OVA 01
Alright, Cat Shit One, also known as Apocalypse Meow in the U.S., finally came out earlier today! The original manga follows three American soldiers who belongs to a recon team called Cat Shit One during the Vietnam War. One of the most noticeable features of the original manga that is present in this adaptation is that all of the characters are portrayed as animals: Americans are portrayed as rabbits, Vietnamese as cats, and so on so forth. Well, twelve years since the release of the first volume of the original manga, “Cat Shit One: The Animated Series”, is now being streamed online as the first free full-3D CG OVA on Youtube.
The shows starts with the introduction of two rabbit soldiers, Packy and Botasky, as the two main characters (both were present in the original manga). The film takes place in some kind of Middle-Eastern desert setting, probably a couple of decades after the actual original manga setting (the Vietnam War). The characters, in this case, are left unchanged, and instead are adapted to fit the modern day warfare environment. The presence modern weaponry such as red-dot sights and RPG7s, which were not yet in existence during the Vietnam war, confirm this new setting.
In this OVA, Botasky is the designated marksman/sniper who just so happens to have a cowardly attitude towards battles with unfavorable odds, although he does get serious when duty calls. On the contrary, Packy is a hard-seasoned veteran who has every trait that a leader would need. (Some people will compare the dynamic between this duo with Captain Price and Soap from Call of Duty :Modern Warfare, but these character archetypes are stereotypical of the war movies genre.)
Since this is a 22 minute long OVA (Some websites claim that this is a 12-episodes series, but there is no official confirmation on that), you can’t expect much story from it. Basically, it’s about rescuing two American hostages from some kind of Middle-eastern terrorist group, being outnumbered by a bunch of camel soldiers, and finally receiving some desperately-needed backup from a trustworthy attack-helicopter. There are some cheesy lines by Botasky such as “You only need two professionals to get the job done, right?”, “You don’t need to come back. This is an ORDER!”, but I think the script was overall done pretty well considering the genre of this film.
In terms of the visuals, the animators did a great job of rendering each of the combat scenes in beautifully-rendered 3D CGI, added in with some fast paced Hollywood-style action scenes, except that the human actors are replaced with cute-looking animals. If you happen to be a military geek, you’ll notice that a lot of effort was put into various small details in this OVA, such as the intricate detailing on Packy and Botasky’s customized weapons and the portrayal of their tactical moves. The execution of military tactics was used to good effect, creating a fast paced, action packed 22 minutes. Also, you’ll be quite surprised at the complexity of facial expression these furry rabbit soldiers can make. Even though the story is a major weakness in this particular OVA, I will still confidently recommend this OVA to anyone who loves the irony of peaceful rabbits delivering deaths in a stylish fashion. 🙂
Overall Enjoyment: 3.8/5.0
Screenshots later in the post.
Distant Paradise 