Back in my earlier childhood, when I was still being introduced into Anime, I picked up this series on a whim. I got it at a store once known as On-Cue.
Oh, how I miss that audio / video store chain.
Anyways... I watched the 1st DVD in this 3 DVD set. That's right, only 3 DVDs long. Thank goodness though... because this series is one of the old dubs.
While the voice acting was great in it, I think the translation needed to go through a few more checks before it got to the actors. ... Although I can understand why it probably didn't due to the early youth of the North American Anime industry at the time.
Lest I not forget the story line which takes so many twists and turns you've got to be buckled in so you don't get thrown from the vehicle.
Here's the basic plot...
Young girl is at school one day, and is told to come home. Her grandfather has passed away.
The young girl is an odd one. She believes that she is a robot. The message left by her dying grandfather confirms this, and informs her that she has the ability to become human.
In order to do this however, she needs the power of 30,000 people whom want to be her friend.
Thus, Key's journey begins.
I greatly enjoy the music in the series, as well as the animation. For the most part, seeing scenes makes me think of the time this was probably made.
I loved seeing a video rental store with VHS... (probably Betamax)... tapes, as well as a PC that you just turned off without clicking "Shut Down."
As I stated in the beginning, the translation seems to be choppy in some areas. However, this may not be the dubber's fault. The story itself appears to be very twisted, and you get no revelations until the 2nd to last episode. For the most part, it is like they had planned to do more with the series, however found out they couldn't, so they rushed to a conclusion as quickly as they could without killing anything they'd come up with thus far.
In the end, there were many moments that had me laughing, and many other moments that left me saying "what the pfargtl!?"
Pfargtl Homestarrunner Reference.Unfortunately, the DVDs are one of those you have to hunt for now days. I recommend the series only to those who want to look at very classic Anime back from the day.
All in all, it wasn't bad for the time. If there was a series that could use a face lift, I think this one would be a prime candidate. It needs a tuneup in the story writing department, however I do believe that if someone wanted to they could turn it into a grade-a series.
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