Virus: Virus Buster Serge

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
12 eps / 25 mins each
Year
1997

Virus Buster Serge Box Set

By noghri
26th Mar 06

What Manga Entertainment say

Neo Hong Kong 2097- Genetic engineering and advanced cybernetics have successfully fused man and machine. But alongside this new technology, mankind faces an insidious new threat…digital viruses capable of controlling their hosts.

Review

The science-fiction mystery anime VIRUS BUSTER SERGE was directed by Masami Obari (FATAL FURY) and features the unusual character designs he is known for. His fans out there won't be disappointed with Virus Buster Serge, and thankfully enough the storyline is in my opinion good enough to class this story as a good all round show. Virus Buster Serge is a solid Sci-Fi title that reminded me a bit of Bubblegum Crisis refreshed for the 90’s of course I haven’t watched bubble gum crisis 2040 yet and so I have probably shot myself in the foot by saying that.

In the Hong Kong of the future, a strange virus is infecting both man and machine alike, mutating both into dangerous monstrosities. The elite fighting force STAND, armed with technologically advanced armoured suits, are charged with investigating the phenomenon and battling any mutants that get out of hand. Enter Serge, who is haunted by vivid nightmares, which lead him to consider STAND leader Raven as a deadly threat. But Raven, cognizant of Serge's martial prowess, has other plans for the reluctant hero. The VIRUS BUSTER SERGE BOX SET contains all 12 episodes of the series, which combines an enigmatic plotline with the action and titillation anime fans have come to expect.

Story line

In Neo-Hong Kong (Tokyo apparently being crowded out by too many heroes already) of 2097, a team of armour-suited warriors defends Earth as part of a government-backed group called STAND. Oh no, it is not like NERV at all—by which I mean that they are exactly like NERV only with different uniforms. STAND protects us from bio-engineered monsters sent by an alien force called "Incubator."

And that is really all the background you need to understand Virus Buster Serge. The rest is just the usual fighting, bouncing and brooding. Our anatomically hyperbolic heroes seem to have walked right out of one of Obari's fighting anime, with mile-long torsos and wafer-thin waists. The girls are all perky, read into that what you will, and the men all brood a lot. And everybody has a feminine physique, especially the men. To give you an idea of how predictable all this is, the sinister and brooding leader is named Raven. Get it? Creativity was clearly out for a long lunch break on this one. Lead "tough girl" Erika wears a pink "variable gear" armour suit with little hearts on it and a beaked visor reminiscent of Battle of the Planets or Swan Jun from Gatchaman.

And nobody involved with Virus seems aware that this has all become a joke. In fact, the whole show seems determined to take itself too seriously. Virus does its best to take itself seriously, and if you were to do that you probably would not enjoy the experience half as much as I have. I can honestly say I enjoyed this series. The artwork while not traditional is well done and I would even go as far to say mostly unique. The Manga entertainment English dub is well paced and actually quite well cast, it has its moments where the standards slip and the cast seam a little distracted, but all in all a good all round dub. Manga entertainment offers this series with English 5.1 and 2.0 stereo mixes, plus the original Japanese in 2.0.

There is a character design gallery, some drawings of the show's mecha, which have dated reasonably well, and some character descriptions so you can get to grips with the characters. The artwork for the vehicles are not the best ever drawn, but the standard of the work generally good.

The series, told in 12 episodes, revolves around Serge, a punk and thief with a mysterious past and the ability to kill monsters with a single punch. He joins up with STAND in their battle against the Incubator. But is he STAND's saviour, or some secret experiment gone awry?

Virus Buster Serge takes place in 2097, in a little place called Neo Hong Kong, which I thought was rather a nice touch. Not too far a field, but distant enough from Neo Tokyo to make it refreshing. The denizens of earth are currently being threatened by an entity that calls himself the Incubator, who has created an evil virus, which can infect both man and machine. Infect machines? Borg Nano machines anyone? At first I thought so as well. The virus does infect mecha, called Armoured Gears in this series, taking them over. This is very much like how some Boomers in Bubblegum Crisis can assimilate machines and vehicles. Bubblegum Crash probably had the most similar example of this when a Boomer took over the entire AD Police HQ. The strange thing about the Virus is that it combines both machine and living flesh into one living monstrosity.

So whom can you count on for aid when your own personal mecha or car turns into one of these monstrosities? The answer is STAND they are a group of elite individuals encased in skin-tight suits, which empower them with supernatural strength. The powered armour suits are called Variable Gear.

Serge himself enters the scenario against his will, as all reluctant heroes must. He has been plagued by nightmares, which have convinced him to kill Raven. Raven decides Serge is quite a potential fighter and manages to snare him through cunning and trickery into joining STAND to help fight against the Incubator's viral attacks.

The Box set contains three separate DVD cases with one disk per case.

Virus Buster Serge Volume 1

Disc One collects the first three episodes of the series; "Cutthroat Puppets", "The Path Via Hell" and "We Stand Alone". This is the disc that sets up the basic premise and finds Serge an unwilling STAND member. The artwork is great, it does appear a little dated, but beyond that it is brilliant when not a little quirky as with most of Obari’s artwork. The music in this show is also pretty good; a rock soundtrack with an exceptional title track called "Rainy Day and Day", performed by the band Dragon Ash,

Virus Buster Serge Volume 2

Disc Two collects three more episodes; "Deep Down Exposure", "Incubating the Succubus", and "Behold Change or Die".

Audio and video quality is consistent with the first disc in every aspect.

Disc Three contains three more episodes: "Another Boy Missing", "Behold Change or Die" and "Reactivate the Body".

Audio and video quality is once again in keeping with the previous two discs in the series.

Overall

The great thing about Virus buster serge is that it is relatively unknown, everyone I have known who has seen it say it isn’t a fantastic show, most people don’t get the fact that it was made 9 years ago it is not supposed to be the standards of artwork seen in most recent anime. And even in 1997 when it was released it wasn’t the best example of artwork and certainly wasn’t made with the highest budget.

That said I think that this series is overlooked by most as just another title from Manga entertainment from around the time that the company got themselves into difficulties and decided on the quick fix solution, of releasing as many titles as quickly as possible, this had the unfortunate ending of a rather vast group of poorly dubbed and cheaply produced Ova’s, movies and series.

Virus thankfully is an exception to the rule, despite the disinterest displayed by the English voice cast a few times during the series the quality of the dub and general quality of this DVD release is very good. What’s more the DVD box set is fantastic value, I shopped around and fount the title for £7, the RRP is £20 and although it is worth this price the bargain price I found it at really made a difference.

This is worthwhile picking up, if you like Classic sci-fi stories. It is similar to titles such as Blue Gender, Bubblegum Crisis and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Not the best title on the market but £7 for 6 hours of entertainment is always worth it in my book, go treat yourself.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: * Japanese Language * English Language * English Subtitles * Character design boards * Mecha design board * Director interview

Release information: Manga Entertainment Available Now

Notes:

-- noghri 26th Mar 06

Virus: Virus Buster Serge Images