Kosuke-sama Rikimaru-sama: Konpeitou no Ryuu

Like my last review on "Pink: Water Bandit, Rain Bandit," we get another extremely solid, very funny adventure short out of an old Akira Toriyama one-shot manga. This one's longer, actually feature-length at 47 minutes, and drags a bit accordingly; the first half is more talky than I'd like, and the world is a bit less vibrant than the likes of "Pink" or either of Toriyama's mainworks (Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, if you somehow don't know). Still, when this gets going, it GETS GOING. If I recall correctly, "Dragon of Konpei Island" as a manga was essentially the prototype pilot episode for what would become Dragon Ball, and you get a whole lot of similarities here. Martial arts super kids, a smart young lady, an evil eccentric army out looking for a prized orb... it's very Dragon Ball-esque. And, thanks to an bubble economy-level budget, even this direct-to-video movie has some incredibly impressive fight scenes. They're fun to watch and very dynamic; very good stuff. I wouldn't say this is anything "super special you gotta watch it," but if this is in your wheelhouse, you'll have a good time.

If you don't already know, this was an early anime film by Akira Toriyama, best known for being the creator of Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball, with this film sharing many elements with the latter. The premise of the story follows these two characters Kosuke and Rikimaru, who are the guardians of Konpei Island whose job it is to protect the last living dragon from harm. Partway through the film's villains (who share a strong resemblance to the Red Ribbon Army) show up to steal the jewel from the dragon which leads to a huge fight scene. The final battle against the main antagonist, Michael Commando (who shares a heavy resemblance to Commander Black) is honestly quite enjoyable with many great action scenes that look like they're straight out of early Dragon Ball. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this. If you're a fan of Dragon Ball, or martial arts anime in general, then I definitely recommend at least giving this one watch-through as you won't be disappointed.