© 1998 Nishizono Seiho / Pony Canyon / Studio Pierrot

NEO RANGA first aired on April 4th of last year on WOWOW as part of Pony Canyon’s ANIME COMPLEX series. Containing a complex yet interesting story involving three sisters and a strange mecha-god named Neo Ranga, this show has already developed a fan following.
The story starts off simply enough; the eldest sister, Shimahara Minami, does her morning round of deliveries and returns to her youngest sister, Yuuki who is watching the news on television. Minami asks Yuuki about what she’ll be doing today, but she doesn’t reply. Apparently a large mech with weird markings has made its way into the Tokyo city limits, but Minami and Yuuki are not surprised by this.
Ushio, the middle sister, happens to see the reports on the television and a single word comes out as a whisper "Neo Ranga." The military try to get involved in stopping this using all the firepower they can to stop it before it destroys the rest of the city on its unknown trek through Tokyo. Ushio drops what she was doing and grabs the hand of a unique boy named Joel. Joel seems to be connected somehow to this strange mech and sports strange markings on his face. He also carries around a dragon-type monster that is equally weird.
Rewind into the recent past, the Shimahara sisters receive plane tickets to go to a remote jungle in South America to find out what happened to their eldest brother. They find a number of villagers dressed in odd masks and regular clothes who seem to worship Neo Ranga, which is found asleep within the side of a nearby mountain. A mysterious sculpture of the Shimahara sisters’ eldest brother seems to be a religious icon in this village.
Meanwhile, in the present, the Shimahara sisters are still unsure of why Neo Ranga is here in Tokyo. Could it be Neo Ranga is seeking them out? Yuuki seems to think so. The military want to capture it for study. Ushio disagrees and runs to Neo Ranga in the middle of a skirmish with the military to save it. She finds out where her brother has gone as familiar eyes look down at her from Neo Ranga’s eyes. "Big Brother?" Neo Ranga then starts to become a regular part of the family and seems to be connected mentally with the three sisters who seem to be able to control it. The story seems to continue in the same direction as we find out more and more about the three sisters and the mech-god.
The story seems interesting enough, but is a bit hard to follow. The episodes are a bit slower than your average anime TV series. The art and animation are well done, but seem to suffer a bit in a few episodes as the quality decreases for a moment. The music is a mixture of Mayan chants and slow ballads that give a distinct style to this unique show.
Shimahara Ushio, voiced by Miyamura Yuuko (Asuka in EVANGELION), is presented as caring and spunky as the strongest of the three sisters. Miyamura does a splendid job and is a little less tomboyish in NEO RANGA than she was in EVANGELION.
While I’m not truly a mecha fan, I was interested in this show but sometimes the plot moved too slowly. Action was found here and there, but there wasn’t a lot to keep my interest going. The series had a lot of promise, but it seems to be over now, leaving some things unresolved. But NEO RANGA is definitely worth a look.

Released by Pony Canyon
VHS | LD | DVD; ¥5800 each
Vol. 1 LD: PCLG-00063 / DVD: PCBG-00035
Vol. 2 LD: PCLG-00064 / DVD: PCBG-00036
Vol. 3 LD: PCLG-00065 / DVD: PCBG-00037
Vol. 4 LD: PCLG-00066 / DVD: PCBG-00038
Vol. 5 LD: PCLG-00067 / DVD: PCBG-00039
Vol. 6 LD: PCLG-00068 / DVD: PCBG-00040
Available now in Japan
Where to buy