Universally bemoaned and not very well appreciated here as well, I beg to ask the question, who out there like Roots Search? Honestly… it often tops many lists of some of the worst anime ever made, which of course is subjective, but yeah I am not a fan of this 1986 OVA either. I had yet to watch it until now because of the reputation, but also for other various reasons. Yet this anime does deserve one viewing… and only one.
Often compared to the live action film Alien, Roots Search would not be my first choice for an anime based on the inspiration of a foreign invader out to massacre a crew on a spaceship. Gall Force: Eternal Story would be my first choice (though the alien invasion was not deadly in the end) and second Lily C.A.T., an anime I abhor due to the violence and misconfiguration towards a certain feline crew member. Both previous examples also have better writing and characters, but I wouldn’t expect anyone of these titles to win a batch of awards for excellence in those categories. Same goes for artwork and design, Roots Search is just downright ugly and sloppy. Of course maybe it could be the VHS transfer quality?… no. Perhaps it was a budget, or timing issue? I can’t say, but this one is not all that pretty to look at.
Roots Search: Shokushin Buttai X, Roots Search: Life Devourer X where to begin? A crew of four aboard a research station encounter a ship that magically came out of warp space and into their general vicinity. Aboard the Green Planet, the name of the ship (for real?… yes) is one surviving human and some kind of a gray alien thing that does not look all that inviting. They soon jettison the alien only to find like a boomerang, it comes back… and with vengeance on its mind. Literally it says to all of them that it plans to take them all out! Of course our stowaway from Green Planet also concours and tells the crew that it prays on their fears and attacks both physically as well as more importantly, psychologically.
Know what this means? Holy crap we got to get out of here? Exactly. Turns out the creature was sent by God to punish humanity and take out each and every one of us as punishment… dude your concept of God sure does not match up with how others see it. Nothing says division like politics and religion. One by one the crew fall prey to the violent attacks of the alien, thing, soldier of God… until we are left with two. The guy from Green Planet and the singular girl character who happens to have some abilities to see and read the future. In the most dire of circumstances these two end up falling for each other, professing love and kissing to seal the deal. After all they have a future together to live happy ever after… but aren’t you two in a life or death situation at the moment. Talk about an awkward date?
Spoilers galore, but I will leave it up to you to experience the last five minutes of this 45 minute OVA. You have total permission from me and maybe even a few others to just fast forward to the end and thank us all later. This is all I will say… talk about a twisted ending with no resolution. Roots Search starts off as a horror sci-fi suspense schlock fest and then suddenly adds a twist of romance into the closing stages, which totally makes sense. If they only included a unicorn into the production I would let Roots Search pass, but of course they didn’t. Um. what did I just watch?… scratch that… never make me watch this again, please! There are many anime classified as ‘bad’ that I think are brilliant and entertaining, The Humanoid, Twinkle Nora Rock Me!… even Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight has a certain charm to it, but Roots Search… not a chance.
The Classic Anime Museum 
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