is a 1986 Japanese animated science fiction action comedy film. The film focuses on 16-year-old Japanese schoolgirl A-ko, who defends her best friend C-ko, as they face off against their classmate and rival B-ko while the Earth faces the threat of an alien invasion. Both Katsuhiko Nishijima and Yuji Moriyama directed it, though the latter also did character design. The film project initially started as part of the Cream Lemon series of original video animation, but later became its own film.
The film was largely well received by critics who praised the humor and action and considered it an anime classic. Outside of Japan, the film was seen by many fans of anime which served as an introduction to the medium. The film was followed up by several sequels and a spin-off, starting with Project A-Ko 2 in 1987. The original 35mm film negatives were once thought lost until they were recovered in 2021. The music for the film features music and songs composed by Richie Zito and Joey Carbone. Nishijima said that he wanted to make a film that directors Mamoru Oshii and Hayao Miyazaki were not able to make, which is a light hearted entertaining film without much deep social commentary. Yuji Moriyama is credited with character design and animation director, and previously worked on the Urusei Yatsura television series, and the films Beautiful Dreamer and Only You. According to Moriyama, the crew of the film had mostly worked on Urusei Yatsura, and felt demoralized after Mamoru Oshii left production of the series, and wished to work on a new project.
Production of the film included several artists who would later create other popular works, including Kia Asamiya and Atsuko Nakajima.
The title itself is a reference to the 1983 Jackie Chan film Project A, although the film bears no resemblance to Project A; the working title ended up sticking.
Project A-ko was initially planned to be part of the Cream Lemon series of pornographic OVAs, but during the production of the series, it was decided to make it into a more mainstream title. The only sequence animated during its Cream Lemon days left in the revised production is B-ko's private bath scene. In a nod to Project A-ko's origins as a Cream Lemon episode, the owner and several working girls from the brothel in the Cream Lemon episode "Pop Chaser" - where director Katsuhiko Nishijima was one of the animators - can be seen in one of the classrooms A-ko and B-ko crash through during a fight sequence in the film.
Moriyama explains that the names "A-ko", "B-ko", and "C-ko" were initially placeholder names that were kept throughout production rather than being replaced. Though there are hints that the infatuation may be of lesbian in origin, it appears to be platonic in nature.
The relationship in the film has been described as a lesbian love triangle.
Additionally, it is common for anime and manga stories to include women who are independent and often powerful physical warriors, and A-ko is another example of this. Other examples include Battle Angel Alita and Ghost in the Shell.
The destruction and rebuilding of the city of Tokyo is a common theme throughout Japanese media (including the Godzilla franchise and Akira). In Project A-ko, the Gavitron City is modeled after Tokyo and is rebuilt after the catastrophic destruction of the crashing space ship at the beginning of the film.
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack was released on LP, CD, and cassette through Polystar Records on May 25, 1986. It features the film score and songs composed by Richie Zito and Joey Carbone. The album was released in the U.S. in 1994 by Central Park Media under their MangaMusic label and later included as a bonus disc the "Collector's Series" DVD in 2002.
"Dance Away" by Annie Livingston was released as a single simultaneously with the album, with the background music track "Spaceship in the Dark" as the B-side. A Japanese-language version of "Dance Away" and "Follow Your Dream" by was released a month later.
Track listing
Personnel
- Joey Carbone – synthesizers, piano, drums, percussion
- Richie Zito – guitar, synthesizers, drums
- Arthur Barrow – bass, synthesizers, drums
- George Doering – guitar
- Andrea Robinson – backing vocals
- Laura Creamer – backing vocals
Release
The film was released to theaters by Shochiku-Fuji on June 21, 1986, alongside a shorter film titled Going on a Journey: Ami Final Chapter. Pony Video distributed the film via VHS and LaserDisc later in the year. The film's soundtrack was released on LP, CD, and cassette through Polystar Records on May 25 of the same year. "Dance Away" by Annie Livingston was released as a single simultaneously with the album, with the background music track "Spaceship in the Dark" as the B-side. A Japanese-language version of "Dance Away" and "Follow Your Dream" by was released a month later.
Outside of Japan, many fans of anime would watch the film without subtitles and serve as an introduction to anime films. They later released a dubbed version produced by Manga Entertainment to VHS in 1992.
The album was released in the U.S. in 1994 by Central Park Media under their MangaMusic label and later included as a bonus disc the "Collector's Series" DVD in 2002.
In 1996, a CD-Rom package called "Anime Hyperguide: Project A-ko" was released, including artwork, interviews with the creators.
After releasing Project A-ko on DVD in its original widescreen video format, Central Park Media later released a "Collector's Series" version in 2002, which features remastered video and coloring, a large number of A-ko related extras, commentary and interviews by many of the Project A-ko staff, and a free Project A-ko soundtrack CD. Central Park Media has released the three OVA sequels in a single-disc DVD collection, Project A-ko: Love and Robots.
In May 2011, Eastern Star released a newly remastered R1 Project A-ko DVD. It contains many of the extras of the original CPM release, minus the soundtrack CD. Discotek Media released the film on Blu-ray in December 2021. Originally, the footage for the film was to be sourced from the laserdisc release using the Domesday Duplicator to capture the footage at a higher quality than previous releases, with a technology called AstroRes being used to upscale the footage and restore it to a higher quality. The film negatives had been stored in a film laboratory but a clerical error had resulted in confusion as to where it was. The film is considered to be a cult film in the west. The film's humor was praised, with Max Autohead from Hyper magazine saying that the film hits with its "cheesy" humor. J-Fan praised the English dub and called it one of the best dubs from Manga Entertainment and a "near perfect" example of the genre.
Writer James Swallow in Anime FX praised the film's action and humor, and said that Project A-ko and its sister OAVs were an archetype of the genre. The film also spawned an American produced comic series, and a tabletop role playing game.