Agent Aika is a Japanese OVA series animated by Studio Fantasia and directed by Katsuhiko Nishijima. The series follows Aika Sumeragi, a salvager for hire who gets caught up in a plot for world domination. The series was released in Japan from 1997–1999. The anime was initially licensed by Central Park Media, but was later licensed by Bandai Entertainment. The series is well known for its copious amounts of fan service, specifically the camera angles on panties of the many female characters that populate the show. On April 25, 2007, the first volume of the three-part prequel OVA , detailing Aika's time when she was 16 years old, was released in Japan. A remastered version of the original series was released also, along with a special live-action edition of Agent Aika. In 2009, the sequel OVA AIKa ZERO with 19-year-old Aika was released.
Plot
Following a catastrophic earthquake twenty years prior, Tokyo, along with most of the world, has sunk into the ocean during a large-scale land subsidence. Aika Sumeragi is a salvage agent, a person who digs up submerged artifacts from the cities below. She works for a small company run by Gozo Aida, and takes on fairly dangerous jobs. In the first story, she and Gozo's daughter Rion, search for material called the Lagu. However they are captured by Rudolf Hagen, an effeminate but over-sexed man who wants to use the Lagu to transform the world, destroying its inhabitants, and replacing them with an army of young women called the Delmo Corporation who will carry his progeny. Alongside Rudolf is his obsessive sister Neena Hagen, who is jealous of Aika when Rudolf desires to have Aika for himself. Aika has a special bustier that, when activated, transforms into a battle bikini that gives her extraordinary fighting powers. Following the defeat of the Hagens, the Delmo Corporation girls seek other methods to foil Aika in episodic stories.
Characters
Protagonists
Antagonists
The Delmo Corps, also referred as the Delmogeny, is a group of pretty ladies headed by Rudolf Hagen who serve as his private army and to propagate his genetic material once he wipes out humanity from the Earth. Some of them work ordinary jobs like guides and waitresses, but they mainly act in espionage activities. Following Hagen's defeat in the first half of the series, the Delmogeny continue to function with the goals of capturing Aika and studying her special powers. They wear various colored uniforms from lowest-rank black to the highest-rank white, although, for the most part, they wear the same color white panties.
The are the infantry class who carry out simple missions. They include: an unnamed leader with short purple hair with curled ends; Kana who has pixie-cut black hair who drove Bianca's car in Operation Golden Apple; Misaki who has short brunette hair; Yuki, who has shoulder-length crimson hair; Sae, who has short dark blue hair.
The serve as the officers in the group. Its commander is a beautiful green-haired woman. After Hagen's demise she takes over and seeks revenge on Aika and her entourage. However, after their defeat in the final episode of the original series, she tells the group to stay away from Aika so they can regroup and plan revenge for some future time. Others in the White Delmo include: an adjutant with short dark-blue hair who is the second-in-command and the commander's lover; Nina Esuko, who was in charge of the air base in Operation Silver Wild Grapevine.
The serve on special operations. Its leader is Bianca,, who, in episode 5, tries to humiliate Aika by using a woman disguised as a man to toy with her feelings, and then to capture her alive. She uses a retractable sleeve-blade in melee combat and has a hidden flame thrower on her right arm. Ria Petoriyacowa is a young operative with long black hair in Operation Silver Wild Grapevine who tries to study Aika and how she fights. She pretends to be the conductor of the physical examination in episode 6, but after her disguise is foiled, she continues to gather Aika's fighting data by sending her underlings against her and then taping the entire battle. Other golden-clad girls mentioned by name include: Sania, who uses a grenade pistol; Tonia, who uses clawed gauntlets.
The are the elite infantry class. They carry weapons such as the Sturmgewehr 45assault rifle and perform duties such as piloting or defending the ship against intruders. Its leader has short reddish-brown hair. Some of the characters named in the series include: Valarie, who disguised herself as Pierre Valimore, a pretty boy to seduce Aika in episode 5. Catherine appears twice in the series. When Hagen was ending to give directions, she was standing guard with her partner, but she is easily knocked out by the grid that falls on the head, which was kicked by Maypia, after an error of companions, Maypia and Rion end up falling on top of Catherine. Later she was taking care of Rion during her captivity in Rudolph's space ship. However, Rion easily defeated her and took her uniform. She has short wavy blonde hair.
The ''' serve as mechanics, engineers and heavy weapons operators aboard the ships and vehicles. Its leader is Suzie, who has short brunette hair and appears in multiple episodes Others include: Vivian, who also has short brunette hair; Liz, who has shoulder-length olive hair; Betty, who has pixie-cut brunette hair.
Release
The first four episodes were released from April 25, 1997 to January 25, 1998. The opening theme for the first four episodes was "Silent City", performed by Mari Sasaki, and the closing theme was "More Natural" by Hiroko Konishi. Each episode is numbered as a Trial. The next three episodes were released from August 25, 1998 to April 25, 1999. The animation was redone to include the new characters such as Michikusa. The opening theme was "Manatsu no Seiza" by Mink, and the closing theme was "Dance with Me Tonight" by Punky Fruites.
Episode list
Reception
In reviewing the first volume, Chris Beveridge on Mania.com wrote that he had to put his brain in a certain mode, likening the experience to watching Dumb and Dumber where "Instead of idiot humor we're watching this for the sheer amount of fanservice." with its "four gajillion panty shots" and that it was a "great deal of mindless fun". He described Michikusa as "a waifish goofy ass boy who serves only one purpose: to be on screen and take time away from panty shots." Stig Hogset of THEM Anime Reviews wrote that the show should have been a guilty pleasure but ends up being more of an overdose: "EVERY action scene seems to end up with unconscious females lying with their butts poking up into the air." He called the villains the creepiest he has ever seen, but recommended the show only to those with a panty or ass fetish. The Anime News Network reviewer wrote that "It's as if someone tried to make the most perverted anime they could without anyone actually being in any sexual situations. ", later adding that "The dub is weak and mistimed, and some of the minor characters just plain can't act." and recommended that the viewer watch titles from the company's Anime 18 productions instead. Todd Douglass Jr. of DVD Talk likened Aika's transformation to that in Cutie Honey and called the series the "epitome of guilty pleasure anime". He found the show to be solid-looking with fantastic animation and character design. With regards to the audio, he thought the Japanese cast did a much better job with the material than the English cast, writing that the latter was "particularly bland and it didn't maintain the necessary spark for this kind of show."
