MAPS

Original Title: マップス
Romanized: MAPS
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

MAPS is the story of Gen, an average Tokyo resident who happens to be a descendant of a long-dead race of star travelers. When a massive spaceship crafted in the shape of a beautiful woman shows up over the city one fine day and gets involved in a messy tiff with it's sister ship, Gen and his girlfriend Hoshimi end up running off into space with a lady with a long name who's the embodiment of a huge, ancient battleship. They're all looking for the three pieces of a star map that apparently has something to do with saving the galaxy... they think.

Review

Rating: 2.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-06-18

MAPS is yet another story about a kid who turns out to be the chosen one and runs off to save the world (or galaxy, or local galactic cluster, or universe). The idea is basic, but it has a lot going for it--nice art, fairly interesting characters, and a properly wild and convoluted story. Sadly, it's hamstrung by poor writing, hectic pacing, and a couple clumsy logical lapses.

Almost all of the series' problems can be blamed on the fact that it is based on a small part of an epic space opera manga series. Further, the chunks it's based on aren't contiguous, partly explaining the rather large jump between the first episode and the rest of it. The end, while a decent stopping point, is not at all conclusive, again because the original story continued for years after that point. Of course, being that the comic isn't available in English as of this writing, and the OAV should stand on its own anyway, that's not an excuse for the bungled abbreviation, but it's at least an explanation for how so much potential could go so wrong.

Anyway, if you only look at the OAVs, the story doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then that's never been much of a hindrance in fun science fiction. Exactly how fun, MAPS can't quite seem to make up its mind on--it threatens to become a comedy although it really isn't. It starts out looking serious, lightens up considerably in the middle, then moves back into more serious territory for the conclusion. A more even mix would have been nice, but after the first episode it works well enough.

The big problem MAPS has is that everything happens so suddenly you never have a chance to get caught up in it. The worst of it is almost all in the first episode, which whips by so fast there isn't any time to get interested in the characters. That episode also features one of the more implausible reactions to alien invasion I've yet seen: Two giant ships appear near Earth, duke it out, cause massive collateral damage, and then just sit there. Tokyo's response? It makes the paper, but nobody even seems to consider evacuating, say, the immediate area underneath. I understand the anime incarnation of Tokyo is used to being destroyed on a regular basis, but you'd think most folk would rather take a little vacation before the shooting started again.

Things improve a bit in the middle stretch, once the cast gets settled into space wandering. The upside of slamming out the plot in about a minute and a half is that the time saved gets spent on action (at the beginning and end) and suspenseful moments (in the rest), both of which work relatively well. The fourth episode in particular amounts to one extended action scene, and is probably the best part of the series so long as you don't try too hard to figure out any details of what's going on (or look for a satisfying wrap-up).

The characters in MAPS have a lot of potential--attractive designs, distinctive personalities, and even some decent backstory in the case of Lipumira. Again, however, the poor writing and harried pacing takes over and robs them of a lot of their likability, particularly at the beginning. The group was intended to be a great team of misfits hurled into a wild journey through space, given proper time to develop. As is, it isn't until well into the story that I felt any empathy for any of the team, and I never did get all that interested--the series is practically begging for more downtime.

On the technical end of things, MAPS is more consistent. The art looks good all around, and the characters are particularly well-drawn and designed. The ship design is certainly original--the six sister ships look something like giant female Romanesque statues, and they're nicely rendered to boot. The non-action character animation is a little awkward, but the action (of which there's plenty) looks great, particularly the scenes of mass destruction. The best stuff is in the first episode, the only unequivocally good thing about it.

I haven't seen the subtitled version, but the acting in the dub is quite good, as is the casting. Some of the minor aliens are the best roles; they have distinctive voices and some odd accents to keep things interesting. (That also gives the impression that everybody in the galaxy doesn't speak English, even though they apparently do). It's a shame the plot didn't give the cast more to work with.

The music is above average. The theme song is moderately catchy, but the background music is memorable, a well orchestrated and played acoustic score suitable for a grand space adventure.

Summing up, MAPS is based on a solid idea and characters with lots of potential, but is severely marred by a poorly written story that tries unsuccessfully to cram too much manga into too little anime. On the positive side, the action is slick and if you tough out the first episode or so, it does get its footing. If your thing is not entirely serious sci-fi adventure, MAPS is worth at least a rental. Also, if for some reason you're a fan of watching cities getting nuked, you may want to check out at least the first episode just for that.

Related Recommendations

Nothing immediately comes to mind that has quite this blend of sci-fi, action, humor, and drama (other than maybe Star Wars). Somewhat similar stylistic matches include Space Travelers and Birdy the Mighty. It also bears a passing resemblance to the Gall Force movies.

US DVD Review

I have not seen the DVD, but it features English and Japanese stereo soundtracks and no extras other than ADV previews.

Content Guide

ADV rated it 15+ on account of raunchy humor, occasional nudity, and rather bloody violence (things get messy for the ship-women whenever their large-scale personas start getting shot).

Violence: 3 - Some cities get wiped out, but the really bloody violence never actually kills anyone.

Nudity: 3 - Several scenes spread through the series and a lot of very skimpy outfits.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - One humorous scene involving a... misunderstanding.

Language: 1 - Not noteworthy.

Notes and Trivia

Based on an epic 4000-page space opera manga series by Yuuichi Hasegawa; it consists of 90-plus acts and ran from 1985 through 1994. There was also a set of ten more side stories published between 1995 and 1997.

There was in fact an earlier animated adaptation, a short 1987 movie titled "MAPS: The Legendary Wandering Starfarers" ("Maps Densetsu no Samayoeru Seijin-tachi" - マップス 伝説のさまよえる星人たち), based on the first act of the comic. The cast was not the same as the later 4-episode OAV series.

Relative to the manga story, this OAV series is roughly based on the first 5 acts and the "Book of the Six Ghost Ships" story arc, which comprises acts 11 through 19 (or 12 through 20, if you count an early side story).

Finally, ADV has a One page website for MAPS, although the only thing there as of this writing is a small joke and some trailer links that don't work.

Availability

Available in the US on a single hybrid DVD from ADV Films. Was originally available on two subtitled or dubbed VHS volumes, now out of print.

RightStuf carries the DVD as of this writing.

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