Crusher Joe: The Ultimate Weapon: ASH Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Chainclaw
• Review Date: 2007-08-26 (updated 2010-10-03)
• 4 stars out of 5 (?)

This second OAV sequel to Crusher Joe is even shorter than the Ice Prison, and the plot and pacing suffer as a result, but it's still jam-packed with intense action, unique monsters, and a good enough story to make for an excellent show. In addition to great action scenes, what really sets this show apart are the Cloakers. Fast, numerous, mindless, fearless, and relentless, the Cloakers are so terrifying they could have been used to make this episode a horror movie if the creators had wanted to, and they give the action scenario an atmosphere of tense, ever-present danger. The show's only issue is time; while the plot has potential, it lacks the time to develop, and the supplemental characters are shallow and uninteresting.

Overall, The Ultimate Weapon ASH is yet another superb addition to the Crusher Joe universe. While the bland support characters and incomplete story hinder the show somewhat, its unique atmosphere, good animation, and intense non-stop action scenes are more than enough to make up for it.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Chainclaw
• Review Date: 2007-08-26 (updated 2010-10-03)
• 4 stars out of 5 (?)

The Ultimate Weapon: ASH is the second OAV episode released several years after the original 1983 hit "Crusher Joe," a movie about Joe and his crew of space privateers traveling the galaxy and eradicating evil (though they are primarily motivated by greed and self-preservation, that's still always the outcome of their jobs). Like the previous episode, "The Ice Prison," it is hindered by its short length. In fact, at a mere 54 minutes, it's even shorter than the "The Ice Prison." Even so, it's still jam-packed with intense action, unique monsters, and a good enough story to make this an excellent show.

At first, it doesn't seem like there is much to enjoy here. Nearly all the film takes place on the planet Davidof, not in space like the other episode and movie. The planet itself is pretty bland and doesn't differ much from Earth. All of the characters are about as typical as they come and never do anything unexpected. And the story doesn't have enough time to go anywhere beyond Joe's immediate goal of recovering ASH and escaping the planet.

But there is one thing here that really makes this show stand out: The Cloakers. Fast, numerous, mindless, fearless, and relentless, the Cloakers are so terrifying they could have been used to make this episode a horror movie if the creators had wanted to. Even in the action flick setting, their horrific and intimidating presence keeps the characters on edge for the entire duration of the show. They create an atmosphere of ever-present danger. It seems that no matter where anyone on the planet is, they always face the danger of getting locked onto and blown up.

In addition, The Ultimate Weapon: ASH features the main thing that made the movie and the other episode superb: great action scenes. Joe and his crew are in for one hell of a fight against the endless swarms of Cloakers. They pick them off with pistols, mow them down with machine guns, and blow them up with bazooka shells and grenades, and yet the Cloaker swarms still keep coming. And all this time, they still have to find a way to get to the crashed military ship, recover the ASH, and get off the planet in one piece. The action really picks up once Joe reaches the downed ship. Filled with twisting and wrecked corridors and danger around every turn, the ship feels almost like the ruined space colony in "Aliens," which is an impressive achievement.

In addition, Joe and his crew-mates are also competing against rouge military units equipped with small arms, tanks, and assault helicopters. While I certainly didn't expect Joe's Crushers to die at any time, the whole situation still had me wondering how Joe was going to prevail against the seemingly insurmountable odds. And just like in the film and other OAV episode, the Crushers manage to win the day without pulling off divine miracles every few seconds, appearing to be invincible or having superhuman fighting ability.

The animation in "The Ultimate Weapon" isn't excellent, but it is pretty good for its time (1989). The ships and vehicles are well detailed (the Cloakers looked particularly impressive), and the character animation is smooth enough.

The initial plot is also pretty good, but it doesn't have sufficient time to develop. For example, late in the show, Tanya successfully interrogates a rouge officer into revealing the name of the man in charge of the military coup. I expected this would be a major turning point in the story, but it isn't--it has no effect on the show at all. We never find out who the person is, or if he is defeated after the operation on Davidof ends. In fact, we don't really find out anything at the end. Is the coup by the traitorous officers defeated? Does the peace treaty get signed as planned? Can the president regain full control over his military? None of these questions are answered. I don't mind open-ended stories, but this takes it way too far and leaves way too many things unexplained.

Some better characters to supplement Joe and his Crushers would have been a big improvement as well. The main bad guy is a standard evil military type, who has pretty much no qualities that stand out other than being extremely evil, which we are constantly reminded of throughout the show. Late in the episode, he shows off this trait by abandoning his own troops to certain death after they save his life. That made me want to shout "Okay, he's bad! I get it already!" Tanya was also a bit of a disappointment. At first it looked like she was a feisty, charismatic officer who would take an active role in her own rescue once the Crushers find her, but that isn't the case. Near the end of the episode, she's downgraded almost completely to a damsel in distress.

Overall, The Ultimate Weapon ASH is yet another superb addition to the Crusher Joe universe. While the bland support characters and incomplete story hinder the show somewhat, its unique atmosphere, good animation, and intense non-stop action scenes are more than enough to make up for it.

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Apart from the Crusher Joe movie and the other OAV, there are a few shows with a similar sort of man-versus-superbeast set-up; the most-similar is probably Garaga, which is lower quality but somewhat similar in style and the cheesy classic Gall Force, which has a similar variety of action and settings. Horror-themed entries include Lilly C.A.T. and Roots Search, both of which are also a lot weirder.