Baoh (1989)

An anti-hero with a worm for a brain

By: JWBM

For heroes and anti-heroes alike, the '80s were a breeding ground for one characterization to stand out with something more unique than the next upcoming sensation. Where "cartoons" were once known as an innocent means to bring about comedy or adventure, some were becoming more serious and story oriented. Material hit the shelves with the likes of "Vampire Hunter D" and "Wicked City": stuff so mind-bendingly violent and perverted that you'd have to hide it from your Sunday school teacher in fear that they'd discover the dark truth and deem you a heretic.

"Baoh" is akin to the next level of live action. It's not "Akira" level of sophistication, or what "Guyver" would end up fleshing out further with a guy with sudden abilities, but it's still where animation was learning a creative thing or two, plus taking powers and capabilities to another level of ferocity. Every other scene goes for a wide-eyed, queasy stomach hit to the senses and then some. It's your head in a vice tempting a messy fate with every skull-crushing turn. The story stripped down is fairly simple and pedestrian, though it's the punctuation put after it that gets the pot boiling to a roaring degree at points. Its mode of story-telling is to lunge for the throat, release, and then to offer up an explanation for the surprising outburst. In a nutshell: a government tested human weapon escapes the clutches of its masters and is then hunted down by an assortment of other powerful experiments in a series of bloody showdowns.

In what turns out to be its strength for the first half, also turns out to be its weakness for the last half without any change of formula. It's like a live-action music video: flashy, fastly edited, and somewhat hollow for story, but full of a share of creative angles and emotional impact. One moment its sense of mystery comes with fresh surprises, though there are points where it feels like it makes it up as it goes with more strange powers, and more random characters that pop out of thin air. It could have benefited by some duality to Baoh's or his master's character; even at 48 minutes, it doesn't have much for meat on its bones. In other creatures on the loose type of films you often get some kind of morality or sympathy coming from either side: from the creator with the best intentions that accidentally takes it too far, or from the monster having unparalleled power but not knowing the consequences of its actions. It makes it lack the inner workings to be more than a black versus white tale of I'll attack you, you attack me back, till one of us comes out the victor.

It still has a certain factor of coolness going for it, along with some memorably gory scenes to high five your friends to. Despite its quirks and straightforward nature, it's somewhat entertaining if you let your guard down and know you're only getting exactly what's promised. It's just not up there with other action oriented animes such as "Fist of the North Star" with a little more backbone and characterization to it.

Side note: If you're trying to decide which language version to watch. I'd go with Japanese with English subtitles. The dubbed English feels somewhat rushed and unintentionally eye-rolling at points. Though it's not without its charms if you've got a rowdy, voice-their-opinions group watching this.

Rating: 6/10

Director: Hiroyuki Yokoyama (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam)
Info: IMDB link