Green Legend Ran

Green Legend Ran
The cover of the Green Legend Ran DVD release.
グリーンレジェンド乱 (Gurīn Rejendo Ran)
Genre	Sci-Fi
Original video animation
Directed by	Satoshi Saga
Produced by	Yoshiaki Aihara
Written by	Yu Yamamoto
Music by	Yoichiro Yoashikawa
Studio	AIC
Licensed by	Pioneer
Released	November 25, 1992 – March 25, 1993
Episodes	3

Green Legend Ran (グリーンレジェンド乱, Gurīn Rejendo Ran) is an approximately 140-minute long 3-episode anime OAV released in 1992, and by Pioneer Entertainment in the U.S. as an unedited subtitled three-Laserdisc or VHS set. It is drawn in a style reminiscent of the Final Fantasy OAVs and directed by Satoshi Saga. In the U.S., it aired on the Sci Fi Channel's Saturday Anime block during the late 90s.

Plot

Green Legend is set in a science fiction-style post-apocalyptic Earth, which has turned largely into a vast desert after an alien invasion, in which six of the "Rodo" (a race of what appear to be giant monoliths) crashed onto Earth from space, somehow effecting massive climate change which has completely wiped out the oceans and rain. At the time, mankind was ruining the environment, making an apocalypse of some sort inevitable (similar to other environmentally-focused anime like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind; in general style, Green Legend is much like Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and Future Boy Conan).

In this brutal new world, two polarized factions have arisen: the first faction, the "Rodoists" are a fanatical religious sect who worship the Rodo while practicing hydraulic despotism; all communities are clustered around one of the monoliths, as they are the only remaining sources of water and food - most of which is gathered quite close to the monoliths in what they call the "Holy Green". Travel between communities is infrequent, as at a certain distance from the monoliths, the environment peters out to the point that the air itself cannot be breathed - necessitating pressurized vehicles akin to spaceships. The second faction, the "Hazard", is a secretive revolutionary movement opposed to the Rodoists.

The protagonist (Ran the greener) is a young orphaned boy who seeks to survive, to join the Hazard, and to find and take revenge upon the man with a scar on his chest who killed his mother. He blunders into the middle of a battle between the Hazard and the Rodoists, during which he meets a strange silver-haired girl named Aira. Ran helps some Hazard scouts escape his town and joins them. Soon, the Rodoist army attacks the Hazard base; Aira is forcibly evacuated against her will by the Hazard. Ran attempts to board the sand ship, but fails, and begins pursuing it across the desert in a stolen pressure suit. He is rescued by traveling water and food merchants just before his air runs out. The merchant leader, a contemplative man named Jeke, offers Ran his assistance in rescuing Aira. The rescue goes awry when the Rodoists attack the Hazard sand ship and recapture Aira as Ran and the merchants attempt to infiltrate the same sand ship.

DVD release

Green Legend Ran was among the first Region 1 titles released on DVD by Geneon (still known as Pioneer Animation at the time). Even compared to other early DVD releases, the Green Legend Ran release was extremely sparse, as it contained no menu to allow for easy set-up or navigation. Geneon has yet to release the title in a more user-friendly package.

Reception

Helen McCarthy in 500 Essential Anime Movies stated that "this is a well designed, attractively animated series that should be rewarding and entertaining for children".

External links

• Review at Animeworld.com
• "Green Legend Ran" -(by Mark L.Johnson; a review at ex.org)
• Article at the IMDB
• Green Legend Ran (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Review at the "Anime Cafe"
• Review at the "Anime Critic"