Project A-Ko

Among the Western fanbase of Japanese cartoons, there is apparently quite a lot of people who like the film Project A-ko. This is probably due to the fact that it was released at a time where most localized anime geared for adults was rather mature and gritty (think Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop,) while this was more immature and lighthearted. Regardless of why other people like it, I did not enjoy it; finding it to be rather boring and uninspiring.

There's nothing particularly good about the story or plot, but that's forgivable seeing how this is a comedy. It's about three highschool girls, A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko, ... (literally “Girl A,” Girl B,” and “Girl C.”) A-Ko and C-ko are best friends–the former of which happens to have super strength and speed. B-ko is A-ko's rival from kindergarten, and has a crush on C-ko, and thus uses her mad scientists skills to constantly challenge A-ko in an attempt to win C-ko's heart. There's also an alien invasion later on.

The biggest problem with this film is that more often than not, it's unfunny and doesn't deliver as a comedy. Supposedly there is a fist full of references parodying various anime from the 1980s, and a large portion of the comedy relies on these references. If this is true, than that would explain why I didn't really find Project A-ko to be very enjoyable. As far as Japanese cartoons go, I'm not exactly well cultured when it comes to anything prior to the '90s, so most of these references were invisible to me. I did catch the jibe they made at Fist of the North Star, which I found pretty hilarious–so had I been able to understand all the other references, maybe I would have liked this more. I doubt it would have much of a difference however.

Perhaps it's not the best idea for me to criticize for not "understanding" it, but I can at least say this: comedies that rely on parodying other stories tend to not age well. As time passes, less and less people will be able to appreciate the work, until eventually only a niche group of people will be able to truly appreciate it. Some more time later and maybe no one will understand it–which is actually kind of depressing, but hey, that's how it is.

As I said, the story and plot is nothing special, and this in part due to the fact that all of the characters are rather shallow and uninteresting. B-ko is your typical one-dimensional villain/rival, who really wants nothing more but to kill A-ko and win the heart of C-ko–which was probably supposed to be funny, but wasn't. C-ko in particular is rather annoying and unlikable, as all she ever does is act like some sort of seven year old, and cries whenever someone calls her out for being a cloudcukoolander. Which again, was probably supposed to be funny, but wasn't. A-ko would be the best of the characters, but only because there's nothing particularly good or bad about her.

The only thing about Project-Ako that's consistently good would be the huge action sequence in the final thirty minutes of the film. It starts with A-ko and B-ko's final duel, and than sort of escalates once the city is attacked by aliens. It's ridiculous and exciting, and actually pretty enjoyable. One scene that stand outs is when A-ko ascends to the floating alien spaceship by hopping on and off missiles that are being shot in her direction.

Since Project A-ko is considered to be one of the classics, you might want to watch it anyways–just don't except anything to be enjoyable apart from the action sequences.

It's just not very funny. The main reason to seek out and enjoy this film is for the fact that it revels in the self-referential nature of anime. The more of an otaku you are, particularly of things released by before this came out, the more you will ostensibly get out of it. Although, certainly, you can notice things that were influenced by this in turn. I liked the Gurren Lagann drill mech.

I think the reason this has a high reputation is because of the sci-fi action direction it takes in the second half. Some of that material, such as A-ko hopping on the fighter ... jets or the part where A-ko and B-ko fought in the middle of the war between the Earthlings and aliens, was extremely good. They just went wild on it. But, in general, action alone doesn't sustain my interest very well. And it took its sweet time getting to that point; I started watching this movie in April and got bored in the first half. When I restarted it, I fell asleep at some point. (Which shouldn't be taken as a strong objection. Dealing with COVID stress every day has made me tire easily. I somewhat often fall asleep early for no reason.)

Love the character designs inspired by Rumiko Takahashi's work.

This is worth watching if you like 80s anime. But it's not, like, spectacular for me.