A Fan's Thoughts on Orguss

Post by **Tachyon** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 4:28 pm

I've had the wonderful opportunity to watch all of the Orguss TV show subtitled on DVD. It originally aired from July 83 to April 84 putting it squarely in the 80's realistic robots catagory. I really liked the show. It's a shame it didn't get more attention from Japanese mecha fans.

The Good:
The plot was interesting and I liked watching how the various factions explained their motives and changed them to adapt to the situation. The mecha were cool and there was plenty of action. The characters were likable and fun to watch. The story was bold and paid no attention to the formulas of the mid 80's. To me, this wasn't fluff entertainment. This was a solid story with great action.

The Bad:
The large amount of recycled animation was annoying. Was their budget really that bad?

Better explanation of several things would have added to the depth of the show. For example, when Olsen's naikick is destroyed he hops into the Orguss II Olsen Special the next day. He has a custom-designed Orguss II but there's no explanation of why he was given one or how it arrived so quickly. The Chiram and Emaan governments were both worried that if the other was the one to restore the Earth they would be eliminated from existence. How did they get that idea? How did they know they were right? After Kei's Bronco II is recast as the Orguss we see the Emaan using mass-produced Orguss II's. Did they take Leeg's design and run with it? Was he paid for it? There was no explanation!

My biggest complaint is the ending of the final episode. We see that Olsen and Kei die but what comes after that? What does a restored Earth look like? We only see cut scenes of smiling characters (several of whom died well before the Earth was restored). This tells us nothing at all.

Fans have to invent their own outcome.

On a side note, I now have some problems with Orguss 02. Tai, the Mu robot that travelled on the Glomar, is a character in Orguss 02. How can that be when we see him clearly reduced to vapor in the Orguss TV show? Also, Tai's personality has drastically changed in Orguss 02.

Comments on ImaginAsia's Subtitles:
The people working on the subtitles made some silly choices for names and terms. Shaia, Kei, Mimsy, Athena and Olsen made it through ok but many characters didn't. Mohm becomes Muum? Jahby gets a weird French-looking name. Tokuiten, which would probably best be translated as "singularity" becomes idiosyncratic point. Long and unwieldy! Glomar become Glowmer. Yuck! Tai is called "colonel". I don't think so!

Rubel Colus · Post by **Rubel Colus** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:18 pm

thanks for the review.

i thought Orguss was fairly popular? anyone who watches 80s robot animation should be able to tell an Orguss or Nikick right away?

PS > did u get the dvd at a discount? :p would like to get a good set too.

Post by **Tachyon** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:27 pm

I bought my DVDs off the RightStuf Web site. I doubt I got any discounts although the price didn't seem too high to me.

Nu Soard Graphite · Post by **Nu Soard Graphite** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:58 pm

Unfortunately, I've only seen the first few episodes of Orguss (maybe 8 ). What little I've seen, I really like. Thats one old skool series I would love to get my hands on. (that and L-Gaim)

Post by **Tachyon** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:18 pm

A lot of us are waiting for that far-off day when we can buy/rent L-Gaim on DVD.

Newton · Post by **Newton** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:56 pm

Of course, you CAN get L-Gaim as an HK sub DVD. However, the pain of reading Japanese-to-English translations by way of Chinese may make your head explode.

But back to the topic -

Orguss was the second of the Super Dimension series. It seems that Tatsunoko assigned only one budget for all three series. Macross got the lion's share, Orguss got the leftovers, and Southern Cross got the dregs.

As far as Orguss continuity goes, they could (and still can) do whatever they want. When you turn Earth into a giant gaming grid, then snap everything back to separate dimensions, all bets are off. You don't have to have a linear continuity when all the action now takes place in different alt.dimensions. Tai being evil in Orguss 2? Simple. Alternate dimension, alternate Tai. They could do another Orguss show where everyone was a giant turnip, and it wouldn't be out of continuity. Infinite dimensions gives you an infinite amount of room (as well as an infinite number of potential storylines). It also throws linear continuity right out the window.

Me, I'm just grateful Mimsy got to go home.