MEGAZONE 23

is an anime series about a future recreation of Tokyo where the citizens are unaware that they live in fabricated reality. It is widely considered a classic of the mecha genre of anime, and it holds a place in history as one of the first profitable Original Animated Video productions.

Contents

Storyline

Main characters

Trivia

See also

External links

Storyline

Set in the future, the story of MZ23 was inspired by the popular anime program, ''Macross''. In the ''Macross'' theatrical movie, '' , the SDF-1 spaceship continues to broadcast (fabricated) transmissions of the idol singer Lynn Minmei during her period of captivity with the Zentradi in order to prevent the public from being aware of her disappearance. The creators of the Megazone anime video decided that they would increase the ignorance of their own spaceship's population, as they would not only be duped into idolizing a computer-generated singer, but would not even realize that they were on a spaceship.
The story revolves around a delinquent motorcyclist named Shogo Yahagi, who lives in what appears to be contemporary (1980s) Japan. His life is carefree and he spends his time riding around, working at McDonalds, and flirting with girls. After nearly running over a dancer named Yui Takanaka, he apologizes and manages to befriend her. Later on he unknowingly goes on a double date with his friend Mori and Yui's two roommates, Mai Yumekano and Tomomi Murashita. His life is changed abruptly when he bumps into an old friend, Shinji Nakagawa, shows him a military prototype motorcycle, the Garland. Soon after, mysterious agents arrive to apprehend him, and chaos ensues. Shogo escapes with the Garland.
The plot becomes more complicated as Shogo continues to make discoveries that alter his perception of the world. The motorcycle turns out to be transforming mecha (beyond the technological level of the 1980s, of course), the pop singer Eve Tokimatsuri is actually a computer simulation, rather than a flesh and blood person, and the population of the city unknowingly lives on a spaceship 500 years in the future (although they believe it is still the late 20th century). In addition to the strain of these revelations, he has troubles with his courtship of Yui, and the military is hunting him, led by a relentless officer called B.D.
''Megazone 23'' inspired two sequels which continue the somewhat incomplete story. The immediate sequel, ''Megazone 23 Part II'', is something of an anomaly as the art averts the traditional anime style for more realistic looking characters. In addition, it contains more explicit scenes of violence and sex than its predecessor.
It is said by fans that a highlight of this series is the performance, both spoken and sung, of Miyasato Kumi as Eve Tokimatsuri.
''Megazone 23 Part III'' is a rather disjointed sequel that occurs 500 years after Parts 1 and 2. Almost all of the characters except for Eve are new, and she appears as a 1000-year-old prodigy who is integrated into the system at the series end.

Main characters

★ 'Shogo Yahagi' (''va'' Masato Kubota → Kazuki Yao) : - The main character. A reckless youth who begins to take on dire responsibility as he discovers the true nature of his world. His best friends are Morley Hiroki and Chombo.

★ 'Yui Takanaka' (Maria Kawamura): An aspiring dancer who falls for Shogo. She lives in an apartment with two other girls, Mai Yumekano and Tomomi Murashita.

★ 'Mai Yumekano' (Mayumi Shō): A singer/songwriter and keyboard player who comes from a rich family.

★ 'Tomomi Murashita' (Mina Tominaga): An aspiring filmmaker, a bit dingy.

★ 'Eve Tokimatsuri' (Kumi Miyasato): A popular singer in the city. In reality, she is part of a computer program named Bahamut which is supposed to keep the people of the city content, ignorant, and safe. Notably, In the second part, she helps Shogo learn his planned place in the world, and in the last part, the original Eve helps out Shogo's replacement in the same way.

★ 'Shinji Nakagawa' (Kōichi Yamadera): An old friend of Shogo Yahagi who has become a motorcycle test driver for a secret military program.

★ 'B.D.' (Kaneto Shiozawa): A powerful military leader who is intent on taking control of the ship from Bahamut. His plans become tenuous with the involvement of Shogo.

Trivia

★ ''Megazone 23'' was initially conceived as the studio ARTMIC's next television project after ''Genesis Climber Mospeada'' with an unrelated story, but it was converted into an OVA in mid production after the sponsors withdrew financial support. According to Ishiguro Norobu at an AX panel, the OAV is essentially cut and pasted together from the first dozen or two already produced episodes of the canceled TV show.

★ ''Megazone 23'' is the thirteenth Original Video Animation (OVA) released in Japan, and among the first to be a commercial success. The first OVA, ''Dallos,'' was released in 1983 but was considered a financial disappointment.

★ The original planned title was "Omega City 23," then "Vanity City" and "Omega Zone 23."

★ The title ''Megazone 23'' was originally a reference to the 23 municipal wards of Tokyo. In the subsequent retro continuity correction introduced by the second sequel (Part III,) the number 23 was altered to refer to the 23rd man made city-ship, unrelated to 23 municipal wards of Tokyo (with Megazone 1 named "Big Apple," reference to New York city of the 1950's.)

★ Since the first OVA was not initially intended to have a sequel, it lacks the ''Part I'' subtitle, which was added on video covers of subsequent reissues after the release of ''Megazone Part II.''

★ ''Megazone 23'' was spliced with ''The Southern Cross'' by Carl Macek to create the 1986 Robotech film, ''.

★ The Japanese laserdisc release of ''Megazone 23 Part II'' contains an alternate ending to the first video, without dialogue, where Shogo hijacks a military jet in order to defeat B.D.'s plans. This alternate ending had been animated for the ''Robotech: The Movie''. This ending was also released in the out-of-print Japanese Megazone 23 DVD-Box.

★ ADV Films is currently the owner of the license. It has passed hands through Harmony Gold, Streamline Pictures, and Image Entertainment.

★ A tongue-in-cheek joke in Part III has the Psycholand Video Arcade Employee database list, as the first four names, Yui and her friends, Tomomi and Mai, and a filler name which is made up of ones, when Eiji looks at it.

★ Megazone 23 has also been used as a story element in Banpresto's popular series "Super Robot Wars" (Specifically in Super Robot Wars Destiny for the Game Boy Advance).

★ A number of anime and movie fans believe that the anime was one of the Wachowski brothers' numerous inspirations for The Matrix.

★ The "Flow" chapter from the Super Famicon game Live A Live shares many similarities with ''Megazone 23''

★ During a chase scene in part I after Shogo discovers the reality behind Tokimatsuri, the drivers of the police car in pursuit closely resembled Lupin and Daisuke Jigen from the series Lupin III (a similar appearance occurs in an episode of the Macross TV series. Noburo Ishiguro had directed some installments of Lupin III). In that same chase scene a road accident occurs, in which one of the people involved is Kamen Rider on his Cyclone.

★ In Part I when Mai comes home having been scouted by Tokimatsuri's directors, she throws a duffel bag onto a chair and almost hits the house cat. The duffel reads "Dagger of Kamui", referencing another popular anime from the time.

★ A Playstation 3 game titled is scheduled to be released in Japan on September 13, 2007.

★ Though her graphic design is the same as in the other parts, Eve is voiced by Saki Takaoka in Part III.

See also

★ ''RahXephon''

External links

★ ''Megazone 23'' at AnimeNfo

★ ''Megazone 23'' review at AnimeOnDVD

★

★ MegaZone 23 Trilogy @ HooplaNet