Fight Iczer One

[JetJockey]

I posted about Iczer in the Dangaio topic. I searched and there surprisingly isn't a dedicated topic on this show.

This is an awesome old school anime. I just finished it during the holiday. I probably should have picked up the DVD instead of going the youtube route. There is a movie version which I'm curious to see if they added any scenes. What I watched on youtube seemed to have missing story elements. Every episode has the Japanese forces attempt to launch an attack against the aliens and failing. But there isn't any real development of that story. It's just Japan has a new method of attack every episode and boom. Unless that's just the old school anime story telling.

Also a Blu-ray was released! The show probably looks amazing on Blu-ray. The animation and character designs are really good and worth being on Blu-ray like Dangaio. The Blu-ray is supposed to be a limited release though but I'm still looking into that and wondering if there will be a US release.

Does anyone own any Iczer cels or have a list of Iczer items? Artbooks, posters, figures, laserdiscs, etc? I found the Iczer Battle Box laserdisc. It's tempting. I want to see if there is any overlap between the laserdisc booklet and the artbooks. I know Toshihiro Hirano has a few artbooks too with his Iczer works.

So far I've just been searching eBay and Yahoo Japan to see what was released. One of the sad things I've come across is a lack of fan sites. I remember back in the early days of the Internet, there were always fan sites that would have all the items listed.

Anyway here is a fan made "opening" or trailer type movie that I mentioned in the Dangaio topic. Anyone who hasn't seen Iczer yet should check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4pdFI_7EA0

Edited September 6, 2016 by JetJockey

[Chas]

From what I recall Fight! Iczer One is a 3 part OAV from 1985(?)

As far as I know there have been 2 sequel OAV's

1990(ish?) Adventue! Iczer 3

1995(ish?) Iczer Girl Iczelion

Haven't seen the sequels, but I thoroughly enjoyed the original When I finally saw it.

Back in the mid eighties I bought an art book (this one: http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/images/g/YVYAAOxyOMdS8KSw/s-l225.jpg) which is all I knew of the Anime for years- And I don't read Japanese. So all I had was 'film comic' images to piece together the story. Over the many years that I had the book before I managed to actually see the film I had pretty much managed to put together a very basic idea of what happens, but seeing it finally answered SOOO many questions for me.

Pretty good story and a nice mix of Horror, Yuri, and Mecha Anime genres to boot!

[JB0]

Incidentally, Iczer-1 made it into Super Robot Wars a few years back. Still among the very few characters in this game series that head into a giant robot fight without boarding their own giant robot first.

Which is not to say that Iczer Robo was not present, just that she doesn't NEED it.

(The game also included a chiptune version of the Iczer-1 opening)

Edited September 7, 2016 by JB0

[Fortress_Maximus]

Instead of a trailer or fan video watch the actual Iczer-1 OVA #1 in original Japanese dialogue with English subtitles.

 

The Iczer-1 universe created by Toshihiro Hirano can be confusing. See the attached chart he created.

There are only a handful of Iczer-1 OVA books:

 

• Fight! Iczer-1 Perfect Collection - Published by Books Nippon/U.S. Renditions in 1991 (Lush cel images with English translations. If you only get one Iczer book strongly recommend this).
• Iczer 1 Mediamix Special Artbook - Published by Kadokawa Shoten in 1986 (Color images with settei drawings in Japanese language).
• Character Paradise Mega Artbook - Published by Bandai in 1993. (Color images from Iczer-1, Dangaioh, Iczer-3, Megazone23, Cosmos Pink Shock, and Tobikage).
• Iczer 1 Densetsu manga Chapters 1-6 - Published by Kadokawa Shoten in 1988 (Japanese language manga).
• Golden Warrior Fight Iczer1 comics #1-5 - Published by Antarctic Press in 1994 (Incomplete English translation of Densetsu manga).

The Iczer-1 universe is limited but expands into the Iczer-3 OVAs.

• Iczer-3 B-Club Special - Published by Artmic in 1991 (Lush color cel images and settei drawings in Japanese language).

I excluded the English translated Iczer-3 comics. The entire Iczer universe continues without Iczer-1, 2, and 3 in the Iczelion OVA. Since then Hirano has not created anything new.

Lastly, I had a couple A grade Iczer-1 OVA cels of Iczer-1 but traded and sold them for other series. A word of caution if you are considering collecting cels from Iczer-1, generally A and B grade cels are hard to find and even harder to obtain in good condition. There are a handful of international collectors who have successfully cornered the market well over a decade ago.

 

Edited November 17, 2017 by Fortress_Maximus

[Sandman]

I'm surprised they haven't tried to continue this series. Though the sequels weren't as good as the orginal. I did like the music for iczelion. I actually bought the 2 osts. I would have like to see that series continue.

[Fortress_Maximus]

Not surprised at all. Hirano has not created many animes or mangas for many years. At the time he created Iczer 1 Densetsu manga subsequent volumes were not completed. If he were to resume anything he should complete Dangaioh before resuming the Iczer-1 universe.

[JB0]

Apparently, there was a crossover audio drama with Iczer-1 and Dangaioh. Obviously, any modern stories should be in the crossover universe to maximize the bangs/bucks ratio.

[Sandman]

Is that why dangioh ends the way it does? Because the manga wasn't completed?

[Fortress_Maximus]

Dangaioh does not tie with Iczer-1 or the Iczer universe. Hirano was gone on the record during interviews stating there is not anymore story to tell viewers. Dangaioh was not based on a manga; it has similar character designs to the manga he did titled Doll, which was not animated into an OVA.

[JetJockey]

Apparently, there was a crossover audio drama with Iczer-1 and Dangaioh. Obviously, any modern stories should be in the crossover universe to maximize the bangs/bucks ratio.

I probably posted in the Dangaio topic that I've been meaning to check out that crossover. I found artwork from it either in that topic or somewhere else. I saved this before I even saw Iczer-1.

Is that why dangioh ends the way it does? Because the manga wasn't completed?

I still can't find where I saw more information about Dangaio's cliffhanger ending. I keep thinking that it was on a forum like the old Anime Nation. Perhaps a blog post but I'm not sure about that. So many old things on the Internet still disappear or are just hard to find.

I need to find and unbox my Dangaio books as I think there is information in there. Maybe a small manga or other artwork that gave hints as to where the series was going after episode 3. I know I have some artwork saved with characters and elements that never showed up in those 3 episodes. But perhaps I'll save those to post in the Dangaio section one day.

[Fortress_Maximus]

Dangaioh OVA ends the way it did precisely because the creator Toshihiro Hirano did not want to continue the story. As it's been repeatedly stated in the Dangaioh thread, during interviews Hirano stated he felt there was no more story or character development to present. At the end, the Dangaioh team were suspended in frozen animation in outer space, the Dangaioh mecha itself was horribly damaged, plus Professor Tarsen was dead along with the only known resource to repair the Dangaioh mecha. And more importantly Hirano felt there was no way in hell Dangaioh alone could defeat the entire Bunker organization that spanned the universe.

The piece of crap Great Dangaioh has little to do with the original series beyond a small reference to Mia Alice's telepathic warning. It has been over 20 years since the Dangaioh OVAs were created and released but the fact remains Hirano and no other studio has not done anything with Dangaioh. Furthermore, if you look at the mecha genre as a whole it has drastically cooled from the 70s. So as much as as fans still enjoy the Dangaioh OVAs there are no plans to re-boot or continue the series. As fans I am sure all feel there is more to explore but unless Hirano changes his mind and it has been 20 years, do not hold your breath. Hope springs eternal that it may be re-booted or resumed, but until some solid news is reported treat this great OVA series like others of its time (GUNNM, Baoh, Spriggen) done.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Fortress_Maximus

[JetJockey]

An Iczer-1 garage kit was released recently. I guess it's just ok.

http://myfigurecollection.net/item/544335

But hopefully with that and the Blu-ray we can get a pre-painted figure soon.

[JetJockey]

For those that don't check the Dangaio topic. The soundtrack to Fight Iczer-1.

 

https://archive.org/details/ICZER-ONEBATTLEMUSICCOLLECTION

 

Edited August 13, 2018 by JetJockey