"Agent Aika" (Anime)

[pkristen]

7 Episode Anime OVA. Originally Fully Reviewed on July 13, 2001.

Summary
Near futuristic Earth that had been affected by a disaster where a lot of the land mass is under the ocean, so special salvaging operations have been established, and one of them is the one Aika works for. Aika also has a special transformation procedure where she turns into a hybrid woman that is and isn’t her (you have to see it to understand.) The series is famous for its martial arts fights scenes with a multitude of scantily clad babes who wear skirts that barely cover their white panties (Aika included.) The series focuses on “taking over the world” and “vengeance” conspiracies but definitely not anything you feel like you’re going to be tested on once the anime ends.

General Review
Um, I did mention that I have extremely diverse tastes, didn’t I?

My initial exposure (puns all the way around on this) to this series was a test rental of the first video (first two eps only) quite a few months back. I was so turned off/bored by Psycho Nena and her brother/lover Dictator Hargen that I didn’t bother checking out the rest of the series. And it was clear to me that after ten minutes of viewing the series that I did NOT have a panty-fetish. (As my best friend pointed out: the mystique of women’s underwear is lost if you own your own.) So I had no interest in continuing to watch a series that made me feel like a really pathetic loser pervert, although I certainly thought Aika was a babe and I liked the fight scenes if they weren’t so ludicrously choreographed with a wide open legs shot every two seconds. I realized I probably wouldn’t have been so turned off if the same moves were used but all of the women wore pants, or at least spandex.

Then I went on a DVD buying spree a couple of weeks ago and came across the newly released “Final Battle” (second collection). Since I had mentally and emotionally heavier material in my collection and wanted something that was definitely more eye-candy, I picked up the volume on a hunch (especially since the packaging description and art gave me a lesbian vibe somehow.) And to my surprise, I actually liked the collection (probably because Nena and Hargen weren’t in it) and got the first collection “Naked Mission” on DVD at a substantial lower used price so I could catch up with the episodes I missed, and re-watch the first ones.

The story and animation throughout the series is fairly decent. And the series makes no real pretense of trying to be anything more than that. There are some off the wall comedic moments, as well as moments with surprising attempt at true emotional interactions between some characters, but it’s naturally up to you as a viewer on whether or not they succeed in their attempts. I offer no defense or rationalization about the target audience of this series: men who like scantily clad, sexy women who flash their panties every two seconds. Luckily, the series fell into that gray area that I personally can enjoy (except the panty-thing) once the evil brother/sister duo were out of the picture.

If you must only watch one, I strongly recommend the second collection because the animation and action scenes are better and there are some funny moments that made me laugh out loud several times, although I do have a warped sense of humor if you can’t already tell… And it’s the volume where the lesbians are much more prominent. (My hunch paid off again!)

Be warned, even though the second series is better all the way around, there are definitely objectionable aspects — which is my warning that uptight people should not watch this anime at all. In other words, if you’re a feminist who offends easily, this is not the anime for you.

Lesbian Analysis
First part written 6/17/01:
With such low expectations of the depiction of women in this anime given the clearly identified target audience, I was surprised to realize that there were actually some moments of positive (and not so positive) lesbian portrayals. Now whether or not the creators realize this, or even meant it, I couldn’t begin to second guess. But in order to realize it, I do admit it does take a certain amount of additional thought process that’s probably not expected of your average “Agent Aika” viewer, plus that true lesbian awareness doesn’t hurt.

Delmo: All female babes support crew and army of would be male dictator Hargen

Because you have to understand their structure to truly understand my analysis, the basic concept behind the Delmos is this: each color uniform represents a particular function/status in their organization briefly summarized as follows:
* White: Executive/Command — These are the leading officers which everyone reports to. And when Hargen is no longer in the picture, they are the leaders of the entire operation.
* Black: Soldiers/Guards — Carry weapons and are the fighting force for the organization.
* Pink: Tech/Mechanics — Support the equipment and weapons maintenance.
* Gold: Special Operatives (only shown in second collection) — Particularly skilled agents with more sinister intentions.

In the first collection, it’s made clear that the Delmos were originally collected to serve the additional purpose of being Hargen’s personal harem once he obliterated the rest of the world’s population.

Once Hargen is gone, they remain together as an organization, and STILL maintain their all female status. They profess loyalty to Hargen’s memory, but it’s clear that they’re quite self-sufficient without him, or any other man for that matter.

In the second volume, they have meetings in large rooms with huge pictures of Aika everywhere. It almost looks like some sort of shrine. (I thought they were loyal to Hargen? So where’s his picture?….)

Rion: Aika’s salvaging assistant/sidekick (?) and daughter of company president Gozo
* It’s never really made clear what her exact relationship Aika is. One can make a reasonable argument for “sister” even though they don’t call each other that, but you get a good sense that they aren’t related.
* She clearly has a devotion to Aika that leads to her be adamant of sticking by Aika’s side no matter how much danger there is.
* She also thinks it’s absolutely cool that Aika can transform (just like anime!)
* In the first ep, Rion does flirt with a businessman but it’s clear that her motivation was that she didn’t like the term of the deal he was offering. When he still turns her down, her true colors are shown by the temper tantrum she lets loose.
* In the two times Aika proactively wanders away in the company of someone else in the second collection, Rion shows a certain amount of unhappiness. The second time she explains it as being suspicious of a Delmo operation but the first time she grumbles that Aika just doesn’t go wandering off with guys, even that’s clearly the case of what happened. I personally think there’s a reasonable argument of jealousy that Rion’s displaying over seeing Aika with a guy even though Rion may not recognize it as such.
* In the second collection, she’s often hanging around the male Michikusa, who seems to be comparable buddy to her younger age. It’s clear as the series progresses that there’s no attraction that she has for him (after all, she uses him in an attempt to block a tank cannon), and that she thinks of him only in brotherly terms.

Maypia: Special Class-A agent who sneaks aboard the Delmo ship
* In the first collection, spends the most time with Rion as the two of them try to find ways to sneak off the ship without being caught.
* No romantic/sexual interaction between the two. Just no romantic interest shown at all for this character, which leads to the Suspiciously Inconclusive default.

Bandara: Partner to Aika’s salvage rival Gusto the Rich Playboy
* With her goggles and baggy flight suit, I admit it took me a moment to figure out she was a woman, which is a stark contrast to the rest of the woman in the series.
* No romantic interest shown for anyone, even Gusto, whom she openly criticizes about his professed love devotion to Aika.
* Pretty much the crusty, competent sidekick. Great if you like obnoxious bull dykes.

Analysis Continuation on 7/13/01:

Bianca: Golden Delmo strategist who launches first plot to avenge Hargen against Aika
* Determined to humiliate Aika first. How? By duping Aika into falling for a woman dressed as a man. I do wonder what her mindset is given that she came up with that idea on her own.
* She’s a Delmo, of course she doesn’t have a boyfriend.Valerie: As “Pierre Valimore”, does a damn good job of seducing Aika
* She agrees to go through Bianca’s plan by an apparent vengeance motivation of an unknown Delmo soldier, who was presumably hurt in the previous battles involving Aika. No indication of the real relationship between her and her fallen comrade, but in the case of “open for interpretation”, you know which way I’ll go.
* All it takes is for Valerie to strap down her chest, cut her hair and wear a suit, and Aika’s abandoned her spot by the pool for her “Pierre”.
* True, she slips pills into Aika’s drinks after they’ve been together all day, but Aika was completely sober and smitten by “his” charms up until then.
* And Aika obviously thinks “Pierre” is a damn good kisser!
* In her showdown with Aika, even though now in her Delmo mini-dress outfit, can’t help but gloat about how Aika thought she was quite attractive as a man.

Rie: Ace pilot, hand-to-hand combat expert and snotty brat who gives Aika a run for her money
* We’re introduced to Rie upon finding out that she has long since studied combat tapes of Aika to learn her fighting style. Not bad for someone in her mid-teens.
* She runs Aika through various physical tests, and purposefully causes our heroine to black out during one of them. After Aika wakes up, Rie does comment on how sexy she was when she was unconscious. An embarrassed Aika then finds out what she meant: Since it’s her Golden Delmo job to get ALL SORTS of examination information on Aika, Rie’s rather gleeful when she gets to show Aika the video result (which I think is the most hysterical scene in the entire series.)

Sania & Tonia: Golden Delmo Assassin team who seem to have actually succeed in killing Aika
* Always pictured together, look out for each other, and not a man between them.

White Delmo Commander and the Second in Command: With Hargen and Nena’s absence, they become the new leaders of the Delmos Operation
* In the opening credits, they are pictured side by side with soft lighting and flower petals floating by. Hmmm…
* As one plot unfolds where the Commander indicates that she wants to directly observe Aika, Second is clearly concerned about her safety. Commander merely points that a leader cannot earn respect if they’re always safely out of the action. * Second still doesn’t look happy with that reasoning but knows she can’t argue.
* When it comes down to an imminent combat show down with Aika, the Second still tries to scoot the Commander off to safety. When the Commander indicates that she’ll stay and fight, they exchange a lingering mutual kiss and a pledge to stick by each other. (You don’t have to hit me over the head with a two-by-four at this point…)
* Together, they do a pretty good job of kicking Aika’s ass for a while.
In the aftermath of the fight, you see that Commander’s devotion to Second was just as strong.
* At the end of the series, they drive off into the sunset together.
* Personally, I LOVED these two, and they’re what completely sold me on the series. In a potentially dubious sexist setting, it was surprising to find a portrayal of a lesbian couple where they’re both characters of clear personal integrity and dignity, genuinely care for each other, and their relationship is supported and recognized by their peers… even though they’re the leaders of the “bad guys”. And it didn’t hurt that they looked pretty good together.

Okay, you knew she was coming so here goes:
Aika: Sexy, beautiful, skilled at combat and firearms, as well as gifted with a transformation power.
* She has no clear significant other throughout the series, even though Gusto and Hargen both try their hardest.
* I don’t think her relationship with Gozo is ever clarified as anything more than friends and business partners. She reacts to him like a comrade and employee.
* This “single” status is reinforced by her declaration and actions that the salvage company and Rion are the most important things to her.
* When held captive by Hargen, she does initially react when he physically feels her up but maintains no interest.
* Liberated enough to be willing to trade sex with Hargen for an important data disk. (But seems quite happy that she didn’t have to go through with it to get the disk in the end.)
* She does jump in front of Gusto to protect him when Nena tries to stab him. But one could argue that she probably would have done that for anyone she felt protective/obligated to.
* She’s distraught and embarrassed to find out that “Pierre” wasn’t a he, especially since they had a serious kissing session enhanced with groping. This indicates a straight orientation if that’s her only turnoff about “Pierre” — I mean apart from finding out that “he” was a Delmo soldier in disguise in an operation for vengeance and all that.
* She seems to be neutral about a potential attraction to Gusto, although I don’t know how much of it could be just not wanting to hurt his feelings since he so obviously has a thing for her. The fact that she had plenty of opportunities both within the scenes shown and the “in between” moments to pursue something with him, but didn’t, shows her real feelings.
* Interestingly though, the only times she shows serious sexual arousal (and that’s putting it mildly) is when she goes through her transformation mode to “Enhanced” Aika because a couple of floating arms grab her in rather strategic spots so they could morph into a really skimpy bikini outfit. It’s in the second transformation sequence that you actually find out the arms belong to a “woman”, possibly a symbolic representation of the “other” Aika that’s housed inside her. So you can either interpret this to mean she’s really into masturbation or is a latent lesbian. No wonder she doesn’t want Gusto or Hargen.

[dinahshore]

Interesting post..

Thanks to share...