Demons from another planet are set to invade us if they can figure out how to breed with us.
What They Say:
One hundred million years ago, an ecological disaster drove the Demon Beasts from our world. Now, they must breed with human females to create a new, hybrid creature, who will clear the way for an invading horde. When Kayo is raped by a possessed lover, it’s up to Interplanetary Mutual Observation Agent Muneto to save her from the terrifying creature to which she gives birth: a mutant, lust-driven Demon Beast!
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release retains the original audio tracks found on the Anime 18 release a decade earlier, which is a pair of bilingual tracks in stereo, encoded at 192kbps. Demon Beast Resurrection is a fairly straightforward stereo show in that it’s entirely center channel-based to give it a full feeling. That serves the material well with a clean sound and nothing to note with directionality but it lets the dialogue flow well and there aren’t any noticeable problems with dropouts, hiss or distortions.
Video:
Originally released in 1990, the transfer for the two OVA episodes here is presented in their original full-frame aspect ratio. The transfer is identical to the Anime 18 release from 2003, so there aren’t any improvements to be found from more recent compression technologies or potentially better source materials. Not that Demon Beast Invasion was ever going to be a great-looking title as it has a slight budget approach to it with its animation, but the rendering here is decent, all things considered, outside of the noise and some of the blocking to be found in the darker blues of the nighttime sequences. In general, it makes out better than some releases from this time period, as there isn’t any seriously noticeable cross coloration, and line noise is pretty minimal as well. Colors generally hold up well, and there aren’t any serious flaws to be found with it.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release differs from past releases, and it’s not exactly a good thing, as this particular design is very murky and unappealing. The demon aspect blends in too easily, on purpose likely, with the lightly filled starry background so as to draw most of the attention to the half-naked young woman who is getting familiar with said demons tentacles. This is an old title with limited materials, more than likely, so the soft look of the characters isn’t a problem, but the combination of it with the background and the black case just has it looking more like an Alien flick gone horribly wrong, and hard to discern. The back cover keeps it simple with the black background used there, though the stars only show along the bottom. The top half has some associated credits and a decent summary of the premise before it shows off a few shots from the show and of one of the big demons. The technical grid is solid and the production credits cover the basics. No show-related inserts are included, nor is there a reversible cover.
Menu:
The main menu uses the same kind of star-filled background to give it a bigger sense of self, while the foreground piece has a good group shot of several of the characters from the series, albeit with their clothing at different stages of undress. The navigation layout is standard for Anime 18 at the time which was to have a lot of choices as well as auto-starting the show if you don’t select anything within a short enough window of time. The layout works well enough for navigation and is generally problem-free, though it felt like it was lagging once or twice in moving from menu to menu. Like other Anime 18 releases from this early release period of DVD history, the disc did not read our players’ language presets.
Extras:
None.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the manga series of the same name created by Toshio Maeda, who also did such shows as La Blue Girl, Demon Beast Invasion is a six-episode OVA series that plays up the Men in Black aspect with tentacles, demons, and a whole lot of attempted cross-species breeding. Like a lot of shows from this period, they’ve got a fairly creative and less than strict plot going on and they run with it while making sure to keep true to what this particular genre of hentai is all about: the tentacles.
Demon Beast Invasion has a pretty neat little trick in its favor as the demons are actually invaders from another world, but it turns out that they were once the ruling race on Earth before an unknown event forced them off into space. Now, after millennia, they’re intent on taking their ancestral world back and terraforming it more to their own needs since they cannot survive in the atmosphere of the world today. Various demons are making their way down and occupying the bodies of men they come into contact with so they can determine the best course of action. And after just a little bit of research, they’ve decided the best way to take over is to figure out how to breed with human women in order to create demons that can thrive in an environment hostile to them. This may seem like a poor choice, but it works in their favor in two ways. One is that should they breed, the gestational period is very short and they can adapt easily from there. The second is that demons love nookie.
Thankfully, even though humanity is unaware of what’s going on, there is an organization called the Interplanetary Mutual Observation Agency which is aware and they have field agents on the ground to try and deal with this. Initially, we’re introduced to the young Muneto and the somewhat grizzled Kasu who are partnered up to deal with demon incursions. They have some weapons to deal with it but Muneto has some added internal power that allows him to get physical in trying to take down the demons. And thrown into this mix is that Muneto is friends with a girl named Kayo who has the hots for a guy named Maeda, who is also Muneto’s best friend. It doesn’t take long for Kayo to be targeted and for some of the hidden demons roaming around looking for breeding prospects to get involved in other ways.
Across the first two episodes, we get a fair mix of action and sex and violence. Women who can’t be bred with end up being shredded in the act and when one of them actually turns out to be able to give birth to a demon, it’s not exactly the most pleasant thing in the world to watch. The sex scenes are decent overall, considering they’re meant to be vicious in a lot of ways with the way the women are taken, but some of the other scenes work out nicely. The character designs are certainly classic looking when viewed today, but there is a bit of charm to be had with some of them as well because they have a specific kind of warmth to them. The movement and flow of the designs and animation is alright overall, though it’s certainly showing its age and limited animation in some sequences.
In Summary:
I’ve had a fairly distant relationship with Demon Beast Invasion over the years because I found it to be one of Maeda’s weaker titles and the least fleshed-out one. It hasn’t aged well in the years since either, but I have to admit that in watching it for the first time in probably seven years that it doesn’t bother me as much as it once did. Way back in the early 90’s, it felt like it was too violent, but now it almost feels a little quaint and cute. With so little tentacle hentai out there these days, and with this one not seeing a release for quite a few years now, I’m glad to see it having another brief shot at life in the market, but it’s not a title that I’d quickly recommend except as a curiosity for people that would want to see something from this era.
Features:
Japanese Language, English Language, English Subtitles, Art Gallery, Anime Artform, Demon Beast Invasion Trailer, Previews
Content Grade: C-
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: B-
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: C+
Released By: Critical Mass Video
Release Date: November 24th, 2009
MSRP: $24.99
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
