For a low-budget TV production, the Madhouse studio turned out a well-directed thriller. Hunt for Red October-type scenes of suspenseful underwater hide-and-seek alternate with scenes of political panic in Washington and Tokyo. These conveniently lend themselves to long moments of motionless "silent running" tension and close-ups of talking heads. To work well, really convincing voice acting is a must. The DVD allows viewers to compare the quality of the Japanese and American voice actors; generally they are about equal, though a couple of the American voices snarl and growl too melodramatically. Unfortunately, the "realistic" military scenario, despite excellently detailed uniforms and naval vessels, is about as plausible as that in the later Die Hard movies. The brilliant Kaieda can peacefully immobilize a pursuing American nuclear sub by sneaking behind it and firing a torpedo without a warhead to smash its propeller. Even with automated homing guidance, that is a trick on a par with Robin Hood's ability to split an enemy's arrow in mid-flight with his own. Plus, TV viewers felt cheated when the movie ended with a cliffhanger, as a teaser to buy the direct-to-video sequel (which is not included here, either).

Maze, the series, from Katsumi Hasegawa, screenwriter of The Slayers/The Slayers Next and Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight. © 1997 Satoru Akahori, Eiji Suganuma/Kadokawashoten, JVC, J.C. Staff.

Maze. Video Titles: V.1, Ultimate Rage. V.2, Whirlwind Showdown. V.3, Evil Labyrinth. V.4, Time Traveling Playboy. V.5, Beating Heart. V.6, Shocking Transformation. V.7, Beautiful Stranger. V.8, Final Battle. DVD: No subtitle.

OAV series (2 episodes), 1996; TV series (25 episodes), 1997. Director: Iku Suzuki. Price & format: DVD, 85 minutes, $29.99 bilingual; video $19.99 each, V.1, 100 minutes dubbed or subtitled; V.2 — V.8, 75 minutes dubbed only. Distributor: Software Sculptors/Central Park Media.

Everyone is aware that the Japanese animation industry produces much erotic anime. This is not just pornography for the adult market. Japanese cultural standards about nudity and sexual awareness are more open than in the West. This often presents marketing problems. Maze: Mega Burst Space began as a two-video OAV (July and September 1996, produced by J. C. Staff) for teens. It pokes fun at fantasy role-playing-game stereotypes, including their marketing, and adolescent burgeoning sexuality. A "high concept" comparison might be Playboy humor designed for a 13- to 16-year-old market. There is plenty of teen girl full-frontal nudity, and one boy about 6 to 8 years old is nude in several bathing scenes. Maze, the protagonist, is a demure girl who is thrown, like Dorothy into Oz, into a generic fantasy-gaming world where a demonic priesthood has just destroyed the Kingdom of Bartonia. She joins a group of questers escorting young Princess Mill to safety in a neighboring land. The questers include Solude, a young lesbian ninja warrior who makes passes at her. Maze inexplicably gains magic talents in this world; her "phantom light power" is handy to blast the enemy's battle robots, but a curse related to werewolfism turns Maze every night into a lecherous boy who goes girl-hunting. Nothing objectionable is shown, but innuendo makes it clear that he finds girls who do not say, "No" and they go all the way. A climatic "battle" against a dragon becomes a parody of TV quiz shows with the questers challenged to prove their familiarity with the sponsor's games.