ccording to Virus Buster Serge's promotional blurbs, Neo Hong Kong in 2097 is a dangerous place because of the "biological software" integrated into cyberized humans and intelligent machines alike: "The same technology that has allowed man and machine to merge has made both susceptible to a new kind of threat—digital viruses capable of controlling their hosts." Unfortunately, the series itself fails to address this information, even during the downtime between explosive fights and snarky,
chest-thumping interpersonal conflicts between characters.
Virus is initially difficult to follow, but the story eventually solidifies enough that this much can be determined: An extraplanetary entity called "the Incubator" is sending viruses to Earth. These viruses turn people and machines into monsters. An elite group known as STAND responds to such virus outbreaks, sending three cybernetically armored warriors—Macus, Jouichirou and the pulchritudinous Erika—into battle against infected creatures. Their leader, a quiet, broody man known as Raven, knows more than he's saying about a lot of things.
For instance, the unregistered non-citizen known as Serge, who shows up during a virus outbreak and tries to kill Raven, claiming that Raven killed him first. Serge has little idea of exactly who Raven is or why he has to die, while Raven seems to have all the answers. "You are loved," he tells Serge, while bleeding from a Serge-inflicted knife wound. Duly confused, Serge flees and steals one of STAND's
vehicles, only to discover that it's already been encoded with his DNA record and equipped to supply him with his own Variable Gear, the armored suits used by STAND fighters.
After setting new records for power and endurance while fighting off the latest virus threat, Serge is offered a choice: go to jail for the rest of his life for assault and theft, or join STAND and fight the Incubator. His choice is not terribly surprising. Nor are the reactions of the existing team members: The two men play dominance games with him, while Erika, who shares his hardscrabble past, begins bonding with him. Meanwhile, none of the many questions already raised by the series are addressed, let alone answered.
One big name but not much else
Manga Video is making much of the fact that Virus was designed and directed by Fatal
Fury: The Motion Picture mastermind Masami Obari, but that's likely to impress only viewers who are
already fans of his attenuated, sinewy, badly distorted character designs and lumpy, Bubblegum
Crisis-style battle suits. (Obari was a series director on Crisis, which might explain the
influence.) Granted, there'll always be a market for shows featuring huge-eyed, huge-breasted women in
thoroughly improbable painted-on clothes, but Virus offers up only one of those, as compared
with three rangy, teetering, hollow-chested men with wolfy eyes, overextended abdomens, bad posture and
limited vocabularies. And watching the three of them throw their machismo around randomly without advancing or explaining the plot gets old fast.
Really, much of Virus gets old fast, from its contextless fights to its horn-locking, contentious politicking between undefined groups. Around episode four, the series finally shoots for a
little depth by delving into Erika's past as an impoverished slum dweller, but even that's done
half-heartedly, via random, abrupt flashbacks designed for visual style rather than story. And predictably enough, the brief foray into history mostly provides a little shallow angst for the next firefight.
Since Virus clearly isn't about character development and has yet to prove that it's about story development, there's not much left except the battle sequences, and even those aren't very impressive. They tend to be flashy and stylish but somewhat unimaginative; every antagonist seems to have the same glowing eyes, roaring mouth and half-mecha, half-bio body, and the STAND members' standard you-kick-it, I'll-shoot-it fighting style doesn't offer up a lot of variety. And the animation itself is of widely variable quality. The still images occasionally look great, but characters in motion are frequently jerky or fuzzy. About the only thing really going on in Virus is the strange relationship between Raven and Serge, and between Raven and his enigmatic paramour, Donna. Is it worth sitting through a lot more so-so animation and ho-hum party conflict in order to get to the bottom of that mystery? Probably not, except for those captivated by Serge's chaos-theory hair or Erika's occasional fan-service nude shot.
And what's up with Macus' Village-People leather-boy fetish-cop look, anyway?
— Tasha
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