Horizon On The Middle Of Nowhere DVD Review

Director: Manabu Ono,

Starring: Jun Fukuyama, Josh Grelle, Minori Chihara, Emily Neeves, Ai Matayoshi, Joy Saxton, Ami Koshimizu, Luci Christian, Aoi Yuki, Meg McDonald

Running Time: 303 minutes

Certificate: 15

In the distant future, Japan has been invaded and split between other countries. Luckily there’s a floating airship that trains young warriors to fight against the oppressive regimes. It’s a plot that obviously lends itself well to a complex political action thriller. But its handling of the issues gets made murky thanks to needlessly complicated battle sequences and anime tropes that seem forced.

The most confusing aspect is that you could swear this was a show trying to sell you some form of product or promote a computer game. Each battle sees the soldiers creating text-filled  futuristic talismans which often need to be accompanied by additional notes explaining their cultural background. You can imagine this being translated into a card game, but apparently none exists, which just makes each fight very cluttered visually. This also results in lots of expositional dialogue that slows down the action, or just can’t be heard over the loud sound effects.

Thankfully it’s a show that gradually gets better. The opening episode gives far too much exposition about the politics and history which could have been made more manageable by gradually introducing us to the intricate universe as the episodes unfolded. The information was unnecessary to boot, because the first few episodes work as character introductions and keeps plotlines fairly isolated to the main characters. The characters aren’t much to write home about either at first as we are introduced to a line-up of big-breasted sex objects and a perverted protagonist. Once again the show begins to improve on them later on by giving them emotional connections to the events.

HORIZON ON THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE is a show that shows promise but still has a vast amount of work to do. The character designs and mixture of sci-fi and fantasy hint at a wealth of possible twists and turns to come, as well as the political elements adding to some moral ambiguity. It’s most probably that this first collection will not inspire you to venture further, but there is certainly some potential if it can crank up the originality and tone down the convoluted goings on.

HORIZON ON THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 29th July via Manga Entertainment.

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