Plastic Little

Original Title: プラスチックリトル
Romanized: Purasuchikku Ritoru
Literal: Plastic Little

Plot Synopsis

Tita, the captain of the good ship Cha Cha Maru (that's a submarine ship, not a space ship), and her crew rescue a girl being chased by a villain with really huge shoulder pads, ambitions of world domination, and an army at his control. They decide to put an end to this fellow's machinations and lots of action ensues.

Quick Review

Rating: 3 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2003-08-27

Plastic Little follows a simple, time-tested recipe: Start with some good looking girls, take their clothes off occasionally, drop in a tall skinny bad guy (this time with the world's largest shoulder pads), add a healthy pile of explosions and destruction, toss in a pinch of romance, and shake vigorously. VERY vigorously. Plastic Little is cheescake, Urushihara style, done right. The art is beautiful, the animation is good, and there's lots of action. What more could you ask for? (Other than plot or anything resembling character depth, that is...)

You'd better not be watching Plastic Little for the story, and it borders on tasteless at times (not necessarily a down side), but there's enough action (and bath scenes) to keep almost any fan of that kind of thing happy.

US DVD Review

The DVD is a quality ADV production: sharp video, nice audio in both languages, and subtitles for just the songs or everything, plus a nice gallery of sketches and storyboards. It also (whether this is a good thing or bad) shamelessly panders to the audience Plastic Little was written for: it features what may be the world's first "Jiggle Counter," a menu-selectable feature that will cause a small counter to appear in the top corner of the screen at appropriate moments. Tasteless in the extreme, but I had to admit pretty funny if you watch it with the right mindset (and group of jeering/leering friends).

Content Guide

Appropriately rated 17+ by ADV, for a lot of nudity and some relatively graphic violence.

Violence: 3 - Several bloody deaths, as well as some city-scale destruction.

Nudity: 3 - Lotsa upper body nudity; one extended nude scene, and a couple of others.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - Even with all that nudity, there's not much more than some cute romance and a couple of nosebleeds.

Language: 2 - Some light profanity.

Notes and Trivia

There is also a one-shot Plastic Little manga by Urushihara, on which this is based. It features an assortment of stories about the crew of the Cha Cha Maru, and quality artwork by Urushihara. It is available in English from CPM Manga as a 5-part comic series, and as a graphic novel called Plastic Little: Captain's Log.

Availability

Available in the US from AD Vision on an "anime essentials" bilingual DVD, which is a re-release of an earlier disc (buy from RightStuf). Was previously available on subtitled VHS.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store