Iria
The starship Karma. A simple rescue mission: remove the crew and retrieve the cargo before the authorities gets there. Iria's big brother, Gren even let her came along (well, she didn't gave him much choice), although she's just an apprentice hunter. But things aren't always what they seems. Especially if the ship cargo is Zeiram, a powerful, invulnerable, blood thirsty alien entity.
Iria is definitively an excellent piece of science-fiction anime, one of the best I've seen. The story is simply great and should please any action lover. It's not the usual post-apocalyptical SciFi story, neither the usual heavy fighting mecha story or the "let's kill the big bad beast" story (although killing it is one of the main objectives of our heroin). Fact is, we don't see Zeiram at all during episode 3.
The artwork is the kind I really love. Iria just look great, and Zeiram is really one weird looking monster (and there's no doubt that thing is evil). The SciFi elements alone are a good reason to watch Iria. The vehicles don't quite look like what one would expect to see in some SciFi anime. The design is relatively unique, there's a mixture of old and new. The same goes for some of the weapons. And let's not forget the mushroom type buildings of planet Myce (it definitively have nothing to do with Earth). I also really love the polygonal shapes of the energy shields used in this anime.
I've read somewhere a review where it was said that the dub sucked. Frankly, I don't really agree, especially if I compare to other things I've seen. But of course, I haven't seen the original stuff and I can't really tell if there's a big difference. I don't care either. I enjoyed the dub. It is said that the original Iria is far more a dark character. So what? Does it change the storyline? I don't think so. And anyway, the darkest souls usually don't show there true colors... until it's too late for you! :) Seriously, I do believe that the sub might be better. Call that an intuition (actually, it's more something about one of the characters). In any case, the dub IS good. But if I wouldn't have saved around sixty dollars by renting the dubs instead of buying the subs, I would have gone for the subs this time.
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Last updated December 24th 1997
