Birth

[http://www.otakunovideo.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/birth-anime-group-shot-rasa-nam-etc-300x200.png

Also known as: Planet Busters, The World of the Talisman

Year: 1984

Director: Shinya Sadamitsu

Anime Review
This is a weird one.

Birth was one of the first anime OVAs ever made. It was created by a small animation studio that soon dissolved; imagine Gainax if it hadn't managed to keep itself afloat. And its pedigree shows: it's basically an excuse to draw animation sequences.

Birth features a very high animation frame rate, even by Disney standards. Dialogue scenes have full-body animation. Action sequences are full-frame animation, running at movie-quality frame rate. Like, you know those rare sequences of a person running down a hallway, where the entire hallway is moving too? It's like that, for minutes at a time.

But you'd better like animation, because that's about the only reason to watch this. The plot is about as simple as it could possibly be: a legendary sword with world-destroying powers drops on a planet; it's promptly discovered by adventurous teens, who are immediately attacked by various aliens who want the sword. Proceed with 45 minutes of wacky fight scenes between the plucky teens and the bad guys.

The characters are all paper-thin; this is an action comedy in the style of Dragon Half or Gurren Lagann. The characters exist to be wacky and fly around on hovercycles. Fortunately, also, the creators don't try to make the story complicated.

The music is sadly jarring and a poor fit to the action, despite being composed by Joe Hisaishi.

That said, Births all about the animation', and it is gorgeous. It helps that the character designs are mercifully clean in that style that 1980's anime could be.

Overall? I can't recommend Birth; it has too many obvious flaws. But it is a part of our history, and it's definitely easy to watch, especially with a group of friends who can laugh at its silliness while still appreciating it.