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El Hazard: The Magnificent World

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Distributor: Geneon
Original Story: Hiroki Hayashi
Volumes: 2
Rating: 13+
Anime Code: E

When ruins are discovered underneath a high school, three students and their teacher are transported to a distant world where they discover they have super powers, take sides in an interspecies war, and fight (or befriend) a real life demon god... life being a relative term here.

Review: I am still kicking myself.  I thought I got El Hazard: The Alternative World but in fact I got El Hazard: The Magnificent World, apparently in new packaging.  This is my first time actually watching the El Hazard series and I was sort-of surprised to find out its creator was the same guy (or girl, I can't tell) who did the Tenchi series.  This seemed to be a paint-by-number series that included lots of innuendo, lots of slapstick, and a hero that is unremarkable at best.  Still, the series didn't do everything wrong.  I liked the Lawrence of Arabia-like music and enjoyed the romance aspect of the storyline.  But I don't see it as good as Tenchi, or any other anime which falls into the fantasy category.  On the other hand, it's one of the more well-known animes so I'm proud to own the OVA that started it all.

Action Level: 3/5
The fight scenes were rather comical, especially when Jinni sicked that super Bugrom on the heroes only to have it trashed by Super-Fujisawa.

Romance Level: 4/5
The romance between Makoto and Ifurita was well done, even though Ifurita is a demon-god-robot-thing.  The water priestess and Fujisawa was more comical than it was romantic.

Comedy Level: 3/5
Jinni was the most hilarious of all the characters.  I saw him as more of comic relief than villain.  His laugh sounded like a Pokemon and he had that used-car-salesman look that just made you want to slap him around.

Adult Level: 2/5
The potty humor and the whole cross-dressing deal was pretty good, but there was no nudity or severe violence.  Lots of homosexual innuendo though.

Drama Level: 2/5
The thing with Ifurita was dramatic but not boardering tragic and they pulled that off well.  Unfortunately, all other "drama" was annoying at best.

Overall Level: 3/5
The show is nothing special but the fact that this is one of the more well-known animes makes it worth getting.  But judging from what I've been hearing, it's not worth getting the sequels.