Detonator Orgun
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is a 1991 Japanese
original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...
series by AIC and
Artmic was a Japanese animation design studio formed in 1978. It went bankrupt and was liquidated in 1997. AIC RIGHTS now holds the intellectual property of most of Artmic's titles. The studio was founded by Toshimichi Suzuki after he left Tatsunoko P ...
, directed by
Masami Ōbari is a Japanese anime director, animation director and mecha and character designer. Biography After graduating from high school in 1985, Masami Obari began his career when he joined the animation studio Ashi Production, where he worked on shows ...
with character designs by
Kia Asamiya , best known by the pen name , is a Japanese manga artist whose work spans multiple genres and appeals to diverse audiences. Biography Before becoming a manga artist, Asamiya graduated from the Tokyo Designer School, then worked as a character de ...
.


Plot


Part 1 "The Trinity"

Tomoru Shindo is a college student from City 5. He sleeps with a device that helps him explore frequencies similar to those emitted by the brain during sleep. Thereby he can record his own and other peoples thoughts and dreams through its amplifying capabilities. He picks up bits and pieces of information from an unspecified source that is slowly building into a dream of different nuances. Each night, it evolves around a woman suppressed by hostile actors in various dimensions and for every scenario, the two of them always stumble upon each other and barely slip out of harm's way. Puzzled and stricken each morning by the magnitude of the dreams, Tomoru tries to sync his hardware with the beacon. What he doesn't know is that the emitter is the fallen champion fighter Orgun, who was intercepted and subsequently assassinated on the Moon on his way to Earth. Pushed out of options and mortally wounded after his confrontation, as a last resort, he sent the signals that Tomoru has been exploring. Another thing Tomoru doesn't know is that he isn't alone. Earth Defense Force (EDF) employee Professor Michi Kanzaki receives signals from the Moon. With the help of the super computer ISAC, she tries to compile the information in the data. She is unable to decipher the entirety of the signal, but its enough for her to understand its contents: a blueprint of an alien body! What she sees frightens her, and although she is hesitant to continue the work, she reluctantly gives way to the military's wishes. Tomoru is steadily accessing deeper nuances of the compelling dream that comes together as Orgun, an alien madman that reveals to Tomoru parts of his life experiences. Frightened by what the feelings and memories from the fallen warrior show him, Tomoru is dragged into a psychosis. He slowly loses grip of his own reality as he is overburdened by Orgun's pain and torment. The latter is urging Tomoru as an entity in his mind that has taken hold to dive deeper, which sends Tomoru on the run. Tomoru is sinking deeper in the recesses of Orgun's memories and his urgent message to his spokesperson on Earth. A trinity develops between Tomoru, Professor Kanzaki, and the memories of Orgun held by Tomoru. However, what every party is asking themselves is why a being from such a technologically superior race has set his sights on Earth. Professor Kanzaki believes she doesn't want to know the answer to that question. Although if her employer wants to get their way, the answer to all of their questions lies within a young man who seems to have stumbled into her life's work.


Part 2 "Pursuit"

The EDF create robotic suits based on Orgun in order to defend Earth. Orgun and Tomoru meet two of the Evoluder: Leave, who dies protecting Orgun, and Rang, who battles Orgun in anger for his treason. It is revealed that the Evoluder are the descendants of a crewed space mission Earth sent to the Cygnus constellation 200 years earlier, whose crew evolved into mechanical lifeforms due to experiencing millions of years of
time dilation Time dilation is the difference in elapsed time as measured by two clocks, either because of a relative velocity between them (special relativity), or a difference in gravitational potential between their locations (general relativity). When unsp ...
during the journey. Some of the Evoluder are telepathically linked to certain humans, such as Tomoru with Orgun and Kumi with the Evoluder's leader, Mhiku.


Part 3 "Showdown"

Using their robotic suits, the EDF repels the Evoluder's invasion force. Kumi uses her telekinetic powers to move the Sun so Orgun can save the Earth. Zoa, the Evoluder's military commander, fires the antimatter cannon. Orgun uses his Grand Cross attack to kill Zoa and destroy the cannon. Orgun crashes onto a beach and dies while Tomoru survives. Mhiku resumes ruling the Evoluder, who peacefully leave Earth. Tomoru and Kanzaki walk off into the sunset while Orgun's remains are displayed in a museum.


Characters

* Tomoru Shindo / ** * Yohko Mitsurugi ** * I-Zack ** * Professor Michi Kanzaki ** * Bannings ** * Kumi Jefferson / Miku ** * Commander Zoa ** * Virgil ** * Lang ** * Simmons ** * ** * Nokku **


Media


Anime

The series was released on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
in 2001 by
Central Park Media Central Park Media Corporation, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Centra ...
in the United States, in 2002 by Happinet Pictures in Japan, and in 1997 by
Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1991, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...
in the United Kingdom.


Music

Polydor K.K., a member of the series' production committee, recommended
Susumu Hirasawa is a Japanese musician and composer. He is well known for his work for the films of director Satoshi Kon and the animated adaptations of the Berserk (manga), ''Berserk'' manga series, alongside his work as a solo artist and as a member of P-Mode ...
, an artist from their roster, to compose music for the series. Hirasawa took the role because of a wish to work with producer Satoshi Koizumi, whose personality drew Hirasawa in after requesting him to dispel the image that anime soundtracks had. The composer was asked to write the anime's main theme first, and it was presented to Koizumi and director
Masami Ōbari is a Japanese anime director, animation director and mecha and character designer. Biography After graduating from high school in 1985, Masami Obari began his career when he joined the animation studio Ashi Production, where he worked on shows ...
in late 1990, before animation had started. Hirasawa wrote and performed all the music for the OVA, in his film score composer debut (previous soundtrack work amounted to commercial jingles and pro wrestling entrance themes). Similarly to his solo albums ''
Water in Time and Space is the debut studio album by Japanese musician Susumu Hirasawa, released on September 1, 1989 via Polydor K.K. It is his first album and first musical material since the hiatus of the band P-Model. Background In December 1988, Hirasawa decided ...
'', '' The Ghost in Science'' and '' Virtual Rabbit'', Hirasawa mixed together electronic and symphonic sounds, using elements across a broad range of music styles, with a large focus on
classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
. At the time, Hirasawa thought of anime and movie soundtracks only as enhancements and not as standalone works, and made the soundtracks considering it as "a job" and "entertainment", employing an epic tone and dramatic exaggeration in his composing. He drew songwriting elements from his solo albums throughout the soundtrack, and used already-made songs from them as ending themes and insert songs. The first soundtrack was made simultaneously with ''Virtual Rabbit'', and was made by Hirasawa basing himself on production materials. ''Detonator Orgun 3'' was entirely recorded on Hirasawa's private Studio Wireself. Hirasawa eventually got tired of working on the series, and considered ''Detonator Orgun 3'' to be the worst album of his solo career, yet also considers the experience helpful in making later soundtracks, in particular the music for the ''
Berserk Berserk (meaning "very angry" or "out of control") may refer to: * ''Berserk'' (manga), a Japanese manga series by Kentaro Miura ** ''Berserk'' (1997 TV series), the first anime television series adaptation of the manga series ** ''Berserk'' (2 ...
'' series, and regards the "grand and delicate" technique for orchestral tones he developed through this soundtrack as guidance for his later works in general. Series writer enjoyed the soundtrack, later commissioning Hirasawa to compose for his fantasy manga ''Glory Wars''; this music was later released as an
image An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...
mini-album A mini-LP or mini-album is a short record album or LP, usually retailing at a lower price than an album that would be considered full-length. It is distinct from an EP due to containing more tracks and a slightly longer running length. A mini- ...
of the same name. To promote the album, the remix of "Bandeira Travellers" (used as the ending theme of episode 1) was released a month ahead as a single and a sampler
Mini CD Mini CDs, or pocket CDs, are CDs with a smaller diameter and one-third the storage capacity of a standard 120 mm disc. Formats Amongst the various formats are the * Mini CD single, a small disc. The format is mainly used for audio CD s ...
, while the opening and ending themes of episode 1 were distributed to interested parties. In addition to the episode soundtracks, a drama CD was also released, containing select music from the soundtracks and audio from the series itself. The series' main theme was included on the 2007 compilation ''Music For Movies: World of Susumu Hirasawa Soundtracks''. Hirasawa had the soundtracks remastered for the 2012 boxset '' Haldyn Dome''; his former record label did the same for the 2014 compilation ''Symphonic Code'' (since those were catalog-wide projects, songs that were also present on other albums were omitted to avoid duplication, being either included on earlier discs of the boxset or on the ''
Archetype The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main mo ...
'' compilation). ''Glory Wars'' was bundled together with the soundtracks for these reissues. Hirasawa has seldom brought up his soundtracks for the series in his overall career. Some ''
P-Model P-Model (also typeset as P-MODEL and P. Model) was a Japanese electronic rock band started in 1979 by members of the defunct progressive rock band Mandrake. The band has experienced many lineup revisions over the years but frontman Susumu Hir ...
'' material originated out of the soundtrack. In his 1994 shows, the title theme was played over the PA system before they began; Hirasawa usually opened his shows with "Frozen Beach '94", a rearrangement of "YOHKO Mitsurugi" with the lyrics of "Frozen Beach". A studio recording of this version, simply titled "FROZEN BEACH", was released a year later on the '' Scuba Recycle'' album.


Development

Planning for the series started in 1989, but the animation process did not start until 1991.


Other appearances

Orgun later appeared in ''
Super Robot Wars W is part of the Super Robot Wars franchise and was published for the Nintendo DS by Banpresto. It is the first ''Super Robot Wars'' game released for the Nintendo DS. Like some DS games, special features can be unlocked by starting a new game wi ...
''.


Reception

''Detonator Orgun'' has received mostly mixed reception. Ben Carlton of ''Manga Mania'' praised the series' art: "Tomoru lives in a future world which is bright, clean, and scarily antiseptic. The military look like plastic toys in their chunky armour and craft. ..skies are as rich and beautiful as any in ''
Macross Plus is a four-episode anime Original video animation, OVA and theatrical movie in the ''The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Macross'' series. It was the first sequel to the original ''Macross'' television series that took place in the official ...
''". He also noted that: "Tomoru's world is also sharp and crisp as only anime can make it, with every edge and colour defined, giving more tension to the robot battles and dream sequences, where with every major change or impact the image loses definition in a sudden blur of brightness or shadow." On the other hand, Carlton criticized the UK dub's mixing, describing it as "sadly, disappointing, with uneven levels and what sounds like some nice music almost drowned out."
Helen McCarthy Helen McCarthy (born 27 February 1951) is the British author of such anime reference books as ''500 Manga Heroes and Villains'', ''Anime!'', ''The Anime Movie Guide'' and ''Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation''. She is the co-author o ...
in ''500 Essential Anime Movies'' called the anime an "intriguingly fresh take on the traditions of giant robot shows", noting that three "hour-long episodes allow plenty of time to develop concepts and characters". Paul Thomas Chapman, writing retrospectively for ''
Otaku USA ''Otaku USA'' is a bimonthly magazine published by Sovereign Media, which covers various elements of the "otaku" lifestyle (such as anime, manga, video games, cosplay and Japanese popular music) from an American perspective. The issues were acc ...
'', criticized the series, stating that "it starts off dull, proceeds to take an interesting twist and mangle it beyond recognition, and concludes in a manner that can only be described as complete and utter nonsense, even by anime standards". When he talks about a scene where Kumi moves the sun with telekinetic powers, Chapman states "I don't have enough exclamations points to describe how ridiculous that is." Comparing the series to other works by its staff, he notes that "it's no surprise that the themes explored in ''Detonator Orgun''—trans-humanism, the loneliness of space, the cyclical nature of history, and the sense of futility experienced by cultures consumed by war—are so similar to those explored in ''
Gall Force is a metaseries of science fiction anime OVAs by the studios Artmic and AIC, with production by Youmex. The original character designs were by Kenichi Sonoda, though these were dropped for the ''Gall Force: The Revolution'' remake. C ...
'' ..But whereas ''Gall Force'' felt like a sincere work of popular science-fiction, ''Orgun'' feels like idekiKakinuma repeating himself, chewing over an idea he's already examined more thoroughly and with greater skill. As for future utopias and transformation as a metaphor for self-actualization, I've seen this kind of imagery from Masami Obari before and since," comparing the series to ''
Angel Blade is part of the Vanilla Series of explicit mature OVA. It was created and directed by Masami Ōbari, who was also responsible for the design of the characters and would also be responsible for the development of the short anime adaptation o ...
''.


References


External links

* *
AnimeOnDVD review
{{Susumu Hirasawa 1991 anime OVAs 1991 Japanese novels 1991 manga Adventure anime and manga Television about alien invasions Anime International Company Anime with original screenplays Central Park Media Kia Asamiya Light novels Mecha anime and manga Real robot anime and manga