3x3 Eyes

Original Title: 3x3 EYES (サザン アイズ)
Romanized: Sazan Eyes
Literal: 3 Times 3 Eyes

Plot Synopsis

Pai looks like any young girl, but is really the 300-year-old last survivor of the Sanjiyan, an ancient race of three-eyed demons that were destroyed in a war with Kaiyanwan, their own leader. In addition to being immortal themselves, the Sanjiyan hold the coveted secret to immortality. Pai, however, wants nothing more than to become human. When she runs into Yakumo, an average high school student, she ends up with no choice but to turn him into her Wu--an immortal servant tied to her as long as she remains a Sanjiyan. As the two of them search for a way to make both Pai and Yakumo human again, they will both have to grapple with just what that means. And the search is not an easy one: There are dark forces seeking to extract the secret of immortality from Pai.

Quick Review

Rating: 3 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-07-19

3x3 Eyes is a sort-of-classic based on the beginning of a long-running manga series. It's an interesting beast: A surprisingly comfortable crossbreed between a "high school kid with supernatural powers comedy" and a gory demon-fighting flick. On the negative side, it suffers from "too much manga, too little time" syndrome, leading to uneven pacing, a story that jumps around, and a glut of confusing mythological tie-ins. It also looks rather dated, and the action, while moderately interesting, largely consists of the immortal-but-not-invulnerable Yakumo being ripped to shreds dramatically for several minutes. On the positive side, the characters are appealing, the story is dramatic yet confident enough to poke fun at itself on occasion, and there's a nice international flavor. The Japanese dialogue features big names and quality acting, including an unusual combination of extremely harsh and extremely cute yet believably awkward Chinese-accented Japanese from Megumi Hayashibara.

3X3 Eyes could have been an average-quality paranormal high school comedy, and it could have been an average-quality monster/gore horror flick. What it is is an unusual combination of both, and although fun and interesting, it never quite manages to be more than that.

Note that there is a second OAV series that directly follows the wide-open end of this one; they're now sold as a set by Geneon, though they were produced years apart.

US DVD Review

The DVD set includes all 7 episodes of both OAV series on two discs (one for each series) in a double-sized clamshell case. To start with, it includes the expected English and Japanese (both stereo) dialogue and a subtitle track. The video transfer is fine, although the first series does look grainy and a bit harsh (probably because the source material wasn't great, and the high-quality video brought the flaws out). The audio is better; even the older Japanese track sounds crisp. The animated menus provide chapter access to sections of each episode, and a small collection of goodies.

The extras on each disc consist of some black and white character design sketches, a gallery of color art from the creator of the manga, and a list of the cast. The cast list is actually pretty cool--it includes a photo of most of the voice actors, a small picture of the character(s) they play, and a list of other roles they've been in. Most of the cast covered are from the dub, but the second disc includes a few of the Japanese actors as well. The credits, of course (this is Pioneer), cover both languages in their entirety, though oddly they threw the voice credits over some dialogue at the end of the first episode and left the Japanese credits intact (probably because there was an image under them--if that's why, I commend the choice, but it'd have been better to have left the actual production alone).

Content Guide

Pioneer rated it 16-up, appropriate on account of the gore and one particular human sacrifice scene.

Violence: 4 - Very little actual death, but Yakumo gets ripped up in graphic detail many times.

Nudity: 2 - No actual nudity, but a surprisingly long compromising scene with a human sacrifice in episode three features a lot of exposed skin.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - Again, nothing graphic, but that same scene.

Language: 2 - Nothing particularly strong.

Notes and Trivia

Based on the manga series by Yuzo Takada. The manga, recently concluded, consists of 40 volumes published between 1987 and 2002; this series is based on the first story arc ("Book of the Ominous Attack of the Divine Demon"), spanning only two books. The manga is also available in English from Dark Horse, first serialized as part of the now-discontinued Super Manga Blast anthology, then in compiled book form. They've apparently ceased translating it as of book 8, however. Way back in the mid-90s Dark Horse also published a few issues in the more traditional US comic format, one of their earliest manga translations.

The title, for those wondering, is something of a pun. "Sazan" is the way you say "three times three" if you're reading the multiplication tables in Japanese, which fits how its written. It also sounds the same as the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "southern." This is apparently not a coincidence, as the author is said to be fond of the band "Southern All Stars" ("Sazan Ooru Sutaazu"), very popular in Japan since the late '70s.

In addition to the two OAV adaptations of the manga, there were a number of video games produced throughout the '90s, none of which are available in English.

Availability

Available in the US from Pioneer (Geneon) on a hybrid DVD set that includes the second OAV series as well. Was also available on subtitled or dubbed VHS. Much farther back, it was available on four dubbed VHS volumes (with a different dub) from Streamline, as well as a combined single-tape "Perfect Collection", which was also released on LaserDisc.

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