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Iczelion
by Paul Sudlow  
Iczelion Box Cover
iczelion-01
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review ratings information
synopsis
Act One

On an Earth-like world, the last defender of a devastated planet dies at the hands of a female killer named Cross, but not before she promises that her living armor will continue the fight on other worlds.

Meanwhile, back in Tokyo...

Schoolgirl Nagisa returns from school dreaming of her future career as a pro wrestler when a mysterious android suddenly attacks her. Fortunately, Iczels-a suit of sentient armor-rushes to her side and urges her to put it on. Nagisa agrees and in a flash the two have become Iczelion and quickly dispatch the monster with wrestling aplomb.

Alien androids, led by the "brother" and "sister" team of Chaos and Cross, intend to destroy Earth, an attack against which Iczels has come to recruit Nagisa to defend. The girl wants none of it, however, and when the bad guys show up, she turns to run.

Fortunately, Iczels is not the only armor to come to Earth in search of young Japanese schoolgirls, and pretty soon punk rocker Nami, pop idol Kiiro and elite private schooler Kawai show up, all battle armor clad, ready to defend their newest member. Nagisa gets whiny, though.

Act Two

Cross begs her brother for another shot at Nagisa. Chaos agrees and plots a way to separate Nagisa from the other defenders.

Kawai urges Nagisa to join the other defenders, explaining that the Iczelion armor suits were created by an advanced alien race to promote peace, a peace threatened by a new race of killer androids led by Chaos. But all Nagisa wants is to return to her normal life.

On cue, robot monsters storm the school and, sure enough, the other girls are drawn off into their own battles, leaving Nagisa vulnerable to Cross. However, Chaos still looms over the Earth.

review
There ain't no easy way to say this, might as well lay it out on the table. This new take on the cheesy but fun mid-'80s "Fight! Iczer-One" OAV (read the EX review at http://www.ex.org/2.2/16-iczer.html) is utter dreck. It isn't often that such a horrid confluence of trite and cliché plots, annoying characters-from whiny schoolgirls to effete giggling villains-and canned battle music comes around, but, shazam, "Iczer" saga creator Toshihiro Hirano delivers it all in spades.

"Sailor Moon" mangaka Naoko Takeuchi conscientiously develops a personality and backdrop for her heroine before tossing her into the action, so we are pulling for her by the time the whining starts. Hirano took equal care in establishing Nagisa in the original "Iczer-One," so we empathically connect with the horror she feels as horrible alien changelings consume her friends and family one by one.

Hirano sadly neglects such care in this newest incarnation of the "Iczer" series, plopping down his newly-updated Nagisa in the thick of things devoid of context. When she turns crybaby, we have nothing invested in her-she's merely an annoying savior of the Earth.

But just what makes Nagisa so special, anyway? When she meets Iczels, Hirano infers that the fate of the planet rests on her shoulders-and indeed in the original story she is Earth's only hope. However, in this installment, three more-experienced warriors fight to defend Earth, robbing the newbie of any distinction. Obviously the plot will eventually contrive to elevate Nagisa to greatness, but in these nascent episodes it isn't clear why the story needs her at all. Iczels even refers to her as "The One." Sheesh, where's Agent Smith when you need him?

"Iczer-One" had some ominous monsters, short of that weird alien elf lesbian thing going with Big Gold and her lieutenants. Those Lovecraftian body-snatching worms packed a lot of creepy power, a far sight more original than the off-the-shelf robeasts Nagisa faces. The brother and sister bad guy team has been done to death, too. Anyone remember the Doom Tree segment of "Sailor Moon"? It was old then.

Special mention goes to the voyeuristic camera, ever eager to peer down every bosom and up every skirt with salacious glee. So many Pervo-cam shots haven't noodled their way into scenes since "Agent Aika." Especially offensive are the traditional transformation scenes in which the girls shed their street clothes to don their battle armor. Tastefully done in "Sailor Moon," do we really need nipple shots here? Of course, a woman wrote "Sailor Moon" for little girls, and Hirano apparently wrote "Iczelion" for dirty old men.

"Iczelion's" saving graces, though, are high production quality and Hirano's rock-solid character designs. Alas, Kenji Kawai, who created the lush and throbbing world music of "Ghost in the Shell," phones in a lackluster score of over-processed synth battle music. Disappointing. But it's a work of genius next to the storyline.



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