Agent Aika was one of the first twenty or thirty anime dvds I got many years ago. It’s a crap title, but since Bandai put out a remastered version of this, someone, somewhere believes it’s a classic, though likely had something to do with Bandai releasing Aika R-16. I guess it really is a classic, though. When you talk about fan service, this usually enters the conversation somewhere, but really it’s a good example of fan service as comedy. It would also make a pretty brutal drinking game no matter how specific you make the rules.
Here’s a video someone made that gives you a good idea of what Aika is all about, if you didn’t already know (it’s heavy on the “fan service”):
Anyway, I had the Agent Aika remaster from Bandai for a while, but finally decided to play it last night. The video is definitely more vibrant and clear, making the show look less faded than the previous dvds put out years ago by Central Park Media. Of course, the character designs are from a different era than what’s current, so I wouldn’t mistake it for a new show, but it didn’t feel old, if that makes sense. It makes me wonder if a number of older shows got a remaster how less ‘dated’ they would look and remove a layer of separation between the material and the viewer.
If you’ve never seen it before, I’d recommend watching at least a few minutes of Agent Aika for the absurd obsession with underpants — ah, Studio Fantasia, what geniuses! Camera angle choices often set up the punchline of the joke, which is almost always a crotch shot close-up. For a degenerate such as myself, it can be quite funny, lol and all of that.
It’s probably been six or seven years since I’d last seen Agent Aika. On the re-watch side, I found it easy to sit through it again. The story is pretty much there to hang all of the pantie filled fight scenes. Sometimes, I think, oh yeah, I completely forgot that shot as the occasional clever crotch close-up lands on the screen. Actually, looking at it, the animation is pretty good, particularly for something niche like Agent Aika. There’s quite a bit of movement in the fight scenes, showing full bodies, high kicking and punching, leaping and lunging, getting tossed and rolled, instead of over-relying on still frame shots and shaking the camera around to imply action. There’s short-cuts and camera shake pans, for sure, but it’s clear the animation director had a bit of fun putting Aika together. It really wouldn’t work very well if the animation during the fights were as static as the norm and didn’t have as much action as they do.
Wow…I have never seen so many panties in those 6mins than I have ever seen ever in my whole life…and I’ve been inside a Victoria Secret store before (It was with a friend, she wanted to pick something out so don’t read too much into it).
I own the “spiritual successor” to Agent Aika, Najica Blitz tactics!!!
The same level of panty shots, but lower on the humour and sidekicks. Was always mildly curious about Aika tho…
Jeez I remember watching this when I was really young, perhaps 13 years old or less. Always got embarrassed watching this when my parents were in the house mostly because of all those panty shots
, funny though I always enjoyed the series and it wasn’t for the fan service
It was a good movie in my mind…
Still…lol at the video…ah…memories…
I remember it airing around 6 pm in the evening over here a few years ago.I thought of it as a rdiiculous show but my respect goes to the director that had to plan all the different angles for max. pantsu exposure.
I really cant remember anything about Aika except pantsus….How come? ^^
I didnt think that the remastering would have such a huge impact on the visual quality.Id like to see some other series remastered aswell
Ray-Out, the video could have been sooo much worse.
gundamjehutykai gets points for using the word spiritual with regard to Aika.
Belela-san, it is actually kind of a funny show. Bet it would have been even weirder if they all sat down and watched it with you.
Rin, yes it is!
Blowfish, a lot of older shows have some really awful video quality. There’s definitely a couple of shows I’d love to see remastered.
LOL, I remember watching around 2 episodes of this many years ago.
Maybe I should go ahead and rewatch it now that I’m no longer a teenager hiding stuff from my parents. haha
this gives a new meaning to “retarded”
I first found out about Akira from another AMV actually, Limp Bizkit’s Nookie set to various anime created by Kusoyaro Productions. I was a fan of his other stuff, and this one was a great one to laugh at. I remember when I went to look up the animes he used, because I had not idea where all the panty-flashing women were from, he even had a comment linking to his FAQ which had question of “What is the name of the ‘panty-anime’ from the Nookie video?” up because everyone had been asking.
Anyways, it turned out to be a good series once you got over the embarrassment of some many panty shots.
AMV Links:
Video: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=15072435
Artist Profile: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_myprofile.php?user_id=141
Ice, that video was funny. Approved!
Ahhh. Good old Agent Aika. Good thing it’s anime cause if it were live action all the cameramen would have bad backs from all those low angle shots.
The thing that always got me laughing was how they could set up a scene so that once all the girls were down they all gave you a pantsu shot.