Ai City: Love City0xvhssub
ai_cityThe future doesn't look much different from the present. That's just it: it doesn't look much different. Except for the gleaming Fraud Tower, New York City seems identical to today. There are still life and death struggles played out on the streets. The difference is that the battle this time is between Kai, a failed Psionic experiment, and one considerably more successful. The battle is over an enigmatic little girl alleged to have the power to destroy the world as they know it. The question is: who is working to save the planet, and who is trying to bring about Armageddon and why. Can Kei figure out the truth before its too late?
Epitomizing all the traditional anime characteristics, this thrill-ride movie includes psychics, apocalyptic action, giant robots, car chases and even a bunny girl.
Details
Directed by Koichi Mashimo
The "ai" in the title is a multiple pun, referring to the name of the lead character, Artificial Intelligence, and, of course, the japanese word for love. "Ai shite", the nearest japanese pronunciation of the title, means "make love".
Anime Movie Guide by Helen McCarthy (page 41). ISBN# 0-87951-781-6
Commentary
With psychics, apocalyptic action, giant robots, car chases and even a bunny girl, Ai City still manages to suck. One of the things that really annoyed me were the numbers that appear on the foreheads of the characters when they fight.
The story is somewhat convoluted and as it progressed, I found myself losing interest in seeing how everything turns out. But, I persevered and sat through the entire feature. There are an odd assortment of random effects and visuals thrown into a blender and leading up to a truly anti-climactic pay-off. I had AI City on subtitled VHS and although I could have taken the time to transfer it to DVD, I decided not to keep it in my archive.