"A race of android aliens called Geas, led by Chaos and Cross, are sapping worlds of their resources and destroying them. In order to defend Earth, robots called Iczels need to merge with their female partners to create powerful warriors called “Iczelion”. The newest member, Nagisa, is immediately targeted by the Geas, and remains reluctant to join. While the remaining Iczelions Black, Gold and Silver scramble to face the threats, will they be able to convince Red to join them?"
Written by Leo Wei | Published 2023-3
"A race of android aliens called Geas, led by Chaos and Cross, are sapping worlds of their resources and destroying them. In order to defend Earth, robots called Iczels need to merge with their female partners to create powerful warriors called “Iczelion”. The newest member, Nagisa, is immediately targeted by the Geas, and remains reluctant to join. While the remaining Iczelions Black, Gold and Silver scramble to face the threats, will they be able to convince Red to join them?"
Written by Leo Wei | Published 2023-4
Iczelion
Released 1994 (Japan and U.S.)
Directed by Toshiki Hirano
2 Episode OVA
Age recommendation: 16+ for violence and brief nudity
History
Iczelion is the animated standalone OVA movie created after completion of the Anime series Fight! Iczer One and Iczer Reborn. Despite some superficial similarities, Iczelion should be considered an entirely different series with new characters, settings, and plot.
Anime Studios KSS and AIC produced Iczelion, while ADV films licensed it for a North American release. Both episodes were combined onto one VHS tape for both Japan and USA, followed up with a laserdisc, and finally DVD in the Japanese market. Iczelion has not been re-issued, with no current plans to appear on streaming services or Blu-ray.
The OST was later released on CD, and like the movie itself, can be a challenge to find. Some additional Izczelion artwork would appear in various Toshiki Hirano artbooks.
OVA Cast
Nagisa Kai
A high school girl who strives to be a professional wrestler and is the most reluctant of the group to become the Red Iczelion. Her powers consist of concentrated beam weaponry and close grappling attacks
Nami Shiina
A rave dancer and Black Iczelion. Out of all the girls, she is the most mature, levelheaded and powerful warrior, going so far as to offers to fight Cross one-on-one. Her powers are gravity based and is most adept at beamsword combat.
Kiiro Iijima
An idol singer and Gold Iczelion. She is the most playful of the four, yet the most eager to engage in a fight. Her powers consist of earth and wind-based elemental attacks.
Kawai Kawai
A student from another school and Silver Iczelion. She is the gentlest and calmest of the group, and is the only one who tries convincing Nagisa to join their fight. Her powers consist of beam boomerangs and other beam weaponry.
Iczers
The sentient robots that seek out partners to combine and create the warrior called Iczelions. When in standalone form, they resemble short, super-deformed robots. Whether through coincidence or design, they each have similar personalities to their partners.
Cross
One of the two leaders of the Gea and is part Android. She and her brother travel the universe stripping planets of resources and crushing any enemy opposition. She is ruthless and sadistic, and in contrast to her brother, personally gets involved with the mission.
Chaos
The younger brother of Cross and commands the Gea in crushing all opposition while they extract resources from planets. He takes a hands-off approach, using his dimensional shifting abilities to plan and isolate each Iczelion from one another.
Story
On an empty husk of a planet, Cross leads the Alien Android Force Gea in crushing the last remaining Izcelion tasked with defending it. After destroying the planet, Cross and Chaos shift their attention to targeting Earth. Meanwhile, an Iczer approaches the schoolgirl Nagisa during her commute to plead for assistance. An attacking Gea foot soldier forces the Izcer to combine with Nagisa and she promptly takes it down with her newfound powers. However, she refuses to participate in any future fights just as Cross arrives to test her. Nami, Kiiro and Kawai arrive to intercept Cross, forcing her to withdraw under Chaos’ directive. The Izcers debate over Nagisa’s candidacy as Kawai approaches her to once again reconsider her opposition to join. She explains the Izcer’s mission to maintain peace in the universe and confront evil. But being overstretched, the Iczers relies on partnering with beings from each planet. They are interrupted by Cross once more, who seeks to kill Nagisa and arrives with her skilled cadre of guard robots called Voids. Each Iczelion confronts their Void adversaries one-on-one as Nagisa must face Cross who threatens not only the Earth, but directly her friends stuck at the school.
Thoughts...
So, we all have that certain thing in life that we consider guilty pleasure that is enjoyable initially but leaves you feeling empty afterwards. Maybe it’s a cheap bear that gives you a massive hangover. Or the Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet that leaves you both thirsty and hungry an hour later after leaving the restaurant. Or that one time fling that looked better last night at the bar. Izcelion is the Anime equivalent of that. It’s the type of show that trailers are meant for. In fact, when I saw the preview for this years ago, I said, oh hell yeah. It’s got everything, great animation, "Babes in Battle Armor", dope techno soundtrack, what more do you want? But that initial dopamine rush quickly wears out once you watch the entire TWO acts with nothing else to follow from.
But let’s start with the positives. As mentioned before, it is animated extremely well and holds up even to today with that late 80s-90s classic action. The character designs are good (although a bit trope-ish) with the usual schoolgirls with big eyes look. I quite like the Iczelion suit designs, and although not entirely plausible, they function well. Each girl sports a similar design but differs in some way besides a simple palette swap. If you contrast this to other Henshin Hero shows of the time (such as Sailor Moon or Power Rangers) Iczelion sport distinct but subtle suit designs that are easy to follow. And being only two episodes, their transforming sequence is only shown once per character. Although I think they should have animated Nagisa’s transformation sequence twice, since the first transforming sequence was (comically) awkward.
As for group dynamics, it works…well. Each character, again, falls into the usual Anime tropes. Goody-goody schoolgirl. Enthusiastic pop idol singer. Stoic, hard to get club dancer. But it gets the ball rolling. Until the final battle against the massive uber boss character at the end, each lady individually holds their own against their Void adversaries. Skilled, but not overbearing to make the battle pointless. I largely enjoyed each character, but in my opinion, Nami is best Iczer girl (although it’s a tight contest).
The enemy character designs hold their own. Chaos and Cross are good enough, being the typical evil-looking half androids that they are. The foot soldiers are ok, but I do like the Void boss-like characters. They carry enough menacing onscreen presence, and offer various tricks up their (proverbial) sleeves. They match their counterpart Iczelion opponents well.
The music is what surprised me the most upon rewatch. It’s quite good, and although I remember the techno beats and pop-idol songs easily, the more subtle background music got my appreciation. Especially the opening sequence on the approach to Earth, the music conveys an epic tone for the series, something you would find in a space opera series. Even the vocal Iczelion theme song "You're the Best Partner" is catchy, given the nature of the show. The only thing I would add if they continued this series is a heavy metal riff during the smaller battle sequences. It would be a nice contrast that could fit appropriately. Sounds are ok, with beam sabers ripping off light saber sound effects, but the sound design could use some additional umph. The voice acting for the Japanese language is good, with English dub a bit middling. Typical 80s-90s effort.
Ok, now that leaves us with rest. First of all, it’s short. Real short, almost like schoolgirl outfit skirt short. With two OVA episodes, that brings in a lot of issues that otherwise wouldn’t be the case. I said before that if I had to pick between being too short or too long, I usually prefer the former. But that’s doesn’t mean doing so is not without problems. It looks like there maybe were plans to continue this beyond just two episodes, but it never happened. So, we are left with an obvious incomplete series. Which means Nagisa spends most of the series running around being annoying. Oh boy is she annoying. I get it, if some strange intergalactic half android sadistic woman came after me, I would think I’m in for a good night. But I am a guy. To a schoolgirl, she would be terrifying, and forced into a fight by combining with some super deformed robot does not seem ideal. And if this series was longer, it would provide some more opportunity for character growth. But we get an abrupt character arch by the end of Act II which is necessary to get the final battle over. This also applies to the other characters. We don’t get enough to see their vest interest besides already accepting partnership with Iczers to fight. I would like to see all their characters further developed, especially the antagonists who are very one dimensional as is. This could be explained by the fact that Iczelion is technically a follow up from the Anime series Fight! Iczer One and Iczer Reborn. But the link between the series is extremely tenuous, so again very little explanation.
And that brings me to my final point: Izcelion doesn’t give us anything more than a brief diversion. I speak about lost potential in other series, and this is the one that exemplifies it the most. If this was remade for today, I would keep most of what we have but start with adding more episodes. Establish further backstories with every character. Show Nagisa’s relationship with her friends and family, given her the motivation to be an Izcelion. Flesh out the antagonist motivations. Make the Crea threat more pronounced. And as much I love gratuitous fan shots, I would at least cover up them puppies during the transformation sequences. It’s the only time you see nudity, so you don’t lose anything by cutting a second from the sequences.
So, is that it? Unfortunately. Short, somewhat sweet, and leaves us saturated with MSG the rest of the day. Izcelion did not receive any other merchandise (Garage kit figures would have made bank), no video game adaptations, no direct manga adaptation that I am aware of. No sexy girl cosplays. Just a radio drama that Japan loves for some reason. And maybe a Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko novel that I cannot find any info on.
So, is it worth your time? If this genre of Anime interests you, it might be worth an hour of your time. But if it isn’t, then I would skip it. It’s made harder by the fact that the original media isn’t easy to find. But the Iczelion DVD was ripped into video format and can be found online with minimal effort. If there is a sci-fi series involving cute ladies transforming into android warriors to battle intergalactic evil that needs to be further built upon, than this is it.
