It’s been a while since I’ve flexed my mental muscles with a never seen before review, so it’s about time I found something worthy of this.
The anime this time around is Idol Fight Suchie-Pai 2, otherwise known as Idol Fighter Su-Chi-Pai. Despite what the name may imply, this is actually the first rendition of this anime. Moving forward I’m just going to call it Idol Fighter.
Idol Fighter is a single 30 minute OVA that aired in 1996.
I’ll be looking forward to that charm that can only be found in older anime when I “watch” what happens in my mind.
Just a quick reminder that I have not seen this anime, and I am reviewing it anyways.
My high level prognosticating abilities allow me to accurately predict what happens in the anime with a 97% accuracy rate, based off of only information provided by the MAL details page.
Onto the review!
Synopsis
As usual, I need to explain what happens in Suchi-Pai, or else you will have trouble following the review.
I also advise that you read the MAL synopsis first, as it will provide you with a better understanding of what to expect with my synopsis.
Suchi-Pai begins with our heroine, Kyoko Misaki. Kyoko is a blackjack dealer at a local casino in Sapporo. A very shady place, run by some shady people. Literally, shady people – we can’t make out their faces or anything because it’s so dark inside. Kyoko makes ends meet by dealing blackjack and pocketing chips whenever people aren’t looking. That Mercedes won’t pay for itself you know!
One day, disaster strikes the casino. The mahjong dealer, Pinzu Monster, gets sick. Mahjong happens to be the biggest moneymaker at the casino, so of course the shady owners are getting super concerned. That’s where Kyoko steps in. Kyoko offers to deal mahjong until Pinzu Monster gets back. The shady owners are happy with this, and Kyoko is also happy about it because it’s actually easier to pinch chips at the mahjong table, due to where it’s located.
However, things go awry partway through the day when the mahjong pieces begin to glow and float towards the sky. A voice speaks from the 10 mahjong pieces to everyone in the casino: “whoever shalt defeat the chosen 10 shall receive a blessing upon them of their own wish – de gozaru”. The 10 pieces then fly out of the casino and transform into evil monsters, such as a bunny alien, a maid-dominatrix, a cyborg, a girl, a dentist, a little sister, a goldfish, laundry detergent, and a pair of chopsticks.
It’s up to Kyoko to defeat these monsters and have her wish granted, in order to pay off her mortgage and car.
The episode ends with Kyoko leaving the casino, with her newfound motivation.
Review
First, I’ll mention that this was a single OVA episode – we never get to see the conclusion to this story.
From what we do see, this anime shows promise from a purely storytelling perspective. It’s got all of the makings of a classic anime, up there with legends like Sekirei and Sekirei: Pure Engagement. A lovable and relatable heroine, strong motivations, and clearly defined enemies / objectives. I especially loved the way that the mahjong god revealed itself – it was definitely an exciting scene worth remembering.
Considering the anime only had 30 minutes to work with, it did a good job in setting the stage for future episodes / content. Kyoko also started to come alive, and was introduced very well. I am looking forward to seeing how she continues to develop moving forward. This series is definitely going for the long run, could maybe even rival One Piece if done right. Let’s just wait and see how the next episode turns out – it’s been a long time in the making I’m sure.
There were a few issues with Suchie Figher:
First off, there was a problem with the audio.
Everything was fine in the beginning, but then after the OP, the OP song itself kept playing on repeat. As a result, I couldn’t hear any of the dialogue despite being able to see when the characters were speaking. Thank goodness for subtitles. This must have been some sort of error or glitch that caused the OP to skip like that. You’d think that someone would have caught it before releasing this OVA!
Second was an issue with continuity.
When we see Kyoko entering the casino, it is clearly an underground casino. She walks down a long set of stairs, before climbing down a ladder to get to the casino. But then when the 10 mahjong pieces fly away, the casino is all of the sudden in a high-rise building, at least 50 stories above the ground. Continuity errors are difficult to catch though, so I can see how this one slipped by the production team.
The ending itself was also disappointing. Kyoko was leaving the casino, thinking about what she was going to do with her wish and whatnot, and the episode just cut out mid sentence. Complete cut to black, no ED or anything. Maybe they ran out of time and didn’t realize it? I wonder if there is a director’s cut out there that is longer – I only prognosticated for exactly 30 minutes.
I will say that the art impressed me.
I was expecting that old school charm, but Suchie-Fight managed to deliver some visuals that could stand up against even modern day anime.
Here is a picture of one of the characters, for reference:
See what I mean? Still miles ahead of Devilman Crybaby in terms of art, despite being a 1996 anime. The level of detail on her shirt, as well as the reflection of light on her hair.. very impressive.
All in all, Suchi-Fight Idol was a good anime.
If you are able to overlook the few mistakes present in the anime, and the fact that you will never see its conclusion, it’s not bad.
I’m going to give Suchi-Pai Idol Fighter a solid 3.7 / 10.
If you don’t mind glaring audio mistakes, continuity errors, and cliffhangers, then I’d recommend giving it a watch.
That said, I would give this anime a pass if you have literally anything else to watch instead.
Until next time!
Thanks for reading.
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