Pet Shop of Horrors. © Mari Akino/Polygram/TBS/Madhouse.

Pet Shop of Horrors. Special Edition.
TV series, 1999. Director: Toshio Hirata. Four episodes; 95 mins. Price & format: DVD $29.95 bilingual. Distributor: Urban Vision Entertainment.

Horror fantasy anthologies, usually hosted by a comically creepy Master of Ceremonies, are an American comic-book tradition going back to the famous EC comics of the 1950s with their later TV/movie spinoff Tales from the Crypt. In Japan the Pet Shop of Horrors 1990s romantic fantasy manga by Matsuri "Mari" Akino ran to forty short stories with a more coherent storyline. The anime version returned to the American model, picking just four tales from early in the series and presenting them without any continuity development. Considering the popularity of Akino's manga and the prestige of the creative team at the Madhouse production studio (including theatrical directors Yoshiaki Kawajiri and Rintaro), everyone was puzzled when this was limited to a four-episode midnight half-hour TV series, shown weekly on Tokyo Broadcasting System during March 1999.

In the Chinatown of a large American city is a tiny but luxurious pet shop managed by a aesthetically effeminate young man called Count D. He sells only the rarest exotic animals and insists that they must be cared for exactly according to instructions specified in a contract. Obviously each purchaser will disregard these instructions and meet a supernaturally gruesome fate. What makes each story interesting are the details, tailored to the slowly revealed character flaw of the story's protagonist: arrogance, uncritical devotion, carelessness, egotism. Usually the victims foolishly assume that the instructions are not important, though in one a despairing man deliberately disregards the instructions as a romantic way to commit suicide. Series continuity is provided by Count D, who sells the fantasy animal at the beginning of each episode, and by rookie plainclothes police detective Leon, who is sure that the grotesque fatalities plaguing the city are somehow attributable to the Count since all the victims were customers of his shop, although he cannot prove a connection.

The four cautionary parables chosen for the anime series, "Daughter," "Delicious," "Despair" and "Dual" (all forty of Akino's stories have titles beginning with D), are deliberately staged to be generic horror mini-movies. They leave unanswered such questions as whether "Count D" stands for Dracula; whether the handsomely languorous Count is homosexual; how close does the relationship between the Count and Leon get; and which large American city is the locale. (In the manga Leon is a Los Angeles police detective, but Akino's depiction is such a vague Oriental fantasy-vision of big-city America that it makes better sense to leave it unidentified as the anime version has.) Akino's Pet Shop of Horrors manga was published in ten volumes in Japan from 1995 to 1998 but has not been translated into English yet.

Moldiver. © AIC, Pioneer LDC, Inc.

Moldiver.
OAV series, 1993. Director: Hiroyuki Kitazume. 6 half-hour episodes; 180 minutes. Price & format: DVD $19.98 bilingual. Distributor: Pioneer Entertainment.

Gundam has been one of the hottest anime titles in Japan for over twenty years. The attractive character designs by Hiroyuki Kitazume are one reason for its popularity. Gundam is not his sole work however. Moldiver is more of a personal tour de force for Kitazume, since he directed it and created the story concept, as well as designed its characters. Moldiver, produced by the A.I.C. studio as a six episode OAV series, released in Japan between February and October 1993, was also one of Japanese company Pioneer's first U.S. releases from May through October 1994. Its success as a popular sci-fi comedy led to Pioneer's rapid expansion to become one of America's major anime distributors today.

Moldiver is a giddy teen comedy, partly satire on American costumed heroes and partly Japanese destruction-derby slapstick mayhem. Tokyo in 2045 is a shiny utopia, thanks to miracles in computer technology developed by famous Professor Hiroshi Amagi -- until the city is suddenly hit by a crime wave masterminded by mad scientist/supervillain Dr. Machingal and his team of android "Superdolls" built to resemble famous 20th century actresses (Brooke, Vivien, Jennifer, Elizabeth, etc.). Just as suddenly, an American-style costumed superhero appears to oppose them: Captain Tokyo! Their battles (and Captain Tokyo's dynamic posing for cameras) make for great TV news coverage. The fact that each confrontation leaves several blocks in rubble is glossed over.