Project A-ko

Project A-ko (プロジェクトA子) is an original satirical sci-fi comedy theatrical movie.  It was originally released in 1986.

 

   The story takes place in a fictional Japanese city called Graviton. An alien spaceship crashed into the city 15 years previously and since then humanity has built it’s self up around the crash site and scavenged some of the technology, ala Macross. We follow three main characters, all first year high school students. The titles name sake, A-ko, is a spunky and dimwitted red head, her best friend C-ko, is also spunky, dimwitted and childish. The third, B-ko, is smart, composed and rich. B-ko makes herself A-ko’s mortal foe and the two continuously battle each other over C-ko’s friendship. A-ko and C-ko have been friends since kindergarten, when A-ko defended her from the mean spirited and cruel B-ko. B-ko has not been in school with them since then and the two friends don’t realize who she was until B-ko explains the situation. Now, after all these years apart, B-ko has developed a lust for the whiny C-ko and sees A-ko as her competition in love. B-ko employees her father’s fortune and her own high intellect to devise a variety of mechanized attack's on the super naturally powered A-ko. A-ko, not wholly comprehending the attacks pummels the mechanized menaces until she confronts B-ko personally and demands an explanation for the continued attacks.

    To make matters worse an alien ship has crashed again on the city, balancing precariously on the remains of the previous alien ship. The new invaders kidnap B-ko and the other girls must make a truce, join forces and rescue their hapless friend. The aliens, all androgynous females, claim that B-ko is their long lost princess who was abandoned on earth when the original spaceship crashed 15 years previously. A-ko and B-ko succeed in rescuing C-ko as well as destroying the ships ability to take off from Earth. The stranded invaders decide it is in their best interest to make the most of their temporary stay in the city and everything returns to normal as much as possible. The girls resume school and the aliens turn their stranded ship into an amusement center and hotel, while retaining hope of reclaiming their lost princess and returning home.

    As mentioned earlier the series is a tongue in cheek lambast of the biggest anime of the time. Here are just a few of the references found in the series. The alien space ship crashing into the city is from Macross as well as the second alien ship. The second alien ship resembles Space Battleship Yamato. The alien captain resembles Captain Harlock. One of B-ko’s minions, Mari, resembles a character from Fist of the North Star. In the original movie/OAV A-ko and B-ko watch Harmageddon in the theater. A-ko is the child of Superman and Wonder Woman. The alien mother ship arrives in Close Encounters of the Third Kind fashion.

    While the story can be entertaining and the action sequences are typical of the time the best reason to watch the series if for the references, spotting them is half the fun. The story is entertaining, nothing shocking, nothing compelling, just entertaining and light hearted. The original was actually supposed to be part of the Cream Lemon hentai series, but due to resistance by the production firm and wanting to release it in the theaters it was changed to a story with more general appeal.   The only aspect that was kept was the scene of B-ko in her bathtub.  Thankfully they changed their ideas and cranked out this entertaining comedy. The original movie is from the early 80’s and the animation shows. While the 3 preceding OAV’s came a few years later the animation wasn’t improved upon much. That’s not to say it isn’t bad, it’s just an old style that many newer fans might not be able to get into.

    There was also a second OAV set called Gray vs. Blue and Blue vs. Gray. I didn't like it and haven't seen it in about 10 years so I don't remember much about it. The 2 OAV set uses the same characters as the original but has them all living in space. They all have the same relationships with each other, just slightly skewed. I thought it was crap and can't really recommend it personally…the original 4 volume set is all I ever needed anyways.