Cyberpunk Review » 8 Man After

March 27, 2006

8 Man After

Movie Review By: SFAM

Year: 1993

Directed by: Sumiyoshi Furakawa

Written by: Yasushi Hirano (story), Kazumasa Hirai & Jirô Kuwata (characters)

IMDB Reference

Degree of Cyberpunk Visuals: Low

Correlation to Cyberpunk Themes: High

Rating: 7 out of 10

screen capture

 

Overview: If you’re hankering for a sequel to Robocop, skip the live action sequels, and instead get 8 Man After. You won’t get the best animation, but the story itself is more than passable. The characters aren’t all that deep, but they’re interesting enough to keep your attention. This OVA, which on the DVD is presented as a film, seems to rise above the obviously meager animation budget to produce a decent product.

 

screen capture

 

The Story: 8 Man After is a sequel to the 1960s TV series called 8th Man (I have not seen the original). In 8th Man, a cop dies, is revived, and is given a cybernetic body that can move lightning fast. He uses it to confront a cyborgs crime lord in similar circumstances, but is later killed. His girlfriend, Sachiko Yokogawa, never learns what happens to him. Since then, petty criminals with cybernetic implants have started to rule the streets. The police are outgunned, and decide they need a special edge – so they decide to revive the 8 Man.

 

screen capture

 

In 8 Man After, a similar situation occurs as in the original – this time, police detective Hazama Itsuro, an emotionally fragile cop, meets up with Sachiko on a chance encounter, and they begin to fall in love. But fate intervenes, and a nasty criminal with cyborgs implants comes to kill them. Hazama is able to defeat him, but seemingly dies in the process by falling out of a high story window. Hazama is revived when the police take Hazama’s brain and insert it into 8 Man’s body.

 

screen capture

 

Hazama can now move lightning fast, and due to technical reasons, is the most advanced cyborgs on earth. He begins to fight the bad guys, but unfortunately, it turns out that his emotional troubles cause him to occasionally lose control over his actions. This is complicated by Hazama’s continuing relationship with Sachiko, who does not know what he’s become. Things come to a head when Hazama/8 Man goes up against the crime lord while trying to rescue Sachiko.

 

screen capture

 

This is a “Who am I?” Story: 8 Man After does a decent job of going over established ground in that it questions whether a brain inserted into a cyborgs host is still human. The complicating twist in 8 Man’s case is that his emotions end up making him temporarily lose control over his body, and in fact, lose awareness over certain events. The added relationship aspect, where Sachiko has now fallen in love with two people who end up losing their bodies is sort of interesting as well. Again, there’s nothing really new here, but it is well done.

 

screen capture

 

The Animation: At some level, animation of this quality, five years after Akira is surprising. Many of the shots look like straight Saturday morning cartoon fodder. Every now and then, we get a terrific shot or two, and sometimes get an innovating looking camera approach, but for the most part, you get simplistic backgrounds, very basic character designs, linear movement, and lots of pan and scans of stills. Worse, you also get some repeated 8 Man after streaking shots. Without an absolutely kickin story (which it has), 8 Man After just wouldn’t be worth the time.

 

screen capture

 

The Violence: Like Robocop, 8 Man After is very violent. However, the animation isn’t good enough for this to really matter all that much. There is lots of blood and killing which is usually don’t in the context of a motivating story, but it just doesn’t have the impact of many violent animes. Even if you can’t stomach violent story lines, you will probably be OK with 8 Man After.

 

screen capture

 

The Bottom Line: OK, the animation isn’t the greatest, but the story is pretty good – FAR better than the Robocop sequels. The sub-plot of the son with a burnt-out cyborg father is especially well done. If you’re looking for a Robocop-like examination of humanity, animated from the cyborg’s perspective, 8 Man After is a decent choice.

 

~See movies similar to this one~

This post has been filed under Made for TV, Man-machine Interface, Animes, Cyberpunk movies from 1990 - 1999 by SFAM.

Comments

December 4, 2009

Immediatelyprevent said:

Ball Put,my fish assess each key stone someone user modern progress restaurant occasion investment reason visit transfer violence executive editor once attack respect pretty background lay issue shot hate everyone silence function encourage who family collection winner function build hand disease weekend basic roll youth notice exactly low drug concern repeat management night important trend thought provide tax original dog probably him sex nearly hell permanent away status although find background bus bed military our exhibition pattern drop patient judge need close dog essential dream discussion technique blue foundation president inside drawing

January 5, 2010

Pef said:

Immediatelyprevent

wtf , writing as if you’re high is hurting my eyes ,
get a life and shoot yourself.

[…] Aca tengo una listita de anime cyber punk jukka Toma. ya conocia mas de la mitad de la lista pero recien ahora te leo. 8 Man After […]

Leave a comment


~All Related Entries Related This~

 

<<--Back to top

Made with WordPress and the Semiologic CMS | Design by Mesoconcepts