Capricorn

Sometimes, I find myself absorbed in questions such as what sets the first wave of Isekai anime apart from the modern second wave. Is it more defined inspiration from western Sword & Sorcery Fantasy? Is there even a clear distinction between the two? While I have never been a big fan of this type of setup, I agree that it's an important fixture of the subculture to discuss about. In the meantime, still uncertain about my overall theory, I am continuing my research on the missing link. I am looking for evidence of a dramatic departure from the classic age, to conflate with productions of an intermediary period. Isekai anime has always been more or less the same, characterized mostly by the wish-fulfillment premise of going to greener dimensional pastures. Most of the flavors are borrowed from various subgenres in an attempt to refine or refresh the old template. My completion of CAPRICORN fell within the scope of this concern of finding more quirky items, as well as a certain degree of curiosity. Why was that title chosen for this anime? There is no reference to the zodiac sign, geodetic latitude, or space constellation. Most likely, the original creator, Jouji Manabe, thought it sounded like a cool name aliens would brand Earth with. This naming trend is perhaps the only obvious pattern that truly defines the classic age of Isekai. Besides, Isekai weren't adapted from light novels so much. They sold abstract exoticism, embodied by short words or names written in katakana. Recent Isekai, on the other hand, aim to inform about high concepts in greater detail. CAPRICORN was brought to us by Aubeck (also known as Aubec), a defunct studio that folded in 1997. Unlike Gainax, they had no clear artistic identity. This lack of positioning must have greatly contributed to their demise. They were primarily a mercenary contractor that worked on projects ranging from Hentai, such as "Utsukushiki Sei no Dendōshi Reirei", to the TV special Princess Diana biopic that I translated for you, "Niji no Kanata e! Shōjo Diana Monogatari," or the very obscure "Anime Himitsu no Hanazono," a World Masterpiece Theater entry. CAPRICORN was the only Isekai anime they had ever worked on. As you will see, this lack of experience does not help a final positive impression. Sure enough, as soon as the OAV begins, we're already shown our hero, Taku Shimamura, who was warped to the Slaffleaze world à la Escaflowne. We aren't even introduced to him beforehand. This is a poor start for characterization buildup. This seems to be a chronic problem for this type of short duration OAVs. I also found characters like Dr. Garetti to be highly doubtful. After watching CAPRICORN, I questioned his legitimacy in the plotline because this Magikoopa lookalike is so bland and useless. What does he even accomplish? After all, Taku and Mona put the Infinity Anchor out of order without his help, even though we're told he's the only one who can do it. The supporting cast isn't particularly detestable or likable. They just lack screen time, so viewers can't relate to them. They're pretty much cardboard cutouts, to say the least. Still, Zolba deserves a special mention. His design reminds me of a nice Dragon Ball or Dragon Quest archvillain. It's a pity that he suffers from the generic evil conqueror syndrome. His death is only implied, by the way, as we don't even get a dramatic confrontation between him and the rebels! Overall, Manabe's composition is too middle of the road. Even worse, the plot was forced forward with deus ex machina devices just to meet the duration time. In terms of art, it seems as if the character designer, Moriyasu Taniguchi, worked on this after a streak of Hayao Miyazaki's Sherlock Holmes episodes. (Excuse me for invoking his name in vain, but that was the first thing that came to mind while watching it.) CAPRICORN captures this general impression competently, albeit in a more lifeless and uninspired way. Apart from that, the main cast's designs look dated, like a mid 80s OAV. It's hardly acceptable when compared, for example, with the Silent Mobius movie, which was released the same year and yet was not even the main blockbuster. Likewise, Aubec's animation, while not impressive, gets the job done, at the very least. Ikurou Fujikawa's sound direction is perfunctory, like a token fantasy score only thrown in for good measure. If you asked me to whistle one song, I wouldn't be able to. That's a bad sign. Overall, that title has very few redeeming qualities. The idea of action-packed, armored, hominoid dragons is amazing in theory, but without a strong foundation, the concept quickly falls asunder. ..| Colophon |.. The purpose of the Colophon is to provide practical information to the audience about objectionable content. .. Violence: N/D. CAPRICORN was my very first review, long ago, and it is still in need of reassessment. .. Graphic Nature: N/D. CAPRICORN was my very first review, long ago, and it is still in need of reassessment.

Story - Very simple in both a good and bad way, but I think a bit more fleshing out was in order. The run time is only 47-ish minutes counting credits so that's not much time to tell the story of an entire other world. What is there, isn't bad, but it's all very much been done a lot even in the time it was made most of it was nothing new. Easily the worst part of the movie. Art - I don't hate the style used here. It's very cutesy, gives me slight Ranma vibes from the main character. Neither is it like really great though either. It's just passable and that's fine. Sound - The voice acting is fine, the music is catchy rarely but mostly pretty standard and not much stands out, the sound effects used were of it's time and that is to say very stock. It was never distractedly bad but neither did it elevate it or alleviate the other flaws of the movie. Character - The main character gets almost no time, in fact pretty much no one does. The closest thing to any really development is the backstory of Mona and her Yappie tribe. I'll say also that even though the characters weren't fleshed out enough none of them were overly annoying either. They were all decent enough but it would have been better if we really got to actually know any of them at all. Enjoyment - My previous lines probably make it sound like I hated it. Honestly, it was worth one watch through. I think I'm biased in that I'm a sucker for this era and style. Those feelings aside, there's nothing really bad or off putting about it that I can see other than a moreover blandness. Overall - As much as it doesn't do right, it also doesn't do incredibly wrong, and I stand at scoring it a 6 because as stated before it was not overly long and it kept to a simple story that begged for more but simultaneously didn't waste my time. It's something that would make for a fun tabletop or a sequel that goes into more of this world that we see almost nothing of. I say it's honestly worth going through once if you like this genre or this era of anime. Edit - I have found out there is a manga but it's very short at 5 volumes. Skimming through that quickly there does seem to be *slightly* more fleshed out story but it it still seems to be your average light foray into isekai with ecchi themes.