BAOH Review Page

BAOH

Copyright: © 1989 Studio Pierrot, Toei Animation, Shueisha © 1995 AnimEigo Inc.
Genre: SF / Suspense
Length: 50 minutes
Rating: NR, Recommended for Mature Audiences
Format: Original Japanese Dialog, Subtitled (VHS), English Dubbed (VHS)

Director: Yokoyama Hiroyuki Screenplay: Terada Kenji

Recommended for Mature Audiences

Profanity: None
Sex/Nudity: None.
Violence: Lots of it, and all of it very graphic. This movie is about the fight scenes, which are *very* detailed. Blood goes everywhere, people are melted and burned, limbs are removed, and one or two have their heads cut into multiple pieces. Not a movie for the faint of heart; it's one of the most violent I've ever watched, on par with "Ninja Scroll."

'A Parent's Guide to Anime' summary

vhs jacket

The movie begins on a train with a little girl (Sumire) running from agents of a secret organization known as "Doress." In her attempts to escape, she also releases an experiment: an augmented young man they call Baoh. Both of them escape and begin trying to figure out what the organization wants with them. We soon find that Sumire is a psychic, and the young man (Ikuro Hashizawa) has been implanted with a worm-like parasite named "Baoh" that gives him great powers. When he's attacked, he changes into a powerful, blue-skinned fighting machine with all sorts of neat abilities like electrical discharge and shooting needles I like to call "killer dandruff."

Naturally, Doress doesn't want its prize science fair project running around unsupervised, and sends progressively more dangerous assassins after Ikuro. When the assassins fail, Doress resorts to kidnapping Sumire and luring Baoh to one of their laboratories for a showdown with Walken, a huge Native American who is also the most powerful (and violent) psychic on earth.

There was a plot to this movie, but the point of this movie is not the plot, but rather the stunning animation (on par with Ninja Scroll) and well executed fight scenes. Baoh reminds me in some ways of "Guyver" in that he is an organic superhero with all sorts of fun abilities. It's somewhat mindless, and as I said before, quite light on the plot and character development, but surprisingly enjoyable anyway. An interesting touch is that Baoh apparently cannot speak when transformed, although they sometimes allow the audience to hear his thoughts.

I found the voice acting average. Both Walken and the head of Doress overacted their parts terribly, especially the latter, but most of the rest were competent if not overwhelming. Music was also eminently forgettable, but appropriate for whatever scene it was in. Also somewhat lacking was character development. All the characters were pretty much stock for the genre, but I list that as a neutral factor. If they weren't riveting, at least they weren't boring or stupid.

I said it before, and I'll say it again. As animation goes, it's one of the best I've ever seen. Good thing too, because it's all the movie has.
- DB, 98.11.30

	Original:	Subbed:	Dubbed:
Story:	N/A	N/A
Direction:	N/A	N/A
Acting:	N/A	N/A
Animation:	N/A	N/A
Music:	N/A	N/A
Translation:	N/A	N/A	N/R

Overall Rating:	N/A	N/A

[ home ] [ what's new ] [ café contest ] [ café reviews ] [ parent's guide ] [ encyclopædia ]
[ café trivia ] [ café latté ] [ café espresso ] [ about the café ] [ feedback ] [ links ] [ site map ]

© 1997-2000. All rights reserved. The Animé Café logo and the Crystal Kyoko award are original creations of the Animé Café. Please do not use any of the materials on this site without the expressed written permission of the Animé Café.

Page last modified 1998.11.30