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Title:
  Adventures with Iczer 3

UK Distributor:  Manga Entertainment (DVD Only)

BBFC Certificate:  12

Suggested Retail Price (SRP):  £14.99

Episodes:  1-6 (of 6)

Audio Options:  English DTS, English 5.1, English 2.0

Subtitles:  none

Reviewer:  Rich (Webmaster)

 

It's been a while since there has been a release under Manga Entertainment's much maligned budget Manga Collection label, but this month sees it return after undergoing something of a facelift.  The drab packaging of past releases is gone in favour of a more eye-catching and individual design, and the budget price point remains, but what other improvements have been made?  Well on the evidence of this title not many, despite the flashy new cover (which is a definite improvement for the Manga Collection) Adventures with Iczer 3 is still a very basic budget release, with minimal extras (a few Manga trailers) and no Japanese dub track.

Adventures with Iczer 3 begins with a battle between the powerful warrior Iczer 1 and the malevolent Neos Gold, the last of an evil force who threatened the peace of the universe.  Both are seriously wounded in their exchange and retreat to recuperate but Neos Gold uses her minions to launch a sneak attack on Earth, a planet Iczer 1 is sworn to protect, and conquers it with ease.  Unable to defend the Earth herself due to her injuries, Iczer 1 sends her younger sister Iczer 3 to Earth to drive back Neos' forces until she can recover and defeat Neos once and for all.  However, Iczer 3 isn't alone in her task, once on Earth she joins with the crew of the Queen Fuji - Earth's last remaining space cruiser - and psychically links with Nagisa, a human girl who can help her to unlock her greatest powers.

As a series Adventures with Iczer 3 isn't terrible, but it suffers from something that a lot of older OVA series did - it's the sequel to an earlier show that isn't available here and as such expects a level of familiarity with the franchise that UK viewers generally won't have.  Because of this it frequently makes little sense, leaving you with a constant feeling that you have missed something, particularly when Nagisa suddenly becomes important without actually doing anything.  Plot wise Adventures with Iczer 3 is pretty standard sci-fi action fare, with super powered alien warriors and plenty of fighting, it even finds time to lob in a giant robot and some fantastical weapons, but on the whole is pretty unremarkable.  Visually the series is little better than VHS quality, and the character art is unspectacular, but the mechanical art on the ships and enemy fortress is superb.  In fact this would raise it above average if it wasn't for one big problem - the dub.

English dubs are not a bad thing.  I'll get that out of the way now.  Most are excellent but it is when you watch something like this that you see how bad they can be, and where the criticism of them comes from.  The English dub in Adventures with Iczer 3 is shocking, no other words can be used.  The accents are laughable and inconsistent, frequently flitting between American and English, and most of the actors sound completely uninterested.  It's because of this that it's a shame there is no Japanese dub as the English one is a big drawback for a series that wasn't that spectacular to begin with.

All in all Adventures with Iczer 3 isn't awful, but it isn't great either.  Its claims to Lovecraftian influences seem hollow, with the only signs being Neos' Giger-esque fortress and a couple of references to 'Cthuwulf' (which appears to be a copyright friendly version of Cthulhu), and the story is pretty average.  It does have some nice mechanical design and, with a running time of over three hours at a budget price, it does offer value for money, but there are far better series available.  An below average bit of retro sci-fi and nothing more.

Best Bit:  Neos' interestingly designed fortress

Worst bit:  The voice acting

Ratings

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