PROLOGUE: Contrary to popular belief, I like people. I really do… although increasingly bored by them. Look at the new Star Wars teaser [yes teaser not trailer] 88seconds of tease and the whole hen house has gone crazy; between people theorizing what they’ve seen, crying like jagoffs, or complaining about the new Sith lightsaber, saying things like “But it looks stupid!”, you know what’s dumb? – A friggin lightsaber.
All things have fallen victim to the meme or the trend and displayed like a naked babe on threads. But let’s not get excited now and switch gears. It’s bad enough the NFL is now trying to be socially relevant with a partial roster of felons under contract. But I digress, let’s talk about anime.
Anime was once the coolest thing to be into. You hunted it and you knew everything about it. Dark and dingy specialty shops where they had stacks of tapes with nothing to distinguish them apart, other than the strip on the side with foreign writing. They were real movies with mature subjects with action sequences that were damn near impossible to do in live action with the practical effects of yesteryear. You wanted Science fiction, Horror, Drama, Romance; well it was all there and often wrapped up into the same feature. Fast forward to today and the anime you get is full of cat ears, screeching music and a dumb down pandering to an audience that never expects much. However, there are exceptions in the modern age like Terror in Resonance, Death Note, MONSTER, Attack on Titan, the Ghost in the Shell franchise and some others but the soft stuff is running more rampant in the present.
Today and ALL December on New Retro Wave, our retro movie of the month will be a Christmas double-feature. Yes, two retro films in 31 days. This month we are showcasing M.D. Geist, the nihilistic and dark depiction of our future that, who knows, could happen.
MD-GEIST or MD-02 is a most dangerous soldier genetically engineered to be a killing machine and one of the units to go completely bat shit crazy. The government in an attempt to stop the carnage decides to freeze Geist in some sort of suspended animation (like Solo!) and lock him in a stasis pod orbiting around the earth. Yes, even in anime the government is stupid. They could’ve just destroyed him but, “Nooo, we’ll just keep them in the freezer till we need them again. What’s the worst that could happen?” Well MD-O2’s pod has just crashed landed on the planet and MD is awake in a new world in the midst of a new war. He takes up an uneasy alliance with a ragtag group of soldiers desperate to stop the Deathforce from activating destroying civilization and all organic life as we know it.
I chose this film because for this holly-jolly Christmas I am completely over the illusion of civility that has gone well past the viral phase at this point. If it isn’t one social cause it’s another, if it isn’t one thing to be saved it’s something else. Meanwhile people are still arrogant neophytes; know it all’s and do nothings. Most of these angry and outraged people online have sense like Ted Striker has a drink. So here it is; here is a film and its sequel that throws all that into a wood chipper and stomps on it. Here is MD-GEIST and MD-GEIST 2 the Deathforce. Written by Rinju Sanjo and released in 1989 and 1996.
Both movies are below, so just hit play and watch them back to back. This Sam Haine saying, “Lock and Load and keep your finger firmly on the rewind button.”
– Sam HaiNe
This article is written by SamHaiNe
SamHaiNe is a writer, poet, troubadour and raconteur. The author of two spoken word albums as well producer. He is often seen performing in Philadelphia, PA, the surrounding Tri-state area, and the Southern United States. His writings and creativity often blur the lines between pulp, noir, splatter punk, gallows humor, black comedy and the Grand Guignol. He has released previous material under the pseudonym O-Ren Ishi. Currently at work on a new album and book centering on his new brainchild, Hainesville.
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