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Originally posted by GALVATRON
July 22, 2000 at the Animation Artist Forums:
A recent word search of this forum has revealed that most of you are unfamiliar with the new anime program CYBERSIX, coming this fall to Fox's Saturday morning lineup. More than that, aside from some speculative exchanges regarding the show's "cross-dressing" heroine, you are not nearly as excited about this show as you should be!
CYBERSIX has been airing here in Canada on Teletoon since September of last year, where it quickly rose to become their most popular show. Based on an Argentinian comic book, this Japanese-Canadian co-production features the spectacularly fluid animation of Tokyo Movie Shinsha(TMS), whose work has been seen on American shores in the syndicated Monster Rancher series, as well as in select episodes of 90's Fox cartoons (Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Batman, Spiderman), and a few outstanding cartoons from the 80's ( Mighty Orbots, Bionic Six, Visionaries.)
The Pitch:
CYBERSIX is basically a superhero-versus-bizarre-monsters action cartoon, but it is not what you would typically expect from the genre. It is a tale of unrequited love, laced with moments of sadness and poignancy as our cyber-heroine struggles to understand her strangely human emotions, longing to break free of her vampiric hunger for "sustenance", a mysterious green liquid that is the lifeblood of all "cybers".
The Skinny:
The cybers were created by the evil scientist Dr. Von Reichter. After defying Von Reichter's programming, Cybersix escapes to the seaside city of Meridiana, where she establishes a secret identity and battles the sinister schemes of her nemesis-creator.
Von Reichter's son, Jose, is a clone of Von Reichter gone wrong, perpetually locked in the form of a twelve-year-old boy. With the temperment and general disposition of Montana Max (Tiny Toon Adventures), Jose carries out his father's plots against Cybersix and Meridiana, aided by various Von Reichter monster creations and a cloned army of hulking goons called "Fixed Ideas".
( For pictures and more info on the characters, visit The Official CYBERSIX website at http://www.telecom-anime.com/cybersix/english )
The Vibe:
The mood of the show alternates between light-hearted and darkly dramatic. It abounds with dynamic action sequences and fantastically skewed camera angles. Often minimalist dialogue compels performance, as characters are left to express their personality through body language and behavior rather than lazy speeches. The soundtrack ranges from invigoratingly goofy polka tunes to melancholic ballads, orchestral and sometimes ominous. The end effect might be described as a hybrid of Lupin The Third's wacky kinetic visuals and the delicate resolve of Galaxy Express 999, with tonal elements reminiscent of Kiki's Delivery Service and Giant Robo.
The Look:
Apart from its unconventional feel, the most impressive aspect of CYBERSIX is that it moves. -- WOW does it move! At a reported cost of over $1 million (U.S.) per episode, CYBERSIX boasts a cel count that is unheard of for television animation. In fact, this made-for-tv cartoon showcases more drawing work in each 24-minute episode than many 45-minute original anime videos(OAVs) that I have seen!
It is slick with high-contrast colors and pure black shadows, blossoming explosions, spattering debris, wildly rippling capes, and characters that actually MOVE when they talk. -- I'm talking full-body motion here, not the standard Japanese trick of only moving lips on a near-static figure. And the linework always stays SQUARE - none of the indecisive roundness that we've seen with recent "Japanese" animation outsourced to inferior Korean studios.
And here's another thing: because it was produced for Western television, CYBERSIX is a cartoon with the liquid fluidity and design influence of anime, but with per-fect lip sync... in English! Yes. This will really throw you the first time you see it.
( CYBERSIX was made using RetasPro animation software - win the lottery and buy $ome today, or visit the CYBERSIX Gallery at www.retas.com/ )
The Future ?
Okay, now the bad news. To date, only 13 episodes of the show have been produced - the final episode of which ends with a maddening cliffhanger. The scripts for season two (episodes 14-26) are completed and have been sitting in production limbo for the past year. Will these new episodes come into being? Hints and rumours from various online sources seem to indicate that the answer is YES, but there are no promises made as of this writing. There is also talk of releasing the series on video and DVD, though again, nothing has been confirmed.
The show is enjoying immense popularity in Canada and on European television, and plans for broadcast in Japan and Hong Kong are already in place. Hopefully some increased exposure (and ensuent financial success) in America will help get the production ball rolling again.
( Send your fanboy/girl clamoring for "more!more!more!" of this greatness to the producers of the program at
The Official CYBERSIX website
and to www.teletoon.com
and to the big money players at www.foxkids.com )
The Wrap-up:
The other bit of bad news is that some of the more intense moments may be softened for U.S. television. While the show always stays friendly enough for kids, there are a few instances where characters say things like "KILL her!" and "Are you ready for death?"
In episode 10 there is a strobing effect in the animation that seems a likely candidate to be cut out/slowed down (or otherwise modified) in the Fox version for fear of inducing seizures, as per that early Pokemon controversy in Japan.
U.S. viewers may also have to suffer the distracting red-and-yellow eyesore that is Fox's logo plastered in the bottom righthand corner of the screen for the duration of each Fox broadcast. And the closing credit music will surely be lost to Fox voiceover announcements. Le sigh...
The Reviews:
Here is the list of CYBERSIX episodes, with some thoughts.
( Episode summaries available at the Official C6 site, listed above, or at Teletoon's CYBERSIX Mini-Site. )
1 Mysterious Shadow
Establishes the players with a fairly dark tone.
GALVATRON's rating: Excellent.
2 Data7 and Julian
Probably the most "Japanese feeling" in the series in terms of its use of flashbacks. Fantastic fight scene in the last act.
rating: Excellent.
3 Terra
Animated well enough, but somewhat lacking in its attempt to create a sympathetic monster.
rating: Good.
4 Yashimoto, Private Eye
Dynamic and fun, with a couple of big surprises.
rating: Very good.
5 Lori Is Missing
Possibly the lamest episode. Opens with a picturesque fantasy sequence, but it soon begets a stagnant plot riddled with Jose's empty ranting. If this is your first encounter with C6, you would be well-advised not to use it as a measuring stick by which to judge the rest of the series.
rating: Annoying / bland.
6 Blue Birds Of Terror
Basically an anime-style retelling of Hitchc*ck's The Birds. The final fight scene seems formulaicly tacked on.
rating: Good.
7 Brainwashed
Another weak episode: too much slapstick, dubious plot resolution. Some nice looking night scenes, though.
rating: Just okay.
8 Gone with the Wings
Wall-to-wall action against a horde of goblin creatures ( who have no speaking lines ), so it has a way of losing your attention in places. Some very portentous sound-cues punctuate the soundtrack.
rating: Good / Very good.
9 Full Moon Fascination
Dark moody fight sequences with intense camera angles.
And no sign of Jose or his goofball antics!
rating: Very good / bordering on Excellent.
10 The Eye
Twilight Zone weirdness and mass-destruction. My favorite episode! Hope Fox doesn't mess with the freaky strobe FX.
rating: Excellent.
11 The Greatest Show In Meridiana
Plenty of action as Jose pits a menagerie of big-top robots against Cybersix.
rating: Good / very good.
12 Daylight Devil
Creepy, violent, and oh-so kinetic. Another favorite episode! Set your VCR for this one.*( If you plan to record this episode, note that the first act has three or four fade-to-black scene transitions, so don't hit your pause button prematurely mistaking them for the commercial break.)
rating: Excellent.
13 Final Confrontation
Von Reichter emerges from the shadows...
No spoilers here. Not to be missed!!
rating: Excellent.
Which brings us at last to...
The End.
( Hey, I'm not over-selling this, am I ?  )
So stick a fork in me already. I'm done.
*** CYBERSIX begins AUGUST 19th on FOX! ***
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LESS TALKING, MORE DRAWING!
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