Fight!! Iczer-1! Tribute - Heart "Nothin' at All"

After more than twenty years, Tatakae!!(Fight!!) Iczer-1, the master work from Toshiro Hirano IMO and one of the first OVA's, after MegaZone 23 (thanks "dsdffdsfdsdsffsd"), that started the entire OVA phenomenon that has exploded here in the US in the last couple of decades, remains as not only my personal favorite Anime title bar none, but also one of my favorite stories period.

The fantastic concept, an alien "bio-genetic construct" in the form and being of Iczer-1 and her "other self", Iczer Robo, are fighting for not only the survival of the entire human race, but also the salvation of the alien race that created them. By locating and joining with the only human being, an initially very reluctant Nagisa Kano, that is capable of "synchronizing" with her, they become an unstoppable force against the evil they face. In the process, Iczer-1 learns of the power of human emotion and unconditional love.

One of the reasons Iczer-1 is exceptional to me is that it is not the typical good vs evil, good conquers evil through the use of giant mecha and super science story, even though it contains many of the cliches of previous live action Japanese sci-fi features that many in the US consider to be campy and cheesy (these cliches actually work in Iczer-1 thanks to the fact it is animated and due to the superb voice acting talents of the original Japanese actors, not to mention the right music to accent the action and drama), it manages to operate on more than one level which to me is a sign of truly inspired creativity.

The fact that my original thought for this video / tribute / montage actually occurred twenty years ago with the release of Fight!! Iczer-1 / Act3 (which I eagerly anticipated) while a buddy and I were painstakingly translating the Japanese dialog, and has stuck with me ever since speaks to how moved I was by this story, but making a tribute video like this "back in the day" was a daunting task to say the least. Now with digital video and editing technology being where it is, and the recent re-release of all three acts on DVD (thanks "SHIZ4NAT" as your posting of all three acts told me that a decent DVD was now available), I no longer had an excuse to delay putting my personal tribute together. Enjoy! And...

"Have courage Nagisa! Fight!! Iczer-1!!"

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• ICZER-1
• Adventure
• Horror
• Mecha
• Science
• Fiction
• Fantasy
• Shounen
• Yuri
• Nothin
• Heart
• Wilson
• Manga
• fight
• Nagisa
• Iczer-2
• Anime
• Japanimation

[dsdffdsfdsdsffsd]

i thought megazone 23 was the first OAV or OVA?

[Jackenator1]

Thanks very much for the comment

dsdffdsfdsdsffsd. I have researched your statement and it appears that my original source of information is incorrect and that in fact, your comment is accurate. MZ23 was released about seven months prior to Iczer, so will update my synopsis accordingly. Doomo arigato for pointing out that discrepancy. I thoroughly enjoyed MZ23 as well back in the day and it deserves props!

[darkvampiress1]

wow this is great! one of the best old animes i've heard of and it deserves more than 5 stars ^ ^

[Jackenator1]

Hey darkvampiress1, thanks very much for taking the time to comment and for the rating!  Very much appreciated. :)

[Potrimpo]

With all the crappy excuses of anime we have seen over the recent years, it is a breath of fresh air of coming back to this animation technique. But also sad as well, as though anime, at least good anime, is not only becoming a lost art, but endangered.

[Jackenator1]

Well said Potrimpo and I appreciate your taking the time to post a comment. Thank you very much.

[dariuswashington999]

Actually, guys, the very first OAV was a work called Dallos, eventually brought to the U.S. as Moon Station Dallos as a single (heavily edited) videotape in the mid-80s. Check it out some time.

Megazone 23 was the first one that was popular enough that the OAV marketing format was profitable to continue with other works, so between that and Harmony Gold's attempts to assimilate it (horribly) into the Robotech franchise as Robotech: The Movie, it's gotten better known in the U.S.

[darkwhisper007]

ACT-3 was the best. I felt very sorry for ICZER-2.

[DirkCourage21]

Beautifully done tribute to an amazing, and well loved series. Thanks for your hard work and I hope to see more like it!

[ashleyfableblack]

WOw... Nice to see some people have some good taste in anime still. Iczer One still stands head and shoulders above practically everything out there. The ending still gets me teary every time... Great tribute video, love.

[jjjj614]

@Jackenator1 it's funny to see comments i posted and can't remember posting. i was just searching for iczer music and stumbled onto our little conversation...

[ryoga316]

If you haven't had gotten your hands on Super Robot Taisen L for the NDS, you should, as it features Iczer-1 and Iczer-3's debut in the franchise.

[CoollyThat]

Almost like Inastella 5555