.jpeg)
Continuing into the catalogue of
obscure eighties OVAs, this is the last of the "Pink Shock" trilogy which I have seen all of. Produced by AIC,
it was a brief series which came with no real consitent aspect to them barring
some eroticism. One was Maryū Senki
(1987-9), a three part horror-action release of interest in that genre. The
other Call Me Tonight (1986) is one
some viewers may have learnt of as it has gained interest in the internet age,
a fascinating short predating the notorious Urotsukidôji anime adaptations by parodying it, by way of a lead
male character who turns into a tentacle monster when horny and the female
phone sex employee who can tame his heart, all in a work that is more
progressive for the time then you release. Campus
Special Investigator Hikaruon, in vast contrast, feels like a pilot to a
show that could have been, a tribute to the likes of live action tokusatsu
"Metal Hero" shows like Space
Sheriff Gavan (1982-3) only with a darker slant.
At a school an alarming number of
suicides are transpiring, and a young male hero, able to turn into an armoured
battler, has snuck in as a new transfer student with his female colleague there
already as a teacher. There is a female student pulled into the secret force
harming the students, and the sense of this feeling like one episode to a
longer work than never came to be is felt. The more adult tone is that this
entity, masquerading in the school, drives people to suicide or to be devoured
by a supernatural force. There is a sense of style to this anime too; the
opening, set in a train station almost white with just outlines, the patrons
all blank faced, has the one character in colour and fully drawn jumping in
front of a train, an inspired opening for any production which emphasises the
shock of the scene as a set up. There is also my favourite trope of the older
era of anime, maybe still into the modern day if I ever encounter it, of
characters being transported to an alien realm, here a surreal chess motif of
black and white tiles, and gravity defying steps against a crimson sky. Add to
this that the villain is at first a harlequin Pied Piper in appearance,
tempting a new victim with wine of her demise. The best of these sequences
cross into another of my passions as, with the best of these older anime of
strange alternative realms, you could imagine them as the art appearing the
front of a metal or prog rock LP.
%20a.webp)
Hikaruon also has an uncomfortable of victimising the female
characters sadly. The other Pink Shock titles as mentioned had an eroticism,
and here this is sadly an implicit threat of sexual violence, be it a group of
bullies targeting the female student, or how the female heroine, when the
number of goons in a bar are too many to fight, is left with clothes shredded
and on the floor implicitly suggesting a rape scene to transpire. She is
brainwashed to fight the hero thankfully, in another cool aesthetic choice in a
paper walled pastiche of samurai combat, wearing an omi demon mask, but that
hint is tonally out of place. The hero also sexually harasses her, such as groping
her behind, as humour which definitely has not aged well at all. Out of the
three Pink Shock entries, this feels
like a contractual requirement and out of place, as this feels like a tribute
to this genre it is recreating, and only is darker in the villains' plans, not
the special abilities or how the episode finishes with fighting a monster.
Maryū Senki has sexually crossing with the grotesque which could be
accused as offensive, and out of place for something meant to be erotic, but
felt more befitting as ero-guro, a horror story where the sexuality is more for
the horror edge than meant to be sexy, whilst Call Me Tonight as mentioned is surprising for what themes it
covered in less than thirty minutes. Hikaruon, whilst entertaining, is a
disappointment in how I do need to advise a trigger warning for those watching
this, and how it really is undercut by this undefendable, and arguably
pointless, way to still sell eroticism like the other Pink Shock titles did. It does not even, if the eroticism was not
problematic, seem a fit, where it would been more appropriate if this had been
a more explicitly erotic pastiche or take on the tokusatsu genre. Considering the
opening credits is a sincere animation of the show it could have been, like the
pilot of a longer production, shows it is an odd production in some of the
creative choices. It becomes, out of the Pink
Shock series, the weakest of the trio for the reason it feels like a pilot
for a show we never got the whole of.
%20b.webp)