Birth aka Planet Busters4xvhsdvddub,sub
planetbusterOn a forgotten planet, a boy, a girl, two bounty hunters and an army of death-dealing robots come together for one of the wildest animated feature films of all time.
The planet Aqualoid was once home to a prosperous and advanced race, but an invading army of mechanical monsters, the Inorganics, has reduced it to a wasteland. In the dry, desert plains of this ruined world, Nam and his shapely friend Rasa can barely scrounge a living in between the occasional attack by Inorganic death squads. However, when Nam finds the SHADE, a sacred sword of great power, a difficult situation becomes impossible. Determined to destroy the SHADE, every Inorganic on the planet starts pursuing the two friends. Searching for a weapon strong enough to defeat their enemy, our heroes investigate the ruins of an underground city. What they find is a Doomsday Device that can destroy Aqualoid with a single blast. And as if the situation wasn't bad enough, a moon-sized Inorganic powerful enough to vaporize a star system arrives in the sky. Two worlds are about to collide. There seems to be no way out for Nam. Is Birth a beginning, or simply the end?
A madcap farce that attempts to uncover the meaning of life only to end up... well, you've just got to see it to believe it!
Details
Look for the sight gag in which an Inorganic's mighty cannon ball rolls through a ruined city and topples a set of enormous bowling pins! Features mecha design by "Giant Robo's" Makoto Koyabayashi. Released in Japan (on LD only, which includes a bonus "Making Of" video) under the title "Birth" by Michael Hummingbird/Bandai Visual.
The Complete Anime Guide by Trish Ledoux and Doug Ranney (page 134). ISBN# 0-9649542-5-7
Also known by the title "World of the Talisman"
Anime Movie Guide by Helen McCarthy (page 25). ISBN# 0-87951-781-6
Commentary
Some notable differences between the earlier release titled "Planet Bsters" and the new release titled "Birth".
- The opening montage was edited in the earlier version and the order of some of the early scenes was changed.
- The planet Aqualoid had its name changed to Pandora in the earlier version.
- The role of the "inorganics" in the story was never explained in the earlier version.
Even though the Streamline VHS version was a bit mangled, it was still entertaining. So much so, that when it came to DVD, I had to have it.
I had already done my homework and found that Planet Busters was known in a previous life as Birth. So, when I saw the Birth DVD sitting on the store shelf, I knew what it was. Interestingly enough, the cover art is just vague enough, that if I didn't already know this title well, I might not have realized what it was.