Director : Nobuya Okabe

Producer : Nobuya Okabe

Starring : Daisuke Nagekura & Masanori Machida

For major mechanised mayhem , with a built in collectible state of the art hero in a whole shell spin , this top secret oozes in the all Action Manga in motion form of , ‘ Dark Soldier D ’. With the toy brand name of Bandai boldly blazoned in red across the DVD inlay cover the casual browser will dispense this title to the children’s section , unwittingly overlooking what is actually a more Stark version of Iron Man. The DNA encoded battle mechanoid is a state of the art body unit , requisitioned from the former Soviet Union by mercenary anti hero Kawamata. Aided by his malleable mechanical technician Matsuzaki , the two take advantage of the crumbling Russian State and bring the creation back to Japan along with a wealth of riches. Setting themselves up in a comfortable lifestyle is not enough for Kawamata , who’s dark duality comes to the fore as he seeks out a dangerous night time lifestyle. His taste for high risk taking fixes soon gets a hypodermic freeway rush to his adrenal gland as an invasion of meteors careers to Earth , with the universal brand name of Alien embossed on the crusty exterior. A luminous green slop slimes its way out and immediately attaches itself to the first sacrificial passer by , you recognise the type as the one show crew member that used to get basic rate appearing on Star Trek.

The news of an Alien presence soon reaches Kawamata who immediately dons the Robo Suit and goes out to bump uglies with what has trans-mutated into the neglected cross spawn of Godzilla and Ultraman. The computer generated Ray Harryhausen reject is munching its way through down town Tokyo like a Taco Bell free for all , and he’s not too picky about throwing the chewed remains behind him. The body parts really do mount up with some lingering moments of gore , and non more so than when our Dark Soldier cranks out the full metal jacket with a barraging assault of bullets , that not only bring down the beast but a crowd of innocent bystanders as well. Both Kawamata and Matsuzaki are brought in by government officials to answer for their deeds , but with further invasive arrivals from space occurring they are drafted into the agency to wage an aggressive retaliation against the Alien threat.

The chronicles of , ‘ Dark Soldier D ’ , were clearly intended as an ongoing Television show as at each thirty minute duration , of the hour and a half running time , end credits follow the blurb ... to be continued ...

The DVD contains three episodes that sadly were all that got made for a show pilot that was snuffed out before it could find an audience , which on the evidence of what is on show is now resigned to the annals of Cult status to all who discover it. There is so much on offer within these encapsulated trio of shows as Kawamata takes on the likes of his arch nemesis in the form of an former Russian Commander , who kits himself up with a counter body suit to seek retribution against his former student. The highlight has to be the clash between Soldier D and a giant chicken that is hatched straight out of H.G.Wells , ‘ The Food Of The God’s ’. The sight of this big breasted bird squirting its doo and bearing down with its petulant beak is finger lickin’ good , and is such a blast when it finally gets Kentucky Fried.

The overall tone of the show is dark along with the far from likeable characters that combine to give an unusually refreshing edginess to proceedings for that of a home view show. Throw in the lashings of blood , severed limbs and torn torsos along with all the elements of greed , revenge and crazy creatures and you have yourselves a bizarrely Dark ‘D’ delight , and the biggest bird you are ever likely to pull.

Bitch Slap Ratings:

Film: 3.0

Picture: 3.0

Sound: 2.5

Extras: 0

Overall: 2.5

Production : 1998

Format : DVD

Release : BANDAI Entertainment

Coding : All Region NTSC

Sound : Dolby Digital 2.0

Extras : Bilingual / Japanese 2.0 Audio / English 2.0 Audio / English