I'd like to start with a question, what are YOUR thoughts on Steel Angel Kurumi and how many DVDs is it? [how badly will it wound my wallet?]
Ok, the anime known as "Dual, Parallel Trouble Adventure" is da bomb in my opinion. I've seen the series on tape (dubbed of course :p) and it was good. The lowdown...
Originality: The FIRST thing you'll notice is the mecha character design. Yes that's right, they're Eva carbon copies. With new techno-babble vocabulary to boot. In Evangelion, the word is synchronization I believe, in Dual, it's called Life Sympathy readings. 0_0 Neat... Also, according to "standard" testing, only women can pilot the robots in Dual. As far as being original goes, it's not the first, but wow what a satire. This anime satires Evangelion quite well. Although to be honest, Eva's characters to me made good H material whereas Dual's characters had substance and also looked quite tasty. So in effect, if you wanted a good Eva satire [if you're like me who hates Eva's stupidity with a passion] then this is good stuff...
Capture: I'm doing this review based off the VHS version of the series. There IS some annoying CG work in there. (annoying as in badly blended... ala Initial D) But not enough to put the series down. I can say the DVDs are probably better. Not much though. Why? This thing was NICE AND CLEAN on my vcr... ^_^
Sound: The dub. Some of you may recognize Kazuki (main hero) Yotsuka's voice from Digimon. When I first heard Mitsuki Sanada's voice, I knew I'd be in love. I ended up hearing her voice in other new anime too like Hand Maid May (Kasumi... drool*) and Gatekeepers. ^_^ Wendee Lee plays the "evil" Sanada. (any more explanation would lead to spoilers) The voices overall are quite good. In references to other anime, it's well above average.
Action Content: Fighting and high collateral building damage? Eva style technological wonder weapons and mass destruction? Mindless violence during a marriage preparation?! Yep, this thing has nice amounts violence thrown in for good measure. "What else is there besides buildings blowing up?" you ask... It's from the maker of Tenchi Muyo. (The character design is more Masaki Kajishima anyway. Though Tenchi Muyo itself was not... go fig...) Yes, Kazuki resembles Tenchi and ALSO has his syndrome. Girls fighting over him? Yup. Stupid nosebleeds? [unsure if I can remember] Funny stuff? You bet. Watching Mitsuki wash Kazuki's underwear is quite goofy if not quick and stupid... ^_^
Digital FX: bad... it was an early anime but the use of fx was just not good...
Effort: 12 eps with a 13th fanservice sex ep? Hmm... sounds familiar... [Onegai Teacher! *cough] The windup at the end with the big "boom" was badass and the way it ends wasn't useless. It's confusing as hell at first but then you realize that an unpredictable and satisfying ending is much much better than a "it doesn't matter" type ending... ^_^ (Eva *cough)
Overall: Character development isn't exactly the best. (that's what more dramatic serious romance anime are for...) But as far as replacing Eva as a badass mech anime? It's got my call as YEE HAH... ^_^ This anime was number one on my list for a short while. It's opening intro song is very addictive and the way it parodies Evangelion can be quite amusing to some and downright stupid to others. I however thought Eva with Tenchi syndrome and good ending = Dual...
Re-viewable: comedy isn't funny after watching it so many times. But if you have lots of friends who are bored out of their minds, then you can watch this thing with them forever to see their reactions... Cool shyte ^_^
My suggestions...
Dual is for...
People who never get tired of Tenchi Syndrome... (I am now...
)Those of you who WANTED to see a GOOD FUKING ending...
If you hate Evangelion, this is SOOO for you...
People who like Masaki Kajishima's work...
Good English dub lovers...
Dual is NOT for...
If Evangelion is your number one as DBZ is to others, stay back...
You hate the Tenchi Syndrome (like me...)
You hate comedy...
You hate mechs in general...
Dubs suck... ^_^ (not apparant anymore due to dual language dvd)
People who want a more serious romantic Mech anime... (try Gundparade)
My $0.02...........
Originality: 7
Capture: 10
Sound: 10 [awesome dub and good music boot this thing up quite high]
Action: 8
Digital FX: 5 [good thing there isn't enough to poison this score anymore]
Effort: 8 [13th fanservice ep? "Get into that bed and JUMP HER BONES!"]
Overall: 9
Re-Viewable: 8
Kajishima and romance comedy fans love it...
Mech fans may love it...
Eva haters will love it!
'Nuff said... ^_^
Hey Mroni how did you like the suit that they made Kazuki wear to make people think he was a girl? It was hilarious! Especially when they were feeling him up and the UN inpector walked in? Oh and mitski was very cute. I also liked it when mitski's mother wanted kazuki to Jump her bones! 
