California Crisis - 1986
California Crisis is a 45 minute OVA by the largely unkwown Studio Unicorn. A small, independent company that set out to do a few ambitious projects but failed to cause more than a blip on the radar before going the way of the dodo. California Crisis is very unique for many reasons. As the name suggests it's set in Southern California, spread over a range of locations from San Diego, Orange County to Los Angeles. The time flashes on the screen when a key scene or location changes. You can tell the creators were striving to push the boundaries of style with this one, seen particurly clearly by the way the character designs and high contrast animation style are constructed. Only Megazone 23 Part II has used such a similiar technique and that came out in the same year, which shows what little effect it had on the industry.
More extensive review & screenshots coming soon - English Subtitled Fansub now available below:
Download Here - California Crisis
Overall Grade/Rating: A-
Commercial Availability: VHS (Japan), LD (Japan)
21 comments:
I wish I had a VHS copy to contribute, as I'd love to see this rare gem.
Fingers crossed for a future find.
I saw a portion of this in raw on youtube a while ago. It would be nice to see a VHS rip of it, I've been waiting forever for this one.
Have you tried Yahoo auctions Japan or anything like that? They may have something.
This link goes to a guy that apparently bought a copy of the video about to years ago. I don't know if this will help you in your quest for CC, but then again he might be able to point you in the right direction.
http://tiny9ie.blogspot.com/2007/08/california-crisis-gun-salvo-1986.html
I cant take this anymore!!Someone pls Find a copy!Looks like I might have to buy one off of yahoo auction.jp. I just need to find someone that can bid for me overseas then I can send them money!
Nice. This sounds promising. I love to see old and rare animes if they're good and usually not too violent (like Go Nagai series). By the way, may I ask what you are planning to do next? I would suggest Jigoku Sensei Nube movie / oav as it would be easy to find and only Spanish subs are available at the moment.
AWESOME!! I can't WAIT To finally check this one out, the animation looks amazing!! Thank you so much!!
AAAAHHHHGGGG.... I've been waiting for this for so long and now the link is dead. Man rotten timing on my part.
Anyways, great site and thanks for all the great work.
Link updated since a verson 2 was created to fix a minor spelling mistake. Next release will be Maryuu Senki hopefully.
FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ive been waiting for so long and its finally out:)Thank you so much:)You are the best!Keep up the good work:) I tell all my friends about your site:)
Great!! Looking forward to Maryuu Senki
So Umm, the ending?
*SPOILERS* DO NOT READ
What was the purpose of the Space Mind?
A nice cover of the VHS for you:
http://img268.imageshack.us/i/se0825.jpg/
By the way there are english subs existing for Maryu Senki:
http://www.akiba-online.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131735
@Area88
Thank you, i wish more people share
80s goodness like you, they are very underrated
I just finished Love Position :'(
so awesome
Thanks for presenting California Crisis. I've never seen it and was quite entertained. Especially the music! What cool funky stuff! The American 80's as seen through Japanese animators..how cool. I'm ordering the VHS just to have a piece of this interesting culture. Thanks for turning me on to it!
I just finished watching this show. Here are my thoughts:
California Crisis had an amazing artistic style, a lot like Stan Drake's or Milton Caniff's work. But unfortunately, the miserably lame script didn't do the artwork any justice at all.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Just to mention the most glaring flaws, neither of the characters change in any way during the story (by the end, one is still a shiftless drunk; the other is still a giddy airhead). In spite of the time they spend together, no hint of any affection ever rises between them (even when the girl strips naked and invites her companion to join her in bed!).
The car chases (which make up at least 50% of the film) are beautifully animated but unbelievable, even by Terminator standards. Peripheral characters come and go but don't advance the story in any way.
And worst of all, we never find out a thing about the "Space Mind," what it wants (if anything), or even what it is. By the show's end, neither we nor the characters we can't care about have discovered anything at all.
It's easy to see why this OVA was the first and last for its studio. I'd recommend watching it -- once -- for its unusual and very effective artwork, but don't expect anything remotely resembling a coherent story.
Thanks a lot for this pretty cool OVA.
The script as mentioned had some major flaws but the animation and artwork were excellent.
Cheers,
Rob.
PS; What are the differences between the BOX release and the ACR release?
Does anyone have the Miho Fujiwara California crisi ost ? Area88 you might have this as well.
As an alternative if the MegaUpload expires, it appears there is a tracker for this anime listed at http://bt.edwardk.info/groups/animeclassicreviews/
Nice animation but the bad plot makes it disappointing in the end. Thx for the upload.
I've actually had a harder time finding a RAW copy. This was a really interesting Anime and I was looking to use it for a project. Anyone know where I could get my hands on a RAW without subs? I've been looking everywhere T^T.
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