberteam in Akihabara contains many elements and influences from several other types of shows and popular videogames. Drop in some Sailor Moon TV series, throw in the armored heroines of the Bubblegum Crisis OVA series, toss in some flashy special attacks from Final Fantasy along with a dash of Pokemon. Mix them all together and you end up with a unique take on the Mahou Shoujo genre.
Yet again, we have a cast of young students struggling to balance their personal lives with the responsibilities that come with the power they inexplicably find themselves holding. However, in Cyberteam in Akihabara, there are enough new angles and distinguishing aspects to the overall framework to make an interesting story.
Hints are dropped throughout to let you know that there is a more going on than what's seen on the screen. By the end of episode five, it's still not clear why our three heroines? PataPi?s have the amazing power to transform into armored avatars of their human counterparts, nor do we know what the evil organization?s plan is or why it is after the Cyberteam?s PataPi's. Each episode compels us to look for clues that hint at the true nature of the story. Overall the plot, and the way it unfolds, is fun to watch.
The soundtrack featured in the episodes is good. I particularly like the opening theme, 'Birth' by Masami Okui and the closing theme, 'Taiyou no Hana,' also by Masami Okui. The BGM featured in the actions scenes was a nice surprise. The voice acting is very good and makes the characters come to life brilliantly.
The DVD is a good looking transfer of the original series with no noticeable issues. The overall image quality is not as sharp as some recent shows, but is good. The Dolby Digital audio comes through with no noticeable problems. DVE extras include production sketches, clean versions of the opening and closing themes and an insert with the episode titles.
If you liked Pretear, Sailor Moon, or Wedding Peach, then you will enjoy Cyberteam in Akihabara. The series features all of the classic Mahou Shoujo elements, so if you are a fan of this very popular genre, you'll like Cyberteam in Akihabara.
DVD Features:
- Episodes 1-5
- Japanese 2.0
- English 5.1 Language
- English Subtitles
- Production sketches
- Clean Opening/Closing Animation
Posted on Tuesday, November 16, 2004 (Archive on Thursday, December 16, 2004)