SF Shinseiki Lensman

Lensman (1984) 1984 brought many sci-fi oriented stories. One of which was Lensman, directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Memories, X) and Shinya Ohira (Gundam sequels, Akira), so there is some strength here. Unfortunately, the script is weak, the music is pretty much absent, and the voice acting (Japanese and English dub) is sub-par at best. The story is about a farm boy named Kimball whom dreams of life bigger than is country lifestyle. Well, it just so happens that an intergalactic war is going on simply between good and evil. During some battle somewhere, Kimball comes across a runaway spaceship, finds an important guy, and gets thisglass-thing called a “lens” transferred onto him. The backstory of the lens is weird and does not seem to make much sense. All that’s important is the lens contains important information on it, and must be taken to the good side. Don’t let the dark side have it, as the dark side will aim to kill you. Just at first glance watching this, the amount of Star Wars references is astounding. It gets to the point where it might as well be an animated spin-off of it. There is even some incredibly lame CG just thrown in places really just distracting from the above average art style. Whether or not the CG was amazing at the time, in post 2000’s, the CG should not even be there in the first place. In the end, Lensman has one decent chase scene in a rail car, of sorts, at just past the mid-point in the movie. Unless you are pining for a sub-par anime that is a desperate attempt to hit at the Star Wars hype, Lensman is hardly worth anyone’s time watching.

C'mon, it was not that bad. This can be seen as a Star Wars rip-off, but it was actually based on Edward E Smith's "Lensman" books. Therefore, Star Wars was also ripping-off those books. A father and son are farmers in a small planet. The kid wants to get out of that planet. He's actually handy with flying machines and spaceships. He's chosen to be the new Lensman. You see, "Lens" is something akin to the "Force". Or viceversa, considering the aforementioned books? Lensmans (or is it Lensmen?) are basically Jedis. There's no Han Solo and Chewbacca, but there's a sympathetic hairy guy called Buskirk. There's also a girl.She's not a princess she's a nurse and part of the rebellion. The Gallactic Alliance that is. The kid has to deliver some important plans of a fortress. Sounds intriguing, right? There's a small robot that looks like R2-D2. He's only in this for 10 minutes. There's another Lensman, that looks like an humanoid lizard, very cool, he flies, and seems to be the only one that knows what he's doing! There's a mysterious dark lord called Dark Helmet (really?). He's desintegrates all his minions every 10 minutes. There's no cantina band, but there's this funny old guy who's actually a DJ/MC at the local dancing club. Besides the typical 80s japanese animation, there are some sequences with some serious Tron-esque 80s computer generated animation. The soundtrack includes some cool rock songs from the Japanese rock band The Alfee. The final battle between the Lensman and the dark lord gets very trippy. All in all, a fine way to spend 100 minutes of your time. I liked it.

I found it gorgeous and was really wowed by the sound track. However, the overall package feels pretty flat. It comes very close to saying something a few times, but by the end our gallant hero just kinda...wins. It has the general shape of a heroes journey, but without any of the beats past his home being destroyed. We never get to see the titular lens do anything either, or the huge space battle that happens off-screen. I see why people compare it to Star Wars, because it has all of the interstitial moments, but none of the big 'WOW' factor. But there is something inthere to enjoy, and it might be worth watching for the discerning viewer.

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