This movie was pre-viewed at the New York Comic Con / Anime Festival. Probably 600-700 saw it, and I was one of them. There. That gets the whole "How can you review something that isn't out yet" problem.The story revolves around Kakashi, a boy with no memory of his past. The only thing he has from his past is his cell phone, but it is broken. In the time/planet (never states what planet or where they are)they live in, aliens come everyday to fight someone, a single, random person. Of course, the aliens are super strong, and no one is a match. But then they fight Kakashi, who, for some reason, can take on the aliens. So, from that day on, a single alien comes each day to fight him.
Kakashi lives in a house with two other men. One, about Kakashi's age, is called Arikawa. He is best friends with Kakashi. The other is Shiro, who is something of a father for both of them. They both know of the alien fighting, and give him moral support.
Overall, it is a great movie. The characters are all unique and interesting. The story is well paced, and it all leads up to a memorable ending. The movie is a bit short (a little under 30 minutes), but it is able to give as much of a story as a full length picture does.
As a fair warning, the creator of this movie, Soubi Yamamoto, does a lot of work for yaoi themed (but not full-on yaoi romance scenes, as the subject is normally thought of) stuff, and it does show in this movie. It teases at a romance, the characters are very feminine, and even the art style is similar to yaoi art.
I will not tell people to buy this because of the yaoi, and I definitely will not advise against it (I am not a yaoi fan!). Buy this movie. Great story, great characters, and a great ending.
Overall, great movie.
There are other shorts here from the same creator with Robotica Robotics having an additional boys love/friendship focus their or even more than that as two robots Haru and Natsu explore their relationship with each other and with the person who adopted them Masa, and the meaning of love. It was really emotional and touching and quite memorable.
The other shorts dwell on the question of the world ending and such or the feasibility of their world and have good music or serve as showing that certain elements served as inspiration for the main feature.
The disc also has an interview with the creator. Ultimately it is a good value for the money and a really memorable experience, definitely check it out as it is a good purchase.
Buy This Boy Can Fight Aliens (2012) Now
Back in 1999, a young man in Japan named Makoto Shinkai who worked for video game company Falcom, would go to work on a five minute animated piece titled "She and Her Cat" and would eventually win a major animation contest. The young man would then go to work in creating an animated OVA titled "Voices of a Distant Star" created by himself on a Mac.And since then, Makoto Shinkai has become one of the rarities in the anime industry, who used the current technology available in software and home computers, to create his own anime. And while he won awards, many people in the anime industry warned that this is rare and not anyone can just go and create their own anime OVA like Makoto.
CoMix Wave Films, who are known for their distribution of Makoto Shinkai's work have featured another young anime creator, who has literally created anime shorts by herself and also was inspired by Makoto Shinkai.
Her name is Soubi Yamamoto, a manga and anime fan, a big fan of Shonen Ai games (stories featuring boys in love or affectionate towards each other), who would go on to create several shorts on her iMac, using software such as Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, RETAS, ComicStudio and Cinema 4D.
Similar to Shinkai, Soubi would create a few anime shorts such as "Sekaike Sekairon", "ra/radio noise planet" and "Robotica Robotics" and then later, create something longer at 30 minutes. The result was an anime OVA titled "This Boy Can Fight Aliens".
And now, the OVA along with her three shorts was released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.
VIDEO:
"This Boy Can Fight The Aliens" and the three shorts are presented in 1080p High Definition. One thing that separates Soubi Yamamoto from Makoto Shinkai, is that Shinkai was more focused on developing anime that looked like a big budget studio had made it. He also emphasized on character development and storyline. For Soubi Yamamoto, unlike Shinkai who was influenced by science fiction, she was influenced by Shonen-Ai.
With that being said, Soubi Yamamoto takes a more creative, artistic style of animation and graphic design to her work. While Shinkai emphasized clouds and character, Soubi Yamamoto's style is visual in terms of utilizing space with colors, with text boxes, with literally like looking at a manga panel, as much space is used for her design. And so, it was great to see a creative person utilize an anime OVA in this kind of nontraditional approach.
As for the Blu-ray release, "This Boy Can Fight Aliens" is presented in 1080p High Definition and is absolutely vibrant in HD. Soubi emphasizes colors that pop, while characters have emphasis in their eye areas. If anything, her approach is entirely artistic and the OVA and the included three shorts look great on Blu-ray!
AUDIO:
"This Boy Can Fight" is presented in English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Dialogue and effects are concentrated on the front channels and for the main OVA, the dialogue is crystal clear. It's important to note that the shorts vary. As one can expect from low budget, home-made animation, she utilized what she can to capture the voices. And so the Japanese vocal track may seem a bit uneven, or even to high at times for the shorts. While the English vocal tracks are well-done!
But for the most part, dialogue, special effects and music are well-done for this independent project and the English dub is well-acted by Blake Shepard, Dave Matranga and Greg Ayres.
Subtitles are featured in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"This Boy Can Fight Aliens" comes with the following special features:
Sekaikei Sekairon (4:47) An animated short created by Soubi Yamamoto, about a teenager named Rorogi Mutsusuki and whether or not he wants to destroy the world.
ra/radio noise planet (3:33) Mr. Tanaka's adventures as he walks and talks to different characters that he encounters.
Robotica Robotics (10:39) Two robots named Haru and Natsu and their scientist/master named Masa. Haru wants to know more about love.
Interview with Soubi Yamamoto A short text-based interview with Soubi.
Trailers Sentai Filmwork trailers.
JUDGMENT CALL:
When the first Makoto Shinkai DVD's were released, I was immediately supportive for the fact that one individual can create an anime OVA on their own, using their home computer and software, that was absolutely amazing to me and the quality of his work was fantastic.
Here we are today with Soubi Yamamoto and another person who was able to create her own anime OVA via solo on an iMac and a few software and has caught the attention of the anime industry as well.
Granted, while Soubi was inspired by Makoto Shinkai, both of their work is like comparing apples and oranges. For Soubi Yamamoto, her work does lean more towards bishounen and Shoujo-Ai style. For "This Boy Can Fight Aliens", the main character Kakashi has endured some emotional trauma, to the point that he has forgotten things in his life, but most importantly, how to utilize the amazing power to defeat the aliens which have invaded Earth.
Arikawa is a man who wants to help Kakashi and you can tell that both young men are quite affectionate towards each other.
But the story focuses on one man struggling with himself and starting to doubt his purpose in life. While the story is straightforward, as one can expect from 30 minute OVA, Soubi Yamamoto has said there is more to the story that she would like to tell. And hopefully, she would be able to get the opportunity to extend the story of Kakashi in a full animated series.
But I tend to look at "This Boy Can Fight Aliens", similar to Makoto Shinkai's evolution as an anime creator, as a learning process that will lead to bigger things. Shinkai started out with a five minute short "She and Her Cat" and then went on to create "Voices of a Distant Star" ("Hoshi no Koe"). Granted, Makoto Shinkai's first major work was a rarity, the animation and art backgrounds were breathtaking and magnificent, the use of lighting and the story telling was well done. But as professionals in the anime industry have said, Makoto Shinkai and what he was able to accomplish was a rarity.
For Soubi Yamamoto, it's a different style. "This Boy Can Fight Aliens" is sci-fi but relies less on the actual fighting and focuses more on the emotional aspect, the relationships of characters and moreso on visual creativity. Not in a realistic way, but something more like bringing a shoujo manga page to life. Full of colors, utilizing as much space as possible and with so many things featured on screen, you may find yourself discovering something new with each viewing of the OVA.
So, in a way, "This Boy Can Fight Aliens" is a Blu-ray release that is more like a showcase of what Soubi Yamamoto had accomplish on her own so far, but the next step is to see how much she evolves in her next major project. Possibly a longer storyline or even working with a staff. We have seen Makoto Shinkai move on to bigger projects and I would like to see Soubi Yamamoto be given a chance to work on something bigger, because she does have amazing talent.
When this Blu-ray is released, many will be hearing or reading that is a "yaoi" release. There are no scenes of guys kissing each other or anything like that. It's pretty much guys who are affectionate towards each other verbally or may it be a gesture of holding one's hand and giving them encouragement. So, those who are wondering if this is a "yaoi" release, the answer is no.
As for the Blu-ray release, while 30 minutes may seem short for the OVA, fortunately her three animated shorts are included as special features and viewers can see how she has evolved as an anime creator in her work. But the picture quality of each of these shorts and the main OVA are vibrant and the inclusion of the English voice dub for each of the animated shorts was great as well (considering most US anime companies in the past have tend to dub the main feature and not the special features). If I have any problems with this release, I wish it would have included a video-based interview than text-based interview with Soubi Yamamoto, an audio commentary by Soubi would have been a great addition as well.
Overall, "This Boy Can Fight Aliens" is a worthy Blu-ray release for the anime fans who are appreciative of independent talent that are coming from Japan. Appreciating the work of an individual who is passionate about creating anime and willing to do it on their home computer and using software and dreaming that their work can be appreciated by a group of people, let alone people all over the world. Makoto Shinkai accomplished that a decade ago, and now for Soubi Yamamoto, this is her time to shine!
Read Best Reviews of This Boy Can Fight Aliens (2012) Here
First of all, this is not a BL (or yaoi) anime. The character designs and visuals seem to be distracting fans over here, which I think is unfortunate because although This Boy Can Fight Aliens is only a little longer than a regular anime TV episode, it's got a lot to say and deserves a bigger audience. I was surprised by how much I liked it, and I watched this Blu twice in one week! Let's make it a big success so the creator's new indie film in the This Boy series can also come over.Want This Boy Can Fight Aliens (2012) Discount?
I didn't know anything about this title besides "up-and-coming writer/director," "light scifi," and "subtle BL" and gave it a shot based on that. Unfortunately, nowhere in the buzz or on the product page was it mentioned that "This Boy Can Fight Aliens" was essentially a youtube/niconicodouga make-it-yourself animation project and only 28 minutes long, to boot. Yes, it would be a very well-made, substantial and lengthy offering for a yt/niconico film, but as a standalone blu-ray that people pay $15+ for? Definitely not worth it. (no special features either)As for the film itself, aside from the disappointing lack of full-motion animation as I mentioned, the voice acting is good, the writing was solid and the story itself was interesting/had promise, though it hardly had time to be fleshed out properly with the brief 28-minute runtime. The story opens on Kakashi, a teenaged boy (the eyepatch kid on the cover) wrapping up a one-on-one fight with an odd-looking alien creature. He dispatches the alien handily and is then greeted by Arikawa, a beaming, wide-eyed young man (apparently in his 20's? I thought he was the high school student!) who is essentially his "handler" from the government. He is also Kakashi's erstwhile guardian as Kakashi has amnesia and the government has thus far been unable to find his identity and family for some reason. Kakashi and Arikawa are joined by one other housemate--their grouchy commander and household cook, Shiro--and the three of them basically make up the teeny, odd little outpost that is mankind's last hope against an alien invasion.
Speaking of which--a giant alien mothership has anchored itself in Earth's atmosphere and sends one alien down to the surface daily--not to negotiate or make declarations of conquest or any such thing. It simply comes down and... fights Kakashi. Every day. One alien. And for some reason, Kakashi, who appears to be a normal teenaged boy, is able to beat them up, ostensibly saving the world on a daily basis.
Plausibility issues aside, the premise is cute--Kakashi is a lost teenager thrown into a bewildering situation, just trying to keep his head above water while figuring out who he is and where he fits in the world--quite literally in this case, because of his amnesia. The truly interesting psychological bit is that he actually DOES have one clue to his ID--a dead cellphone that he is somewhat afraid to charge/turn on in case it turns out no one from his old life has tried to find him in all the months he's been gone. That and one quite poignant scene with Arikawa and some beautiful imagery/symbolism made me feel this movie was not a complete waste of time.
In fact, the story has a lot of potential, as I mentioned. I just wish that before rushing to release it on DVD/blu-ray, some animation studio had seen that promise and animated it properly. I can honestly say the thrown-together "youtube video" look--while interesting when intentionally done on certain types of films--does nothing to enhance this particular story. The action scenes, especially, would be miles better if fully animated. So I'd rec watching this if it's streaming legally online somewhere or waiting until the DVD price is $5 or less. Otherwise, not worth the money.
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