A-Ko the Versus

Title:A-Ko the Versus
A-Ko the Vs.
Project A-Ko: The Uncivil Wars
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , ,
Notables: R1 License - Central Park Media(Defunct)
SHIMAZU Saeko
C-Ko-chan has been kidnapped on her 10th birthday party, but the kidnappers ship suffers from an accident that forces them to crash land on a planet and lose their prize. If so happens that the team of A-Ko and B-Ko are on this planet and naturally C-Ko-chan ends up with them. However, the kidnappers will do what it takes to get back their prize. What do they want with C-Ko-chan?
[2 OAV episodes, R1 license by Central Park Media. This is sometimes refered to as "Project A-Ko 5" and "Project A-Ko 6."]
[edit] The ↗Project A-ko franchise:

Original story: Alternate retelling:
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 8 8 7 8 AstroNerdBoy [series:1248#436]

Having seen the first four Project A-Ko titles, I thought I should catch the final one to see how it was. I had heard that it wouldn't be quite the same, and that turned out to be very true, but for the best.

First, having A-Ko and B-Ko as best friends and partners worked really well. The writers still injected a rivalry between the two, but kept it in the confins of one that two best friends might have. So they will sometimes bicker about things from their past like boyfriends but they really are great friends and care a great deal about each other. This made the series very enjoyable, more so having seen the original OAVs.

Second, the writing of the series was pretty good. The comedy aspect were one of the highlights. While not gut-bustingly funny, the comedy scenes were amusing, centering primarily on A-Ko and B-Ko's decisions to argue about some trivial event in the middle of a supposedly serious scene. Since the writers never allowed themselve to take things to seriously, it made the series much more enjoyable.</p?

Third, A-Ko finally has a worthy opponent in the female villian Liza (Raiza). In the original series, B-Ko was the opponent of A-Ko and B-Ko had to resort to technology to even sorta compete with A-Ko. Here, Liza is just as strong as A-Ko, so the rivalry here came off very believable. Liza is not used to having any serious contenders (she being the brawn part of a pirate dual, the other being the male partner Grash), so I felt her motives for coming back to fight A-Ko were believable, and it was enjoyable to me.

The second episode had a couple of neat tributes to the original four OAV's including Kei-kun and the fights of the original A-Ko and B-Ko at school. That was a nice touch.

Bottom line: while I found this to be a very enjoyable 2-part OAV (despite CMP's annoying translations at times), it is not a series that I think I would want to watch again. Thus I give it a strong "rent" rating. However, I would recommend that you watch the original Project A-Ko OAVs to fully appreciate this one (though it isn't required).

Last updated Monday, November 14 2005. Created Monday, November 14 2005.


Other Sites
NameURL
Media Factory's Project A-Ko Site http://www.mediafactory.co.jp/anime/a-ko/
In Japanese.
Graviton City http://www.gravitoncity.com/
A large Project A-Ko fansite with great information.

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