El Hazard: The Alternative World

[Edward]

What would you call a series where Katsuhiko Jinnai never launches a scheme to take over the world and Mr. Fujisawa never kicks butt?

Well, Pioneer decided to call it El Hazard: The Alternative World.

I could just end the review there, but that's probably a little less information than people want.  This TV series is supposed to follow the OAVs, which was the story of four 'ordinary' Japanese people stranded in a strange and magical dimension with an Arabian Nights flavor, trying to get home and learning to use the powers they develop from crossing dimensions.  Alternative World starts by introducing a couple new characters.  This is their first mistake.

First we have Sakuya, I mean Quawool.  Unlike a lot of fans, I don't particularly dislike the new Priestess of Water, but we really don't need another potential romantic interest for Makoto.  Her personality is a little flat - she's a nice person, a bit shy, and terrified of bugs for some reason.  Fortunately for her, she won't really have to deal with that problem.  Still, she is the deepest and most detailed of the new characters.

Then there's Alielle in drag, I mean her brother, Parnas.  He's your typical anime letch, but without any redeeming points like Ataru Moroboshi's determination or Tatewaki Kuno's combat skills.  Parnas exists for one joke, which was done better in the OAVs.  After that, he's useless baggage; everything he does could have been done by Alielle.

Then most of the cast gets sucked into another dimension and split into smaller groups.  This could have been used for plot development and character interaction.  It even was for one of the groups, which raised some false hopes.  Also, this dimensional trip doesn't result in anybody gaining powers, a change that is neither noticed nor remarked on by any of the characters.

Makoto, Nanami, and Quawool, the only group who get any character interaction, end up at a castle run by Clueless Leader who doesn't like strangers and imprisons them for a while.  Clueless Leader doesn't realize the outlying areas don't like the way he does things, that his basement is full of carnivorous Bugs, that his Chief Guardswoman has the hots for him, and that the Big Bad Guy is manipulating things to destroy the world.  Said Big Bad Guy clearly has the same goal the Phantom Tribe did in the OAVs; but lacks their cool powers, backstory, or any explanation of his motivation.  He's not as lame and ineffective as the villain from the second Ranma movie, but that's about all I can say for him.

The second group consists of Fatora, Alielle, and Parnas.  They sneak around a bit and occasionally try to spy on Chief Guardswoman, who appears to be the only female in this dimension.  They never actually do anything that would advance the plot.

The third group is Rune Venus, Fujisawa, Afura, and Miz.  They meet Some Guy, who might be sort of a leader among the outlying people who don't like Clueless Leader in the Castle.  He and Rune Venus fall in love, though there's about as much romantic chemistry as in Attack of the Clones.  I can't think of a single memorable or interesting thing about Some Guy and he doesn't do anything for the rest of the series.  Of course, neither do Rune Venus, Fujisawa, and Miz.  Afura will, but you'll have to skip to one of the last episodes to see that and it won't last long.

The fourth group is Katsuhiko Jinnai and the Lone Bugrom.  They get captured by the local Bug Race, who are kind of like the Bugrom, only they don't do much other than imprison Jinnai, planning to chow down on him later.  This is mildly amusing at first, then they beat the joke to death, then beat the corpse to rags.  Eventually, Shayla joins them and they escape.  Jinnai's sole attempt at a clever plot fails pathetically within moments.  I haven't seen a villain nerfed this badly since Bubblegum Crisis 2040.

Eventually, everybody ends up at the Castle where they get to do nothing, except for the three Priestesses and Makoto who get to stop the Big Bad Guy in a climax only slightly longer and more suspenseful than this sentence.  IIRC, Some Guy disappears or dies about this time, not that anyone including Rune Venus seems to care.  I sure don't.  Oh, and Qwawool gets to nuke the Lone Bugrom.  Yay.

Not that there couldn't have been plenty of things for every last character to do at the end.  Some Guy could have actually done something, like lead the disgruntled outlying areas against the Castle, but he didn't.  The conflicts among those inside the Castle didn't escalate.  The reactor was easily shut down.  The rampaging Bugs who were chewing through the reactor and could have actually been attacking people were forgotten about.  The only thing the cast really had to deal with was the fairly easily defeated Big Bad Guy and his newly assembled Eye of God.  Unlike the OAVs, there were no complications with doing that and it took less people to accomplish.

And then the series is over.  Almost.

The last episode is set at a hot springs, providing some fanservice as well as the highest and lowest points of the series.  The high point is Fujisawa finally gets to use his powers, do something useful, and do something funny.  Of course, all three are the same action.  The low point is when Fatora and Alielle make their move on the other girls, who appear to have had their brains removed for this scene.  We don't see exactly what's happening, but from what we hear some rather serious fondling is going on and it's definitely non-consensual, which makes the scene dark and disturbing.  And I expected better of Alielle.

In the OAVs, the powers developed by the cast from our world are useful and have a significant impact on the plot.  In Alternative World, Nanami never has a chance to use her powers.  Fujisawa doesn't use his.  Katsuhiko's don't help him or the plot at all.  Makoto's are used only at the end in a rehash of the OAVs, and he doesn't even get to look as cool.  In this and other areas, Alternative World had a lot of potential, which was squandered.  I'll rate it 3 out of 10, simply because it had that potential.

If you really must watch the series, view the first three (or was it four) episodes until the people of the Castle grudgingly accept Makoto, Nanami, and Qwawool.  Then skip to the third episode from the end.  Don't worry, you won't be missing any plot, character development, suspense, or humor.  Watch the third and second from the last episode for the conclusion, such as it is.

[thepanda]

Hm, I've watched this before. Frankly, a 3 out of 10 is one point too many. I'd give it a two only because I happen to love the opening theme.

And Some Guy was a local leader? I missed that. I just thought he was... er... some nice guy Rune was fortunate enough to have lost her memories near.

As for potential, no. It had none going out of the gate. The setup saw to that. No Ifurita, no power usage, a rather craperific Big Bad, and a world that was altogether boring conspired to squelch any and all potential from the get go.

Honestly, I think the alternative world's setting killed it for me before anything else could.  THe Magnificent World was eye-popping, breath-taking, and mind-stirring. The Alternative was just that, some other world that wasn't the magnificent world. It had all been done before and done better.

Clueless leader was annoying. The woman lusting after him was annoying. ANCs suck, in both fan fiction and animation.

I can't honestly believe you thought the character interaction between Makoto and Sakuya, I mean Quawool, was anything but forced. I mean, hell, even Sakuya was better. At least with her series they reinvented the whole world so that we might buy the story a tiny bit better. They didn't tack it onto the OAVs.

Alternative World was a wast of time, without a doubt.

[DB]

I have to ageee here. In a way, El Hazard folllwed Tenchi all too well. Great OVA series, and then in every sequal they made, the creators completely drop the good points the oriiginal series had. El Hazard had the mind numbingly dumb Wanderss TV series (at least Tenchi TV had some good points). Then then wised up in going back to the OVA world, only to have an inane four part follow up 2nd OVA series, then top their stupidity with Alternative world.

The two main problems are
A: Expanding the cast, a completely stupid and pointless thing, considering the size of the already existing cast, and that they were dealt with in all of six episodes before. This would have been the ideal time to develop the existing characters further, but instead they come of as flat and boring as, oh, the Tenchi in Tokyo characters.

B: Going to an alternate dimension. Again, stupid and wastefull, since they had the rest of the original world to still explore. It was barely touched upon in the first six eps, and could have been expanded on wonderfully. But the creator abandoned it, and this was the end result.


While the original EH series got a 9 out of 10 from me (It's still one of my all time faves) Alternative World nets a mere 4 out of 10, meaning it's barely watchable, and horribly flawed.