Project A-Ko

I can provide a basic summary of this movie in four beautiful words - entertainingly over-the-top. The narrative is insane, the twists are unpredictable, the characters are completely over-the-top, and the soundtrack is very distinctive, sometimes too much so. Of course, that is what anime movies are like too, and it is often impressive. The first shock was when, at the very beginning, I heard them speak English and, I guess, miracles do happen; it is not the typical "English spoken with a heavy Japanese accent" but rather authentic natural English. I have rarely experienced that with anime movies or TV series. Then the anime's creators introduce us to the main three protagonists. A-ko is a much hyped-up action female protagonist with incredible strength. B-ko is cold and calculating, and C-ko balances on the border of cuteness, stupidity (or naivety) and is completely insufferable (whiny) throughout the movie. They are an interesting trio indeed, even though other than C-ko's occasional exaggerated outbursts, I had virtually no problem with it. I guess I enjoyed watching the over-the-top nonsense the most. I enjoyed the sense of unreality and classic clichés in a form that I am not too used to yet. This movie contains almost everything you could encounter in most anime movies or TV series these days. There is mecha, fan service, splashy fights, traditional Japanese perversions, stupid and crazy jokes, and many other things (maybe the only thing missing was the tentacles). However, this movie is different; it is less predictable (cheesy) and more fun. I had really enjoyed this movie. If you think that anime movies and TV series used to be much better (in terms of content) than today and that most of today's output is like a carbon copy of stuff done in the past and is full of stupidly censored fan service, this movie might give you a little something extra. 8/10. (04/03/2016)