Baunti doggu (1994) Online

Bounty Dog is set in the distant future, where man has colonised the moon, and tourist flights to the lunar cities are possible. Some fishy business if going on, however, and suspicion has arisen that the Constans Lunar Corporation (who seem to own pretty much all of the moon) may be developing an illegal weapon. The Bounty Dog team, a trio of hi-tech undercover agents of some kind are sent to the moon to check it out. They find more than they bargained for, as Constans has in fact unearthed a kind of alien life-form called the Sleeper, who is emitting strange bursts of energy, and will probably cause mass chaos unless a way of keeping her quiet is found. What's more, identical clones of the Sleeper roam the streets of the moon city (they all wear identical outfits as well, somehow). Yoshiyuki, one of the Bounty Dog members runs into one of these Sleeper clones, and is surprised to see how much she looks like his friend Yayoi, who died on earth and told him with her last breath that they might meet again on the moon. The Sleeper clone, who's called Inez explains that Yoshiyuki is the only one who can kill the Sleeper, or Darkness as she puts it (apparently, it's his destiny, something to do with the robotic arm he was given after Yayoi's death), before it fully awakens and sets out to destroy the earth as every decent villain would do. So Yoshiyuki and his teammates set out to Darkness' hideout inside the moon, piloting mecha, beating up millitary guards and evil Sleeper clones and shooting a few more things in the process.

That's all very well, but Bounty Dog's main flaw is that it is far too confusing for it's own good. It's really a pretty straightforward good-vs-evil story, but the plot is explained in a much too twisty-turny fashion, throwing around flashbacks, dream scenes and bits that just aren't explained at all. Some examples; the Bounty Dog gang begin to go about their business on the moon, doing some moderate spy stuff, but it's not until roughly a quarter through the tape that it's even mentioned that the Bounty Dog team is an "investigation unit" (or that they're a team at all). Similiarly, Yoshiyuki mentions Yayoi's name a few times without the merest clue for the audience who he's talking about, until we get an explanation of who she was much later on. I'm all for mystery, suspense and that sort of thing (which is justified for a few plot elements, such as keeping the Sleeper's identity under wraps), but Bounty Dog goes way overboard, and it's jumbled, rapidly cut style of storytelling, while pretty trendy, only adds to the head-scratching. Frankly, if it weren't for a magazine article I had read on this, I wouldn't have been able to make heads or tails out of the whole shebang. True, there are lots of films that require multiple viewings to fully understand, but Bounty Dog is confusing for the wrong reasons and holds fairly little material for deep interpretations beneath it's surface (save for a few somewhat philosophical musings about the moon, and a hint that repeatedly killing Yayoi-lookalikes might be a bit hard on poor Yoshiyuki's nerves).

More frustration comes from elements that are not explained at all. For instance, they go on and on about how Yoshiyuki's cybernetic arm (how did he get it? A phrase here and there tries to explain it and fails) is the only tool that can kill Darkness. All he does with it in the end is punch through the floor to reach for an oversized strand of DNA, which he then pulls apart. Granted, it's floating in some very corrosive material that'd melt a flesh-and-blood arm, but surely there are a hundred other possible ways to reach into a puddle of slime and pull apart some strings. Really big salad tongs, perhaps. Why Yoshiyuki's arm is so special is -still- not clear after the end of the film, which is irritating considering how much of a key element of the plot they make it out to be. What Bounty Dog really needed was to either have an extra 20 or 30 minutes in which to explain all the vague bits and build up some more tension, or a more rigid approach to it's story.

The OAV's strength is really only in it's looks. The character designs are very fine and detailed, and colors are used in a striking, unusual fashion. Most of the film is painted entirely in dim yellow tones (some blue and even pink pops up timidly near the end). Coupled with the directing style, some surreal bits, and generally pretty dark imagery, it does lend the OAV a unique atmosphere. You might eventually grow to like it as a floaty, mildly eerie mental trip after viewing it a few times (by which time you will have completely given up trying to untangle the messy plot). Animation itself isn't really breathtaking, favoring a lot of still-shots over proper motion, but this adds somewhat to the pleasingly otherworldly feel of the film. Plus, the mecha are definitely cool and make for some pretty nice action scenes, with the somewhat violent encounters with the evil Ines-lookalikes also adding a fair bit of tension (even if they tend to stab largely the wrong targets with their knives). While all this can't save the film from it's big plot flaws, the atmosphere is worth sampling at least, providing that the idea of a film done almost completely in ochre and mustard hues doesn't put you off. This may be worth renting if you can get it cheap and reckon you'll like it. Also note that the English-language dub is decent enough to get away with it, if not outstanding (with only Kei's dub actor making clumsy attempts at covering up his American accent for no apparent reason). But it's still a too hampered film to fully recommend. Which is a shame, because it does have a certain -something- that deserved a better treatment.

Bounty Dog is diverse in its sci-fi attributes, carrying things that can be found in Ghost in the Shell, Prometheus, etc. What it also carried, however, was a 50-minute run-time. That's the key issue with this OVA, the fact that it shouldn't have been an OVA in the first place.

The setting is similar to what you'd see in Cowboy Bebop, mainly the movie Knockin' on Heaven's Door. In the future, we have colonies on the moon living in dome-glass structures with the ability to control weather, along with having many other technological advancements. While it's the future, much of it carries a light modern vibe, much like Cowboy Bebop. It's a future of advancement, yet it's also an economic landscape where not everything is of top-notch quality.

This is all carried out in superb animation in deep detail. The work on design paid off, creating a believable, futuristic environment. The team behind Bounty Dog could've translated all of their technological designs to a live-action Hollywood movie and I would still be applauding. However, this doesn't continue into the functioning and lite history to these designs, as the OVA is still held back by its run-time.

Another thing to applaud is the sound design as a whole. The opening has a catchy low electronic tune with some vocals, yet does not carry an ending theme or an ending period for that matter. Time is valuable here, and they have to make use of every minute they have. To the music in the series, it's also at least above average, but I would consider it good for its setting. This OVA was created after the 80's, yet the soundtrack does feature some trumpet-sounding, electronic tunes. That isn't all it has, however, as the OVA also carries some slower electronic tracks that carry slightly different vibes. The soundtrack might have not been able to carry over as well as the visual design, considering there's not any orchestrations, but it's very serviceable where it's at here.

The story is another thing that should have been applauded, but can only be appreciated in reality. The story itself isn't original, but it's formed together from an interesting mash of parts of plots from different sci-fi hits. It may spoil if I were to directly name which ones are related, but there are several I could name right off the bat. The story has all of these elements to it, and had the potential to go into them with more depth and create more meaning. Instead, the time-limit of 50 minutes made them have to act differently. This is a real shame, as what we have here has some wonky pacing issues that skims over some moderately important details that one may have wished to be better explained, or that one was simply confused by the lack of explanation. In fact, it may even require more than one viewing to properly understand everything that occurred with this pacing. That was a part of my experience with Bounty Dog, but it should be noted I was working with the subbed version.

Briefly towards the voice-work, the dubbed version was a bit unsatisfactory in its execution. I usually work with dubs as I'm not a fan of reading, but I just felt the dubs weren't treating everything in a way that made it as believable as the Japanese voices. Online there is mainly only the dubbed versions available, so if that's what's bugging you, I would recommend looking for the subtitled version even if it's a tad difficult.

Bounty Dog features not only a believable world, but reasonable inhabitants. It should be appreciated that no-one in Bounty Dog lacks basic common sense. Even when a mass of citizens or side- characters are shown having reactions and discussing, they treat situations in a way that you would expect. Not only that, but the "heros" of this story are not overpowered in any sense. They're just like anyone else and can be beaten by an unnamed individual on the side. They're trained mercenaries which would make them skilled, but they are still beatable. This isn't presented that much as the entirety is still only 50 minutes, but it's noticeable.

A downside to the characters of this OVA is the lack of development. There is an attempt at some development in the main character, but the story speeding by makes that attempt lack any weight. The other characters suffer even worse from this, making those closest to the main feel only a tad more familiar than a no-named, one-liner character. This leads to more disappointment towards the length. However, when these characters interact in the OVA, they still do so reasonably.

Bounty Dog has the start of the creation of a potentially great universe to it, but that isn't gone into detail in this OVA. Sadly, due to obscurity, this OVA never led to a further release of the same universe. What we have here is a visually-detailed short-film that briefly relates many aspects of other more famous science- fiction stories. It does rush the story, but simultaneously, it treats the viewers with respect that they're intelligent enough to follow along with no crutches. It's a refreshing feeling, but is still heavily accompanied by disappointment. Bounty Dog is definitely worth the watch for its moderately short length and its overwhelming amount of quality. The story is a bit generic, but is interesting in how it relates many different elements. I would appreciate any continuation of this world in even an unrelated side- story. I want to see more, but that will likely never happen. There may be some hope with searching other works by the staff, like how the character designer for Bounty Dog happens to have been also involved in every iteration of Ghost in the Shell. That would be the first place to start (possibly even being a spiritual successor to what we have here).