Genocyber

Summary: >

In the future, a cutting edge weapons project called Genocyber aims to create the ultimate cybernetic weapon. During a test, the research facility is completely destroyed. Years later, the two test subjects of the project turn up alive. One is a girl with no use of her body, the other has hardly any mind. If they combine, they'd unleash the power of Genocyber. And now the time for their union is at hand.

The results is a cataclysmic disaster which destroys Hong Kong. It seems nothing can stop Genocyber. Will the world survive?

Thoughts: >

A long time ago, there were a class of anime fans that loved extreme violence, and titles like Genocyber catered to them. I've never been a fan of that stuff, so I've avoided this one for some time. After watching it, I admit I was right to avoid it. Well mostly. It's a five part OVA series, divided into three stories. The first two stories are horrible, and the last one is decent.

The first episode tells the back story of where Genocyber came from. It pretends to be intelligent, but the details are dumb. Besides that, the "story" is so disjointed it becomes incomprehensible. The feature Genocyber is best known for is grotesque ultra violence far more graphic and detailed than you'd probably ever want to see. Genocyber tries to be revolting, that's the point. Why would I want to watch someone tear out his own brain, or wake up to discover he's been disemboweled? I have no idea. But why do the Japanese come up with half the freaky shit they do? Who knows. Anyway this episode is terrible. Even though I didn't think it was possible, the next two episodes are even worse than this one.

In episode 2, not even 20 seconds in, there is a graphic depiction of children being shot to pieces. Ugh. The story moves on to Genocyber (in the form of a girl now) being taken aboard an aircraft carrier where "stuff happens" before it fights with some other cybernetic organism. The story makes more sense this time, but the more I understood, the more I wish I didn't. The more "consistent" story allows characters to develop, but only enough for me to realize I hated them. During the fighting everyone on the ship is graphically killed, with the exception of one woman left behind and now insane . Glad we always have that lone survivor... At this point I figured I didn't need to watch any more of this show to know it was garbage. Yet for some reason I decided to watch OVA 4+5 anyway...

The fourth OVA goes in a very different direction. The two main characters are decent, and I'll even go so far as to say I liked them. The story is cohesive and interesting; taking place about a century after the last. Genocyber went berserk and essentially destroyed all of humanity on Earth. A space colony returns 100 years later to begin rebuilding. Genocyber itself is gone; now a legend almost at the level of religion. About half way through, the story invents poorly thought out crap contrived to crush the two main characters, and it goes downhill fast. It's like the show suddenly remembers Genocyber is supposed to be bad, and pisses all over an otherwise decent story. I could cope with the crap story, horrible characters, and excessive violence of the first three episodes. It wasn't until they had decent characters and a good enough story to wreck, that this show finally disgusted me. The bastards finally got to me. Well played Genocyber, well played. The good news is that the end redeems itself, and it's not totally unhappy. Sure thousands upon thousands of people lay dead in an apocalyptic pyre of what used to be a thriving city. But at least two people survived just fine. Probably. No use worrying about all those dead extras. That's just how Genocyber rolls.

It would be easy to say it's terrible and leave it at that, but the last two episodes make the situation more complex. The first three episodes are really really bad and I strongly advise against watching them. If gore is your thing, Genocyber spends most of its budget on exceptionally well rendered carnage (although the rest doesn't look so good), but I don't think that's enough to carry the show. OVA 4+5 has violence, but not elevated to the disgusting level of the previous episodes. Eps 4+5 are perfectly watchable on their own since they're removed from the timeline of the other episodes, and the previous episodes are so badly done they don't really qualify as back story anyway. As for 1-3, I've seen worse anime that disgusted me more, but that's a traumatic experience I try not to think about. If you're into old school anime sci-fi, episodes 4+5 might be worth checking into.

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