What's the best Anime Series Out there?

[Raguleader]

@psiekier

Casper Van Dien was hip-deep in Invasion, but he doesn’t even provide the voice for Johnny Rico - the character he plays in the live action films! Not sure what’s going on there… :dubious:

The trailer hooked me because it began with a voiceover that takes lines directly from the first chapter of the book (my favourite book!), but Invasion had about as much to do with Heinlein’s original as Paul Verhoeven’s movie did - possibly even less. I remember somebody jokingly referring to the live action Space Battleship Yamato as Heroic Sacrifices: The Movie. Get ready for more of the same when you watch Invasion.

While we’re on the subject, though, there is actually a Starship Troopers anime - Uchuu no Senshi - an six-episode OVA series that Sunrise produced in the late 1980’s. The animation is all hand-drawn, and terribly dated, but at least the MI wear powered armour like Rico describes in the book.

I figure that Casper Van Dien just wasn’t a very good voice actor, so they hired a professional.

The fun thing about the voiceover from the trailer, is that it misquotes the book in a way that entirely changes the context. In the movie, the quote has Rico comparing himself to a horse at the gate, shaking because he’s eager to race. The quote from the book is:

@Johnny Rico

I always get the shakes before a drop. I’ve had the injections, of course, and hypnotic preparation, and it stands to reason that I can’t really be afraid. The ship’s psychiatrist has checked my brain waves and asked me silly questions while I was asleep and he tells me that it isn’t fear, it isn’t anything important – it’s just like the trembling of an eager race horse in the starting gate. I couldn’t say about that; I’ve never been a race horse. But the fact is: I’m scared silly, every time.

Didn’t Sunrise get sued over that anime? Like it wasn’t an authorized adaptation? In any case, I’ve seen the suggestion made that the entire Mecha genre of Japanese film might have been inspired by Starship Troopers (same could be said for the same genre in Western media, though it was never as popular over here).

But yeah, Invasion is a sort of blend of elements from the movie, the book, and the cartoon series. It mostly plays like the cartoon and the movie had a kid.