Kazuki is plagued by visions of giant, destructive robots that no one else can see. © Pioneer.

Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure. V.1, Visions. V.2, Student Housing. V.3, Artifacts. V.4, One Vision.
TV series, 1999. Director: Katsutoshi Akiyama. V.1 & V.4, 4 episodes, 100 minutes. V.2 & V.3, 3 episodes, 75 minutes. Price & format: $24.98 each dubbed or subtitled video; $29.98 bilingual DVD. Distributor: Pioneer Entertainment.

"From the Creators of Tenchi Muyo!" the blurb screams. And it shows. A.I.C. and Pioneer launched two of Japan's major anime hits of the 1990s, Tenchi Muyo! and El-Hazard, the Magnificent World, both being teen sci-fi comedies about a shy high school Earth boy chased by a bevy of cute otherworldly gals. (Tenchi Muyo! is currently popular on The Cartoon Network's Toonami lineup.) Dual! rehashes that formula, adding a parody of the ultra-serious Evangelion (another '90s anime fan favorite, with giant robots), in a scenario of alternate universes. Kazuki Yotsuga is a fan of giant robots (like most teens), but he actually sees visions of them overlapping the real world. Prof. Sanada, a mad scientist, believes that a parallel Earth exists alongside ours. Kazuki is transported there, where he finds that the other world's versions of Sanada and his academic rival, Prof. Rara, are commanders of opposing armies. Sanada is the head of the Earth Defense Command, fighting for freedom, while Rara is trying to conquer the world. Again using the Japanese myth of the mystic power of virgins, the super-scientific technology of the combat battle suits (giant robots) is such that only the brainwaves of strong-willed young women can control them. The ace pilots of the two armies are the teen daughters of Sanada and Rara, both named Mitsuki. (The plot gets as much mileage out of parallels as possible.) But the robots inexplicably respond to Kazuki. Sanada and U.N. Inspector Yamano (stereotype of a stern schoolteacher) draft Kazuki as a new pilot. He is delighted to be able to fly a real giant robot; is less delighted when he is ordered to do so in drag to keep his gender a top secret; and is terrified when several of those strong-willed young women pilots develop a personal interest in him. Some of the middle episodes get a bit heavy into the comedic romantic complications, but the plot keeps twisting and turning in clever ways. Dual!'s story is credited to Masaki Kajishima, who was the character designer of Tenchi Muyo!, and bashful teen hero Kazuki is a double of both Tenchi Muyo!'s Tenchi and El-Hazard's Makoto. But where the ultra-popular Tenchi ran on interminably, Dual! is complete in 13 TV episodes (April 8 - July 1, 1999 in Japan) and one direct-to-video epilogue, all contained in these four volumes. Anime International Company's production is mostly smooth cartoon animation with nice CGI highlights.

Fred Patten has written on anime for fan and professional magazines since the late 1970s.