4/5 Project A-ko Versus OAVs
  by (Exton, PA USA)
Many people are familiar with Project A-ko because it is classic anime from the 80's. However not many people are aware that there are two different Project A-ko OAV series. There are the original four movies with A-ko and B-ko fighting for the friendship of C-ko. However there is the Versus movies.

This DVD contains both the Versus movies. Project A-ko Versus 1: Gray Side. and Project A-ko Versus 2: Blue side. These series take the same characters and place them in different settings and situations.

The Versus Movies are a space story where the fate of the universe is at stake. The focus of the conflict is C-ko, who is kidnapped by space pirates who crash on a planet while losing C-ko in the process. A-ko and B-ko are firm friends and partners in this series and appear to be some sort of bounty hunters and when they find C-ko, well, you can imagine what happens here. The pirates want to fuse some evil magician's soul into C-ko's body for some dark and tiwsted reason.

The music and the plot are not as great as the original movies but are interesting to say the very least. I found the Project A-ko Versus not as comical as the other movies but very dramatic in some sort of odd love story. Parents be warned, like the rest of the other Project A-kos, there is mild nudity, sexual undertones, and transgenderal themes.

5/5 The Project A-ko Movies
  by (Exton, PA USA)
This DVD contains three of the four project A-ko movies. There are also two other movies nicknamed the "Versus movies" which do not really continue on in the plot. This DVD contains the three sequels to the original Prokect A-ko movie.

I did not find the other movies as wonderful as the original but they are definately worth a look.

Plot of Daitokuji Group is the second installment in the series, named after B-ko's family, which involves the aliens asking for A-ko's and B-ko's help during their summer vacation. However B-ko's rich father has other plans for the aliens.

Cinderella Rhapsody is the third movie. A-ko's falls in love with K which upsets C-ko. A-ko gets a job so she can buy the perfect dress she spies in a window display. B-ko becomes obsessed with K as well. C-ko is very distraught by this lack of attention. K however likes C-ko.

Final is the last movie of the project A-ko series. Miss Ayumi, the girl's teacher is lonely so she agrees to an arranged marriage. However Mr. Daitokuji (B-ko's father) is arranging the marriage. Meanwhile a fleet of spaceships is arriving and there is a newly discovered pyramid in Egypt. Quite Odd.

All the movies are really cute and have comical and excellent plots complimented with great music. Be warned there are latent homosexual themes in the movies as well as minor nudity. These three movies are like the first one in the fact that they are all knock-off's of other popular anime and Japanese movie series. I highly recommend this DVD.

5/5 a warmhearted anime spoof
  by
Project A-ko centers around our heroine A-ko (naturally), her friend C-Ko and B-ko who wants to be friends with C-ko a bit too much. All the major characters have personality flaws (A-ko's fiery temper comes off as the most normal of all of them) and the end result is a massive battle involving fighters, tanks, a huge alien spaceship, B-ko and A-ko (naturally).

Most of the overused anime cliches get good (meaning humorous) treatment in this film. There's a megalomanic alien commander with a screw loose, transforming mecha with serious design flaws, bungling alien spies, overly heroic fighter pilots and a rather unlikely end to the alien command ship. This is definately the lighter side of anime, and a lot of fun.

The animation isn't quite state-of-the-art anymore and the DVD is very sparse on features (nothing more than a chapter/language select), but I think it's worth it for the story and characters alone.

5/5 A classic and an exercise of freeform Japanese animation
  by A. Llamas (Crestwood, Illinois USA)
All that is to be said about A-ko has probably been said already by the 50+ reviews so I just want to chirp in and say if you are an old school anime fan or just a plain or regular anime buff you will appreciate the included Director's notes in the DVD collector's edition.

In the director's notes, Shigeru Morikawa, gives tons of interesting facts and trivia about the creation and dynamics of Project A-ko. What was first planned to be a soft porn cartoon turned a science fiction anime slug fest and acknowledged by Japanese animation industry insiders as a hallmark in the field of Japanese animation.

In fact, I was surprised to find out that tons of famous people in the field of manga (such as Kia Asamiya of Silent Mobious fame) and animation (people who worked on great Sci-Fi series like Macross and Evangelion) were key animators and contributed to the storyline of this movie.

I could go on for ages but I would spoil it too much. So if you are still behind the times and want to update your A-ko to DVD or haven't watched the movie but considering the purchase, I say, go ahead you'll love not only the anime itself but also the tons of extras packed within.

2/5 NOOOOOOOO
  by
WHAT DID THEY DO TO THIS POOR MOVIE?! Is it just me or did the, uh, "remastering" process turn this great film into a nearly unwatchable mess? All the colors in this film are very "washed out" almost "bleached" so that all colors tend towards a white "glare" look. All in all, a pathetic job in touching up one of the better anime satire movies around. This movie shouldn't have been given to some lackluster video company who was obviously indifferent as to the results of their process (just watch the "remastering" part of the DVD - the man seems to take no interest in the film he was paid to touch up). This is one of those few anime classics that deserve a full treatment - ideally, not only a modern video filter but also a conversion to digital that would allow modern animators to touch up the animation directly frame by frame- thus making colors vibrant, smooth, beautiful and characters sharp and distinct. The only reason to buy this is for the free soundtrack that is included. Other than that, expect a seriously marred and flawed version of an anime classic. Ouch.