Summary: Appurtenant action/sci-fi tale follows an expeditious cop in an attempt to stem a contravention-wielding underworld. While often compulsory-viewing for "8-Man" fans, the often crentinous storyline throws off some.
Title Aka:	N/A
Company/Distributors:	Streamline Pictures;Orion
Year:	1993
Length:	4 Episode Series
Rating:
Genres:	Science Fiction
Format:	OAV Series
Content Level:	Violence: Moderate Sex: Mild Nudity: N/A Profanity: Moderate
Comments:	N/A

Synopsis: The classic anime story returns in the OAV Series "8-Man After", a story which just happens to start where the original 8-Man series left off. It's plot centers around Hazama, the story's central hero. The city is being overthrown by a powerful and unknown villian, who will stop at nothing to obtian power and rule over the city. Several thugs and gang members involved (known as "cyber-junkies") contain special cyborg technology which have replaced their original bodyparts; thus making them stronger and more efficient killing machines. The thing which allows them to thrive on power are special technological 'stimulants' which are being sold by various underworld agents. But these special 'stimulants' are addictive to the user. If these were to get out of hand, the cyborg parts would easily overthrow the 'human' user; eventually causing them to go berserk. It is Hazama's duty to track down this 'madman' and his legion of cyborgenetic henchmen. While on the case, Hazama attempts to investigate the disappearance of a Biotech Co. Scientist. Durring his investigation he becomes involved with a woman named Satchiko (You may recall the name from the original 8-Man series). He later obtains several severe wounds and injuries from a battle with the cyber-junkies. A Man named Dr. Tobor revives Hazama and makes his personality the newly found program for the original 8-Man. Now as the new 8-Man, Kazama must attempt to save the city from the evil villian and his cyborgs. That is, unless he can't overcome the meaning of his true identity program and emotions first. Review: I actually found this series to be rather promising in the beginning. "8-Man After" starts off by presenting the audience with a pretty interesting story, some rather appealing characters and animation. Although I personally have never really watched the classic 8-Man series, I doubt an anime of this sort can get any worse than this. The series is full of plot holes, unbelievably flat pieces of dialouge and uninteresting characters. I often feel that a fan does not need a reason to dislike an anime series or film. It is neither because it may contain some animation of a poor quality, or some bad script and story. It can merely be because of the fact which separated the good from the bad. In this case "8-Man After" is a perfect example of this. But don't get me wrong here, there are actually a number of decent things about 8-Man. Probably first and foremost are it's characters and animation, which prove to be on the verdge of interesting enough for the first half of the series. Whom later turn out just plain cliche in nature. Most of the action sequences in the series seem out of place and do not fit in well with the dramatic side of the storyline. Other major problem with this series is it's animation quality, which contains endless 'stock' and often low frame rates. The many aspects which hardly do justice to the series' plot. Satchiko's sympathy for Kazama's struggle for his inner-self existence tends to be more annoying than moving. Towards the end I found apsolutly nothing interesting or appealing about 8-Man. Probably one of the major reasons for this is the entire premise of the series. A story which I feel is better suited for those movie theatre serials in the 50s and 60s. 8-Man After seems an idea all to familiar for audiences of the late 90s, or any audience for that matter. Although this problem could have easily been corected if the director had made the story more effective and the characters more appealing, I highly doubt that good animation would do any good. Due to the fact that it already contains several problems dealing with storyline. Then again, what good is animation if you don't use it effectively pertaining to an interesting production? These are just some of the qualities I feel make an anime series good, which is exactly that "8-Man" lacked the most of. 8-Man After is just another example of an anime series which can't work. I only hope that die-hard fans of the original will agree with me. You can be certain that everyone else will find this series to be just second-rate. Nothing close to spectacular in my book... Click Here To See Overview!

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