Battle Skipper: The Movie (1995)
Film:
DVD:

Written by Hidemi Kamata, based on a story by Tomy
Directed by Takashi Watanabe
Character Design by Takashi Kobayashi
Starring the voices of Chinami Nishimura, Yuko Miyamura, Yuri Shiratori, Shiho Niiyama, Kikuko Inoue

Features:

• Meet the Cast - brief intros to the characters
  
• Storyboard to Animation comparisons
  
• Original Japanese TV toy commercials
  
• Trivia game
  
• Art gallery
  
• Sneak Peeks at Wild Cardz, Agent Aika, Angel Sanctuary, Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie, The Ping Pong Club
  
• DVD-ROM: Art gallery, English language scripts, character sketches, cast credits, production credits, website links
  

Widge's Anime Warnings:

• Brief nudity
• Attempted rape
• Hair that defies physics

Rating: 13+
Anamorphic: No.
My Advice: Rent It.

Welcome to St. Ignacio High. Specifically, welcome earnest Saori, number one student Kanami, and not very swooft Shihoko. New to the school, the most important thing is obviously to pick a club to belong to. There's the Debutante Club, led by the power-hungry Sayaka, and then there's the Etiquette Club, run by friends Rie and Reika. Struck by the lovely Rie and Reika (who's not a meter maid, sorry), the three decide to join the Etiquette Club. However, what they don't realize is that both clubs are secretly at odds--Sayaka wants world domination while Rie and Reika's club is a front to run off and fight crime (sometimes to the detriment of their studies). Oh, and did I mention the squat battlebots that they all drive?

It's hard to dislike this film. It's a world in which two sororities are all trained like ninjas and are capable of smacking around downtown in the latest military gear (the "battle skippers" of the title). I only wish sororities in real life would be so industrious. The characters magically change into uniforms for driving the skippers and then a different outfit for when they're doing hand-to-hand combat. And of course, the flowing vestiges of the melee uniforms look like nothing you would ever want to wear in a fight. So hey, it's cute. It's not going to go over gangbusters with anime fans who prefer multiple squib shots and huge armies waging epic combat--but hey, it's not for them anyway. This film certainly has its audience pegged and will probably be a hit with any young female fans of anime you know.

Now--I say film, but it's not really a movie as the title suggests--it's three episodes all with credits. I figure if you're going to make something into a "movie" at least remove the middle credit sequences. But no matter. There's really not much to offend--and the aforementioned attempted rape scene is appropriately mild--and appropriately interrupted before anything really happens--but just be aware.

As far as extras go, the storyboard-to-animation comparisons are nice--but they're done side by side in two little boxes, so it makes it hard to get the full effect you would with say, a split screen or something. The TV spots for the toys are quite amusing: fast, hyperkinetic and over before you can ever get a good look at the toys themselves. The trivia game is exceedingly trivial: for example, the first question lets you watch part of a shower scene at the beginning, and then asks what color shower cap Sayaka was wearing. Not sure what good that does anyone. On the DVD-ROM side of things, the art gallery here appears to be the same stuff that's on the actual "art gallery" feature on the non-ROM side of things. The English language scripts are provided as well.

Bottom line is that the film is cute and the DVD with its features is fair. I wouldn't say it was good enough to run off and plonk down some coin for it, but definitely find it for rental somewhere if you're in the mood for anime light.