Detonator Orgun
Detonator Orgun | |
Cover of English Detonator Orgun DVD | |
デトネイター・オーガン (Detoneitā Ōgan) | |
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Genre | Adventure, Mecha |
Original video animation | |
Directed by | Masami Ōbari |
Produced by |
Noburo Ishida Satoshi Koizumi Takanori Yaegaki |
Written by |
Kia Asamiya Hideki Kakinuma |
Music by | Susumu Hirasawa |
Studio | Anime International Company, Artmic |
Licensed by | Central Park Media |
Released | August 25, 1991 – August 25, 1993 |
Runtime | 48 to 56 minutes per episode |
Episodes | 3 |
Light novel | |
Written by | Hideki Kakinuma |
Published by | Kadokawa Shoten |
Imprint | Sneaker Bunko |
Original run | August 1991 – March 1992 |
Volumes | 3 |
Detonator Orgun (デトネイター・オーガン Detoneitā Ōgan) is a 1991 Japanese original video animation series by AIC and Artmic, directed by Masami Ōbari. It was released on DVD by Central Park Media in the United States in 2001.
Plot
Part 1 - Birth
Tomoru Shindo is a college student in City 5. Only months away from graduating, he cannot decide what he wants to do with his life. He ponders joining the Earth Defense Force (EDF). Tomoru begins having strange dreams where he is protecting a woman from mecha monsters. He also dreams about a mecha named Orgun fleeing from other mechas. They attack Orgun on the moon and are destroyed.
The supercomputer I-ZACK informs a professor, Kanzaki, that it is receiving signals from the moon. A meteor enters the Earth's atmosphere and is headed for City 5, when it suddenly changes course and splashes down in the ocean. The Earth Defense Force deploys a squadron of "bird-man" aircraft to investigate. The EDF bird-men engage the object, a hostile mecha, but cannot defeat it.
Without fully understanding the process, Kanzaki and I-ZACK have rebuilt Orgun's body, which wakes up and breaks out of its underground lab. Tomoru and Professor Kanzaki try to get to a vantage point to see the alien attacker, which targets them. The situation turns into a replica of one of Tomoru's dreams. Orgun shows up and invites Tomoru to fight. He takes the offer, joins with the mecha and defeats the invader, as well as a second one that has appeared.
After the battle Tomoru is released from the mecha. He has gained alien memories from the experience, saying the mecha's name is Orgun and that he has travelled 260 million years to get to Earth. Orgun is of the same race as the invaders, a species known as the Evoluders.
Part 2 - Pursuit
The EDF builds replicas of Orgun to defend Earth. It is revealed that the Evoluder are descendants of a space probe launched 200 years in the past. Due to the effects of spacial relativity, they have experienced millions of years of dilated time. The harshness of space has evolved them into half-human, half-machine hybrids. Some of the Evoluder have humans linked to them such as the oracle Kumi Jefferson with the Evoluder leader Mhiku, and Tomoru Shindo with the rebel Orgun.
Part 3 - Showdown
The Evoluders attack Earth. They are eventually repelled by the EDF and Orgun. Zoa, the Evoluder military commander, ignores the orders of Mhiku, whom he has installed as a puppet regent, and personally joins the fight. He fires the main anti-matter cannon, but Orgun stops it with his Grand Cross attack, which requires sunlight. Orgun dies in the process, while Tomoru survives. Zoa is killed and Mhiku resumes ruling the Evoluders, who peacefully leave Earth. Tomoru and Kanzaki walk off into the sunset.
Characters
- Tomoru Shindo / Orgun (オーガン)
- Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera / Ted Lewis
- Youko Mitsurugi
- Voiced by: Emi Shinohara / Katherine Devaney
- I-Zack
- Voiced by: Nobuo Tanaka / Justin Thompson
- Professor Michi Kanzaki
- Voiced by: Yumi Tōma / Angela Parks
- Bannings
- Voiced by: Bōya Ueda
- Kumi Jefferson/Mhiku
- Voiced by: Hiroko Kasahara / Jessica Calvello
- Commander Zoa
- Voiced by: Kenji Utsumi / Matthew Bray
- Virgil
- Voiced by: Masashi Ebara
- Lang
- Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto
- Simmons
- Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto
- Foreston (フォレストン)
- Voiced by: Takkō Ishimori / Jeffrey Gimble
- Nokku
- Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki / Corey Carthew
Music
Detonator Orgun 1 ORIGINAL VIDEO ANIME SOUNDTRACK | ||||
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Soundtrack album by Susumu Hirasawa | ||||
Released | July 25, 1991 | |||
Genre |
Film score Electronic, Progressive rock, Symphonic rock, Ambient, World music, Experimental | |||
Label | Pioneer LDC, Polydor K.K. | |||
Susumu Hirasawa soundtrack chronology | ||||
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Detonator Orgun 2 ORIGINAL VIDEO ANIME SOUNDTRACK | ||||
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Soundtrack album by Susumu Hirasawa | ||||
Released | October 25, 1991 | |||
Genre |
Film score Electronic, Progressive rock, Symphonic rock, Ambient, World music, Experimental | |||
Label | Pioneer LDC, Polydor K.K. | |||
Susumu Hirasawa soundtrack chronology | ||||
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Detonator Orgun 3 ORIGINAL VIDEO ANIME SOUNDTRACK | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Soundtrack album by Susumu Hirasawa | ||||
Released | March 25, 1992 | |||
Genre |
Film score Electronic, Progressive rock, Symphonic rock, Ambient, World music, Experimental | |||
Label | Pioneer LDC, Polydor K.K. | |||
Susumu Hirasawa soundtrack chronology | ||||
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Susumu Hirasawa composed the music for all three episodes of the OVA, using a mixture of electronic and symphonic sounds, creating a broad range of music styles that Hirasawa would use for later soundtrack works. At the time the soundtrack was made, anime and movie soundtracks were considered only as enhancements and not as standalone works, and Hirasawa made the soundtrack considering it as "a job" and "entertainment"; he used an epic tone with dramatic exaggeration.[1] Hirasawa eventually got tired of Detonator Orgun, and considers Detonator Orgun 3 to be the worst album of his solo career, although he also considers the experience helpful in making the music for the BERSERK series.[2] The soundtracks were remastered by Masanori Chinzei and re-released on the HALDYN DOME box set on 29 February 2012; due to the soundtracks using tracks that were included in other albums ("DETONATOR ORGUN", which is present in all three soundtracks, "Venus" & "Root of Spirit" from Water in Time and Space, "Clear Mountain Top" from Virtual Rabbit and "Bandiria Travellers [Physical Navigation Version]", which was included in the same disc that housed Water in Time and Space), they had these removed from the box set to avoid duplication; the first two soundtracks were placed in Disc 8, and the third was placed in Disc 9 with the Glory Wars image album (which was based on a manga made by Detonator Orgun writer Hideki Kakinuma, who request Hirasawa to make it).
"DETONATOR ORGUN" was re-released on the compilation Music For Movies~World of Susumu Hirasawa Soundtracks, the track "YOHKO Mitsurugi" was remade by Hirasawa using the lyrics of the song "FROZEN BEACH" (from the SCUBA album) as "Frozen Beach'94", this version of the song was played in Hirasawa's shows in 1994; a different version of this arrangement, simply titled "FROZEN BEACH", was released a year later on the SCUBA RECYCLE album. "LEAVE" uses some themes from "A Tree of Sun" (from the Virtual Rabbit album), "SUNSET" is an instrumental arrangement of "Bandiria Travellers". "Water in Time and Space (Full Size)" is an extended version of "Water in Time and Space" (from Water in Time and Space), "CLIMAX" uses some themes from "DETONATOR ORGUN".
All songs written and composed by Susumu Hirasawa, except "Bandiria Travellers" by Hirasawa and string & choral arrangement by Hirasawa & Kayo Matsumoto.Detonator Orgun 1 | ||||||||||
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No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
1. | "DETONATOR ORGUN" | |||||||||
2. | "KUMI Jefferson" | |||||||||
3. | "E.D.F." | |||||||||
4. | "YOHKO Mitsurugi" | |||||||||
5. | "EVOLUDERS" | |||||||||
6. | "City-No.5" | |||||||||
7. | "MICHI Kanzaki" | |||||||||
8. | "P.A.S.F.U." | |||||||||
9. | "PROPAGANDA of E.D.F." | |||||||||
10. | "MUSEUM" | |||||||||
11. | "FÜHRER MEEK" | |||||||||
12. | "Bandiria Travellers (バンディリア旅行団 Bandiria Ryōkōdan) (Physical Navigation Version)" |
Detonator Orgun 2 | ||||||||||
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No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
1. | "SUNRISE" | |||||||||
2. | "Clear Mountain Top (山頂晴れて Sanchō Harete)" | |||||||||
3. | "DETONATOR ORGUN" | |||||||||
4. | "LEAVE" | |||||||||
5. | "NIGHTMARE" | |||||||||
6. | "TERROR" | |||||||||
7. | "YOHKO & TOMORU" | |||||||||
8. | "ORGUN & TOMORU" | |||||||||
9. | "Venus (金星 Kinsei)" | |||||||||
10. | "LUNGE" | |||||||||
11. | "SUNSET" |
Detonator Orgun 3 | ||||||||||
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No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
1. | "DETONATOR ORGUN" | |||||||||
2. | "PROPAGANDA of E.D.F. II" | |||||||||
3. | "DREAM QUEST" | |||||||||
4. | "DUAL MIND" | |||||||||
5. | "TOMORU & MICHI" | |||||||||
6. | "Water in Time in Space (時空の水 Jikū no Mizu) (Full Size)" | |||||||||
7. | "ZORMA" | |||||||||
8. | "SPACE FORCE" | |||||||||
9. | "CLIMAX" | |||||||||
10. | "HOPE" | |||||||||
11. | "Root of Spirit (魂のふる里 Tamashii no Furusato)" |
Personnel
- Susumu Hirasawa - Vocals, Guitars, Synthesizers, Amiga, Computer programming, Production, Arrangements
- Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus - Backing vocals on "Bandiria Travellers"
- Teru Uchida Strings - Strings on "Bandiria Travellers" and "SUNSET"
- Jun Togawa - Chorus, Vocals on "Clear Mountain Top"
- Yasuchika Fujii, Kazuhiko Fujii, Toshihiko "BOB" Takahashi, Osamu Takeuchi and Chuju Yamaguchi - Backing vocals/Chorus on "Clear Mountain Top"
- Shingo Tomoda - Drums on "Venus"
- Kayo Matsumoto - Acoustic Piano on "Water in Time and Space", Arrangements on "Bandiria Travellers" and "SUNSET"
- Jun Miyake - String Arrangements on "Root of Spirit"
- Toshiaki Minejima - Titling on "Root of Spirit"
- Asuka Kaneko's Section - Strings on "Root of Spirit"
- Yoshiaki Kondo - Engineering on "Venus" and "Root of Spirit"
- Masanori Chinzei - Engineering, Backing vocals on "Clear Mountain Top"
- Yuichi Kenjo - Production, Backing vocals on "Clear Mountain Top"
- Michitaka Kikuchi - Illustrations (Detonator Orgun 1 & Detonator Orgun 2)
- Masami Ōbari - Illustrations (Detonator Orgun 3)
References
- ↑ HALDYN DOME Disc 08 summary
- ↑ "RocketBaby's interview w/Susumu Hirasawa". RocketBaby. Neo Cosmic Industries. Retrieved 3 March 2001.
External links
- Detonator Orgun (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
- Detonator Orgun at the Internet Movie Database
- AnimeOnDVD review