Moldiver

Moldiver

Cover art from the DVD release of Moldiver
モルダイバー
(Morudaibā)
Genre Adventure, Comedy, Magical Girl, Mecha
Original video animation
Directed by Hirohide Fujiwara
Studio AIC
Pioneer LDC
Licensed by
Released February 25, 1993 – November 25, 1993
Episodes 6
Manga
Written by Shimpei Itoh
Published by Tokuma Shoten
Original run June 1993 – July 1994
Volumes 3

Moldiver (モルダイバー Morudaibā) is a 6-episode 1993 OVA anime series. It is a parody of magical girl and superhero anime series.

Plot

The plot focuses on a young girl by the name of Mirai Ozora, living in Tokyo in the year 2045. Being obsessed with her hobbies of shopping and modeling, one would never expect her big brother Hiroshi to be a brilliant inventor for ZIC, a major technological corporation.

It all begins with Hiroshi's invention of the "Mol-Unit", a device capable of allowing an object to operate outside of the normal laws of physics. Flight, super-speed and strength, invulnerability, all capable through the Mol-Unit's power. The only catch, however, is that it can only stay active for a limited time, only 666 seconds (just over 11 minutes).

Such a device would have changed the world on a whole, but Hiroshi's motives for its invention are not so much for the world as it is for his own ego. Using the Mol-Unit and its power, Hiroshi develops a new superheroic personality for himself, Captain Tokyo.

After his initial debut, "Captain Tokyo" becomes a media sensation, and Hiroshi eats it up. However, things backfire when, out of curiosity, Mirai finds the Mol-Unit and tampers with the costume it generates, giving it a more feminine appearance. In doing so, the Mol-Unit malfunctions, causing the costume to randomly alter between Hiroshi's design and Mirai's. Upon realizing this, Hiroshi is forced to lend the Mol-Unit to Mirai, whose own personal use for the device seems to be more lighthearted than her brother's.

However, things are not right in Tokyo. A mysterious man by the name of "Dr. Machinegal" (actually an old friend and teacher of Hiroshi's, Professor Amagi) and his personal robot army, among them the destructive android group known as the "Machinegal Dolls" (all named after famous models and actresses) is bent on causing havoc upon the world. To make matters worse, Nozumu, the youngest of the Ozora siblings, has developed his own Mol-Unit and created a supervillain persona to oppose his brother and sister out of spite. Completely unaware of such events at first, but obligated to do something, Mirai finds herself thrown into the world of superheroism, which she takes in stride.

Episodes and home releases

  1. Metamorforce!
  2. Overzone
  3. Longing
  4. Destruction
  5. Intruder
  6. Verity

The word "Moldiver" is spelt out using the first letter of the first five episode titles and the first three letters of the episode title for episode six (Metamorforce!, Overzone, Longing, Destruction, Intruder, Verity).

Moldiver was originally released on VHS and LaserDisc in dubbed and subtitled versions by Pioneer LDC. All six episodes were later released by Pioneer on one dual-layered DVD in 2001.

Other appearances

The OVA was later followed by a Moldiver manga by Shinpei Itou (the writer of Hyper Doll), which ran in "Shōnen Captain".

Moldiver also makes a cameo appearance in episode 8 of the Tenchi Universe series, "No Need for a Genius". In it, Moldiver is Mihoshi's favorite TV show.

Soundtrack

Voice cast

Further reading

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