The Laughing Target; Mermaid Forest; The Venus Wars

"Japanimation," the amalgamated and Americanized term for anime, or Japanese animation for adults, has become quite the rage among animation buffs and has even found some favor--with it's usually requisite violence and nudity and above-average animation--with general audiences. The Laughing Target and Mermaid Forest are both episodes from the popular "Rumik's World" series. Mermaid Forest is the grosser of the pair. When one sister gives another the blood of a mermaid to drink when she is terribly ill, the girl lives and stays exactly the same age (although she does grow a claw where her arm used to be). Unfortunately, many attempts to graft a new arm on to the claw-girl have failed, but hope is renewed when the young Mana appears. When Mana falls off a 100 foot cliff onto the rocks and then wakes up with a slight headache, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together: the girl ate some mermaid meat which, of course, conveys a kind of flawed immortality (one can die a horrible death, but start the next day fresh as a daisy). As Mana and her boyfriend Yuta (another ageless one who had a mermaid hors d'oeuvres) try to escape the weird sisters, heads roll, as do other limbs, and more than a few folk are hoist on their own petard, so to speak. It's not for the weak of stomach, but then again, with its muddled plot Mermaid Forest is not for the truly demanding viewer either. But it does have nice animation.As does The Laughing Target, which also makes a little more sense. Two childhood friends make a vow of marriage as children. Then they grow up and go their separate ways. Yuzuru, now an accomplished archer/student is dating Satomi, when he gets a visit from his childhood love Azuza. Azuza has grown into a beautiful young woman (which doesn't please Satomi), but she also has one minor character flaw: she's possessed by a demon, and can get downright ugly (both figuratively and literally) if crossed. This volatile triangle eventually explodes in a suspenseful and well-animated conclusion. The Venus Wars is a feature-length, letterboxed, futuristic battle flick, set on Venus. Hiro Seno, a motorbike hotrod, becomes caught up in a major war between the nations of Aphrodia and Ishtar, and serves as a rather poor excuse to wheel out a whole lot of military and weaponry related dialogue that will bore all those who couldn't pass a test on the vital statistics of a Stealth bomber if their vital statistics depended on it. Their are some very nicely animated effects in the endless battle scenes, but not much of a story to engage the general viewer. It's also worth mentioning that there is one really cheap and hopefully anachronistic AIDS joke which is out of place in this future tale.All of the tapes are in Japanese with English subtitles, and each, while not achieving the genre-defining standard of Akira, boast excellent animation. The Laughing Target is recommended. Mermaid Forest and The Venus Wars are optional purchases, but would be suitable additions where Japanese animation titles are popular. (Available from: Central Park Media, 250 West 57th St., Suite 831, New York, NY 10107; (800) 833-7456.)