AWOL (Absent Without Leave)

—by Michael Poirier

These first two episodes of AWOL exhibit most of the things you expect from militaristic science fiction: fancy weapons used by highly trained shock troops, evil terrorists with planet-destroying schemes, incompetent high commanders, lots of cryptic acronyms. Unfortunately, AWOL seems to be lacking the single most important feature of this genre—fast-paced, well-animated action!
Maybe this series could be more aptly named BUREAUCRATS WITHOUT BRAINS. The entire 48 minutes of this tape pretty much involves watching a band of terrorists completely overwhelm the military forces of a solar system by stealing the government's most powerful weapons and turning their orbital satellites against them. That might sound like a premise that would involve lots of action, with quick-paced space combat and furious hand-to-hand fighting planetside.
Sadly, AWOL wasted most of its time showing the military and political officials yelling at each other, surrounded by over-the-top scenes of the terrorists' aftermath (smoldering teddy bears and the like). Up until the last 10 minutes, AWOL seemed curiously reluctant to show much actual combat, and the eventual fighting that did end up onscreen was a crudely animated and slow-moving massacre.
I know that there must be a band of heroes somewhere in this series. I can see them on the box cover and in the opening credits. Nevertheless, as far as I can tell, only one of the eventual protagonists even gets a few minutes of screen time in the opening episodes and we don't even learn his name. Trust me, to say that AWOL gets off to a slow start is an equivalent understatement to saying Gettysburg was a minor skirmish in the American Civil War.
I could forgive this show for having such a sluggish opening if the vehicle/weapon designs were more appealing, or if offered some remarkable animation. However, AWOL offers nothing special in these departments. The characters lack detail and the all-too-infrequent action sequences move at a glacial pace. The designs of the military hardware, usually fairly intricate and intriguing aspects of science fiction anime, were lifeless and perversely color-coded. The terrorists' spaceship is tangerine orange, and their transport ship is so pink I couldn't help picturing it as Barbie's Dream Gunship.
I can only hope AWOL gets better in its subsequent episodes. As it stands right now though, it's not even interesting enough to be all that disappointing.

English adaptation produced by AnimeVillage.com
VHS, 48 minutes
Subtitled, ISBN 1-58354-218-3
Available now in the USA
Where to buy