out of nowhere into our anime club screenings of the slack 1980s. Serve then it
became all novel and keen; Prefectural High College Earth Protection Pressure, as we
mislabeled it, became confirmed with as distinguished fanfare or anticipation as Urusei Yatsura
or Vampire Hunter D or Soiled Pair or Zeta Gundam or Macross or Madox 01 or
Bubblegum Disaster; it became all novel to us.
What made PEDF stand out, even to our profoundly uneducated
eyes, became very straightforward; it’s undeniable crazy. The component is silly in a truly particular
cartoon vogue that transcends language, culture, class, creed, inch, faith
or national foundation. After two decades I’m
restful dropping it onto unsuspecting audiences and getting laughs; a video treasure
that is likely to be a rare beast indeed. Sure, or now not it’s paunchy of particular Jap pop-culture references,
the more or less references that fill most contemporary “comedy”. But here it’s a bonus, now not the most main
attraction; PEDF succeeds in spite of the Varan the Unparalleled sequence or
the Rainbowman aside, goofy ample without rubbing your nose in your fill otaku
stink.
model of mecha-infused SF – spaceships, ray guns, inferior aliens, huge monsters,
robots – that we’d imprint parlayed into legions of rubber-suit monster films and
silver-suited huge-hero TV reveals. Kenritsu Chikyû Bôeigun, on the diversified hand,
is the flip facet of Japan’s
devour of science patrols and sentai teams – a low-finances militia financed
on a tiny municipal finances, smooth of a failed baseball group, a foreign
change pupil, and a morally suspect college consultant. Fortunately, their adversaries are correct as goofy;
wanna-be world dominators seemingly geared up with mountainous-scientific weapons and
legions of faceless minions, but hamstrung by melodramatic ineptitude.
1986’s Prefectural Earth Protection Pressure OVA became, treasure so many
diversified OAV, in accordance to a manga: Koichiro Yasunaga’s PEDF ran in Shonen Sunday from
1983 unless 1985, with a subsequent 4-quantity reprint. Yasunaga’s later work
involves Kaseijin Deka (Martian Detective) and the superhero spoof Chō
Kankaku Analman, which is correct as
downhearted as it sounds. He has a enjoyable, active anime-manga vogue that suits
correct in with 80s Shonen Sunday, more or less a cleaner, less raggedy version of
what fellow Sunday artist Kazuhiko Shimamoto became doing in his contemporaneous
Blazing Transfer Pupil. Both the PEDF funny and the cartoon are infused with
an infectious sense of enjoyable, the the same more or less nonsensical goofball whack-a-doodlery
that you get in the last observe Urusei Yatsura or Sasuga No Sarutobi comics, infested
with nerd-culture shoutouts treasure chapter titles parodies of Ultra Seven episodes
or naming a distinguished character after the composer of Godzilla’s theme tune.
with the OVA, you know how the manga begins. Warned by a threatening pay-cell phone
name, the governor of an unnamed Kyushu
prefecture needs a protection against the arena-domination plans of the Phone Pole
Crew, who comprise decided to initiate up tiny and initiate their world dominating from the
vicinity of the local high college. Thus: Prefectural Earth Protection Pressure. Guarantees of a
pudgy expense yarn convince high schoolers Morita, Sukekubo, and Akiko Ifukube
to abandon their dreams of Koshien glory and as a change turn out to be an Earth-defending
justice league, overseen by math instructor Roberi. But can their mixed energy and
clearance-sale uniforms withstand the onslaught of scramble dynasty scion
Chilthonian Bunzaemon Jr and his Phone Pole Crew? Phone Pole tactical commander Baradagi
enlists the mountainous ESP powers of Marker Light
– whose psychic abilities are limited to greens – to start out the assault on
decency and correct authorities. Yams fly thru the air and the warfare for mankind
begins; an ever escalating whirlwind of unguided cyborg missiles, seaside
parties, flying greens, mohawked musclemen, faceless minions, and Receive collectively
Beams.
Indian change pupil and unintended 8,000 horsepower
cyborg Kami Santin escapes from the university sanatorium and is found out by college
supervisor Roberi, who mistakes Santin for a drunken co-ed. Santin is duly enlisted into the PEDF, in
spite of his hatred of all things Jap. Sooner than this newcomer is even
successfully scoped out by our nosy heroes, Baradagi arrives with the Phone Pole
Crew’s high agent Scope Tsurusaki to try and talk Santin into switching teams,
ensuing in missile-firing, nose-punching, home-destroying hell breaking
loose.
Santin turns into the point of interest of the Phone Pole Crew’s efforts
but world domination is overshadowed by the day-to-day antics of the goofs on
all aspects. Baradagi goes undercover
as a high college pupil named Ryuko Hara – smartly, k, she genuinely IS a high
college pupil named Ryuko Hara, working fragment-time for the Phone Pole Crew – to
develop a scandal by seducing Roberi. The Phone Pole Crew’s fill cyborg-gal Yuko
arrives to execute Santin, who doesn’t are looking out for to strive against but whose missiles are likely to be now not
repeatedly below his management. An after-hours Morita and Baradagi build aside their
day-job distinction for a date. Ifukube meets her ideal, the Mohawk-wearing beefcake
Fight Japan, the PEDF is menaced by the
Jap-language-deficient, crossdressing Baltimore Boys, and Masked New Year blasts
his Receive collectively Beam which at the moment transforms any neighborhood of folks into a wild New
Years party. Yuko is modified into relieve into a
long-established human, albeit of a decided intercourse, then modified relieve into a girl and
cloned, whereas Santin also gets the Christine Jorgensen treatment.
Glycogen X in hand-to-hand karaoke fight, Santin’s scramble exec sister Pamela arrives
to sell Santin on the glories of the Phone Pole Crew, Baradagi is compelled into
bicycle tofu offer hell, and inevitably, all and sundry visits Los Angeles. With out discover it’s 1985 and time for the manga
to entire (rather than a doujinshi sequel). The fable doesn’t stop there, then over again; Japan became in the course of an OAV insist and what
more deserving property might possibly well per chance there be than Kenritsu Chikyû Bôeigun, I
quiz you? None, that’s what.
We be half of the (directed
by animation frail Keiji “Future Boy Conan” Hayakawa) PEDF in the course of Morita’s earthshaking mountainous science-fiction
dream which is helpfully described in the lyrics of the rockin’ theme song by
Jap energy pop trio Johnny, Louis & Char (Johnny Yoshinaga, Luis Kabe,
and Japan’s national guitar hero Char). Whereas Morita and Sukekubo snore, an
offended Santin escapes from the local university sanatorium, our prefectural
governor gets his world domination cell phone name, and your entire gadgets for
Prefectural Earth Defending tumble into build. With animation abilities treasure Urusei
Yatsura veterans Katsumi Aoshida and Shichiro Kobayashi it’s no shock we’re
in store for UY vogue bonks, booms, grunts and pows as Santin’s missiles meet
Scope Tsurusaki’s Ultra Scope, milk-drinking Chilthonian performs host to the
Prefectural Governor’s pleasing secretary, and nobody’s safe when Santin spots
Roberi with Baradagi.
Santin and Yuko are waking up with all-novel aftermarket factors and Morita and
Ryuko/Baradagi are strolling the streets hand in hand to the wistful sounds of
Johnny, Louis & Char as the credits roll.
The notify-to-video format appears to be like finest for titles treasure PEDF; the
subject fabric might possibly well per chance now not stretch as efficiently into a 2-hour feature or a TV season
but as a 50 minute OVA you’re left entertained and unhappy there isn’t more.
Colonel Baradagi, Scope Tsurusaki, and buddy
on VHS, Beta, the shortlived VHD format, and Laserdisc. As distinguished as it made
American fans snicker, it never accomplished the build of fellow ’86 releases treasure
Guyver, MD Geist, Megazone 23 fragment 2, or Gall Pressure. Alternatively, when the North American anime insist
in the stop hit in the mid 2000s and everything else became getting an American
initiate, PEDF became repeatedly on the tip of our wish checklist. Someway in 2006 ADV decided to take among the money they had been
throwing at that stay-trail Evangelion film (how’d that work out for you?)
and spend it on releasing Prefectural Earth Protection Pressure as a limited edition
subtitle-finest DVD, sold notify through ADV’s web page.
Promotional and advertising for the initiate became apologetic and/or
nonexistent; news websites claimed it became of interest finest to odd-college die-hards
who might possibly well per chance wish seen it fansubbed relieve in the day and that contemporary audiences
would now not imprint your entire references or the parodies, and henceforth would
now not abilities it. Here’s needless to declare entire nonsense; audiences utterly
odd with any develop of Jap animation had been laughing themselves
unimaginative over PEDF for years, and the nearly high-secret ADV initiate sold out in about ten minutes. Are trying
shopping it this day for lower than $100. Traipse on, try. I’ll wait.
of history is proved anew with the fable of the Prefectural Earth Protection Pressure,
a video that came out of nowhere, made us snicker, vanished, came visiting again out of
nowhere, made us snicker, and over again vanished. Will it ever return? Have we seen
the final of Morita, Santin, and Colonel Baradagi? The solution is on the wind, blowing
past Imazuru High College, whistling forlornly through the cell phone
poles.