Psycho Diver

Publisher
MVM
Director
Mamoru Kobe
Production
AIC, Madhouse, Toei
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
45 mins
Year
1997

Psycho Diver

By Adam Cook
17th Jun 04

As a reviewer it is not nice being harsh on the films and series you get to review. I personally find little enjoyment in ripping any anime to shreds, yet occasionally some anime deserve exactly that, to be ripped to shreds for wasting my time and anyone else unfortunate enough to have to sit through this sorry excuse for an OVA.

Psycho Diver was released in 1997 and judging by the extensive and well respected animation studios that were involved in its inception it is amazing to see how poorly it turned out. Based on a novel by Baku Yumemakura the film centres on Bosujima - a tough, wise cracking psycho diver. Psycho Diver's are people that enter troubled minds and try to fix the problem. Bosujima is assigned to the case of Yuki Kano a young up and coming pop singer that is occasionally unable to sing and that also happens to possess 'special powers'.

I admit the concept had me intrigued, I was hoping for some interesting psychological elements accompanied by dark and disturbing images. Sadly barring a total of 5 minutes of actual psycho diving this OVA is a very traditional film noir mystery. Psycho Diver is so faithful to the conventions of a traditional film noir that it was very easy to predict what was likely to happen and even pre-empt some of the dialogue (which is truly atrocious but I will mention that later). The film has the standard retrospective voice over provided by our world weary hero as he leads the audience through the narrative to the eventual (supposedly surprising) conclusion. Likewise the animation is dominated by dark settings employing chiaroscuro techniques with long shadows and light only being emitted through open doors or cracks in the curtains. There is nothing inherently wrong with an anime following film noir conventions the problem with Psycho Diver is in its delivery and its general narrative.

The infrequent set pieces are all handled competently enough. The actual psycho dives provide the most interest and the most originality. In these sequences we witness what is in the troubled mind of Yuki and there is some wonderfully dark and perverse imagery within these scenes such as Yuki as a young child covered in blood, and a severed bandaged head on a stick. However, as mentioned earlier these sequences are all too infrequent and play a very small part in the film. Instead the film is dominated with a very flat, dull and unfulfilling detective story that has been poorly handled. Psycho Diver is a mere 45 minutes, in those three quarters of an hour the film makers have to convey what a psycho diver actually is, the story of Yuki, the general mystery with added twists along the way finally culminating in a conclusion that should tie up all the loose ends. There is a lot to cover in such a short space of time and sadly Psycho Diver fails miserably. Whilst a number of the twists are very obvious the general conclusion to the film is very unsatisfactory. As it reaches its climax most of the loose ends are tied up during several voice-over sequences, this rushed job removes any sense of tension or dramatic build up. In fact there is no sense of real drama in the film at all as the story is briskly explained in order to fit within the confines of the 45 minutes. Even the main villain of the piece only gets a couple of minutes in the limelight and this is where the second problem lies. The film struggles to really know what it wants to be. Is it trying to delve into the inner workings of a troubled girls mind and unlock the secrets to her power, or is it more interested in uncovering the identity and reasoning behind her manipulation? Whichever one it is it fails to deliver either as both elements are so rushed and poorly managed that the whole psycho diving element which would appear to be integral to the story considering it is in the title, is actually rather superfluous. The less said about the heavy handed and contrived love subplot the better. It really is full of the usual hackneyed nonsense and again is superfluous to the actual story.

But perhaps the biggest irritation in the film is the risible dialogue. This DVD release only has the English dub provided and it really is a bad dub. Perhaps I am beginning to sound like a broken record but most English dubs are atrocious however Psycho Diver takes the meaning of a bad dub to all new levels. Not only does it use fourth rate voice actors the actual dialogue they have to deliver is incredibly irksome. There were countless examples of lines I could have used but this one sums up the general level of incompetence that has been lavished on the script - "I come with a superior brain between my ears and a superior something else between my legs". As dialogue goes Psycho Diver repeatedly hits rock bottom.

The animation is adequate throughout without ever being spectacular. Some of the framing of shots has been handled well and the sparse use of lighting is used throughout providing a coherent visual style. The character design on the other hand is rather weak and unoriginal. The women all have large eyes and even larger breasts, and the men are large, with angular features. In fact you could replace any of the characters with a character from another standard detective anime and you would never be any the wiser.

The opening and closing themes are supposed to be songs from Yuki's album and they are very poor. Just as the dialogue is awful, so are the lyrics for the songs, and they all sound strangely out of key. The rest of the music in the film is passable but barely memorable with the standard classical scores that accompany these sorts of features.

Psycho Diver is a missed opportunity. The concept of being able to dive into a persons psyche provided an opportunity for the film to delve into interesting psychological issues, instead all we are left with is a rushed film noir tale that is full of cliches and some of the worst dialogue you are likely to come across.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: Original Trailer: Image Gallery: Trailers

Release information: MVM

Notes: The biggest problem with this DVD is the fact they neglected to add the original Japanese language version and considering how bad the English dub it would have been essential. The extras are very weak. The standard trailers are nothing more than filler, and I have never understood why original trailers get bundled on to DVD's as they are totally redundant in my eyes. The image gallery features around 10 stills from the feature, none of them are remotely interesting.

-- Adam Cook 17th Jun 04

Psycho Diver Images