As the godfather of manga and anime, Osamu Tezuka is held in such reverence and awe over his decades-long contributions to the country. But let's not forget that for all of his famous works like Astro Boy or Kimba or Black Jack, he also worked on dozens of other shorts and specials that have faded into obscurity over time. Bagi is one of them. And, like most of those faded, forgotten stories, they are best left in obscurity. Let's get the "elephant in the room" out of the way first: furries. Yes, I know, the red-headed stepchildfandom to anime in America (they had the same C/FO roots) where fans want to, you know, get "better acquainted" with their animal side. And at the start, this movie seemed to veer in that direction, as delinquent Ryo is visited by the kitten he raised as a child, only now she's all grown up, and, you know, sexy. Hoo-boy.
But, let's put that to rest, because the story veers away from that pretty soon after, and it does NOT go in that uncomfortable direction. Instead, we learn of Bagi's true origins, about the evil horrors of gene manipulation, and we're off! There are all sorts of improbable twists and turns along the way, that make this far from a straightforward story.
Character designs are more or less standard Tezuka (no surprise). The animation quality is a little sub-par, but not distractingly so. The weak point is the overall story itself, and Tezuka's tendency to mix in little unnecessary humorous bits into non-humorous situations. And, of course, the heavy-handed moralizing that is a strain throughout many of his works.
Given the wide range of stories that Tezuka worked on over the years, you're better off going elsewhere to get your Tezuka kicks, and leave this one alone.
Mixed Feelings
Unique has to be one of the of the words to describe "Daishizen no Majuu : Bagi", made by the father of anime, Osamu Tezuka, it tackles a subject that it was the center plot of one of the most famous movie of all time "Jurassic Park", that it would come out 9 years later, genetic engeniring is the main theme of this movie from 1984, as for the animation is standart good for the time and for the style of the animation of Tezuka, it looks way better animated than the original anime "Kimba the White Lion", this movie "Bagi" was a surprise tome more for the message, and yes it is a really old and nowadays has being told to death, human can not play the part of god, and the movie tries to talk a lot about that, even showing us some disturbing imagery, the characters are simple and enjoyable, true that the character Bagi is a little too sexualise, but it was on a time were this tipe of characters were rare, the enviroment is kind of bland for the most time, is not bad but is not really good too, the sond is decent for a really old movie, and the voice actors (seyuu's) make a good job, this movie was only dub in Japan, as a final notes on this movie, the supposed twist was, in my opinion, bad for a lot of reasons, but overal it was a good view, i'm glad i saw, and i recomend all to see, this nice work of Osamu Tezuka.
Mixed Feelings
To me, Daishizen no Majuu: Bagi (I'll refer it to as Bagi) is a simple anime movie that could have been a good one if it was given the proper support it deserved (especially since the movie was made by Osamu Tezuka, the Godfather of anime). In fact this movie had a lot of potential that wasn't fully realized, instead what we got was a movie that suffered from terrible animation and an awkwardly paced story. I watched this on youtube a few years ago and I kinda forgot about it up until recently. What is Bagi about? Well, it's about a man named, Ryo, whois asked to hunt a strange cat-like beast who called Bagi, who happens to be a genetically altered cat-human hybrid that he had as a pet when he was a kid. The story was pretty good despite the awkward pacing. My only gripe with it is the use of a flashback within a flashback when it came to Ryo telling a kid about his teen years and in that flashback teen Ryo remembers when he owned Bagi as a child. Yea that was kinda weird and confusing but other than that, this story was good but tragic.
The art and animation aren't bad, well that's to say the art style isn't bad, but the animation... well, it's not quite as good as the other Tezuka animes that came out in the 80s (Kimba the White Lion is the best example). The characters were pretty cool too. I really felt bad for Ryo and Bagi because these two had a history together and seeing Bagi ending up how she did, it kinda tugs at the heart strings but not by much because the story didnt quite live up to the potential a Tezuka anime usually has.
While the voice acting was pretty good and the music was equally good, the audio didnt quite sync up to what was happening on screen at times. It was especially bad during the childhood flashback. Overall, this anime wasnt bad but it wasnt good. It's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of Osamu Tezuka or want to see his works in general. If only this movie had a better budget or had gotten a fully fledge anime series or perhaps a remake, it could have been a classic just like Osamu Tezuka's other works (Astroboy and Kimba the White Lion mainly).
