'Armitage III': Cyberpunk Anime Returns to DVD

"If human's don't want me, then why did they create me?"

Naomi Armitage, a temperamental cop with the Martian Police Department who doesn't take "no" for an answer (assuming she's patient enough to wait for one), doesn't have any idea where she came from or how she came to be. To her credit, she's tried searching for answers, but living as a highly advanced humanoid in a city that detests them is easier said than done. In Armitage III, an OVA/film series, one cop searches for her origin story, and unwittingly unravels a city's dirty subconscious along the way.

Armitage III is the latest anime release from FUNimation Entertainment to have been resurrected from the depths of home video limbo. Much like Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 and FLCL, in the previous year, Armitage III initially made its way to home video in a previous decade and from a different licensing/distribution group. The last time the Armitage property was re-issued on home video was in September 2005.

Armitage III (1995), first a three-chapter OVA, tracks the efforts of the fiery female cop whose tenacity is revered, feared, and scoffed at by just about everyone.

When arresting criminals, Naomi frequently causes a ton of damage to public property; she never hesitates to shoot an assailant in the head in broad daylight; and largely hates keeping her sharp tongue and sharper mind under wraps when breaking down an assignment.

Naomi Armitage, elbow deep in the 22nd century where abuses of advanced technology requires its own policing unit, is just what her city needs. As Armitage continues, Naomi vows to keep digging when a string of murders perpetrated against third generation humanoid robots ("thirds") goes unchecked. A third herself, this cop suddenly finds herself in the unenviable position of needing to fight back against the system, but unsure of just which social, legal, or political entity she should aim for first.

FUNimation Entertainment has scheduled Armitage: Movie Collection for this week ($29.98); the release contains three discs, on which are the OVAs, its compilation movie ("Poly Matrix"), and Armitage III: Dual-Matrix (2002), a sequel film. For Naomi to scratch and scrape at the door of R&D facilities and punch the teeth out of villainous robot assassins, she enlists the aid, camaraderie, and later affection of a recently transferred detective, Ross Sylibus.

Thirds are as close to human as robotkind has ever been, but the public slaughter of their kind by a madman with ties to their origin is suspect. Naomi and Ross combine their resources to learn the secret of the thirds, understanding full well that in this futuristic and cyberpunk depot of violence, they probably aren't going to like what they find.

The Japanese OVA focuses on Naomi's search for self, tracing the morally ambiguous steps of her creators. Armitage III: Dual-Matrix, the sequel, returns Naomi and Ross to the frontlines. But this time, they're on the defensive, shielding one another from the threat of militarized copycats.

Naomi is still an unrelenting spitfire and Ross is still a cerebral fighter, but now there's something between the two of them that's even more important to protect.

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"AX 2012: FUNimation Entertainment" at AnimationInsider.net (07/2012)
Review: Fractale, at AnimationInsider.net (07/2012)
"Tales of Vesperia Anime Film on Sale" {watch} at AnimationInsider.net (06/2012)