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Project A-ko

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For the convention, see A-Kon.
Project A-ko
Original Japanese film poster
Japanese name
KanjiプロジェクトA子
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnPurojekuto Ēko
Directed byKatsuhiko Nishijima
Written byKatsuhiko Nishijima
Tomoko Kawasaki
Yuji Moriyama
Story byKatsuhiko Nishijima
Kazumi Shirasaka
Produced byKazufumi Nomura
StarringMiki Itō
Michie Tomizawa
Emi Shinohara
Asami Mukaidono
Music byRichie Zito
Joey Carbone
Toru Akasaka
Production
companies
A.P.P.P.
Soeishinsha
Distributed byShochiku
Release date
  • June 21, 1986 (1986-06-21)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Project A-ko (プロジェクトA子, Purojekuto Ēko) is a 1986 Japanese animated science fiction action comedy film directed by Katsuhiko Nishijima.[1] This film focuses on 16-year-old Japanese teenage schoolgirl A-ko , who defends her best friend C-ko , as they face off against their fellow classmate and rival B-ko while the Earth faces the threat of an alien invasion.[2] This film references a number of other works of anime from the 1970s and 1980s.[3]

The film was largely well received by critics who praised the humor, and action and considered it an anime classic. The film was followed up by several sequels and a spin-off first with Project A-Ko 2 in 1987.[2][4]

Plot[edit]

An alien spaceship crashes into Graviton City, wiping out the entire population and leaving a massive crater where the city is rebuilt 16 years later.[2] High school students A-ko Magami, a perky, fun-loving red-haired, sailor-suited teenage girl, and her best friend C-ko Kotobuki, a bubbly, carefree optimist, enter a new year of school as transfer students at the all-girls Graviton High School. Although A-ko possesses superhuman speed and strength, she considers herself an average teenager. She mostly worries about getting to school on time, due to her habit of chronically oversleeping her alarm clock each morning. The pair catch the unwanted attention of B-ko Daitokuji, a rich, snobbish, spoiled, and brilliant fellow student.

B-ko develops an obsession in regards to C-ko, and is determined to win her over. B-ko's attempts to win C-ko over fail, however, and remembering that she was A-ko's rival back in kindergarten, B-ko creates a series of mecha piloted by her team of female followers to attack A-ko each morning. After losing each new and more powerful mecha, she eventually creates and dons the "Akagiyama 23", a powered suit that looks like a bikini. B-ko quickly escalates the fight across the school with no restraint.

Trench-coated spy "D" has been monitoring A-ko and C-ko each morning and reporting back to a large spacecraft as it approaches Earth. The aliens' conclusion is that they have located a lost princess whom they have been looking for. The aliens finally reach Earth and begin an all-out attack against the Graviton military, which is outmatched by the alien technology. A-ko and B-ko's own fight continues across the big city even as the military and aliens do battle. C-ko is abducted in the middle of this confrontation by "D", who is revealed to be a member of the Lepton Kingdom of Alpha Cygni, an all-female race of aliens. C-ko is their princess.

Witnessing the abduction, A-ko and B-ko set aside their differences. Infiltrating the spaceship, A-ko confronts D and the ship's alcoholic Captain Napolipolita, while B-ko rescues C-ko. B-ko then reneges on the truce and opens fire on A-ko, D, and the Captain, destroying the ship's navigation system. The vessel lands, precariously perched on top of the city's Military Command Tower (actually the remains of the previously crashed ship). Having survived the crash, both A-ko and C-ko find themselves on top of an unconscious B-ko.

A-ko happily awakens the next morning, sore from the previous day's adventures, and walks with C-ko to school in their new uniforms. The girls pass by a disheveled D and the Captain begging for donations to repair their ship. The film ends with B-ko, ready for yet another fight, smiling as A-ko appears on the horizon.

Cast[edit]

Character Japanese voice actor English dubbing actor
Eiko "A-ko" Magami (摩神 英子, Magami Eiko, A子) Miki Itō Stacey Gregg
Biiko "B-ko" Daitokuji (大徳寺 美子, Daitokuji Biiko, B子) Emi Shinohara Denica Fairman
Shiiko "C-ko" Kotobuki (寿 詩子, Kotobuki Shiiko, C子) Michie Tomizawa Julia Brahms
Ayumi Azumi (安土 亜弓, Azumi Ayumi)/Miss Ayumi (亜弓 先生, Ayumi Sensei) Asami Mukaidono Liza Ross
Captain Napolipolita (キャプテン・ナポリポリタ) Shūichi Ikeda Jay Benedict
Spy D Tesshō Genda Marc Smith
Mari (真理) Daisuke Gōri (male voice)
Sayuri Ikemoto (female voice)		 Anne Marie Zola (female voice)
Asa (あさ) Yōko Ogai Toni Barry
Ine (いね) Yoshino Takamori Anne Marie Zola
Ume (うめ) Megumi Hayashibara Liza Ross

Production[edit]

The film was directed by Katsuhiko Nishijima who would later go on to direct Agent Aika and Labyrinth of Flames.[5] The music for the film features music and songs composed by Richie Zito and Joey Carbone.[6] Nishijima said that he wanted to make a film that directors Mamorou Oshii and Hayao Miyazaki were not able to make which is a light hearted entertaining film without much deep social commentary.[7] Production of the film included several artists who would later create other popular works, including Kia Asamiya and Atsuko Nakajima.[citation needed] Yuji Moriyama is credited with character design and animation director, and previously worked on the Urusei Yatsura television series, and films Beautiful Dreamer and Only You.[2] According to Moriyama, the crew of the film had mostly worked on Urusei Yatsura, and felt demoralized after Mamoru Oshii left production of the series, and wished to work on a new project.[8] Moriyama said:

The currents [at that time] were shifting favorably towards more serious works that were loaded with meaning and heavy themes. It was a frustrating time for animators who liked to animate. A-ko was a deliberate attempt to push all that aside, to provide some mindless fun, to make an action-packed film that would be fun to make and fun to watch. I guess you could say it was an animator’s anime. Animators who wanted to animate big action but couldn’t, came together on this project and let it all hang out.”[8]

The title itself is a reference to the 1983 Jackie Chan film Project A, although the film bears no resemblance to Project A; the working title ended up sticking.[9]

Project A-ko was initially planned to be part of the Cream Lemon series of pornographic OVAs, but during the production of the series, it was decided to make it into a more mainstream title.[10] The only sequence animated during its Cream Lemon days left in the revised production is B-ko's private bath scene. In a nod to Project A-ko's origins as a Cream Lemon episode, the owner and several working girls from the brothel in the Cream Lemon episode "Pop Chaser" - where director Katsuhiko Nishijima was one of the animators - can be seen in one of the classrooms A-ko and B-ko crash through during a fight sequence in the film.

In Japanese, "-ko" is a common suffix for girls' names, like Hanako, Rumiko, and Yuriko, or indeed Eiko, which sounds just like A-ko. The literal meaning is "child", so A-ko is a generic "Child A", a common way to reference peripheral characters in Japanese contemporary drama. In the making-of documentary for the film, it is stated that "A-ko", "B-ko", and "C-ko" were intended as generic "Jane Doe"-type names.

This film makes several allusions to number of other works of anime from the 1970s and 1980s. The classmate Mari alludes to Fist of the North Star, and the character of the Captain Napolipolita is inspired by Captain Harlock.[3] In addition, the series makes homage to American comics as well, as A-Ko's parents resemble Superman and Wonder Woman.[3]

Release[edit]

The film was released to theaters by Shochiku-Fuji on June 21, 1986, alongside a shorter film titled Going on a Journey: Ami Final Chapter. Pony Video distributed the film via VHS and LaserDisc later in the year. The film's soundtrack was released on LP, CD, and cassette through Polystar Records on May 25 of the same year. "Dance Away" by Annie Livingston was released as a single simultaneously with the album, with the background music track "Spaceship in the Dark" as the B-side.[11] A Japanese-language version of "Dance Away" and "Follow Your Dream" by Project Sisters (プロジェクト・シスターズ, Purojekuto Shisutāzu) was released a month later.[12]

Project A-Ko was Central Park Media's first video release in 1991 alongside Dominion Tank Police and MD Geist.[13] They later released a dubbed version produced by Manga Entertainment to VHS in 1992.[2] The English dub for the rest of the franchise was produced with Ocean Studios instead. The album was released in the U.S. in 1994 by Central Park Media under their MangaMusic label and later included as a bonus disc the "Collector's Series" DVD in 2002.[14][15]

After releasing Project A-ko on DVD in its original widescreen video format, Central Park Media later released a "Collector's Series" version in 2002, which features remastered video and coloring, a large number of A-ko related extras, commentary and interviews by many of the Project A-ko staff, and a free Project A-ko soundtrack CD. Central Park Media has released the three OVA sequels in a single-disc DVD collection, Project A-ko: Love and Robots:

In May 2011, Eastern Star released a newly remastered R1 Project A-ko DVD. It contains many of the extras of the original CPM release, minus the soundtrack CD.[16] Discotek Media released the film on Blu-ray in December 2021. Originally, the footage for the film was to be sourced from the laserdisc release using the Domesday Duplicator to capture the footage at a higher quality than previous releases,[17] with a technology called AstroRes being used to upscale the footage and restore it to a higher quality.[10] The film was instead sourced from the original 35mm film negatives, which were previously thought lost.[18] The 35mm film negatives had been stored in a film laboratory but a clerical error had resulted in confusion as to where it was.[10]

Reception[edit]

The film has largely been praised reviewers who consider it a classic for fans of Japanese anime.[2][19][20] The film's humor was praised, with Hyper magazine saying that the film hits with its "cheesy" humor.[20] Reviewer Joe Bob Briggs praised the film, citing the more adult subject matter compared to Saturday morning cartoons and crazy action, giving it four out of four stars. He placed the film alongside others such as Gunbuster and Dominion: Tank Police which feature scantily clad women in science fiction adventures causing a lot of mayhem.[21] J-Fan praised the English dub calling it one of Manga Entertainment's best dubs saying it is a "near perfect example of the genre. Highly recommended."[2]

GameFan writer Shidoshi considers the film a "must see" film for any serious anime fan, saying it rises above being a mere parody and stands on its own as a work. He also says that it is the best film in the series, with the sequels being the sort of work that the film set out to mock.[19]

Game Zone magazine saying: "Low on violence, but high on humour and girly fight scenes ".[22]

Writer James Swallow in Anime FX said "Like more readily labelled 'classics', PROJECT A-KO and its sister OAVs were an archetype, and as such deserve a place in anime academia. But forget all that and watch 'em because they're funny."[3]

Max Autohead in Hyper magazine said "Project A-Ko is an anime that had me in stiches with its fast hitting cheesy humour It’s original and fresh and is so immersed in trash anime culture that any Manga patriot would be proud."[20]

Sequels[edit]

Afterwards, the film spawned a series of sequels which were original video animation (OVA) starting with Plot of the Daitokuji Financial Group in 1987, followed by Cinderella Rhapsody in 1988 and then FINAL in 1989.[3] After this original series, a spin-off entitled A-ko the Vs (1990) was created and released in the OVA format. In this two-part series (a "Grey side" and "Blue side"), A-ko and B-ko are partners hunting monsters in an extraterrestrial environment, with no relationship to the previous series. Central Park Media released it as Project A-ko: Uncivil Wars.[23]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Project A-Ko DVD". Right Stuf Inc. Archived from the original on January 21, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lynn Davies, Robert (December 1995). "Project A-Ko The Pocket Guide". J-Fan. United Kingdom: Ebony Publishing. pp. 59–61. Archived from the original on 2024-06-02. Retrieved 2024-06-02.
  3. ^ a b c d e Swallow, James (September 1995). "High Speed Cute An Overview of the Project A-Ko series". Anime FX. No. 6. United Kingdom: Ashdown Publishing. pp. 20–23.
  4. ^ Crandol, Mike. "Project A-Ko DVD". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
  5. ^ Haverson, Dave (February 2002). "Anime - Labyrinth of Flames". Play. United States of America. p. 85.
  6. ^ "Project A-ko: Perfect Edition Blu-ray". Anime News Network. 2024-03-03. Archived from the original on 2024-03-03. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  7. ^ 手 司, 土器 (May 1986). "西島克彦監督、怪気炎あげる". Animage (in Japanese). Japan: Tokuma Shoten. p. 22.
  8. ^ a b Ruh, Brian (2004). Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-1-4039-6334-5.
  9. ^ Ledoux, Trish; Ranney, Doug (December 1995). "Anime Genres". The Complete Anime Guide (First ed.). Issaquah, WA: Tiger Mountain Press. p. 62. ISBN 0-9649542-3-0. LCCN 95062359.
  10. ^ a b c Chapman, Paul (May 4, 2021). "The Fantastic True Story of How Project A-ko Was Lost and Found". Crunchyroll News. Archived from the original on September 21, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  11. ^ "プロジェクトA子 Dance Away/Spaceship in the Dark". Muuseo. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
  12. ^ "プロジェクトA子 ダンス・アウェイ/フォロー・ユア・ドリーム". Muuseo. Archived from the original on 2023-12-15. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
  13. ^ "They made it through another year!". Animation Magazine. January 2006. p. 31.
  14. ^ "Project A-ko: Original Soundtrack". VGMDb. Archived from the original on 2023-12-03. Retrieved 2023-12-03.
  15. ^ Project A-ko: Original Soundtrack at Discogs (list of releases)
  16. ^ Douglass, Todd Jr. (June 20, 2011). "Project A-Ko". DVDTalk.com. Internet Brands. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
  17. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (2020-09-14). "Discotek Licenses Rose of Versailles, Hajime no Ippo, Project A-Ko Anime". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 2021-04-27. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  18. ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (March 8, 2021). "Discotek Licenses Dear Brother, Sgt. Frog, Kashimashi, Nyanbo! Anime". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  19. ^ a b Shidoshi (May 1998). "Anime Fan "Oldies but Goodies"". GameFan. p. 86.
  20. ^ a b c Autohead, Max (December 1995). "Anime - Project A-Ko". Hyper. No. 25. Australia. p. 19.
  21. ^ Briggs, Joe Bob (March 27, 1992). "'Annie Mae' cartoons: Saturday Mornings was never like this". The Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  22. ^ "Intergalactic Punk Rock Hip Hop". GameZone. No. 12. United Kingdom: Dennis Publishing. October 1992. pp. 94–95.
  23. ^ See, Raphael. "Project A-ko: Versus". T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews. Archived from the original on 2015-05-15. Retrieved 2015-06-03.

External links[edit]

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