This Boy Can Fight Aliens – Review

With a running time of only 30 minutes, This Boy Can Fight Aliens cuts straight to the plot without hesitation. An alien invasion has the planet under constant duress, as no one has been able to find a way to stop the invaders. Even with all of the forces on the march armed with powerful weapons, the aliens continue to advance. Arakawi is part of the defense command staff, but he might have found the answer to the war in a most unexpected place. He found a young man named Kakashi just wandering and took him back to command. A series of tests revealed that Kakashi has the power to fend off the aliens, but sadly, he has lost his memory. Arakawi lets Kakashi stay with him and his commander Shiro, with the hope that time will refresh his mind and unlock the secrets within.

As a fair warning, the creator of this movie, Soubi Yamamoto, does a lot of work for yaoi themed (but not full-on yaoi romance scenes, as the subject is normally thought of) stuff, and it does show in this movie. It teases at a romance, the characters are very feminine, and even the art style is similar to yaoi art. Also, whether or not the anime is actually good or not isn’t really an issue as I am not sure such a short feature justifies a purchase price. Still, the above synopsis leads to very interesting storylines and is a visually compelling piece that should tempt you to repeated viewings.

The special features are not the greatest but still worth checking out. There is a few early work shorts from director Soubi Yamamoto. A Brief Interview With Soubi Yamamoto isn’t a live action piece, but rather a text based supplement that has questions and answers printed to read. Although much kudos goes to the supplement department for making the purchase price even more attractive. To round out the visuals, bold, colorful, and strikingly beautiful come to mind. While this is not Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below , it is pretty enjoyable, especially the banter between Kakashi and Arikawa. It packed with mixed emotions and bizarre alien fight sequences.

Although I did compare this to a film by a similar director in the last paragraph, please don’t be alarmed…Soubi Yamamoto is certainly an animation force to be reckoned with. The running time of 30 minutes only seems to be a jumping off point for this film. I also feel like it can see a series as well. Sure, it may not be the perfect animated journey, but I think this is the start of something bigger, and this is definitely worth your investment. Given how much the visuals enhanced this shorter feature, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the creators in more substantial materials. Recommended.