PSYCHO
DIVER: The Soul Siren (1995)
Format:
55-minute featurette
Rating: R (N, AL, AC, GV)
American
Production: Urban Vision Entertainment
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Grading |
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Premise: |
C |
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Story: |
C |
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Writing: |
C |
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Character Design: |
C |
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Animation: |
B- |
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Artistic Merits: |
B- |
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English Dub: |
C+ |
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Musical Score: |
C |
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Songs: |
C |
|
|
|
|
Humor Content: |
n/a |
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Action Content: |
B- |
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Drama Content: |
B- |
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|
|
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DVD Presentation: |
not reviewed |
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DVD Extras: |
not reviewed |
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OVERALL: |
C+ |
Synopsis
Bosujima, a psychic troubleshooter, runs into deadly
problems when he attempts to help Yuki, a talented singer who is burdened by
depression but possessing of potent psychic powers.
The Long View
Psycho Diver
aspires to be an adult-oriented psychological horror/thriller. It only partly
succeeds at this, and in the process it does not break any new ground or offer
any tricks that couldn’t be found in similar anime. As is common with anime
stories of this nature, the hero Bosujima is an independent with a very
peculiar specialty: he uses special equipment to Adive@ into the minds of a subject and help them sort out
problems within. (A close parallel in American cinema would be the live-action
movie The Cell.) In the case of 18-year old singer Yuki, however, one
previous psycho diver has already died attempting to help her,
and it seems that there are several individuals around that don=t want to see Yuki helped too much. Another mystery is
the source of the dangerously destructive rage buried in her subconscious which
seems to be fueling the outbursts of her psychokinetic power. The truth to this
mystery, while not an original idea, is one of the few surprises Psycho
Diver is able to carry off. The story is otherwise fairly predictable in
its execution.
The technical merits to Psycho Diver are fair
but not extraordinary. The same can be said for the voice work. The narration
and musical scoring try to give it the feel of a hard-boiled detective story,
but I did not find it convincing in that regard.
Psycho Diver receives its rating mostly for quite a bit of bloodshed and graphic violence. There is a bit of foul language and some nudity and one sexual situation that also contribute.
DVD Extras
Not reviewed
Principle English Voice Actors
|
Role |
Voice Actor |
|
Yuki |
Sherry
Lynn |
|
Bosujima |
Michael
Scott Ryan |
|
Angelica |
|
|
Funky |
Matt
K. Miller |
|
Kudo |
|
|
Kunimitsu |
Kerrigan
Mahan |
|
Kuroiwa |
John
Demita |
|
Kyoko |
Julia
Demita |
|
Sawada |
Scott
Weil |
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