I'm writing this on July 5, 1998. Last viewing: at least 6 months ago

My only highly ranked dubbed anime, which I've only seen on the SciFi channel.

I'd seen a pretty good amount of the Tenchi Muyo! series (4 episodes?) before seeing this, so I knew what the characters were all about. I always have liked its animation style. But this, well, it goes rather far beyond what I'd seen of the series. The new characters were wonderful, the animation was better than ever, and the dubbing job wasn't really that bad. Also, I guess I was kind of caught up in the whole parent thing, since I could see some elements of that in my own family.

It's got a cool, mysterious, and obviously evil enemy to fight. No grey areas. A lot of times, that seems like a very good starting point for a lot of stories. Then there are the familiar cast of characters, who have their own depths, some of which are newly explored here. And then the new allies, with some shrouding of mystery, with strong, distinct personalities. Not your average cartoon. This is a movie, plain and simple.

If I'm in the mood for anime, and don't want to dedicate the time to make sure I'm looking at the subtitles, this is what I've popped in. A pretty solid movie, all around.