Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking out a new production, as we explore the first episode of late-90s OVA Agent Aika. The show falls in a venerable tradition of fanservice-laden action-adventure projects that flourished following the widespread adoption of home VHS players, which allowed artists to bypass the strict standards of TV broadcasting, and create explicitly adult-aimed entertainment for the broadening anime market. Agent Aika director Katsuhiko Nishijima was basically a legend of this era, having directed the similarly horny Megami Paradise and Najica Blitz Tactics, alongside the monumental Project A-ko (from which I suspect Agent Aika derives its name).
Nishijima wrote, boarded, and directed this first episode, so we’ll clearly be seeing about as unfiltered an example of his aesthetic philosophy as possible. He is here complemented by frequent collaborator Noriyasu Yamauchi, who would work as character designer and animation director on a number of Nishijima projects, and still occasionally lends his AD talents to modern productions like Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon (dear lord modern titling conventions are obnoxious). They are both essential figures of an oft-overlooked era in anime history, so I’m eager to get better acquainted, and Agent Aika’s tale of post-apocalyptic ruin exploration sounds like a lovely place to start. Let’s get to it!
Episode 1
We open on a cruise ship offering an “ocean tour of Saitama,” immediately establishing our post-flood setting, with major Japanese cities now entirely underwater. Having been recently watching more ‘80s anime OVAs and adapted films like Megazone 23 and Venus Wars, I’ve become fond of how rapidly they thrust the audience into the action, and how much they trust that audience to catch up with their worlds at the pace of the characters residing within them. It feels like a far cry from the often exposition-drenched modern system, where shows take full episodes to explain that yes, this is another version of Dragon Quest we’re trapped inside
Their ship is currently floating over Tokyo
Well then! The camera just jumps to a direct upskirt short as she continues her exposition, immediately fulfilling this OVA’s promise of senseless fanservice. The old pantyshot-focused style of fanservice always feels kind of strange to me; I know it feeling invasive is part of the appeal, like you’re “seeing something you shouldn’t,” but this kind of dramatically inert pantyshot lacks any sort of sensuality, any intentionality in what is being shown, or who it is being shown to. It is the eroticism of a dirty magazine hastily scanned by an adolescent before being returned to the shelf, and I can’t imagine it does much for anyone who has passed that stage of sexual development
Granted, the internet hadn’t been widely embraced by ‘97, so I imagine we’re all also desensitized to the prospect of some panties and maybe a boob
Monogatari actually uses this distinction in eroticism and intent to purposeful dramatic effect; there are times when characters will be naked but lacking in any sensuality, and others when characters are fully clothed yet emanating sexual intent. Framing, character acting, and character intentionality are all key aspects of sensuality as drama, whereas this scene is more like “hey, here’s a butt”
This actually reminds me of HBO’s style of “sexposition,” where they combine their need to cover a degree of exposition with their need to throw some sex at the audience, resulting in an amusingly discordant, indifferent approach to eroticism
The state of the water’s rise is neatly conveyed through Tokyo Tower’s near-submerged state
The character art is gentle and expressive; less sharp lines or distorted chins than the extremes of ‘90s character design, but still trending in that direction in a pleasant, nostalgic way. I like how this tour guide’s nose is expressed largely through its shadow
She then guides our attention underwater, introducing the underwater salvagers who are our actual leads
Fun, energetic rock OP – like much of ‘90s anime music, it sounds a whole lot like ‘80s new wave music with a slight touch of hard rock
I suppose that’s why I like ‘00s anime OPs so much – they sound like ‘90s indie rock, which will always be my heart’s sound
Looks like we’ll also be running into some jet fighters at some point? This OP appears to have transitioned from “scrappy salvage crew” to sentai villains
“Trial 1: Beautiful Agent.” Yep, that’s the pitch
Salvage work is immediately conflated with sexual release as we open the episode proper, with Aiko suggestively posed and breathing heavily while extracting a case from the sea floor. Well, that’s certainly trying harder than the tour guide panty shots
Hahaha, this diving apparatus. Their craft leaves them with legs spread-eagle, essentially forcing continuous panty shots. Again, fanservice without sexuality – just “here are some panties”
Oh no, their salvage is stolen by a rival named Gusto! Their crafts sorta remind me of Outlaw Star’s grappler spaceships, with attached arms for fighting. Granted, these arms are somewhat more justified as tools for extracting salvage
Aika’s partner is Rion, and she has an incredible knack for getting tossed about the cabin into suggestive poses. Also her miniskirt could only possibly hide her panties from one exact dead-on angle with no active breeze, so long as she never sits down
Nice explosive impact frames as something bursts free of the ocean floor. Seems our “relic hunter” premise lasted all of about five minutes, as we’re now transitioning to some kind of martial conspiracy
Man, the texture of cel animation is just so inherently charming, as are these depictions of (admittedly post-apocalyptic) ‘90s Japan
Rion’s father is their boss
He’s apparently a bit of a romantic, taking an old-school business approach in a cutthroat new world. Gesturing towards a larger cultural conflict there, as post-bubble Japan began to reconsider the contract between employee and employer, and abandon the concept of a lifelong “company man”
Aika is of course introduced with a saucy saxophone riff, one of those classic “ooh sexy lady” trills. I am perpetually amused by the similar riff used for Nico Robin eye catches in One Piece
Aika’s uniform is a bit odd; it seems much like an airplane stewardess uniform
Yep, that’s what I thought – Rion’s dad is played by the always-recognizable Akio Otsuka, one of the great gruff voices of anime
“This is my home. I just want to protect it.” Aika embodies the same view of employment as Rion’s dad – she sees the company as her home. Just as her work focuses on securing and venerating the past, so does she respect the past in her personal life
Ah, to live in the cheerful megacities of OVA-era anime. I know these are supposed to feel post-apocalyptic, but frankly, we’re already experiencing the apocalypse, and its aesthetics are way less cool than in these stories
They meet up with rival scavenger Gusto in a shadowed parking garage, and learn their job relates to a new energy source known as “Lagu”
Rather than scavenging, this job seems to involve corporate espionage. This show sure doesn’t seem interesting in its own ostensible premise
Suddenly, sexy warrior ladies in miniskirts attack!
Actually pretty fluid, reasonably choreographed fight animation, in spite of its apparent priority being to display as many panties as possible
The bad guys just stack all their knocked-out miniskirt goons in a truck for extraction, all of them with butts facing the sky. I feel like at a certain point even the intended audience must lose the transgressive thrill of seeing something they shouldn’t; panty shots are like the most common currency in this reality, not something to be craved or coveted
At the same time, it’s oddly more chaste than something like Megazone or Golgo 13, which lack this absurd density of panty shots, but actually feature sex scenes. As I said, a particularly adolescent approach to sexuality
Aika apparently has a… magic leotard of some kind? Presumably it’s a tool for transforming into the blue-haired maiden she visually parallels in the OP. We’re running through a remarkable gamut of subgenres in one episode!
Speaking of genre-hopping, we then cut to Aika preparing to take off in the company fighter jet
“Do you still blame yourself for what forced me into retirement?” It seems scavenging was the low-stress retirement plan for Aika and her boss, after a presumed mutual career as secret agents
We soon learn that Rion’s butt has stowed away on Aika’s plane, as well as the rest of her
Their enemy Miss Nena is busy spanking her subordinates on a pommel horse, as you do
She leads her rocket squad into battle dressed solely in lingerie and a bathrobe, apparently also as you do
Her brother Hargen is the head of this conspiracy
Another excellent panty shot non-sequitur as we listen to Hargen plot his machinations while the camera stares at a passing butt
I really like the punk rocker design of Gusto’s subordinate; he looks like an extra from Fist of the North Star
Hargen appears to have sunken his captain’s chair into the floor of the bridge so that he is better angled to admire the panties of all his subordinates
Lagu is then activated, sending what seems to be an EMP blast through Nena’s plane. Apparently little love lost between these siblings
The ubiquity of the EMP-based superweapon across anime speaks to the general ambiguity with which technology is frequently addressed. Shows like these often begin by establishing how our technologically driven world has isolated us from each other, trapped us in individual rat races and reoriented life around inhuman devices. Technology is thus framed as either a cradle in which to coddle humanity (Megazone 23, Akira, Ghost in the Shell) or a slow kind of death, but “escape” from that future is framed as equally ambiguous, a source of violent upheaval that must only be approached with the most humanist of intentions (Giant Robo, Patlabor)
These stories frequently feature young protagonists who embody not necessarily a better solution, but at least the hope that the next generation might find a better solution – and their villains are often equally ambiguous, more contemptible for the specific means of their technological liberation than their underlying philosophy. It’s a simultaneous love for and suspicion of technology that you see play out again and again across various productions, reflecting post-war idealism tempered by the collective memory of nuclear war. Individual creators like Hayao Miyazaki embody this contradiction; his genuine love of trains and planes is matched only by his contempt for a techno-hermetically sealed future
Aika’s leotard is indeed a transforming super-suit, leading to a transformation sequence that is precisely as horny as you’d expect for this series
I do very much miss this production’s other form of fanservice: luscious mechanical readouts and vehicles, all without a hint of CGI
She manages a landing on a mysterious island, just as Hargen approaches!
And Done
Well, that sure was a fun blast from the past. The fanservice was omnipresent to the point of kinda disappearing after a while; as I said, there was no real sexuality present here, just the adolescent transgression of seeing some panties flash on the screen. And that silliness aside, Aika’s journey is proving a diverting and handsomely realized action-adventure, rushing through subgenres and setpieces with total confidence that the viewer will keep up. I’m always happy to fill in more puzzle pieces in my overall impression of anime’s evolving aesthetics and thematic concerns, and Agent Aika is already proving a useful addition, bridging the gap between the ‘80s OVA era and the post-Evangelion late night era. Onward to the secrets of the island!
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