People are voting emotionally.

Expected more

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

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).

When I was a kid I used to love this series and I Got some old tapes of it and watched them and I realised how good it actually was.This is a excellent series and is worth a watch for all anime fans. The story is more deep than most people who have seen it will give it credit. It is about earth in the year 2084 and how it is being invaded by aliens.The only person who can stop them is Blade who was given the ability to change into a teknoman by the same aliens who are invading earth. He was going to be a part of their army but his father saved him before he was brainwashed by them and now he is the only person who can stop the aliens.This is a truly emotional series, because the main character Blade is put through so many trials in his life like having to kill his own brothers and watching his father and sisters die and losing his memory, and his body deteriorating. A must watch for anime fans.

I found this series/movie by accident, and delightfully, remembered back to childhood-early mornings spent watching this. Being prepared to be heartily disillusioned, I sat down for a half hour to watch the first parts...great Lord what an eye opener it was! The quality of the animation isn't the greatest or the sharpest, with exception given to the amazing detail done on the Tekkaman suits of armour, and the English dubbed versions (both the UK one and the American one) are a little poor, compared to the Japanese version...But all of that gets blown away in a hurry as the story unfolds into a beautifully saddening tale, so completely unexpected. For an animation, the dramatic element is a genuine surprise. The general plot is: Earth was invaded my a horde of aliens, being commanded by a group of evil Tekkaman, or Teknomen, in the Westernised versions, whose aim is to turn Earth into a breeding ground for their kind, and have already succeeded in covering the surface of the planet with 'spore trees'. With much of the human race decsimated from the attacks, both from the 'spider crab aliens' and from Earth's now lost Space Ring (think the rings of Saturn, only man made), it is up to the 'Space Knights' and a renegade tekkaman called 'Blade' to defend the Earth, and win back the planet.I recommend taking the time to checking this out. It's well worth the effort, believe me!

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