Review: Cybersix (Bedard/Masuda/Takeuchi)
Nov. 28th, 2010 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nebroadweStrange game is afoot in the city of Meridiana. Upright citizens are kidnapped off the streets by hulking, green-skinned goons; monstrous creatures lurk in the subways and the sewers. So when Lucas Amato sees a woman's caped figure silhouetted mid-leap against the moon, he does what any curious high school biology teacher would do: he follows her, catching up just as she defeats one of the aforementioned goons in combat. She flees without identifying herself, leaving Lucas to witness the evaporation of her fallen foe. As evidence of his adventure, he rashly pockets a glowing green vial he finds among the goon's discarded clothes and with that makes himself the quarry not only of the goon's fellows, but also of their master José and of the mysterious woman whose cognomen is Cybersix. Despite the danger, Lucas isn't quite ready to take the advice of his colleague Adrian Seidelman and give up the vial ... not until he can discover what's going on and who Cybersix really is ...
This animated series ran all too briefly as part of the FOX Saturday morning lineup in the mid-1990s, where I saw and enjoyed two or three of its thirteen episodes. Adapted by a Canadian production team (led by Hervé Bedard) from an Argentinian comic book (written by Carlos Meglia and Carlos Trillo) and animated in Japan (by TMS/NOA), it was clearly doomed to failure in its time slot: Cybersix maintains her secret identity by cross-dressing as a man, a disguise sufficiently convincing to attract a teenage crush; her archnemeses, the scientist Von Reichter and his son José, are goose-stepping closet Nazis; and the narrative's forward momentum is provided by the romance which develops between Cybersix and Lucas amid their monster-of-the-week adventures. IIRC, Cybersix was pulled from U.S. television with a few episodes left unaired, but Teletoon in Canada ran the series in its entirety. A keep-circulating-the-tapes version of the Canadian broadcast is the only one currently available in English,* which is a shame, because this story deserves more love.
The source text, by all accounts, is much more adult in tone and content than the cartoon, but the echoes of that mature material are what gives the show its edge: the question of Cybersix's humanity, complicated by her dependence on "Sustenance" (those glowing green vials), which only her creator Von Reichter can provide; the twisted relationship between Von Reichter and José, played for comedy ... mostly; and, of course, the romance, which even reduced to Saturday-morning proportions manages to entangle Cybersix in two simultaneous two-person love triangles at one point. There's matter here to engage the older imagination as well as the younger (e.g. both I and my nine- and eleven-year-old godchildren have become fans, though they're less interested in the mushy bits than I am, being still at the "Why are they kissing?" stage of life). The animation is professional and the accompanying score, though heavily dependent on leitmotifs, is flexible, generally apposite and occasionally moving. The OP is outstanding, a real earworm, and the ED is charming (but best heard rather than viewed, since the end credit sequence completely spoils the series climax, argh!). The storytelling is uneven: some episodes are bland, but others, particularly those that deal with backstory or the cast's developing relationships, are entertaining. Don't expect much physical realism: as my godchildren are fond of pointing out, there's always a full moon over Meridiana. The principal voice actors are well cast: Cathy Weseluck in particular sells both Cybersix and her alter ego as distinct but related personae, to the point where I find their minimalist masquerade quite convincing. She and Michael Dobson, as Lucas, have fine chemistry, though his performance is not always as apt as hers.
In sum, this is a pleasant diversion and well worth a look, not to mention a creative investment. The fandom is miniscule and correspondingly short of transformative works ... something I will be attempting to remedy ...
*A French dub, without subtitles, was released on DVD in region 2; copies are still available from resellers.
This animated series ran all too briefly as part of the FOX Saturday morning lineup in the mid-1990s, where I saw and enjoyed two or three of its thirteen episodes. Adapted by a Canadian production team (led by Hervé Bedard) from an Argentinian comic book (written by Carlos Meglia and Carlos Trillo) and animated in Japan (by TMS/NOA), it was clearly doomed to failure in its time slot: Cybersix maintains her secret identity by cross-dressing as a man, a disguise sufficiently convincing to attract a teenage crush; her archnemeses, the scientist Von Reichter and his son José, are goose-stepping closet Nazis; and the narrative's forward momentum is provided by the romance which develops between Cybersix and Lucas amid their monster-of-the-week adventures. IIRC, Cybersix was pulled from U.S. television with a few episodes left unaired, but Teletoon in Canada ran the series in its entirety. A keep-circulating-the-tapes version of the Canadian broadcast is the only one currently available in English,* which is a shame, because this story deserves more love.
The source text, by all accounts, is much more adult in tone and content than the cartoon, but the echoes of that mature material are what gives the show its edge: the question of Cybersix's humanity, complicated by her dependence on "Sustenance" (those glowing green vials), which only her creator Von Reichter can provide; the twisted relationship between Von Reichter and José, played for comedy ... mostly; and, of course, the romance, which even reduced to Saturday-morning proportions manages to entangle Cybersix in two simultaneous two-person love triangles at one point. There's matter here to engage the older imagination as well as the younger (e.g. both I and my nine- and eleven-year-old godchildren have become fans, though they're less interested in the mushy bits than I am, being still at the "Why are they kissing?" stage of life). The animation is professional and the accompanying score, though heavily dependent on leitmotifs, is flexible, generally apposite and occasionally moving. The OP is outstanding, a real earworm, and the ED is charming (but best heard rather than viewed, since the end credit sequence completely spoils the series climax, argh!). The storytelling is uneven: some episodes are bland, but others, particularly those that deal with backstory or the cast's developing relationships, are entertaining. Don't expect much physical realism: as my godchildren are fond of pointing out, there's always a full moon over Meridiana. The principal voice actors are well cast: Cathy Weseluck in particular sells both Cybersix and her alter ego as distinct but related personae, to the point where I find their minimalist masquerade quite convincing. She and Michael Dobson, as Lucas, have fine chemistry, though his performance is not always as apt as hers.
In sum, this is a pleasant diversion and well worth a look, not to mention a creative investment. The fandom is miniscule and correspondingly short of transformative works ... something I will be attempting to remedy ...
*A French dub, without subtitles, was released on DVD in region 2; copies are still available from resellers.
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Date: 2010-11-28 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 12:34 am (UTC)My fiendish plan is working!I mean, I hope you like it.no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-28 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 04:39 pm (UTC)...because girls don't need role models, too....
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Date: 2010-11-29 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 05:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-29 05:34 pm (UTC)