Reviews of all 6 Project A-ko Titles:
Project A-ko 2: Plot of the Diatokuji Financial Group
Project A-ko 3: Cinderella Rhapsody
Project A-ko vs. Battle 1: Gray Side
Project A-ko vs. Battle 2: Blue Side
A "meteor" crashes into Graviton City, destroying it as a nuclear missile would. But that was sixteen years ago. Graviton City has recovered and prospered, even incorporating the "meteor" into the design of the city. In a ray of optimism, Space Command is using Graviton City as its base for a new stellar probe.
But our story is about two 16 year-old girls who have just transferred into Graviton High for Girls. A-ko and her best friend C-ko are starting a new school, and they're late! A-ko (who is the reason they're late) greets C-ko and with super-human strength grabs C-ko and off they go, flying down the road, through houses, and over the trees. They even run over one man (who suffers a broken arm in the process) before making it to school.
A-ko and C-ko wind up in the same class with B-ko, the rich young girl who actually runs much of the school. She has a full gang behind her to do her bidding, and on top of that she's the top student in the school. And she wants C-ko, at any cost!
But the man A-ko creamed earlier isn't exactly what he seems, and aliens are approaching from the out of the solar system to recapture their long lost princess, who was lost in this area some sixteen years ago (remember the meteor?)
This one is the best of the six films, and as the first obviously launched the franchise. Most of the plot revolves around A-ko and B-ko fighting over C-ko, despite the fact that C-ko obviously likes A-ko better. There are some funny battles between A-ko and her super-human strength and B-ko's machines (B-ko invents and builds Mechas literally overnight), C-ko's cooking (which can kill or at least sting sharply at twenty paces), B-ko's followers (especially the imposing Mari). Then when the all-out battle breaks out between A-ko and B-ko (in a revealing power suit designed to match A-ko's powers) the aliens invade and it really questionable which causes more damage, the aliens or A-ko and B-ko.
And why do the aliens want to kidnap C-ko?
This movie begins a marvelous series of Anime parodies. You'll find things in here from missles shaped like soda cans and explosions that features frames of very different material to a full scale tribute to the old TV show UFO. Everything from Superman and the moody Captain Harlock right down to the early robotech style stuff is skewered in the course of the movie.
I'm not going to present any spoilers here, but I can say that my favorite moment comes when B-ko reveals her power suit to A-ko and A-ko reacts by saying "Ain't it cold in that?" There are also some great moments when Miss Ayumi (their teacher) actually gives her lessons, and when agent D reveals himself/herself. I'm not even going to try to explain the joke about "The Colonel". It has to be seen to be believed. Four Stars.
Project A-ko 2: Plot of the Diatokuji Financial Group
School's out at Graviton High and A-ko's parents are off to the United States for four weeks, so A-ko and C-ko plan to spend their summer together. Meanwhile, the aliens from movie one have turned their spaceship into a resort, but they really want to go home, and they want to take C-ko with them.
Meanwhile, B-ko is designing her most powerful Mecha yet to attack A-ko with, but her father, Hiroku Diatokuji, steals her plans for his own use. He wants the spaceship for its technology. But of course the aliens manage to convince C-ko to help them go home, and C-ko convinces everyone else. Can you see the father/daughter battle coming?
This is probably the worst of the six, but it still has some extremely funny moments, including Mari diving into a swimming pool and producing a mushroom cloud, and B-ko's father's various outfits (who else could pilot a Mecha dressed like Las Vegas Elvis?). It's also worth renting the dubbed version as it has a replay of the movie in the space of about 8 minutes, narrated mostly by C-ko. Two and a half stars.
Project A-ko 3: Cinderella Rhapsody
It's spring break and A-ko has decided that she wants a boyfriend. C-ko just wants to hang around with A-ko, while B-ko is still plotting to steal C-ko. When A-ko takes a job in order to afford a dress, something forbidden by the school code, everything is thrown in the air. And then comes Kei, a dashing James Dean type on a motorcycle who nearly runs down C-ko after C-ko becomes jealous of the time she's not spending with A-ko, and perhaps a bit upset that A-ko's growing up.
Soon everyone except C-ko is smitten with Kei, and a battle over him develops between A-ko and B-ko over who gets to date Kei, who seems more interested in A-ko. But then why does Kei keep thinking about C-ko?
The series improves with this one. One of my favorite moments in the entire series is the intro of this one, which shows a pool contest between a grown up A-ko, B-ko and C-ko, which C-ko wins. Also C-ko's reactions to Kei are downright hysterical. And there's a moment in a movie theater that had me rolling. Three stars.
This one's my favorite, and just as good as the first. It opens with a group of archeologists in Iraq discovering a tomb guarded by a Star of David. The tomb opens up to reveal a statue that looks just like MISS AYUMI, the teacher at Graviton High!
Miss Ayumi is feeling lonely, and even the ongoing battles between A-ko and B-ko can't draw her attention. So when Hiroku Diatokuji offers a marriage proposal, she's interested. A-ko thinks its romantic, while B-ko is in a state of shock. C-ko just seems a bit confused by it all, but then stumbles into Miss Ayumi, who is chanting mystically while looking into the Star of David Amulet around her neck. Miss Ayumi swears C-ko to secrecy.
But then B-ko discovers the truth. Her father is simply the broker, to arrange the marriage of Miss Ayumi and... and... KEI! B-ko is enraged, and gets her gang together to stop the proposal, A-ko in turn stumbles upon B-ko's plot and soon discovers the truth about the marriage, and she's just as mad. But Miss Ayumi stops them all by accepting the marriage proposal, insisting that the marriage take place the next day.
But the aliens are coming again, this time with 3000 ships instead of just one, and they must arrive before their princess gets married! And what does it mean when the archeologists discover a prophecy about the end of the world that relates to the aliens?
I absolutely love this one. C-ko ultimately rules everything that happens (and we finally get to see where she gets her personality), and Kei still is infatuated with her while everyone else fights over him, and there's a great moment when B-ko's ultimate Mecha, a copy of A-ko, appears. Another marvelous bit is the appearance of the great anime Kimagure Orange Road in the middle of the film, albiet more than a bit skewered. But my favorite moment is when Miss Ayumi asks Kei what movies he's seen and Kei replies with "Deep Throat". Four Stars!
Project A-ko vs. Battle 1: Gray Side
Most A-ko purists hate the last two in the series, but I like them. Okay, it's alternate universe time. C-ko is the ten year old heir of one of the wealthiest men in the universe, and she's kidnapped and taken to a planet where the seas are made of sand. But who lives on this planet? Twenty-somethings A-ko and B-ko, who work together as freelance trophy hunters. A-ko's still as strong as ever, while B-ko is still the inventor. When the kidnappers ruin the home A-ko and B-ko use as their base, they decide to rescue C-ko to get the reward.
But why kidnap C-ko? An alien named Gail wants to use her body as the channel for the spirit of Xena, and bring forth a dragon to destroy the universes. Kooky? You bet. But still lots of fun. Don't expect the tone of the first four. This is a very different story line. The personalities of the three main characters have been changed to adapt to the new setting.
Best moment is a scene when A-ko is pleading with another alien (Morutan of the Space Patrol, basically a circle on a cone with a funny voice) for the life of B-ko, and imagines herself as the plaything of the new alien (not seen on the Sci-Fi channel; toon nudity). There's also something to be said about B-ko inventing a speedboat shaped like a toilet from the ruins of their house. Three stars.
Project A-ko vs. Battle 2: Blue Side
This one concludes the story begun in Battle 1: Gray Side. After a confusing moment where A-ko thinks she's still in the continuing story of Project A-ko: Final (see my fanfic "School's Out" for more information), she and B-ko after Gail to rescue C-ko. But they may be too late. Xena and the dragon have been summoned from the spirit world and whole solar systems are being destroyed. Big conflict: they may need to kill C-ko to save the universe, but they need to rescue her for the reward.
We actually get to see C-ko (possessed by Xena) as the villain, which makes for some surreal fun as C-ko's personality randomly takes over Xena's. Imagine a ten year-old screaming "But I wanna destroy more planets!" Also, it seems that B-ko has fallen for Gail. Will the universes be saved? What do you think?
Favorite moment: a quick run through a number of parallel universes showing A-ko and B-ko fighting each other in an airplane, in a hospital, at Graviton High, and elsewhere while all the universes hang in the balance. Three stars.