El Hazard: The Alternative World
DVD Features:
|
Volume #1: The Priestess of Water
English Dubbed Version
Released: 1998
Version: DVD (Pioneer)
Approx. Rating: PG-13 (for swearing and homos)
Length: Approx. 100 minutes
First off, it should be mentioned that this series continues the story line of the original El Hazard OAVs. Since I have not seen those, this show was a little confusing.
In this show, Makoto Mizuhara is still in the land of El Hazard and he seems quite acclimated to it. From what I can tell, he has a lot of chicks that are interested in him. The creators of Tenchi were also behind this show, as should be obvious because of the chick angle . Also the colorful atmosphere and the design of the characters point that out (for example, Makoto looks suspiciously like Tenchi).
The story seems to be that Makoto and his friends have decided to live in El Hazard rather than try to get back to Earth. Mr. Fujisawa, one of Makoto's teachers, has married the former Priestess of Water. Nanami Jinnai is either a cook at her own restaurant or just works as one. It is unclear in these first couple of episodes. Makoto is an inventor of sorts.
Anyway, the first four episodes are about the new Water Priestess. Makoto rescues her from the Bugrum and she is grateful. However, Makoto is caught in her embrace by some of the girls and that seriously irks them. Typical Tenchi fare.
What's not so typical is that there is a young girl named Alielle that is a lesbian and she has a twin brother that looks just like her and he seems to be gay. The end of the first episode and beginning of the 2nd introduce this "concept" and it is pretty disturbing.
Makoto has found (or made?) some odd device that seems to react with the new Priestess. In the 3rd or 4th episode, when the Priestess is being initiated to her new position by the Princess (Queen?) of Rastaria, the device goes off and a floating head appears with a bunch of white light. The next thing we know, all the main characters have been warped to any icy area.
There we learn that they are in a new world and must figure out a way back to El Hazard.
The Good Stuff:
 |
The animation is good and I like the world of El Hazard |
|
The plot is interesting and entertaining. |
|
There's some good humorous moments |
|
The soundtrack is decent |
The Bad Stuff:
|
As mentioned, the gay stuff |
|
There's more swearing in this one than its sister series, The Wanderers |
This show has a lot of potential. If it weren't for the sicker elements, I'd probably give it a very good rating. As it is though, I wouldn't recommend this series to people with youngsters or people that don't want to be exposed to the gay agenda.
STORY: 
VIOLENCE:
COMEDIC FACTOR:
SEXUAL CONTENT:
LANGUAGE:
ACTION:
OVERALL SCORE: