Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

David Roggenkamp How about an anime with a difference? This one comes in at over twenty-six episodes, has transformation sequences involving humans and mecha, and has very little in the way of sexual gratuity and fan service. The whole point is to tell the tale of a haunted male, a group of individuals bent on saving the Earth, and the trials the species must undergo due to an enemy invading force. Sounds simple, but it spans in at close to fifty episodes total.Teknoman – Tekkaman Blade in Japan – came out at an odd time in US television. When the UPN (United Paramount Network) was formed, it was best known for delivering the "Star Trek Voyager" and "Star Trek Deep Space Nine" science-fiction programs at different times during the week; the network was also a complement of other similar programs such as 'Seven Days' and 'Hackers'. Not exactly cyberpunk, but many of their programs involved a dark future with a science fiction style atmosphere. Like many networks, UPN also featured a cartoon block; but being a rebel put it on Sunday instead of Saturday; arguably a good maneuver so as not to compete with other networks. One of the programs in their lineup was this anime.At the time, it was fairly obvious that Teknoman was different than other anime. It was namely darker, futuristic, and had many adult themes in it. The series takes place towards the end of the twenty-first century as an enemy invading force sets their sights on Earth. One of there methods includes an invasion force consisting of mutant spider crabs; these things are ruthless and conventional firepower cannot take them down. The other is a type of organic pod that captures alien lifeforms and turns them into slaves for the invading force. These slaves are endowed with super powers that turn them into mechanical warriors known as technomen. Technomen have the ability to puddle-jump from a planet and its moons, they have blade weapons endowed with quantum energy, along with the ability to fire off massive beam blasts that can obliterate most obstacles in their path. These pods play a central point to the series; because the enemy invading force is merely biding time while these things infect the Earth until they can convert -EVERY- living thing on Earth into a Venemoid warrior loyal to the invaders cause.Sometimes the transformation sequence is avoided in full; either because someone is forcibly removed, leaves the pod by choice willingly and early, or simply because they are rejected when they are not strong enough to serve the Venemoids' purposes. Either way, the central hero, Blade, is one such example and he is practically the only thing stopping the Venemoids from taking over. While the series does focus heavily on Blade, it also focuses on key plot points involving his family which are now his enemies; the military plays a central role, but the main secondary focus of almost all episodes is the go-between – a group called the 'Space Knights' are there to stop Darkon (the enemy warlord) and his minions. There is plot progression as time goes on and a conclusion; there are many plot elements that take place and many attempts fail to stop Darkon, but he does ultimately lose. The problem is, many of the characters do die. This is unprecedented in an anime for the time, but it did happen. Many of the elements between the family members are very akin to the premise of the relationship between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker from Star Wars.Acting between characters is that of a prime time drama; it is not natural, but is as natural as acting can get. This is okay, because it helps push the series along. However, as far as acting is concerned, it is not necessarily obvious (at first) that this series is a dub. It looks more like a science fiction series with an anime style. The Japanese anime influence here, save for the art-style, is very minimal – and the creators of the series did a wonderful job here. There is almost no rehashing of scenes save for the transformation sequences; there was probably a high budget for this series while it was being produced. The American acting probably has a few tweaks along the way, but it seems to otherwise go with the overall plot as the series progresses. The moments there are jokes seem to progress with the original Japanese scenes; so I am lead to believe that the series does not otherwise butcher the original plot all that much. This series also features at least one fanservice shot, one ongoing romance, and otherwise features the trademark 'magical transformation sequence', but rather than blotted out nudity it is shown in its full glory. Characters do appear in the nude at times, but it is entirely due to circumstances and nothing else.Lastly, despite the series having many clichés as the basis, along with many of the token characters associated with anime (they are pretty generic); Blade does have one stark contrast compared to many heroes – he is has a mullet, it is messy and still manages to maintain a realistic look as far as anime is concerned with the more traditional spiky hair and all. That's pretty cool if you ask me.The series does have two down points; much like American cartoons spread out over time, the series' animation either changes between episodes or in key scenes or suffers depending on the quality of the art use at the time. The other is that later on, the teknomen become more expendable as Darkon's desperation increases. One would thing the mutant spidercrabs would take center stage here, but at best they are fodder throughout the entire series.Originally posted to Orion Age (http://www.orionphysics.com/?p=9144).

kaneknight I first encountered this series through the UPN version of Teknoman. It was a decent telling of a fairly standard story: Aliens invade Earth, and a plucky team of humans, alongside their mysterious ally (Blade, Slade, or D-Boy) fight back against this alien foe (Radam in the original, Venomoids in the English translation).Unfortunately, the story kind of left us Americans hanging, and it would be years before I had a chance to actually see the ending. In other parts of the world, the show did run to completion.The problem with detailing the story is that there are multiple versions, with slightly different tellings. As an example, in the Japanese version, D-Boy is lying about not knowing his past. Most of the references to his past in the US and UK version, however, are treated as though he suddenly remembers it. in other words, it's more consistent with amnesia.Most of the plot points are similar in both versions. The Radam have set up to invade Earth, using the Orbital Ring (A space platform around the planet) as a platform to launch their attacks. Nobody on Earth knows exactly what is happening until D-Boy arrives. He is badly injured after crashing to Earth, and claims he has no memory of his past. He is rescued by Aki and Noal (Starr and Ringo in Teknoman) and taken back to the base of the Space Knights. Nobody believes him when he says that only he can fight the Radam until he transforms into Tekkaman Blade.Tekkaman Blade (Teknoman) is the product of the Radam. Tekkamen normally serve as the commanding officers of the Radam forces, and while the Radam are dangerous, the Tekkamen are all but unstoppable. Using a special crystal, each can develop armor, weapons, and phenomenal strength. With the exception of Evil and Omega, each Tekkaman is named after a type of weapon (Axe, Rapier, etc.).Blade's power is phenomenal, but it is soon discovered that he has limits. He can only remain transformed for 30 minutes, or his mind is reverted to that of a beast. Before his time limit is up, he becomes incredibly weak and vulnerable. Later in the series, the Tekset process threatens his health and then legitimately begins to take away his memory.On Earth, General Colbert (Galt) wants to get his hands on D-Boy to discover the secrets of the Tekkaman process. Commander Freeman (Jamison) protects him from the military, and gives him a home. D-Boy is not interested in friends, and remains taciturn through much of the story, though he grows closer to many of his allies. Noal doesn't trust him at first, as he is potentially incredibly dangerous.Over the course of the first few episodes, a trap is laid in which D-Boy's crystal ends up shattered. The Space Knights are resourceful, and attempt to create a machine to compensate. The result is Pegas, Blade's battle partner. He acts primarily as Blade's Transformation chamber and a sort of space-age steed, but is capable of fighting or performing other tasks.The real meat of the story begins when Tekkaman Evil shows up. Evil is Blade's twin brother, and is considerably powerful. He discovers Blade's Time limit, and uses it to set him loose on the planet. Jamison uses the resemblance between D-Boy's Sister (Myuki or Shara) and Space Knight Milly (Tina) in a desperate attempt to bring him back to his senses. Blade nearly kills her in the process, leaving him afraid to transform and risk losing control.Blade is fighting his family, save for his father and his little sister. His father was rejected by the Tekset process, and used his last moments of life to save D-Boy and cripple the Radam ship. His sister is also rejected, but attempts to help Blade before she dies.Two "Sol Tekkamen" are created, but they are weak compared to Blade. Both are capable of firing weapons which resemble Blade's "Voltekker." while they are capable of handling many threats, much of the story relies on Blade as the only one who can stop his own kin.The Teknoman version of the series is pretty damn good, but the Japense version is better. The English version features some pretty heavy editing (The US one moreso than the UK), and leaves out some things which make the plot a bit more dramatic. Blade begins to risk his health just by transforming, and then later, his memory. With literally nothing left to lose, he takes on Tekkaman Evil, and finally, Tekkaman Omega (His older brother) in a fight that leaves him wheelchair bound and apparently amnesiac.The series is rather amazing, especially given its roots as a remake (Or a reboot, more appropriately) of Tekkaman: The Space Knight. I'm not normally a fan of Anime, especially of the Armored Hero or Giant Robot genres, but this is a show that has some serious mainstream appeal, with well-paced plots and sufficient action and drama.Media Blasters has released both the English (International) version and a subtitled Japanese version of the series, though the final discs for both are yet to be released (Amazon lists the final release of the JP version in August). I highly recommend this series, though I must warn that the English Version's release is pretty terrible in terms of sound and picture. While the visuals on the Japenese version suffer from being dated, and the limitations of the original media, they are still really strong, and the soundtrack does not suffer at all. The JP version also features on of the OVAs that were released between TB and TB2 (Though I'm not a fan of Takaya and Shinya as Digimon). Another worthwhile note is that the English intro on the English discs has been replaced with the Japanese intros, even though the "Teknoman" Theme appears in the show a lot.

Stuart When this was 1st (and as i can recall only) time on Sky in England, I was fortunate to watch it on an old sky channel, and was blown away. really it was the 1st of few anime series ive seen and possibly remains my fav cos few people know of it, and if it came out on dvd, i'd seriously consider buying it.Story is basic, earth invaded by aliens and mysterious figure 'teknoman' takes up the fight for earth, and gradually the war swings in earths favour (thanks to some technology & tactics)4.999/5

turnjet This beats all the mecha Oav's on the planet, hands down. From Gundam, Guyver and even the childhood favourites Tranformers, this rocks! The actual plot isn't really original, you know epic war, protagonist warrior to rid the Earth from destruction. But if you take away all the cliche attachments, you get a thoroughly enjoyable series of pure anime action. A must see for all manga/anime fans!I think the second and concluding series was only aired in Japan and America and was titled Tekkman Blade, however i dont think it used the Teknoman continuum as all the characters were designed in a more child-like orientation, quite sad really...