Ai City...
Way back in the misty dawn of time, I picked up the VHS version of Ai City...
With psychics, apocalyptic action, giant robots, car chases and even a bunny girl, Ai City still manages to suck. One of the things that really annoyed me were the numbers that appear on the foreheads of the characters when they fight.
The story is somewhat convoluted and as it progressed, I found myself losing interest in seeing how everything turns out. But, I persevered and sat through the entire feature. There are an odd assortment of random effects and visuals thrown into a blender and leading up to a truly anti-climactic pay-off.
Right Stuf has a habit of releasing titles in the U.S. that might not otherwise find a home in U.S. distribution, but, their releases tend to fall in either the really good bucket or, as is the case with Ai City, the really bad bucket. There isn't really a middle ground for Right Stuf releases. I ended up giving Ai City my lowest score, a 0 out of 5. I had AI City on subtitled VHS. In the aftermath of the Ultimate Otaku Fall Cleanup, I decided not to keep it in my archive.
According to the Anime Movie Guide by Helen McCarthy (page 41). ISBN# 0-87951-781-6:The future doesn't look much different from the present. That's just it: it doesn't look much different. Except for the gleaming Fraud Tower, New York City seems identical to today. There are still life and death struggles played out on the streets. The difference is that the battle this time is between Kai, a failed Psionic experiment, and one considerably more successful. The battle is over an enigmatic little girl alleged to have the power to destroy the world as they know it. The question is: who is working to save the planet, and who is trying to bring about Armageddon and why. Can Kei figure out the truth before its too late?
Epitomizing all the traditional anime characteristics, this thrill-ride movie includes psychics, apocalyptic action, giant robots, car chases and even a bunny girl.
The "ai" in the title is a multiple pun, referring to the name of the lead character, Artificial Intelligence, and, of course, the japanese word for love. "Ai shite", the nearest japanese pronunciation of the title, means "make love".
With psychics, apocalyptic action, giant robots, car chases and even a bunny girl, Ai City still manages to suck. One of the things that really annoyed me were the numbers that appear on the foreheads of the characters when they fight. The story is somewhat convoluted and as it progressed, I found myself losing interest in seeing how everything turns out. But, I persevered and sat through the entire feature. There are an odd assortment of random effects and visuals thrown into a blender and leading up to a truly anti-climactic pay-off.
Right Stuf has a habit of releasing titles in the U.S. that might not otherwise find a home in U.S. distribution, but, their releases tend to fall in either the really good bucket or, as is the case with Ai City, the really bad bucket. There isn't really a middle ground for Right Stuf releases. I ended up giving Ai City my lowest score, a 0 out of 5. I had AI City on subtitled VHS. In the aftermath of the Ultimate Otaku Fall Cleanup, I decided not to keep it in my archive.
