Plastic Little Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2003-08-27 (updated 2014-10-22)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

Plastic Little follows a simple, time-tested recipe: Start with some good looking girls, take their clothes off occasionally, drop in a tall skinny bad guy (this time with the world's largest shoulder pads), add a healthy pile of explosions and destruction, toss in a pinch of romance, and shake vigorously. Very vigorously. Plastic Little is cheescake, Urushihara style, done right. The art is beautiful, the animation is good, and there's lots of action. What more could you ask for? (Other than plot or anything resembling character depth, that is...)

You'd better not be watching Plastic Little for the story, and it borders on tasteless at times (not necessarily a down side), but there's enough action (and bath scenes) to keep almost any fan of that kind of thing happy.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2003-08-27 (updated 2014-10-22)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

Plastic Little is Satoshi Urushihara's specialty--T, A, and action--done right.

The basic idea is pretty much the same as everything else his name is attached to: Start with some good-looking girls, take their clothes off occasionally (Tita's ship has a built-in "bath tub" the size of a small water park, complete with water slide), drop in a tall skinny bad guy (this time with the world's largest shoulder pads--he looks like a freestanding shower curtain with a head), add a healthy pile of explosions and destruction, toss in a pinch of romance, and shake vigorously. Very vigorously.

The resulting dish may not have much in the way of substance, but if your taste is simple and you don't have a problem with a huge slice of cheescake on the side, it's a lot of fun anyway. Even if the relatively convoluted story isn't much more than an excuse for the action and occasional exposed skin (isolated to one long scene), the fun characters do their part to hold it together.

Tita is a spunky, no-nonsense girl who is never reduced to a damsel in distress; when she needs rescuing, she does it herself. She also pulls off one of my all-time favorite denouements. Tita's "love interest" and Elysse don't do much much more than fill space, but the two older crew members on the Cha Cha Maru are an appealingly wizened pair in contrast to their spunky young captain. And the doctor, Mei, is... well, very attractive, and the only female character who is never naked.

But it's pretty obvious from the get-go that what makes Plastic Little worth watching is the visuals. The art is the most true to Urushihara's style of any of the anime adaptations of his work--clean and appealing, with fun, varied, thoroughly attractive character designs by the man himself. The animation is well above par, too--nice character animation, solid action, and watch for some great chase scenes.

The background music is more disappointing--things are remarkably quiet in fact--but I really like the mellow end theme (even though it has nothing to do with the story). The Japanese acting gets the job done without being particularly memorable, though I do rather like Yuriko Fuchizaki's energetic-without-being-annoying take on Tita.

Overall, while you'd better not be watching Plastic Little for the plot, and it borders on tasteless (not necessarily a down side, depending on your taste), there's enough action and pretty girls to keep almost any fan of that kind of thing happy.

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Related Recommendations

Sol Bianca (and its sequel) is a well done but less sleazy version of the same sort of thing. For a similar feel with a very different setting, try Cutey Honey. Be warned that the other of Urushihara's animated features, the Legend of Lemnear, did not fare as well as this one. Though the formula is the same, the feel is sleazier, and it's just a lot less fun.