Iria: Zeiram the Animation. © 1994 Crowd, Bandai Visual, Mitsubishi Corporation, Banpresto.

Iria: Zeiram the Animation.
OAV series, 1994. Director: Tetsurou Amino. 162 minutes. Price & format: bilingual DVD $34.99. Distributor: U.S. Manga Corps/Central Park Media.

In the U.S., popular movies like Star Wars generate TV cartoon spinoffs. Ditto in Japan, though the spinoffs are more likely to be direct-to-video releases.

Zeiram was a 1991 live-action sci-fi hit (by writer-director Keita Amemiya) similar to Alien, showing the climax of a long-running hunt-to-the-death between Zeiram, an invulnerable space monster, and the galactic bounty hunter Iria, played by Sigourney Weaver-esque Yuko Moriyama. Fans wanted to know more about the back-story alluded to during the movie: how did Iria and Zeiram become such implacable adversaries; what were some of their previous battles; how did Iria become such a hardened bounty hunter; how did Iria gain her computer hologram partner, Bob?

Iria: Zeiram the Animation was an Original Animation Video series (six monthly half-hour releases between June and November 1994) that answered these questions. Iria is a teenager who hero-worships her older brother Gren and his human boss, Bob -- two interstellar security guards/bounty hunters. They are hired to rescue a corporate executive held hostage on a terrorist-hijacked cargo spaceship. But the menace is actually an unkillable monster being illegally shipped for study as a potential super-weapon. Gren disappears, either killed or captured by Zeiram, while Bob is doublecrossed by their employer who wants no witnesses. The mortally wounded Bob transfers his mind to a computer just before dying. Iria, carrying him as a mini-computer mentor, sets out to destroy both Zeiram and the ruthless Tedan Tippedai Corporation, and to rescue Gren if it is not too late.

The 1991 movie was set in a "warp zone" arena, which, despite suspenseful direction, was clearly little more than a simplistic sound stage. Animation (by Ashi Production Co.) allowed this 1994 prequel to present limitless galactic starfields, numerous exotic locales on the planets Myce and Taowajan (futuristic cityscapes are imaginatively extrapolated from traditional Indonesian architectural styles), a limitless horde of Zeiramoid creatures and acrobatics beyond the range of most live actors. The character designs are very colorful, although the elaborate costumes look rather warm for such a tropical setting. Iria's transition from a talented but naive imitation of her brother into a skilled professional hunter is handled nicely, wisely stopping short of making her the cold killer of the theatrical feature. The DVD presentation of Iria as a feature suffers slightly from the original need to divide it into six neat sub-adventures within the overall story; and since this is the beginning of the Zeiram saga (there is also a 1994 live-action Zeiram 2, again written & directed by Keita Amemiya and starring Yuko Moriyama), the conclusion is naturally open-ended. But Iria: Zeiram the Animation stands well on its own. It should fully satisfy moviegoers looking for action-packed cinematic space sagas. (The U.S. Manga Corps 1996 video releases of Iria in three videotape volumes, two episodes per volume, are still available at $19.95 each dubbed or $29.95 each subtitled.)