Starship Troopers (1988 OVA) | Retcon_404 (Anime Retrospective)

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  • Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
  • Robert Heinlein's classic sci-fi novel envisioned as an 80's sci fi action anime, isn't that what we all want to see? Let's find out how this series produced by Sunrise stacks up against the satire of Paul Verhoeven and if it carries its own weight in this space opera epic.
    -- THIS VIDEO CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR STARSHIP TROOPERS --
    Gaming Channel: / @retcon_404plays
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 362

  • @SoulStarSketchin
    @SoulStarSketchin 6 місяців тому +162

    I was today years old to learn that Starship Troopers had an OVA and now I kinda wanna track it down and watch this for myself.

    • @bertholdbach4959
      @bertholdbach4959 6 місяців тому +1

      My experience exactly.

    • @MarcMcKenzie-qb6or
      @MarcMcKenzie-qb6or 6 місяців тому +18

      Someone has posted the episodes to UA-cam with subs.
      And you can find model kits of the Powered Suits that the anime design was taken from.

    • @ianjarrett9375
      @ianjarrett9375 6 місяців тому +9

      And older yet when you find out it had another animted series called roughnecks

    • @cabellism
      @cabellism 6 місяців тому

      same, just turned 36 recently lol.

    • @SoulStarSketchin
      @SoulStarSketchin 6 місяців тому +11

      @@ianjarrett9375 I actually did watch Roughnecks! That was a classic that sadly didn’t get to finish their run

  • @strikers1944
    @strikers1944 6 місяців тому +122

    The Halo devs have stated in past that they based the Mjolni helmet off it and Studio Bones based the power armour from the prototype Halo OVA off the marauder as well

    • @Apathesis0
      @Apathesis0 6 місяців тому +3

      Holy shit. That helmet is so damn similar.

    • @peeaxe109
      @peeaxe109 6 місяців тому +1

      wasnt it based off of gundam’s GM-II / GM-Spartan?

    • @Apathesis0
      @Apathesis0 6 місяців тому +2

      @@peeaxe109 I think they were inspired by a few designs. The helmet in this OVA has similarities to both the MK VI and Recon helmets

    • @1234567890greenegg
      @1234567890greenegg 6 місяців тому

      Not to mention the ODST portion of Halo is very reminiscent Starship Troopers

    • @Joshua_N-A
      @Joshua_N-A 6 місяців тому

      ​@@1234567890greenegg drop pods, strict selection process, high dropout rate, highly trained, small in numbers. Is that correct?

  • @BioGoji-zm5ph
    @BioGoji-zm5ph 6 місяців тому +87

    As someone who HAS read the original novel... this adaptation is surprisingly faithful in numerous places. The training, the scene with Rico and Kitten out on the town, the power armor...
    Interestingly, the OVA actually features an opening in High School at a sports game for Rico that is almost identical to a scene from the later Verhoven adaptation. Oddly, though, this OVA lacks the political commentary of the novel, which Verhoven's film maintained, yet it also was more faithful in terms of narrative.

    • @INFILTR8US
      @INFILTR8US 6 місяців тому +12

      The Verhoven flick was more a satire of the novel

    • @thelordofcringe
      @thelordofcringe 6 місяців тому +19

      ​@INFILTR8US the movie was satirizing militaries in general, because verhoeven refused to actually read the book and fought his producer who actually liked it and forced a lot of the stuff to remain

    • @thelordofcringe
      @thelordofcringe 6 місяців тому +14

      @volkskrieg8735 verhoeven has no excuse. He has a recurring pattern of doing this, where the second anything is even remotely not in line with his politics he decides it must be fascism. The very existence of a military at all is "fascistic" according to verhoeven.

    • @AG-en5y
      @AG-en5y 6 місяців тому +2

      What happens at the end? Do they just catch the brain bug an Barney stintson just zaps it while Rico goes to fight the next bugs as the command NCO?

    • @BioGoji-zm5ph
      @BioGoji-zm5ph 6 місяців тому +10

      @@AG-en5y I believe the brain bug was captured, but Rico played very little part in it. The story is told from Juan Rico's perspective, but oddly, a lot of really interesting events are only mentioned as having happened in places where he was absent, or he was physically present but unconscious. Oh, and Rico is identified as being Phillipino in the book, with Tagalog being his native tongue. Johnny is his nickname.

  • @Jay-ln1co
    @Jay-ln1co 6 місяців тому +8

    Starship Troopers is to Heinlein what The Prince is to Machiavelli. Doesn't matter what else they ever wrote, they'll be forever remembered for that.

    • @yellowprime8491
      @yellowprime8491 6 місяців тому +3

      Naw, he's known equally in literary scifi circles for "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress"

    • @RainenAvernathy
      @RainenAvernathy 6 місяців тому +2

      Yeah, my introduction to him was A Cat Who Walks Through Walls.

    • @macdeus2601
      @macdeus2601 5 місяців тому +2

      Na, Heinlein was a famously prolific author. There's no one book that's drastically more famous than all the others.
      Starship Troopers was actually one of his less famous novels before the movie, IIRC.

  • @SRTifiable
    @SRTifiable 6 місяців тому +14

    In the books, during training, 1:500 rounds was live. The idea being that the recruits would keep their heads down…and if they didn’t AND were particularly unlucky, well 🤷🏻‍♂️
    If the recruits were sloppy in training, the drill instructors would threaten to lower the ratio.

  • @Victim55
    @Victim55 6 місяців тому +37

    There’s a bio-mechanical space plague in the game Homeworld: Cataclysm, that is known as “The beast”. It corrupts and assimilates other ships, and gets smarter as it’s biomass increases per assimilated vessel.

    • @INFILTR8US
      @INFILTR8US 6 місяців тому +4

      I loooooove Cataclysm. The Beast is one of the scariest villains ever 😢

    • @Cousin_Uli
      @Cousin_Uli 6 місяців тому +1

      I played that game when I was like 12 and did not expect the space strategy game to give me nightmares.

    • @kabob0077
      @kabob0077 6 місяців тому +2

      CUT US LOOSE!

    • @thyknithatter152
      @thyknithatter152 5 місяців тому +2

      "We wANt BeaCon BrAin" - the beast homeworld

  • @DamplyDoo
    @DamplyDoo 6 місяців тому +44

    This power armor also is featured on the Japanese edition of "the forever war".
    Edit: the designer is Naoyuki Katoh

    • @DIEGhostfish
      @DIEGhostfish 6 місяців тому +13

      I see Japan also embraces the "You really should read Starship Troopers and Forever War back to back" theory.

    • @DamplyDoo
      @DamplyDoo 6 місяців тому +5

      @@DIEGhostfish and don't forget "armor" by John steakley.
      The power armor triumvirate

    • @tadghf6891
      @tadghf6891 6 місяців тому +1

      Japanese forever war? Tell me more

    • @DamplyDoo
      @DamplyDoo 6 місяців тому +2

      @@tadghf6891 the cover of the Japanese edition of the book has a power armor very similar to this, created by the same designer. That's all. I love power armor, so this tidbit stuck with me

    • @skazkatzroy3444
      @skazkatzroy3444 6 місяців тому +1

      The visuals of the OVA as well, I really can't explain it very well in a brief comment but the first time I saw it I pretty much immediately thought "Oh ok yeah this is also a Forever War adaptation, at least visually."

  • @PandorasFolly
    @PandorasFolly 6 місяців тому +8

    "Gets by on vibes alone." Also an accurate description of the Book. Very very vibey.

  • @aaronsullivan8230
    @aaronsullivan8230 6 місяців тому +8

    Blue gender has the same space bugs that can survive space and also features mechs after like 5 episodes

    • @Krieg-ch8ot
      @Krieg-ch8ot 2 місяці тому +1

      Blue gender also has some serious starship troopers vibes, need to finish it.

  • @twelfthknight
    @twelfthknight 6 місяців тому +23

    In terms of anime -- Macross Frontier does the "giant alien quasi-biomechanical bug swarm" thing with its central antagonists. Though Knights of Sidonia antagonists are closer to the Starship Trooper ones, as horrifying Lovecraftian biomasses in space.

    • @MarcMcKenzie-qb6or
      @MarcMcKenzie-qb6or 6 місяців тому +3

      Upvoted for mentioning KNIGHTS OF SIDONIA.

    • @Headbringer
      @Headbringer 6 місяців тому +3

      @@MarcMcKenzie-qb6orARISE MY FELLOW KNIGHTS OF SIDONIA!
      Also Shinatose best girl, fight me.

    • @twelfthknight
      @twelfthknight 6 місяців тому +1

      @@MarcMcKenzie-qb6or Sadly, in his Break Blade review he asked for quality 2010's mecha anime and I completely blanked on Sidonia's existence. It was a quality series, and as both SF and mecha it wasn't afraid to be fucking weird.

    • @MarcMcKenzie-qb6or
      @MarcMcKenzie-qb6or 6 місяців тому

      @@twelfthknight That's all right--sometimes SIDONIA slips my mind even though I have volumes of the manga and the first season on DVD!😅

  • @jaimesuffering
    @jaimesuffering 6 місяців тому +32

    Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet
    Trust me it’s fucking sick right up your alley

    • @SFish-wr4kh
      @SFish-wr4kh 6 місяців тому +1

      I feel like I was the only person who had ever heard of that anime. It's really good -- one of my favorites. Definitely see parallels between the aliens in the OVA and the Hideauze

    • @soggy_auggy7191
      @soggy_auggy7191 6 місяців тому

      Lol I recommended it to him in a past vid and he said he'd tackle it eventually

    • @soggy_auggy7191
      @soggy_auggy7191 6 місяців тому

      ​@@SFish-wr4kh dude I'm so sad they cancelled season 2 for it

    • @pkemr4
      @pkemr4 6 місяців тому

      Chamber is based

  • @DIEGhostfish
    @DIEGhostfish 6 місяців тому +20

    1:50 The movie is more of a Satire of the ideas Verhooven thought were expressed in the *first five PAGES* of the novel. Since he openly said he stopped there. Screenwriter did read a bit further though.

    • @INFILTR8US
      @INFILTR8US 6 місяців тому +3

      To be fair, the first five pages are really the only part worth reading

    • @DIEGhostfish
      @DIEGhostfish 6 місяців тому

      @@INFILTR8US They certainly have the banger of a classroom scene.

    • @Gustav_Kuriga
      @Gustav_Kuriga 6 місяців тому

      I've read the entire thing. It doesn't get much better past that.

    • @spectre111
      @spectre111 6 місяців тому

      The problem with the novel is its basically just Heinlein on his soapbox and preaching to the reader (whether or not that was his intention that is certainly what it reads like), which gets old quickly.
      Credit where it is due; the novel effectively invented the military mecha/real robot genre so it is the first step that would eventually lead to stuff like Gundam, Macross, Code Geass and even Battletech and Exo-Squad.

  • @shadowcaptaincain
    @shadowcaptaincain 6 місяців тому +8

    I had only known of the Roughneck Chronicles CGI series. I really liked it, and it had an abrupt, cliffhanger ending due to being cancelled. Will have to check this OVA out as well.

  • @the_timinator77
    @the_timinator77 6 місяців тому +35

    Tbh, this is more faithful to the book (despite many things being changed/altered) than the live-action 90's version; that movie changed the perception of the story so much that people only think of the movie and not the book. And showing the power suits alone makes the Japanese OVA version superior.

    • @charleshetrick3152
      @charleshetrick3152 6 місяців тому +3

      Ironically I love the book and movie(s) but for different reasons. My favorite aspect of the movie is the director lamented the hordes of people who didn’t realize it was satire and loved it anyway and really leaning into the hyper patriotism

    • @spectre111
      @spectre111 6 місяців тому +1

      @@charleshetrick3152 I feel like Verhoeven's style of satire just does not work for a story like this. It worked in Robocop, but with Starship Troopers it just kinda fell flat.

    • @charleshetrick3152
      @charleshetrick3152 6 місяців тому +2

      @@spectre111 I think it fails as satire because it actually depicts a homogenous functioning society. You can’t really say you’re making fun of something then depict it as living up to the expectations. I mean the humans win and we never actually see the negative aspects that might exist in such a society. At least in Robocop it very accurately showed a future we seem to be headed towards whilst taking its inspiration from present day dystopia and exaggerating it.

    • @spectre111
      @spectre111 6 місяців тому +1

      @@charleshetrick3152 Both movies are satire while trying to have a conventional heroic action movie plot, just with a sci-fi setting. I think it works in Robocop because while we see the flaws in the system but we also see our hero punish the corrupt executive which gives the ending a sense that the flaws are going to be corrected by good people like Murphy.
      In Starship Troopers we see the flaws in the system, but they are never addressed so the movie ends with a feeling that the corruption will continue, our heroes will probably just get killed in the fighting and this will happen all over again in a generation or two.
      I think Verhoeven is a good director, I like Robocop and Total Recall, but I think his approach just does not work for this kind of story.

    • @Gingrnut
      @Gingrnut 4 місяці тому

      @@charleshetrick3152 You should watch the movie again if you think human society is functioning in 90s Starship Troopers. Quite apart from the complete lack of a functioning justice system, or democracy being overrun by a military junta. The movie is structured like a propaganda piece produced by the authoritarian fascist government in-universe. At the end of the movie they do the "I'm doing my part" scene where they show literal children being given guns and told to go squash bugs. The implication is that the horrifying forever war the human race has locked itself into... is not going nearly as well as the propagandists making the movie would like you to think.

  • @Trevor-08
    @Trevor-08 6 місяців тому +10

    I spent years looking for this anime and eventually found it on the shadiest, most pop-up filled russian website imaginable.

    • @andrejg4136
      @andrejg4136 6 місяців тому +1

      It's grimy and yet so fascinating when you find genuine diamonds in the rough, mired in all the gunk of, like you said, the shadiest Russian internet back-alley you can imagine.

    • @dollarbill6102
      @dollarbill6102 6 місяців тому

      1337?
      What did you find it under name wise?

    • @Trevor-08
      @Trevor-08 6 місяців тому

      @@andrejg4136 I miss the old internet. it has a charm to it that we'll never see again.

    • @Trevor-08
      @Trevor-08 6 місяців тому

      @@dollarbill6102 Im not sure, it was some variation of starship troopers 1988.

  • @michaelconnor1542
    @michaelconnor1542 6 місяців тому +32

    I highly recommend Starship Troopers. The novel is great and is quite insightful about military training and why soldiers fight.

    • @Trevor-08
      @Trevor-08 6 місяців тому +14

      I was an infantryman. I've probably read it 30 times.

    • @gmatgmat
      @gmatgmat 6 місяців тому +1

      I would recommend Pork Chop Hill and One Bugle No Drums and Colder Than Hell, all about the Korean War that offer insights about experiencing combat. I also loved Starship Troopers but the other three are better. IMHO. Thank you.

    • @MartyFreeze
      @MartyFreeze 6 місяців тому +7

      I don't agree with everything in the book, but the idea that to gain a leadership position entails starting at the bottom and working your way up through the ranks through effort and results rather than who you know is very appealing to me.

    • @gmatgmat
      @gmatgmat 6 місяців тому +1

      @@MartyFreeze True, but not all “mustangs” ie officers promoted from the ranks are successful. But an understanding of the ranks and how to treat them is very useful.

  • @dseanm21
    @dseanm21 6 місяців тому +7

    This Channel has helped me so much to catch up to Mecha Anime I missed growing up over the years.

  • @renegadeleader1
    @renegadeleader1 6 місяців тому +16

    No, the Verhoven film is not a satire of the ideas expressed in the novel. What would become the Starship Troopers movie already had an existing script called Bughunt at Outpost 9 before Verhoven found out the studio he was working for had the rights to another bug fighting scifi work, the Starship Troopers novel.
    By his own words Verhoven said he never made it more than three pages into the first chapter before getting bored and tasking scriptwriter Ed Neumeier with adapting the book.
    All Neumeier was staple gun character names and places onto the existing script with the exception of two parts, the classroom scene debating force and the recruiting sergeant missing his legs.
    Both are heavily truncated abridged versions of their original novel counterparts. Apart from that almost all of it has nothing in common with the book.

    • @commandercaptain4664
      @commandercaptain4664 6 місяців тому

      What’s the source for this? It seems Neumeier was pretty faithful to the events of the book if not the overall spirit. I see both book and movie as companion stories with different viewpoints rather than 1:1 clones.

    • @renegadeleader1
      @renegadeleader1 6 місяців тому

      @@commandercaptain4664 You want the sources? For starters there's the dvd commentary with Paul Verhoeven himself, The Making of the Starship Troopers Movie book by Paul Sammon, and various interviews with Ed Neumeier from the LA Times, Fangoria, and SciFi Entertainment magazine.
      The spirit of the movie couldn't be anymore removed from that of the novel if tried... any harder than it already did. Hell the Band of Brothers miniseries is closer in spirit to the Starship Troopers novel than the movie that bears its name. Let that sink in for a moment.

    • @renegadeleader1
      @renegadeleader1 6 місяців тому

      ​​@@commandercaptain4664 You want the sources? For starters there's the dvd commentary with Paul Verhoeven himself, The Making of the Starship Troopers Movie book by Paul Sammon, and various interviews with Ed Neumeier from the LA Times, Fangoria, and SciFi Entertainment magazine.
      The "spirit" of the Starship Troopers movie couldn't be any further from the novel if it tried any harder than it already did to the point the miniseries Band of Brothers could be argued is a better adaptation and closer in spirit despite having nothing to do with it. The movie is that far off the mark.

    • @Gustav_Kuriga
      @Gustav_Kuriga 6 місяців тому

      Clearly you've not read the other quote from Verhoeven, where he clearly states that he wanted the people who realized it was satire to feel psychological pain from the people who didn't. You're an idiot who doesn't realize that the SCRIPT WRITER determines what a movie is about, the director just takes that script and films their vision of that script.
      Also clearly you've not seen or read either if you don't think that Neumeier was keeping the events of the book in mind while writing the script.

  • @illerhumpy3867
    @illerhumpy3867 6 місяців тому +7

    KNIGHTS OF SIDONIA If your really interested in checking out shows with "bio mechanical" like alien threats against humanity in space where the alien threat seems almost too powerfull at some points, IMO anyways. If you havent seen it or have just heard about it and havent watched, i would deffinitly recomend it. theres a scene in the very first episode that sold me, and its just ...well lets just say IYKYK.

    • @JamesParatiiArts
      @JamesParatiiArts 6 місяців тому

      the manga ia top notch. The Anime is good, but the drawn style of it is not as creepy as the Manga

  • @omegaminus
    @omegaminus 6 місяців тому +6

    As far as giant organic spaceships go, check out the Yuuzhan Vong from the Star Wars lore if you're not familiar - they have "worldships" which are like moon-sized organic space stations they use for extragalactic travel and staging invasions.

    • @Retcon404
      @Retcon404  6 місяців тому +1

      Im actually rereading the Thrawn trilogy and was planning on going through the Star Wars Legends books with the Vong soon!

  • @aws08barbatos
    @aws08barbatos 6 місяців тому +3

    Halo and 40k references in one video. We're eating good tonight boys!

  • @re4nimate
    @re4nimate 6 місяців тому +4

    I'm kind of amazed that you didn't mention Helldivers at all among the other IPs with bug-enemy influences, considering the enormous amount of references to Starship Troopers, notably the whole Terminid race of evolved bug enemies. I genuinely assumed the timing of this was intentional alongside Helldivers 2 being a hot topic in the gaming world right now.

    • @spectre111
      @spectre111 6 місяців тому

      Or Starcraft!
      I remember showing the '97 film to a buddy of mine, I asked him what he thought and his response was "Where are the Protoss?"

    • @kikacruz4560
      @kikacruz4560 6 місяців тому

      Because helldivers is garbage

  • @sindustries1188
    @sindustries1188 6 місяців тому +9

    I wasn't even aware that this OVA existed! Thanks for sharing your perspective and analysis as always ❤

  • @Cheapstall
    @Cheapstall 6 місяців тому +5

    Here’s to hoping we get a Gundam Thunderbolt review

  • @garomcfbgdd3211
    @garomcfbgdd3211 6 місяців тому +6

    Finished re-watching Roughnecks the other week.
    I'm a little embarrassed to say that I've never watched the 1988 OVA

  • @edkwon
    @edkwon 5 місяців тому

    I like the Starship Troopers for simply existing, being so 80s aesthetic, fairly obscure to modern or even 80s anime fandom, and for actually FEATURING POWER ARMOR

  • @mtgAzim
    @mtgAzim 6 місяців тому +3

    There's a really good audio version of the book that was recorded in the 70's I think. It's here on the toobs. Definitely worth checking out.

    • @OuroborosChoked
      @OuroborosChoked 3 місяці тому

      I've found at least two versions, possibly a third. I haven't fully investigated the other two for completeness, but there are plenty of versions available for free out there. To anyone who hasn't experienced the book yet, put it on 1.5x speed and enjoy.
      Did you know that if you use the Brave browser on your phone and run UA-cam through that (instead of the app), you can listen to videos with the screen off? It's a great way to listen to audiobooks over headphones or synched with your car's Bluetooth... just sayin'

  • @robertnessful
    @robertnessful 6 місяців тому +1

    The ending may feel rushed because this ends at the mid point of the novel. It's almost like they were planning at least three mire episodes, but got canceled.
    I don't worry too much about spoilers for a seventy year old book, but...
    Rico gets tapped for Officer Candidate School. We get more training montages and find out his dad sold the family business to enlist. Big fight with the bugs on Rico's cadet mission. He then gets commissioned as an officer and command of his own platoon. The book ends with Rico's Roughnecks preparing to assault the bugs' homeworld. His dad is the platoon chaplain, Zim is back as Rico's platoon sergeant, and Carmen is the captain of the ship the platoon is on.

  • @johnrhogan2908
    @johnrhogan2908 6 місяців тому +1

    I never even knew there was a Starship Troopers anime.

  • @OfficialRedTeamReview
    @OfficialRedTeamReview 6 місяців тому +1

    This was a pain to find on Limewire back in the day.

  • @BigaloMax
    @BigaloMax 6 місяців тому +4

    I think the Radam from Tekkaman Blade are a good in-between point between the aliens in this Star ship troopers OVA and the bugs from the movie xD

    • @andrejg4136
      @andrejg4136 6 місяців тому

      the fucked up thing is that the Tekkamanization process is *supposed* to end with you completely brainwashed by a Radam parasite and doing everything possible to ensure their complete dominion and assimilation of a target planet.

  • @Corvenik1
    @Corvenik1 6 місяців тому +2

    The power armor makes a debut in the CGI movie sequels for the Verhoven film and Casper van diem reprises his role as ricos voice not sure if he was in it for ST invasion but he definitely was in it for "Traitor of mars" and thats a great film

    • @charleshetrick3152
      @charleshetrick3152 6 місяців тому

      The anime style films are pretty good the sequels to the original movie were pretty bad. I’m still always astounded why no one in Hollywood can seem to just read the friggin book.

  • @apex2000
    @apex2000 6 місяців тому +1

    How did I not know this was a thing???!!! *Head explodes

  • @Supramedical68
    @Supramedical68 6 місяців тому

    Zim was really out there slapping people like he lived in the Gundam Zeta universe.

  • @noneed4me2n7
    @noneed4me2n7 6 місяців тому

    Wow, one I actually missed. Thanks for sharing. Looks like it’s here on the tube so after this I’ll check it out.

  • @Vibe4Life
    @Vibe4Life 6 місяців тому +1

    The Yuuzhan Vong from the old Star Wars extended universe traveled to the galaxy in living ships

  • @tagginondawal3961
    @tagginondawal3961 6 місяців тому +3

    I watched the movie first, then the OVA back in 2017, then got the audiobook. The anime was closest to the original story. Maybe aduiobook it like I did? In the original, Johnny's father hated the fact he joined the MI.

  • @casanovafunkenstein5090
    @casanovafunkenstein5090 6 місяців тому +1

    Nobody's going to mention the pole in Rico's bedroom?
    Assuming it's not for dancing (it's good exercise, he's entitled to have a hobby with no judgement) then everything that happens in his room is going to be heard downstairs. It's like a small child receiving their dream bedroom, only for it to become a nightmare once they hit puberty.

    • @commandercaptain4664
      @commandercaptain4664 6 місяців тому +1

      It part of the Ray Stantz collection of architecture. Once he encountered his first pole, it was decreed that all places in the future had to have them.

  • @charleshetrick3152
    @charleshetrick3152 6 місяців тому +1

    I’m always amused at the changes they make from the book. For realsies you should read the book.

    • @charleshetrick3152
      @charleshetrick3152 6 місяців тому +1

      This looks great and I did love the movie but the book is so much better.

  • @DIEGhostfish
    @DIEGhostfish 6 місяців тому +6

    I heard this one does a wonderful job of sidestepping the arguments about Heinlen's worldbuilding and political worldview by simply... Not having enough animation budget left after the fightscenes

    • @commandercaptain4664
      @commandercaptain4664 6 місяців тому +1

      Who is in powered armor? Bear is in powered armor? HOW CAN THIS BE? LOOK ITS TOM CRUISE! SHOW ME THE MONEY YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH! OOOHHH!!

  • @Dark-Stranger
    @Dark-Stranger 6 місяців тому +10

    Having read the book and seen this OVA as well the other adaptations.
    The OVA is closer and more respectful to the book. Albeit of course having differences from the source material, as well a toning down or absence of the political aspects.
    Though the book wasn’t as heavy in politics as many make it out to be, or fascist. I mean a 15-25 page comic book issue today is likely more political than the entirety of Heinlein’s book.
    Only big political take it goes with is being anti-communism in rather simple yet effective jabs; without needing a heavy diarrhea load of context like you would more modern writers.
    Mostly what I got out of the book with IMO its main points were Choice and Responsibility. An if freedom of choice along with the responsibilities of said choices, etc, is “fascist,” or the sort; then really that honestly says there’s a problem with the reader than the book.
    Also if you think the armor looks similar to Halo’s; you should check out Roughnecks Starship Troopers Chronicles, which came out 2 or 3 years before Halo. Armor is so alike; hell it’s even the same color of green.

    • @commandercaptain4664
      @commandercaptain4664 6 місяців тому

      It was definitely classist, given the division between first class citizens who serve over the second class civilians who do not. That was preserved in the movie, if not expanded upon.

    • @PerfectTangent
      @PerfectTangent 6 місяців тому +4

      @@commandercaptain4664 It isn't classist. Rico comes from a wealthy family who aren't "citizens" because they never served. The only thing that prevents them from doing in the book's setting is voting. The book is about investment in a system, choice, and responsibility. It's also a good example of the weight of leadership from a military perspective.

    • @commandercaptain4664
      @commandercaptain4664 6 місяців тому

      @PerfectTangent Voting is the defining characteristic of its classicism, which is not some minor privilege, as any democracy can prove.

    • @Gustav_Kuriga
      @Gustav_Kuriga 6 місяців тому

      Clearly you lack the ability to critically think if you think that "serve in the military or be shipped off to slave mines if you want to vote" is "freedom of choice", you're the last person who should be talking about political theory. And lol, it's anti-communist the same way McCarthy was, attacking a bunch of things that have nothing to do with communism.

    • @BobExcalibur
      @BobExcalibur 6 місяців тому +3

      @@Gustav_Kuriga ...what "slave mines" are you talking about? You're not describing something from the book.
      Oh, and:
      “Every time we killed a thousand Bugs at a cost of one M.I. it was a net victory for the Bugs. We were learning, expensively, just how efficient a total communism can be when used by a people actually adapted to it by evolution; the Bug commisars didn't care any more about expending soldiers than we cared about expending ammo. Perhaps we could have figured this out about the Bugs by noting the grief the Chinese Hegemony gave the Russo-Anglo-American Alliance; however the trouble with 'lessons from history' is that we usually read them best after falling flat on our chins.”

  • @MrChupacabra555
    @MrChupacabra555 6 місяців тому +1

    13:50 : Well, in the TTRPG sphere, there is "The Swarm" from the 'Starfinder' RPG (yet another type of 'Space Locusts' 😅)
    In the 'Roughnecks' show (a CGI series based on the ST movies) They expanded on the bugs to a huge degree, and even had one 'bug carrier' which used 'dragonfly' like wings to assist in its take off (would include a link, but I hear that UA-cam removes comments with links now)

  • @user-ajgptwmdju
    @user-ajgptwmdju 5 місяців тому

    This powered suit's shape was designed by Kazutaka Miyatake, a Japanese visual artist and anime designer. This shape appeared in the novel illustration translated in Japanese in 1977 for the first time.

  • @nickel-bolas951
    @nickel-bolas951 6 місяців тому +1

    It's not directly analogous but the Flood from Halo kind of fit the bill, a biomass-based infection vector that replicates exponentially and can hibernate in the deep void of space.

  • @carlll6101
    @carlll6101 6 місяців тому

    Damn... It took me 16 minutes to realize I watched that show. That scene at the bar was the trigger.

  • @fredfiles2155
    @fredfiles2155 6 місяців тому

    Thanks for the rundown on that show. I expected you to do the starship troopers cgi series.
    The power armor in that ova reminds me of the Maddox from metal skin panic.
    If you like that sort of alien menace I would recommend Megazone 23 pt 2 or the first Gall Force trilogy.
    A good show dealing with squad dynamics is Galaxy Railways

  • @ghredthefrerd
    @ghredthefrerd 6 місяців тому +1

    if you havent checked it out i think gundam thunderbolt is a must watch series, would love to hear your breakdown of it

  • @yahn415
    @yahn415 6 місяців тому +1

    Your soundtrack choice is amazing. level 0 is top tier👌

  • @Wol333
    @Wol333 6 місяців тому +4

    Read the novel! It's honestly great, filled with interesting ideas and a fun story!

  • @sirloin869
    @sirloin869 6 місяців тому

    Really like the tone of the retrospective,need to watch your whole catalog now. Thx

  • @kolinmartz
    @kolinmartz 6 місяців тому +1

    There’s something very GM about those power armor

  • @PokemonTrainerChris303
    @PokemonTrainerChris303 6 місяців тому

    Gotta love how all the UA-camrs are playing ape escape music in the background now.

  • @TheOldest
    @TheOldest 6 місяців тому

    Found this on UA-cam a couple of years ago, pretty much had the same feelings.

  • @NoobixCube
    @NoobixCube 6 місяців тому

    Quick primer on Heinlein for you: when he wrote Star Ship Troopers he was pretty conservative. It was _the_ quintessential "better dead than red" text. Heinlein's politics changed as he aged, though, and by the time he wrote Stranger in a Strange Land, he was under FBI investigation, suspected of being a communist.
    If anything, the movie was truer to Heinlein's politics when he died than the book.

  • @nexo42069
    @nexo42069 6 місяців тому

    Tekkaman blade has literally what you want in a space alien ship terrorizing the globe

  • @GertusMaximus747
    @GertusMaximus747 6 місяців тому

    Awesome video as always my dude!
    It’s always bummed me out there wasn’t more of this or another attempt at it.
    A Tyranid unit the aliens remind me are the neurothropes and zoanthropes. Big ole brain bugs that also shoot mind lasers.

  • @tomecat
    @tomecat 5 місяців тому

    Dino Crisis save room music in intro,
    Me: Time to dig out my ps1 catalog and boot up my old trusty ps2 again.
    Enjoy my like good sir.

  • @Scott_C
    @Scott_C 6 місяців тому +1

    This isn't the only Starship Troopers animated series released.

  • @thatguyglenn7558
    @thatguyglenn7558 6 місяців тому

    I was just about to rewatch the ova and saw this new video lol

  • @joker84
    @joker84 6 місяців тому

    The Xenosaga series has an alien entity called Gnosis and they are capable of space travel. Larger ones are also referred to as ships that are just an amalgamation of the things they absorb.

  • @Talon1124
    @Talon1124 6 місяців тому

    The armour remunds me of the Mk. 1 Mjolnir prototype from the Halo anime Prototype.

  • @Zeonenjoyer
    @Zeonenjoyer 6 місяців тому

    I remeber watching this off a rented disc from extra vision when i was 8 to 9 it was dubbed (it could of been something else but i remember starship troopers in this type of animation)

  • @michaelconnor1542
    @michaelconnor1542 6 місяців тому +2

    I find the PA in this to be much closer to Maddox Metal Skin Panic and the police/military PA of Bubblegum Cisis/AD Police.

  • @davideberhartii6028
    @davideberhartii6028 6 місяців тому

    My old anime club used to watch this in AV Club at our High School. Back when anime was called Japanimation.

  • @Modge17
    @Modge17 6 місяців тому

    Had no idea this existed! There’s a subbed version on UA-cam so will watch that then revisit this! Thanks!

  • @majingojira
    @majingojira 6 місяців тому

    Codex Alera is a fantasy series, but the main enemy of the entire series (and in each book) are basically the Zerg. ELementally powered romans have to team up with their barbarian enemies including Neanderthal Animal-Bonding Elves, Ice-powered Psychic Yeti, and Blood Magic wielding Wolf People in order to fight them. It's crazy fun!

  • @OCTO358
    @OCTO358 6 місяців тому

    I don't remember if you ever covered Knights of Sydonia, from what you've said about Zergs/Tyranids I think it would be right up your alley

  • @WanderlustZero
    @WanderlustZero 6 місяців тому

    Have an upvote just for the AC3 music, good sir

  • @Rockmanforses
    @Rockmanforses 6 місяців тому

    The aliens on this interpretation of starship troopers reminds me a lot to the gaunas from Knights of sidonia and the galsctic bugs from gunbuster

  • @Norbert_Sattler
    @Norbert_Sattler 6 місяців тому +3

    Wait... Jonny? I have heard that in the books, the MC is Juan Rico. So did the movie know about and copy bits from the OVA or is it just coincidence, they changed the MC's name in the same way?

    • @captainvanisher988
      @captainvanisher988 5 місяців тому

      Haven't yet read the novel but the wikipedia page mentions "Johnny" as a nickname which was used for him instead of his name Juan.

  • @ThickpropheT
    @ThickpropheT 3 місяці тому

    The bad guys in Stargate Atlantis have spaceships that are living beings. There's an episode where one of the crew becomes infected with the virus that turns you into a spaceship. It's pretty wild

  • @macdeus2601
    @macdeus2601 5 місяців тому

    I've read the book. The Verhoeven movie isn't really a satire of the book (though there are a few jabs, obviously) so much as a satire of the movie industry.
    IIRC Verhoeven has told journalists he hadn't even read the book when he signed on to do the movie, the resemblances between the two are actually pretty limited, and the general tone of schlock leaning into its schlockiest elements is shared with a lot of Verhoeven's other movies.
    Overall, the intended joke is not "Robert Heinlein is a Nazi". It's more like "all cultures that fight wars and make movies make movies about war the same way" or, in short "propaganda never changes".
    American movies glorify the American military the same way German movies glorified the German military in the 1940's, and this is so true that even in the 1990's (and honestly, probably still now) you could make something that was basically a Nazi propaganda film and Americans would see it as just a normal action movie.
    (And he was right--this is how it was marketed, and how a lot of people interpreted it, at the time. It took about a decade for most people to rewatch it and actually pick up on the satire.)
    He could have done this with any number of stories. It didn't have to be Starship Troopers. Starship Troopers just kinda happened to be on some studio person's mind at the time, from the stories I remember hearing.

  • @maxxus0923
    @maxxus0923 6 місяців тому

    i didnt know this existed, thank you and subbed!

  • @joelcraig9803
    @joelcraig9803 6 місяців тому +2

    When I die it will be to rad synth music!

  • @bodhim4353
    @bodhim4353 6 місяців тому

    So in the book, the mobile infantry power armor weapons are almost exclusively a small nuclear warhead launcher and a flamethrower attached to their left arm.

  • @tacticaldachshund2734
    @tacticaldachshund2734 6 місяців тому +1

    It seems the 1998 movie took more from this OVA than from the novel. I love the 1998 movie, but I'm hoping the upcoming film honors the source material.

  • @souper813
    @souper813 6 місяців тому

    Well since you mentioned interesting Aliens in Mecha, you may want to take a look at the Muv-Luv properties such as Schwarzesmarken and Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse.

  • @Beetlemilk
    @Beetlemilk 6 місяців тому

    I've read the reason this never got a release is because Sunrise didn't secure the rights to the franchise but went ahead and produced the whole OVA.

  • @VolkanKucukemre
    @VolkanKucukemre 6 місяців тому

    There are plenty of other book (series even) where there's a similar alien threat and humans in power armor fighting them. The ones that i've read and can recommend are
    Old Man's war from John Scalzi and it's sequels. Actually, read anything and everything by John Scalzi.
    Frontlines series from Marko Kloos,
    Armor from John Steakley, this one is also interesting that, arguably, the Jack Crow character might be an inspiration for Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of Carribean >_>
    And Ofcourse, All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The basis of Edge of Tomorrow movie.

  • @CastironWhisky
    @CastironWhisky 6 місяців тому

    I really enjoyed this OVA and other than my old roommate that had a copy if it i didnt know anyone else that had watched it.

  • @charlescraft5582
    @charlescraft5582 5 місяців тому

    Never realized that the term “Jump Jet” from Battletech originated from the novel.

  • @KronnangDunn
    @KronnangDunn 5 місяців тому

    Carmencita is a diminutive of Carmen, a common woman name here in Latin America. It basically means Little Carmen.

  • @Josh-ye9ol
    @Josh-ye9ol 6 місяців тому +1

    The ova felt far to focused on bootcamp and the power armor itself. Its missing the second half, is how I felt about it. Still good, and for trooper fans I do recommend.

  • @sauronmauron6965
    @sauronmauron6965 6 місяців тому

    I'd say it's pretty spot on as an adaptation,it's much more closer to the book than the film

  • @bubbasbigblast8563
    @bubbasbigblast8563 6 місяців тому +4

    Imagine dying because you learned that bugs are living creatures or something. Sadness.

  • @JoeyEsqueda
    @JoeyEsqueda 6 місяців тому

    The movie NOPE has the kind of space terror you might like.

  • @michaellewis1545
    @michaellewis1545 6 місяців тому +1

    While the bug design is not as cool as the as the move. I do like how alien the bugs look.

  • @Trevor-08
    @Trevor-08 6 місяців тому +1

    I miss 80's and 90's ova's

  • @EdgeZXY
    @EdgeZXY 6 місяців тому

    While the first movie, and while we're at it the second one as well, doesn't feature the Marauder Power Armor, ST3 and the 90s CG cartoon series does feature. In fact the Marauder power armor is the focal point in Starship Troopers 3, though it doesn't get a lot of screen time until close to the end of the movie

  • @bartome7o
    @bartome7o 6 місяців тому

    Rip Lt. Rasczak

  • @Mak10z
    @Mak10z 6 місяців тому

    those suits looks like inner sphere battle armor from Battletech.. I'm assuming its another thing FASA 'Borrowed' back in the day :p

  • @casanovafunkenstein5090
    @casanovafunkenstein5090 6 місяців тому

    In terms of spacecraft made from flesh, there's a few examples in video games:
    R.Type
    Prey (2007)
    System Shock (SHODAN's endgame involves a series of genetic experiments that meld biological material with machinery and by the amount of of flesh on the walls of the later levels, and her references to the space station being her 'body', you could infer that her ultimate goal is to use the space station as a means to give herself a full body, allowing her to explore the possibilities of biological manipulation to make herself into a constantly changing and growing mass, intent on assimilating and subjugating all organic life in the galaxy and ascending to godhood)

    • @Retcon404
      @Retcon404  6 місяців тому +1

      I loved Prey 2007 and haven't played it since release. I still have the disc, I should give that one another play through. Also gotta love system shock.

    • @BobExcalibur
      @BobExcalibur 6 місяців тому

      @@Retcon404 Keep a close hand on that disc mate; the game isn't purchasable on Steam due to music licensing and we may never see an Alpha Protocol style rerelease.

  • @spectre111
    @spectre111 6 місяців тому

    This is, unironically, of all versions of this story this is my favorite and that includes the original novel!
    Yes, I would rather watch the OVA than read the book!

  • @madmusial
    @madmusial 6 місяців тому

    Duuuuuude great job, you really need to watch Traitor of Mars if you haven't yet

  • @GoingRampant92
    @GoingRampant92 6 місяців тому +2

    "Roughnecks: Starship troopers chronicles" when?

  • @xoso599
    @xoso599 6 місяців тому

    You should spend the day and read the book. It's good enough to be called a classic of SF/Speculative Fiction for a reason.

  • @whitewing2
    @whitewing2 6 місяців тому +1

    13:50 BETA from Muv-Luv

  • @justjoking5841
    @justjoking5841 6 місяців тому

    It aint horrible but i do have to complain about the bugs being those odd mutant fleshy octopi with beaks that shoot lasers or plasma balls, instead of actual pseudo arachnids. The Powersuits are really cool though.

  • @sylusmk2
    @sylusmk2 6 місяців тому +1

    Man you just reep making vids on Anime i love lol

  • @Gustav_Kuriga
    @Gustav_Kuriga 6 місяців тому

    You never mentioned that this was clearly intended to follow the entirety of the book, rather than stopping off suddenly. You can tell because there's clearly a "to be continued" scene in the last episode.