Title:
Transformers Beast Wars II: Movie Edition - Lion Convoy in Danger |
Format:
Japanese VHS
48 minutes |
Production:
Pioneer
Takara Co. |
Comments:
Beast Wars in 2-D? Yep. At least in Japan. |
| Overall Rating: |
C |
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Animefringe Reviews:
Transformers Beast Wars II: Movie Edition - Lion Convoy in Danger
By Jake Forbes
For the past decade, Transformers fans have had only one choice when it came
to watching their old friends Optimus and Megatron duking it out: Beast Wars
(or Beast Machines as it was later called). The computer rendered show has
been a moderate success over the years, but for some reason, kids weren’t
drawn to the CGI characters as much as we were to the cell painted
characters of yore. Well, while you’ll probably never see them on American
TV, there exists another version of Transformers: Beast Wars, done in the
same cell animated style as the original series. The series had three
parts, Beast Wars, Beast Wars II, and Beast Wars NEO. Finding any of these
episodes may prove difficult and very expensive, so before you decide to
spend your savings on these unseen episodes, let me explain what you’ll be
getting.
Several episodes of Beast Wars II were edited into a special movie edition,
so I figured that that was the best introduction to the series. In this
extended episode, Lion Jr. and his Cybertron friends (autobots are called
Cybertrons in this version) investigate a mysterious spaceship that crashed
on the planet Gaia. Inside they find a mysterious relic, but before they
can find out what it does, the evil Destrons attack (that’s what the
Japanese call Decepticons). Lion Jr. manages to retrieve the relic, but in
the battle, one of his companions is nearly killed.
Back at the Cybertron base, Lion Jr. gets a lecture about responsibility
from Cybertron leader Lion Convoy (the very cool looking lion version of
Optimus Prime). As always happens when the young hero is chewed out by the
older master, Lion Jr. runs away and is tempted by the bad guys, who win him
over by telling him that rules aren’t fair and it wasn’t his fault. I don’t
understand Japanese, but I could tell exactly what was being said, I’ve
heard it so many times before. Lion Jr. gives the relic to Galvatron
(Megatron), who uses it to open a portal through time and space, through
which he brings Majinzarak (Demon God Zarak), a huge, three-tailed behemoth
who can transform into an aircraft carrier (An aircraft carrier that drives
over land and is controlled by a sailing ship’s wheel?). The Cybertrons
try their best to stop the new threat, but all seems lost… until legendary
Cybertron leader Convoy appears (Optimus Primal, ape version, to all you
Beast Wars fans).
Story wise, this is an incredibly generic Transformers story. It follows so
many action cartoon clichés that no Japanese is needed to tell exactly
what’s going on. If this was the series best story arch (it’s at least the
highest stakes battle), then we’re not missing much by being denied these
episodes. It’s not bad; it’s just that we’ve all seen this a hundred times
before.
How does it compare visually to the CGI version? This version if very
inconsistent in visuals, at times featuring some wonderful transformation
sequences, but the battle scenes are quite sloppily done. Color selection
throughout is rather sickening, with far too many neon colors. Backgrounds,
in the Transformers tradition (not counting movie) are uniformly dull,
lifeless rocks. Character designs in robot mode are excellent, with Lion
Convoy especially being as good as any old school Transformers characters.
In animal mode, the characters seem VERY out of place. They don’t turn into
robot animals, but cute furry animals with big watery eyes. Lion Jr. looks
more like a breakfast cereal mascot than heir to the Autobot Empire.
Perhaps the most disorienting thing about watching this version, after
having grown up on American Transformers, is the voice acting. I’m so used
to hearing the slightly digitized voices on so many characters, or at least
having voice actors who sound like robots. Here, the seiyuu sound like
generic action voices. Only a couple of supporting characters sound the
least bit “robotic.” I don’t know if these are the same voice actors as the
original series, but if they are, I think Americans were very fortunate to
have our wonderful American dub. The American voice of Optimus Prime is
quite possibly the best cartoon voice ever. No voice on the Japanese
version reaches that level of coolness.
So should American Transformers fans seek out these import tapes? At
$30-$50 per tape, I’d say no. This is action anime at its most mediocre.
However, if you can find a copy of a video floating around at a convention,
it’s worth watching just to see how the look of Transformers has changed.
It’s a notch above the CGI version in quality of action and character
design, but that’s not saying much.
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