Venus Wars

Venus has been terraformed, but the new world is not what was expected: the planet is split into two states, Ishtar and Aphrodia, and war has broken out between them. The journalist Susan Sommers arrives in the capital of Aphrodia just before Ishtar takes it. There she meets young people who compete in a kind of motorcycle arena sport. Hiro and his friends do not want to join the war, but they run out of choice. Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's film adapts a manga he drew himself. Yasuhiko was the character designer of the Gundam series, and the mechanical design here comes from the same school. The narrative shows war not as a matter between states but as something young people with nowhere to run fall into. The motorcycle arena scenes and the urban combat sections are among the densest hand-drawn animation of the period. Who it's for: Viewers who like anime science fiction of the 1980s and 1990s, mechanical design, and war narratives. Who it's not for: The narrative carries too many characters and leaves some undeveloped. The ending also feels rushed.