Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko

Synopsis

High-schooler Asagiri Yohko was just too shy to tell the object of her affections how she felt about him. To get around her bashfulness, Yohko wrote a massive piano composition dedicated to him -- and recorded it, hoping to meet him and play it for him.

So Yohko walked down the street looking for her man, all the while listening to her composition with her headphones. It turns out, however, that the piece Yohko wrote has intense reality-bending powers, and Yohko suddenly found herself whisked to another world where nasties are hunting for her tape, calling it the "Heart of Leda."

Aided by a talking dog, a young (and I do mean young) priestess, and her new-found powers as a warrior of Leda, Yohko tries to find a way home. But if Yohko is to escape, she'll have to out-wit, out-fight, and out-think her pursuers, who want to use her song of love to take over both their world and hers!

Review

Let's all take ... a BIIIIIIG ol' acid trip!

At least, that's the general feeling I got after watching this title. Boy, I thought I had seen some weird stuff, but this flick takes the cake!

Well, first things first, I guess. The art and animation in this title are actually not too shabby. Some really bizarre visual effects can be found, making this one somewhat of a jaunt for the anime-watcher who thinks he's seen it all. The mecha and aircraft designs are all equally strange, sort of what Miyazaki might come up with after he's inhaled a bit too many paint fumes. The conventional, the tried and true ... you won't find it here (although there are some rather strong nods to Star Wars). The soundtrack, given the main theme of this film (i.e. Piano Music Can Snatch You To Another Dimension If You Are Not Careful), is up to snuff, and Yohko's composition is certainly an impressive piece of music.

The storyline, just like everything else in the film, is really odd as well; perhaps a bit too odd. Maybe it was because we saw it really late at night (then again, that fact might have actually helped), but it seemed that Yohko's initial transportation ended up being the least strange turn of events out of the whole film. The background story and events just kept getting stranger and more disjoint until we just sort of gave up just trying to understand the whole thing. And when the music video interlude popped up near the middle of the end ... well ... Granted, the ending is rather satisfying, and everything kinda makes sense (kinda sorta kinda) in the end.

All in all, though, it's not that bad of a title. If you've got a strong tolerance for weirdness and have run out of things to watch late late at night with a few friends, you might consider this one. At least, it's one of our ex-president's favorites. :-)

— Raphael See

Recommended Audience: Nothing terribly objectionable. Some standard adventure-style violence and a menacing bad guy; that's all, really.

Version(s) Viewed: VHS, Japanese with English subtitles
Review Status: Full (1/1)
Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko © 1985 Mutsumi Inomata