Around 1995, Japanese animation (anime) began pouring into North America, Europe and across the globe in video form. Most of these titles were unknown outside of Japan and never covered by animation journals. Whether a title is highly popular or very obscure, a high quality theatrical feature or a cheap and unimaginative direct-to-video release, they all look the same on a store shelf. Therefore, Animation World Magazine will regularly review several new releases (including re-releases not previously covered) that have merit.

Aura Battler Dunbine is a true classic, spurring early anime fans to watch undubbed and unsubtitled bootleg versions. © ADV Films.

Aura Battler Dunbine. V.1, Tales of Byston Well. V.2, Heroes of Byston Well. V.3, The Kings of Byston Well. V.4, Escape from Byston Well. V.5, Return to Byston Well. V.6, Battlers of Byston Well. V.7, Mysteries of Byston Well. V.8, Invaders from Byston Well. V.9-12, titles to come.
TV series (49 episodes), 1983-1984. Director: Yoshiyuki Tomino. V.1, five episodes/125 minutes; v.2-12, four episodes/100 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.98. Distributor: ADV Films.

Most TV anime available in America so far is of recent series of the last decade. Dunbine is one of the few genuinely “classic” series of previous years, which early anime fans of the 1980s watched avidly even without understanding the untranslated bootleg videos. (Summaries of varying degrees of accuracy circulated among fan clubs.) The animation quality is creaky by today’s standards, but the intelligent plot and the direction — particularly the characters’ body language and the Japanese voice actors’ tense dialogue — keep it a gripping drama.

Seisenshi (Spirit or Psychic Warrior) Dunbine (49 weekly episodes, February 5, 1983 through January 21, 1984) was the creation of Sunrise studio’s writer-director Yoshiyuki Tomino and character designer Tomonori Kogawa, with first-rate background music by Katsuhiro Tsubono. Tomino, fresh from creating the high-tech futuristic Mobile Suit Gundam giant-robot series, did not want to repeat himself so he crafted a world as different as possible that mixes Celtic mythology, Northern European knights-in-armor imagery, modern technology (computer microchips and nuclear weapons), and the then-trendy pseudoscientific theories of Kirlian “psychic auras.” Since they had to add giant robots to keep the toy-manufacturer sponsors happy, Tomino and mecha designer Kazutaka Miyatake came up with brand-new designs inspired by beetles and similar insects to retain a Medieval “organic” imagery.

Show Zama is a modern Japanese teen who is abruptly teleported to the world of Byston Well, a land where humans live in feudal baronies amidst the “Mi Ferario,” faerie-folk ranging from tiny winged pixies to mermaid-like silkies. The most powerful of the Mi Ferario have the ability to transfer humans back and forth between “the Upper Earth” (our dimension) and Byston Well. Humans from Upper Earth have psychic auras which natives of Byston Well lack, which can be used in combination with Upper Earth technology to power machinery. Drake Luft, a power-hungry baron, has enslaved Mi Ferario to bring Upper Earth technicians to him, and bribed them to build Aura Battlers (mobile battle armor; the Dunbine is the top-of-the-line model) to conquer neighboring lands. Now he needs Upper Earth men with powerful auras to pilot his fighters. Show is one of the first of his magically press-ganged draftees.

Show and the other young men from all around Upper Earth are at first bewildered, and tempted by Luft’s promises of glory for helping his barony defend itself from evil neighbors, and of wealth and future estates for themselves. Show gradually learns that Luft himself is the would-be world conqueror. Some previous Upper Earth conscripts have already defected to other Byston Well kingdoms and are helping them build their own Aura Battlers for defense. There are factions within each side plotting against each other; Show must determine which have genuinely noble goals and which are actually motivated by greed. As in many anime serials, Show at first only wants to return to Japan and his family. By the time this becomes possible (episode #16), Show has become so integrated into his Byston Well life that he cannot decide which world is his true home now. Dunbine is still one of the best TV anime series ever made.