THEM Anime Reviews
Home Reviews Extras Forums
AKA: Odin: Koushi Hansen Starlight
Genre: Sci-fi adventure / insomnia obliterator
Length: Movie, 93 minutes
Distributor: VHS and R1 DVD from US Manga Corps out of print.
Content Rating: 10+ (minor violence, danger of dislocating your jaw from yawning)
Related Series: N/A
Also Recommended: Crest of the Stars, Star Blazers, Stellvia of the Universe. Or just getting a good night's sleep.
Notes: This review is based on the 93-minute International Cut that was released in the US and UK. The original movie is a whopping 136 minutes: that's right, more than two hours. TWO HOURS! Read the review and then come back and chew on that little tidbit of information.
Rating:

Odin: Photon Space Sailor Starlight

Synopsis

The newest starship in the ... well, some earthian starship league, I think; the "Starlight" (ooh-aah) receives an SOS signal from the Jupiter Transit Alford during their maiden voyage. (Yeah, whatever.) Arriving there, they rescue a cute girl and obtain some rather vague hints about Odin, apparently an old civilization.

What follows is a great battle to stay awake as the Starlight is taken over by its subordinate crew, a bunch of idiot kids, and promptly sails off into the great *yawn*.


Review

I really enjoyed this movie ... for about three minutes. That's when the rather hilariously bad heavy metal song that didn't really fit in with this movie ended, and I had to face hard reality; that was as good as it got. And I really have to hand it to the creators of this movie. You really put out all the stops on your efforts to screw this one up, didn't you?

I mean, this one had some elements of Norse mythology, for God's sake. (Like a lot of anime does ... or did, at least.) And when you have something like that in a movie and still manage to bore a Norwegian Star Trek TNG/Crest of the Stars fan out of his mind, then you've got some pretty friggin' big problems.

Like I said, there was a promising start here. The ship design is actually quite good, and the intro with the amusingly bad heavy metal song was ... well, entertaining. But as soon as everyone was settled and the skipper (hey, skip!) entered, I knew I was in for one long heel-dragging adventure where No-Doz would be essential for my survival.

Now, the story COULD have been good. Exploration is always an interesting topic to challenge in anime. After all, the third generation of Robotech makes good use of that. Odin, however ... does NOT. We're left completely in the dark on where they're going, except that it's called Odin and is, apparently, a galaxy that looks like a giant tree. Yeah, thanks for screwing up the ol' mythology there, Odin! What a way to make a first impression. Anyway, like I said; not only do we have no idea where they're going; we also have little to no idea what they're doing.

And speaking of the crew, we have your typical old veterans, except that their ways of keeping the recruits under control is to threaten to beat the tar out of them if they step out of line. I can't really say I blame them either, since the recruits are a bunch of immature moronic kids which spends the next hour or so taking over the ship in a mutiny so badly planned it gets some of the crew killed in a level of incompetence I haven't seen since that Mission to Mars movie. Way to go there, kids! How you managed to survive through this movie will always be considered one of this worlds biggest mysteries.

So, since the story needs to move on, just in case someone should happen to still be awake, there is something going on with some evil robotic character, although the movie really didn't bother explaining how this was linked with the SOS or anything at all, really. And perhaps one could say that it's a good thing when the story is as boring as it is, when it's also as disjointed as it was. It's like, "Hey, we're the new crew at the Starlight oh look how cool we are but now the skipper is angry at us and what is this an SOS signal we better check it out oh man it's all destroyed but at least we got to rescue a cute girl who babbles about Odin and oh dear we're getting attacked by something ...[/monotonous voice]" and so forth and so forth. I'm not gonna spoil what little of an ending there is for you, even though you really ought to look somewhere else for great sci-fi anime. But suffice to say the ending were as boring, as unfulfilling and as pointless as the rest of the movie. It's a monumental failure in every respect. It could even have been offensive and unspeakably gross like the anime I hate the most, but it fails even in that.

In conclusion, it's basically one of the few, if not the only, anime I can't work up any feelings about at all. It's that bland and lifeless.

The crew of Starlight can go fly a kite for all I care. I've got better things to do.

I can't work up the energy to want it rated anything less.Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: Some violence and one unconscious girl at the doctor's checkup (though with no real nudity. Movies like these NEED fan service to introduce SOME level of excitement, but it fails in even THAT. Jesus! *shakes head*)

Also, this movie may insult the Norwegian populace with exceedingly stupid and simplistic links to Norse mythology.



Version(s) Viewed: UK release from Manga Entertainment, English dub
Review Status: Full (1/1)
Odin: Photon Space Sailor Starlight © 1985 Toei
 
© 1996-2015 THEM Anime Reviews. All rights reserved.