Photon

Title:Photon
Photon: The Idiot Adventures
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , ,
Notables: ASAKAWA Yuu
HIRAMATSU Akiko
HORIE Yui
ICHINO Marie
KAJISHIMA Masaki
KURODA Yumi
ORIKASA Ai
TAKEUCHI Junko
YAMADERA Kouichi

Photon Earth is a powerful pre-teen boy who lives with his adopted sister, the young (and also powerful) teenaged Aun. After Aun runs off to attempt to be with her rock-idol, Photon goes off to bring her home. In the process, he stumbles across the wreckage of a spacecraft. Inside in stasis is the 20-something Keyne, who's come to this 'Sandy Planet' (aka: Earth) to find the legacy of her grandfather and the secrets of Aho, a technology that endows the user with incredible power.

Photon sees that Aun has written the word 'baka' (idiot) on his forehead, so he writes the term upon the sleeping Keyne's head. When she awakens, she discovers the writing on her head. Assuming it is Photon's family crest, by galactic law, it means the couple is married. Taking this in stride, Keyne's first act as a wife is to give her young husband a very good bath.

Meanwhile Count Papacharino is in pursuit of Keyne and her grandfather's legacy and will do anything to acquire it. Rashara-hime, the Count's fiancé, is convinced by her friend Buran to follow the count and help him out. Will Aun and Keyne stop fighting for Photon's attention? Will Papacharino see his dreams fulfilled? What is the secret of Photon's power? And will Keyne discover the secret of her grandfather's legacy?


6 OVA episodes (five episodes are 29min & episode six is 48min)

Produced by Anime International Company

R1/USA release by the US Manga Corps / Central Park Media

Series from the creator of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki!
Episode Details 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 7 7 6 6 6 Ggultra2764 [series:83#1552]
This was quite a funny perverse and stupid comedy to get into. Photon mostly got by for me thanks to the antics of Photon, his unwanted harem of girls he attracts and the personal dignity of self-proclaimed baddie Papacharino. Many of the jokes of the series rely on the powerful abilities of its cast causing inconveniences for others, the stupidity of many among the main cast (for instance, Photon is dumb enough to believe balloon dummies are his friends) and perverse humor compliments of Papacharino's perverted desires and antics. There is quite a bit of innunedo and frontal female nudity to be found in this series, so those opposed to any kind of ecchi content might be quite turned off by Photon. The only ripple to the show's presentation is its failed efforts at being serious in the finale of the series as it was quite hard to seriously expect the show to show any type of drama with how you seen the characters throughout the OVA series compared to how Masaki Kajishima pulled off humor and serious moments effectively with his well-known work on the Tenchi Muyo OVAs. Still as a comedy, Photon was quite entertaining for me thanks to the series knowing how stupid and perverse it could be. I give the series a strong Rent recommendation.

Last updated Monday, December 10 2012. Created Monday, December 10 2012.
Buy 8 8 8 8 8 8 Dreamer [series:83#2279]
I saw this a while back and just re-watched it. Still found it extremely entertaining!

Art, Animation & Character Designs
The art and animation was pretty good. Character designs were rather... odd and unusual but it was refreshingly different. The animation quirks, if I can call it that, makes for good laughs and silly moments.

Music
The music was had some rock pieces with waling electric guitars and drums here and there. Other times there would be some light.... what sounds like traditional asian string instruments..... but couldn't quite put my finger on it. Actually, there was a mixture and variety of music and instrumental pieces.

Series and Episode Story
There's plenty of silly and slapstick humor in this series. What makes it even more funny are the characters... Photon and his sis "Aun". Some of the facial expressions were just hilarious and had be snickering more times than not. Aside from all the nudity and ecchi scenes and moments, which by the way, doesn't bother me one bit, it makes for fun and entertaining series... or rather OVA set. Photon himself doesn't really say much. Just mostly grunts and moans. All of the characters were just great! They were all lively and really entertaining.

Overall, this was a ridiculious but entertaining series that had crazy and silly characters. It makes for a great watch.

Last updated Monday, May 11 2009. Created Monday, May 11 2009.
Watch 8 8 8 6 7 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:83#436]
When U.S. Manga Corp decided that they needed to put up four warnings about sexual content and nudity (including stating that everyone depicted in any sort of sexual act was really 19), I knew that this would be an ecchi title and that there would be underaged characters nude (yeah, everyone isn't 19). However, this division of Software Sculptors was over-reacting with all of the warnings because while ecchi, it isn't hentai. This proved true when young Photon snuggles up to the naked breast of the sleeping Keyne early in the series -- it wasn't sexual, just innocent.</p>

For me, all of the nudity and other ecchi content is uncalled for. But since this is a Masaki Kajishima title, it is to be expected. The series is mostly very comedic in nature. The comedy comes from a mix of heavy slapstick and "potty" jokes. I admit that there are some really good laughs in this series and that is reason enough to watch. Most of the laughs come at the expence of the series villian, but that's OK. They are still laugh out loud funny.

The overall story is nothing to write home about. In fact, when the series gets somewhat more serious, it suffers. It was difficult to accept the serious stuff after the outrageous humor that we'd been seeing prior to this. Characters who are bafoons don't suddenly come off well as serious.

Don't let the title fool you into thinking that Photon is the only idiot in the series. All of the characters are "baka" to a degree or other. Young Photon is an idiot for so easily being fooled by baloon dolls that look like his companions. Keyne is an idiot in that she is constantly letting her guard down which allows the Count to put tracers on her. Aun is an idiot for how she treats her adopted brother Photon. Rashara is an idiot for being so trusting. Papacha-sama is just an idiot period.

Bottom line: very funny at times, extremely ecchi at times, and "baka" at times. Worth a watch though.

Last updated Sunday, August 01 2004. Created Tuesday, January 27 2004.

Watch 8 9 8 5 3 boo [series:83#262]
Umm... if you are a guy over 18 you probally will want to check this out. Fan service galor. While some of the series is indeed comical, it gets old way too fast.
Photon is a pretty funny main character. Some of the action scenes and backgrounds are impressive. The plot seems to be a big joke. The last episode things just seem to happen because it can.
If you are easily offended or find crude humor useless... well you probally will not like Photon. But if you are like most guys i know you are going to try to buy a copy online right now, happy hunting.

Last updated Wednesday, March 06 2002. Created Wednesday, March 06 2002.
Watch 8 7 8 5 3 Midnighter [series:83#94]
I had heard nothing but good things about Photon before watching it, so I sat down comfortably to watch what I thought would be an excellent show. Sadly, I was disappointed.
Photon has two of the best character designs, Kiine and Papacha, that I have ever seen in an anime. The animation is really nice, with smooth, consistant quality, and the alien-yet-recognizable tools and objects are a cool touch. Despite these strong points, Photon is inexcusably weak storywise and never even attempts to rise above the rather juvenile pee-pee and booby jokes.
Admittedly, Photon is funny as hell, but I wanted more, especially with the gorgious characters and lush animation. Photon just reminded me too much of the worst South Park episodes in that it seems to be trying too hard to push the line and be offensive. As it is, it just comes off as sophomoric.
There are some wonderful characters in Photon. Photon himself is so innocent and kind-hearted that one cannot help but like him. Kiine is capable and oh-so-sexy, and Papacha is beautifully scene-chewing and over the top.
There is oodles of nudity and sexual references in this series, so it may be better for the older crowd, but I really saw nothing particularly bad with the series. Light cussing, vulgar humor, and the aforementioned nudity, but the violence is mostly slapstick or used for humor, and there's really no graphic violence.
The final episode is quite good, with an exciting final two showdowns with the Galactic Emporor and Papacha respectively, and we get to see just how dedicated Photon is. If the entire series had been of this calibre, it would be worth a buy.
There is plenty to enjoy about Photon. Kiine, wonderful animation, humor, a great opening theme song, but it can't outweigh the bad writing, inane dialogue, and transparent story. I won't say avoid Photon, because it IS worth watching, but it is a disappointment to me.
11-30-01

Last updated Friday, November 30 2001. Created Friday, November 30 2001.
Rent 8 8 6 7 6 Bryan [series:83#14]
**modearte spoilers -- gomen**

If nothing else, this anime is kinetic. It would be interesting to show Yokohama Shopping Trip and then this at an anime club meeting and observe the results. It is hard to rate the show as your opinion of it will stem from your tolerance for over the top physical comedy, as there is a lot of it here. For me, in the 4 episodes I saw, it tended to get a little redundant. However, there were certainly a number of gags that worked well, and enough interesting ideas to make this show somewhat notable.

First, the characters. There is the namesake of the series, Photon Earth, a runty little kid who happens to be the strongest human in the universe. The reasons are hinted at, but really not revealed in the first 4 episodes. Then there is his charge, Princes Aun Freya, the girl his sister told him to protect before she (his sister) left for parts unknown. Aun is an under-developed, hyper-active loud mouth, who might stand a chance at making the Anime" href="http://members.tripod.com/therossman/top10babes/skanks.html">Anime">http://members.tripod.com/therossman/top10babes/skanks.html">Anime top 10 skank list (I never thought I would use that word in an actual sentence). I'm not quite sure what kind of princess she is (perhaps the translators messed up) but there must not have been a lot of applicants for the job. Oh yeah, she has this rather interesting ability to stop time.

Anyway, they both live on a little out of the way planet which is 70 percent ocean. The rest is mostly desert (as a meteorologist I take exception with that). Their already rather interesting lives are disturbed when Photon stumbles upon Kiine's (last name unknown) wrecked ship. He awakens her from stasis (I have never, ever seen some runty little guy awaken an incredible (nekkid) babe from stasis in an anime before -- nope, this has to be the most original thing I have ever seen) at which point she promptly ties to blow him up. In one legitimately original and quite humorous twist he writes "baka" on her forehead which turns out to have BIG cross cultural implications!

Awakened from her slumber, she and Photon set out to look for her ojiisan's "aho" recorder. "Aho" power is very big in the series. Apparently this means something like "moron" in Japanese. All of this was lost on me -- one of cross cultural things that would have been hysterical had I known. Sort of like how I never really got the idea of "May the Schwartz be with" you from Spaceballs.

She is being pursued by the lecherous, dominering and generally rather dim Papachari the 7th. The guy also has an aversion to wearing pants, which is just plain scary. Apparently he has been hired by some powerful galactic noble house to commandeer this aho thingy. It was he who shot Kiine down on the planet to begin with. If the Tenchi similarities are meant to be in-jokes, great; if, as I have heard, this is done by some of the same people who just happen to have a similar style and use the same devices, then borrring. I'll have to investigate as this will color my opinions.

Photon and Kiine meet up with Aun, and the two females immediately start to vie for the affections of Photon. This involves a rather humorous cooking contest, which is frequently interrupted by Papachari's attempts to get the aho recorder -- really he is more after Kiine, who has sort of power that can be unleashed by the aho recorder on this particular planet it so happens. I was a little fuzzy on that point.

Anyway, Photon routinely beats Papachari to a bloody pulp in a rather drawn-out, and not particularly funny, series of events. Toward the end of the volume there is an extended scene where Papacha-sama tries to get into the onna's side of a hot spring where the girls are apparently comparing bust sizes. He tries to enlist Photon's help (characters interact quite freely in show, weird, but I liked it!) with the expected results.

The animation quality was above average, with good frame rates, well done backgrounds and some pretty intricate scenes. Character designs are very definitive, and Kiine is pleasing enough, though I wasn't really taken with most of the designs. She does have these neat bracelet thingys that let her levitate (fairly inventive and well choreographed stuff there). There is a ton of nudity in the series, and I'm not a huge fan of the type of rather low-brow physical comedy often employed, though it was fun to watch Papacha-sama drop-kick his subordinates. The music was not bad, and some of background music was flat out good. On the lower end of the rent spectrum. If this is by the Tenchi people and not poking fun at them, then I might lower it to a watch.

Last updated Thursday, February 24 2000. Created Thursday, February 24 2000.


Other Sites
NameURL
Central Park Media Web Site (English) www.centralparkmedia.com/usmanga/usmanga.htm
Official Japanese Series Web Site http://www.anime-int.com/works/photon/ova/

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