Alright, so Photon was quite silly, but surely that must be something else Kajishima-san worked on that’s worth a look? Well, this particular show I found out about on the Anime Unleashed block playing on TechTV back in the day. I’ve applauded that block in the past with numerous reviews before, but I appreciate that they were more willing to put on shows more ‘off the beaten path’ and more variety (mostly sci-fi and fantasy) then the more popular Toonami with its long running shonen action lineup. Anyway, let’s jump right into……
Dual Parallel Trouble Adventure (1999 TV Series)
Director: Katsuhito Akiyama
Script: Yosuke Kuroda, Takashi Kobayashi, Hideki Shirane and Mutsumi Nakano
Studio: AIC
Kazuki Yotsuga, an average high school boy, lives a somewhat mundane life. Except for the pesky visions he keeps getting, of giant robots fighting in the city which only he can see. One day, the school’s popular beauty Mitsuki Sanada who has taken an interest in him and knows about his visions, takes him to see her father revealed to be a kooky mad scientist. Mr Sanada prattles on about some possible parallel world stuff, all silly junk to Kazuki, but then by accident he gets sent to a parallel world actually. There, he joins the Earth Defense Force in their giant robot fueled fight against the enemy Rara Army for control of the city, all the while Kazuki seeks a way to get back home.
What makes Dual work where Photon fails comes down to having a more interesting story hook. I find the notion of parallel worlds (based on multiverse theory) quite fascinating and the story does look into how someone would react when thrusted into that situation. In Episode 2, Kazuki finds himself back at his old home and when confronted by his parents, they no longer have any memory of him which comes as a real shock to him and cements his quite dire situation quite early on.
From there, Kazuki meets up with a cast of quite interesting characters: the stoic bioriod D, tsundere Mitsuki and former pilot turned sensei Yayoi Schwael among some other colorful characters. Of course, after that initial hook the story slums into somewhat standard anime tropes involving Kazuki having to adjust life not just in a parallel world, but being the only male who can pilot the giant robot Unit 01 despite the established factoid that only females can do so. Which of course plays into Kazuki being more akin to Tenchi as being the ‘special one’ main male character present in oh so many stories.
I recall some years ago, reading an article somewhere a list of anime that ripped off Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Dual was on that list. Now, having rewatched the show recently, I have to disagree. Dual is not so much a Evangelion ripoff, in spite of the surface level elements in terms of world setting and character, it is at its heart a Tenchi Muyo ripoff, with Kazuki gaining rather unexpectedly a harem of varied female characters as the show goes on. Kajishima-san has even claimed that Dual takes place in a distant past within the Tenchi Muyo universe, which I can see that a lot obviously then the Evangelion elements, only slightly changed up or downright changed in name only.
Heck, Kazuki has much more in common with Tenchi then Shinji; he’s a normal guy who finds himself with a special power and a great destiny thrust upon him, left with no real idea on how to deal with it. And the female characters, while somewhat distinct, end up in the same harem situation that Kajishima-san cut his teeth on early in his career. That being said, the harem romcom elements meld well with the scifi elements of the show in a way that works.
Noting the English dub, this is a nice blast from the past for me. The cast is filled with classic LA dub actors like Kirk Thornton, Michelle Ruff, Wendee Lee, Joshua Seth to name a few. They clearly knew what kind of show they were working on, and its clear they had fun with this one.
So Dual is a nice show that displays that even with Kajishima on board, others can elevate the material around his ideas to make something more interesting and entertaining.
For the next two months, I will be going back, way back to the beginning of one of my favorite anime studios to examine some of their earlier works, starting off with:
Til next time, dear readers…..
EclecticDude's Anime Carnival 