Project A-ko 2: Plot of the Daitokuji Financial Group

Original Title: プロジェクトA子2 大徳寺財閥の陰謀
Romanized: Project A-ko 2: Daitokuji Zaibatsu no Inbou
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

It's summer vacation in Graviton City, and some things have changed since the first movie. The alien ship, unable to move, has been turned into a massive entertainment complex in an effort to earn some money off the Earthlings. B-ko's father and a whole lot of government figures haven't lost interest in the ship, but now rather than destroying it they're after all the alien technology it holds... and there is plotting afoot by both Earthlings and Aliens. Then there's C-ko, still being a ditz, and A-ko and B-ko, still vying for her attention. Some things never change.

Quick Review

Rating: 2.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-08-12

Plot of the Daitokuji Financial Group is the first of three Project A-ko sequels (Blue and Grey don't count), and although it tries to stay fresh by taking a different tack from the original, it doesn't quite hit the mark. Not all bad, but it's a little too successful at ratcheting up the comedy. There are certainly some worthwhile gags, and it manages to take several of the weird things of the first film and push them into "That's just wrong!" territory, but the overly cartoony style and less solid setting sap the impact from a lot of the craziness, and the hurried pacing ends up trampling on several of the better punchlines. Visually it's not that much worse than the theatrical-quality original, but there are a few notably crude scenes. At least the same voice cast is back (in both languages), with some hilarious material out of D and the Captain.

Worth a few good chuckles for Project A-ko fans, but come prepared to watch a random, plot-free, drama-free, and intelligence-free anime comedy, or you might just end up with an unintentional lobotomy. That, or you'll just be annoyed and wasting your time.

US DVD Review

The Project A-ko: Love and Robots DVD is a nice deal for Project A-ko fans and actually one of US Manga Corps' better efforts for the era. It includes all three sequels (Plot of the Daitokuji Financial Group, as well as 3 and 4) on one reasonably priced disc. The video transfer isn't impeccable, but is quite clean, and the stereo English and Japanese audio tracks are both nice enough. The way the three movies are packaged on the disc is a little abrupt--they just play one after the other--but there is a chapter index, albeit with only three chapters per movie. On the much more positive side, for the first time I can think of from USM... full Japanese voice actor credits! (Well, almost full, anyway.) They didn't individually credit the English dub actors (go figure), and they actually went a bit too far in that any words in the credits are transcribed rather than translated, but it's a huge step up from past productions.

The disc also includes the same bonus materials that were tagged onto the end of the Project A-ko 2, 3, and 4 VHS tapes: Some long and humorous (if rather random) Japanese theatrical teasers for the Project A-ko 2 and the other sequels, a couple of music videos (mostly live action), and a couple of seconds of alternate footage from the original movie. The extra goodies are poorly indexed, but at least its all there, and it's fun to watch if you're into the series. There is also some bonus info for people with DVD-ROM drives.

Content Guide

Sort of disturbing, but not a lot of technically objectionable material; I'd call it 10-up, though USM put 13-up on the box.

Violence: 2 - They blow a heckuva lot of stuff up, but it's all very cartoony.

Nudity: 1 - Several short underwear shots and a lot of swimsuits, but no actual skin.

Sex/Mature Themes: 0 - Nada.

Language: 1 - Little of any note.

Notes and Trivia

The original Project A-ko was a successful theatrical film, and was followed up a bit later by this movie-style direct-to-video OAV then two more, about one every year.

Availability

Available in the US from US Manga Corps on hybrid DVD ("Love and Robots," which also includes the 3rd and 4th A-ko movies). Was originally available on subtitled and dubbed VHS.

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