Fight! Iczer One

'Fight! Iczer One', also known Tatakae!! Iczer-1 (戦え!! イクサー1), is a dark sci-fi anime with a predominantly female cast. Based upon a manga comic of the same name published in 'Lemon People' magazine in 1983, it was created by Toshihiro Hirano, and has a small but devoted fan-following among otaku. Relationships are primarily of the yuri variety, as the alien race featured, the Cthulhu (translated as "Cutowolf"), are an entirely spaceborne race with its male population completely died out. While there are no explicit scenes of female-female sex, viewers are shown without ambiguity that the females are intimate with one another.

Iczer-1 also featured two "sound novel" dramas released. The first sound novel was released on an LP record, and was based on the first volume of the Iczer-1 manga, entitled "Golden Warrior Iczer-One". The second drama CD is a crossover with the anime Dangaioh.

Story
Earth is attacked by an alien race, known as the Cthulhu (クトゥルフ). According to their initial strategy, the Cthulhu use parasitic creatures, called vedims (ヴェデム), to infest and replace humans across the world. Their hope is to eradicate humanity and take the world without damaging it in an open war. However, Iczer-1 appears and begins rooting out and destroying the vedims. Upon learning this, the Cthulhu plan to initiate a full military invasion of Earth.

Iczer-1 searches for her "synchronization partner," a human whose sense of loss and anger at the destruction wrought by the aliens will allow her to co-pilot Iczer-1's mecha, the Iczer-Robo (イクサーロボ), and unleash its full weapon capabilities. Ultimately she chooses Nagisa Kanō, a Japanese schoolgirl, as her partner. No sooner than she makes contact with her, than the Cutowolf agents begin trying to assassinate her, first at her school, by transforming her classmates into vedims, and later by transforming her parents into another type of parasitic creature, the Delvittse (ディルウェッツェ).

Simultaneously, the Cthulhu pilot, Cobalt, prepares to lead their champion unit, a giant mecha called Delos Theta, against the human military with the ultimate objective of flushing out Iczer-One and destroying her before she can unite with her partner. First the aliens transport in their battle station, a giant black marble pyramid, which appears above the skyline of Tokyo, causing widespread devastation. Then Cobalt launches and begins to destroy the city and all military forces in the area. Iczer-One senses the disturbance and teleports Nagisa and herself into her "other self", the Iczer-Robo, to confront Delos Theta. Intitally, the battle fares poorly for Iczer-1, but eventually Nagisa's rage over her parents' murder consumes her, and she triggers, unleashing a huge energy beam that cripples the enemy robot. Nagisa then delivers the final blow herself, killing Cobalt in the process.

The Cthulhu leader, Sir Violet, responds by developing her own version of Iczer-1, the burgundy-haired Iczer-2, and using the traumatized lover of Cobalt, Sepia, as her partner. In the following days, warfare between activated vedim and human forces, lay waste to most of Earth's civilization, turning the world into a post-appocalyptic wasteland. Nagisa discovers a young girl named Sayoko in the ruins of Japan, tending her unconscious mother. She takes the family into her home, but the mother turns into a vedim, and numerous others begin to teleport into the house. Nagisa uses a bracelet given to her by Iczer-One and is able to protect Sayoko and herself within a force field.

Iczer-1 fights Iczer-2 in a massive battle over the ruins of Japan and is defeated, but escapes to regroup with Nagisa and rescue her. Iczer-2 and Sepia arrive in their giant robot, Iczer-Sigma. Iczer-Robo appears, and Nagisa leaves Sayoko with her bracelet before going with Iczer-1 to fight. Again the battle goes poorly for Iczer-Robo until, in a fit of sadism, Iczer-2 stomps on Sayoko, who has come to watch. Immediately Sepia's morale is broken and Nagisa once again triggers the beam weapon of Iczer-Robo, destroying Iczer Sigma. Iczer-2 barely manages to teleport away before the robot explodes. Sepia chooses not to escape, wanting to be reunited with Cobalt.

Iczer-1 is still badly injured from her fight with Iczer-2, and the two relax in a country meadow to recover. Sayoko is shown to be alive, thanks to Nagisa's bracelet. Iczer-2 retreats to a shadow realm to brood over her defeat before returning with two elite armored vedims, Reddas and Blueber, and abducts Nagisa. Iczer-1 must then single-handedly assault the Cthulhu fortress to get Nagisa back and kill Big Gold. Meanwhile, Iczer-2 tries to get Nagisa to willingly join her, threatening to other wise force her. By the time Iczer-1 has reached the chamber where Nagisa is being kept, it is already too late. She has been placed under powerful mind control by Iczer-2, and Iczer-1 is forced to kill her. In dying, however, Nagisa's spirit merges with Iczer-1 and for the first time they fully synchronize. Iczer-1, fueled by Nagisa's sacrifice, defeats Iczer-2 and has her final confrontation with Big Gold. She later fights and kills Iczer-2, who reveals she just wanted a partner like Nagisa.

Big Gold relates that he and Iczer-1 were both created at the same moment, by an ancient alien machine built to grant the desires of its creators. The Matriarch of the Cthulhu, who would eventually become Sir Violet, had passed within range of the machine just as she exclaimed in despair that her race would die in space and never find a new home. At that moment, Big Gold had appeared to tell her that her wish was granted. He had changed her idyllic society into a fascist nightmare, and had mutated the once benign vedim into their current parasitic forms. Big Gold was an embodiment of "Desire" and it had remade the Cthulhu race. Iczer-1 was the other half of this prophecy. She was "Conscience" and her role was to fulfill the Cthulhu matriarch's wish and destroy them all on the eve of finding a new homeworld.

Iczer-1 destroys him. In a final act, using the power of their sychronization and tapping into the ancient wish-granting machine, Iczer-1 is able to restore Earth to the way it was before the Cthulhu attack. The Cthulhu fade even from memory and Nagisa is left in the moment where she first appeared in the movie, daydreaming and late for school. She catches a brief glimpse of Iczer-1, but does not know who she is.

Characters

 * Iczer-1 (イクサー1)

is a gynoid created by the Cthulhu to be their guardian and future leader. However, when the Cthulhu were taken over by Big Gold, Iczer-1 was jettisoned. She arrived on Earth and somehow got wind of the coming invasion by the Cthulhu, now under Big Gold's command. She was therefore forced to defend the Earth against those she was created to protect. To do this, she needed a partner to help her use the Iczer Robo, a giant fighting mecha which is somehow connected to her (a connection so profound, that when Iczer Robo's arm was cut off, Iczer-1 lost the use of her own, corresponding arm).


 * Nagisa Kanō (加納 渚)

Nagisa is an ordinary schoolgirl who gets sucked into the battle between the Cthulhu and Iczer-1. It begins with Iczer-1 whispering her name in her dreams. That day, she encounters a strange, pointy-eared blonde (Iczer-1) on the way to school, who disappears before she can point her out to her friend. From there, things only get weirder, as she suffers what she believes are hallucinations in class, and is accosted by her classmates on the roof of her school, all wearing strange masks with eyes in the mouths. Strong emotions are usable by the Cthulhu and Iczer-1 as a power source. Nagisa is a very emotional girl, and therefore her emotions could be harnessed into a powerful weapon. This is demonstrated when she is incorporated into the Iczer Robo and becomes enraged over the deaths of her parents. This turbo-charges the robot with enough energy to kill Cobalt.


 * Sir Violet (サー・バイオレット)

Sir Violet is the mind-controlled Cthulhu leader. Despite the masculine name, Sir Violet is in fact female, as is the entire Cthulhu race.


 * Big Gold (ビッグゴールド)

The creature who controls the Cthulhu through Sir Violet.


 * Cobalt (コバルト)

Cobalt was a Cthulhu soldier, pilot of the mecha Delos Theta and Sepia's lover, killed by Iczer-1 and Nagisa.


 * Sepia (セピア)

Sepia is the commander of the Cthulhu's Earth fortress, and lover to Cobalt. She becomes the partner of Iczer-2 in order to operate Izcer Sigma.


 * Iczer-2 (イクサー2)

Iczer-2 is a thoroughly evil gynoid created by Big Gold specifically to counter Iczer-1. She pilots Iczer-Sigma, and refers to Iczer-1 as "big sister". She is later killed in battle by Iczer-1.


 * Sayoko (小夜子)

A child whom Nagisa befriends in the midst of the conflict against Big Gold. Nagisa protects Sayoko and her injured mother from a vedim disguised as a police officer, using a bracelet given to her by Iczer-1 for her own protection. Sadly, Sayoko's mother is later transformed, becoming a vedim herself, and a regretful Nagisa is forced to destroy her to protect Sayoko. Sayoko later encourages Nagisa to fight during the battle against Iczer Sigma, and nearly dies when Iczer-2 attempts to crush her underneath Iczer Sigma's massive foot. Fortunately, she is saved at the last minute by Iczer-1. Nagisa often refers to her as "Sayo-chan".


 * Mr. and Mrs. Kanō:

Nagisa's parents, turned into tentacled crustaceans by the Cthulhu, which forces a saddened Iczer-1 to kill them in order to protect Nagisa. Iczer-1 stated after the battle that her original intent had been to save the whole Kanō family.

Staff
Japanese Staff
 * Director: Toshihiro Hirano
 * Screenplay: Toshihiro Hirano
 * Storyboard: Toshihiro Hirano, Akira Nishimori
 * Sound Supervisor: Yasunori Honda
 * Music: Michiaki Watanabe
 * Character Design: Toshihiro Hirano
 * Animation director: Toshihiro Hirano, Hiroaki Ogami, Narumi Kakunouchi, Masami Obari
 * Mecha design: Hiroaki Motoigi, Shinji Aramaki, Masami Obari
 * Executive producer: Tetsuo Kubo
 * Producer: Toru Miura
 * Animation (Episode 1): Junichi Watanabe, Naoyuki Onda
 * Animation (Episode 2): Kenichi Ohnuki, Masami Obari, Michitaka Kikuchi, Naoyuki Onda
 * Animation (Episode 3): Hirotoshi Sano, Kenichi Ohnuki, Masami Obari, Michitaka Kikuchi, Naoyuki Onda
 * Key Animation: Hiroyuki Kitazume (Episode 1)
 * Color Coordination: Yuuko Kanamaru
 * Art director: Yasu Nakamura, Kazuhiro Arai
 * Monster Design: Junichi Watanabe
 * Original Story: Rei Aran
 * Planning: Toru Miura
 * Production: L-P Video, Kubo Shoten

English Staff
 * Director: Doug Stone
 * Screenplay: Doug Stone
 * Executive producer: John Sirabella (Media Blasters)
 * Producer: Jenny Haniver, Robert Napton
 * Additional Script And Song Editing: Trish Ledoux
 * Closing Credit Sequence: Jenny Haniver, Stephen Miller
 * Logo Animation: Will Culpepper II
 * Online Editor: Stephen Miller
 * Production Associate: Ethan Fogg
 * Recording engineer: Eduardo T. Torres
 * Script And Song Translation: Toshifumi Yoshida
 * Script Translation: Trish Ledoux
 * Song Title Editing: Lana Sofer
 * Theme Song Lyrics: Road Narros

Theme Songs
Act I Ending:
 * Fight!! Iczer-1 (戦え！！イクサー１)
 * Lyrics: Fumiko Okada
 * Composition: Michiaki Watanabe
 * Arrangement: Michiaki Watanabe
 * Artist: Miki Kakizawa

Act II Ending:
 * NEVER RUN AWAY
 * Lyrics: Fumiko Okada
 * Composition: Michiaki Watanabe
 * Arrangement: Michiaki Watanabe
 * Artist: Yuukou Kusonoki

Act III Ending:
 * Eternal Iczer-1 (永遠のイクサー１)
 * Lyrics: Fumiko Okada
 * Composition: Michiaki Watanabe
 * Arrangement: Michiaki Watanabe
 * Artist: Miki Kakizawa

Release Guide
Episode 1
 * "Fight!! Iczer-1" (「戦え！！イクサー１」)
 * VHS: October 19, 1985
 * Laser Disc: December 4, 1991

Episode 2
 * "Fight!! Iczer-1 ACT II: Iczer Sigma's Challenge" (「戦え！！イクサー１ ＡＣＴ ＩＩ イクサーΣの挑戦」)
 * VHS: July 23, 1986
 * Laser Disc: January 10, 1992

"Making Of" Special Episode
 * "MAKING OF ICZER-1: Daydream" (「ＭＡＫＩＮＧ ＯＦ ＩＣＺＥＲ－１ デイドリーム」)
 * VHS: December 20. 1986

Episode 3
 * "Fight!! Iczer-1 ACT.III: Concluding Volume" (「戦え！！イクサー１ ＡＣＴ ＩＩＩ 完結編」)
 * VHS: March 4, 1987
 * Laser Disc: February 20, 1992

"Movie"
 * "Fight!! Iczer-1 Special Compilation" (「戦え！！イクサー１ 特別編」)
 * VHS: September 25, 1987
 * Laser Disc: September 25, 1987

Laser Disc Box Set
 * "Fight!! Iczer-1 BATTLE BOX" (戦え！！イクサー１ バトル・ボックス)
 * Laser Disc: May 25, 1998

DVD Release
 * "Fight!! Iczer-1 Complete Collection" (戦え！！イクサー１ コンプリート・コレクション)
 * DVD: November 24, 2000