So when I was getting beyond the Robotech/Dragon Warrior phase of my anime fandom, Cartoon Network and the Sci-Fi channel were there to rescue me with some random blocks of anime. Obviously, CN had Adult Swim, but Sci-Fi had some cool stuff too, and they pretty frequently would show the classic Yoshikazu Yasuhiko anime film “Venus Wars’, which Sentai Filmworks has given a spectacular new LE Blu-ray release recently.

Venus Wars takes place on Venus, which has become partly habitable after an asteroid collision occurs causes 2 sections of the planet the ability to sustain life. These 2 sections become nations called “Ishtar” and “Aphrodia”. Ishtar wants to have a united Venus, while Aphrodia wishes to remain independence. As they are still human WAR is the solution.

Into this comes a reporter from Earth Sue Sommers, and a gang of monocyclist lead by Hiro and his girlfriend Maggie. Hiro and his gang try to actively avoid the political situation until they can no longer. The Aphrodisian capital city of Lo is under attack and their racing arena becomes occupied. They then blow up the tanks occupying it, and become involved in a war they’d rather have not known existed…

It’s hard not to compare Venus Wars to Akira as they both involve futuristic biker gangs in a desolate world. In many ways viewers can view Venus Wars as Akira’s B-Side, but a really kick-ass B-Side. The animation isn’t up the Akira’s standard, but it’s still really good, but the designs are really really good. We also get an epic Joe Hisaishi soundtrack that really fits the tone of it, and the battle scenes are absolutely fantastic.

Sentai Filmworks presents Venus Wars in the original OAR in a 1080p transfer, everything looks quite fantastic here. I believe the selling point here is a new English dub. I haven’t seen Venus Wars in about 20 years so I can’t remember what the original English sounds like, but this sounds quite solid and without issue and there is a Japanese dub track as well. Both in DTS-HD 2.0 and sound excellent. The extras mainly include an in-depth booklet of liner notes, illustrations and designs that are a must have. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.