I better come clean up front: anime-wise, all I've really seen is Perfect Blue. If I happen at any time to belie my naïveté during this piece, please bear this in mind and try to forgive me. Fobia, an odd little Japanese cartoon, is my first real foray into this genre, and it was, truth be told, certainly an interesting introduction.

The disc I received features two episodes, each of about 42 minutes. In Episode one, we are introduced to Iijima and Narita. Both are students at a Japanese college. Iijima is rather quiet, though pretty, and Narita is a sex-obsessed pervert. We first meet him peeping into the girlsâ locker room, sporting a gargantuan bulge in the crotch of his pants. Finding him staring into the locker room, Iijima chastises Narita, and then the two set off to their Drama Club rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet. As the cast practices, it hears screams, and, checking on these, they find the dead body of Narita's crush, Saotome, nearby, drained of its blood. Needless to say, panic ensues, and Narita and Iijima soon begin to suspect their Drama teacher. The two set out to interrogate him, but do not get very far before his body has ripped itself apart, revealing a Replinoid, a vaguely reptilian monster that possesses myriad phallic tentacles with which it rapes young women. Iijima, revealing her true identity as a girl from the future sent to stop the Replinoids, quickly engages it in battle. She, along with Narita, must stop the creature and free their college campus from its evil presence.

Episode two is unsurprisingly in a similar vein. We meet Mika, who has a crush on Narita. While staring out her window thinking of him, she sees several forms fall from the night sky and, curious, runs to the college to find their landing spot. She finds that these pods have landed in the school's pool (sadly, the opportunity for a Cocoon parody is left unused), and quickly approaches to investigate. Needless to say, she has made a bad decision, and it is not long before she is possessed by one of these Replinoids. Her appearance changes from plain to sultry, and soon she is stalking the campus, killing any girl she feels gets too close to Narita (via tentacle rape, naturally). Again, it is up to Narita and Iijima to stop the Replinoid force that is plaguing the campus.

What struck me about Fobia was how wildly uneven it seemed. It incorporates elements from all sorts of genres, mixing sci-fi with sex and throwing in elements of comedy and even a scene or two of almost childlike innocence for good measure. I guess this variety is good, since it certainly keeps the proceedings from getting boring, but it does feel a little strange to see Narita and Iijima going through their slapstick shtick after having watched some poor terrified girl get raped by giant mutant phalli. Oh well... I guess it comes with the job (of being a Monster, that is).

Still, for all the lurid cover-art come-ons, I found the films, in the end, to be surprisingly tame. Perhaps my expectations were just a little too high based on all of the warnings I'd received, but I was definitely prepared for worse. Sure, the film delivers on its tentacle-raping promises, but not nearly to the level I expected. Because the film flits from style to style based on the moment, it will sometimes spend a while on rather straight Sci-Fi storytelling and leave its sordid sexuality behind. When it does return for one of its tentacle rapes or perhaps a gratuitous female masturbation sequence, it is never terribly extreme. All of the girls are as anatomically correct as a Barbie doll, which knocks the shock value of Fobia down quite a few pegs. This isn't, of course, to say that being understated is necessarily bad; it's just a mentioning of the fact that there isn't as much shock present as is being advertised.

As for the DVD, Fobia has been handled quite acceptably. The transfer itself, full frame aside from the randomly letterboxed intro segments, is nice and sharp, with vibrant colors and only a few specks, etc., to show the film's age. Audio is presented in both the original Japanese (with optional subtitles) and English. I preferred the Japanese, of course, since those English tracks have a habit of sounding a bit ridiculous, but for those of you afraid of subtitles, the English is there if you need it. Also, the menu bears mentioning, as it's pretty cute. Clips of the film run in the background while Narita sits in the foreground, looking up and sprouting his mammoth crotch-bulge whenever something sexual appears on-screen. I thought this was a great touch; it's nice to see companies taking advantage of the capabilities of the DVD format.

Extra-wise, we are given a trailer and a still gallery along with five previews for other discs. Most of the features advertised seem much more graphic than Fobia itself, complete with very accurately rendered genitalia, and, in a few instances, even full penetration and cumshots (as well as a gross insert of an egg being pushed into a vagina).

Since Fobia is my first foray into hentai, I really don't have anything to accurately compare it to. Hopefully I've described it well enough so that the reader can make an accurate decision as to whether it would be right for him (or her). For me, it never really jelled. The mix of styles and abrupt switches between these was rather disarming, and, while Fobia was interesting purely as a spectacle, I don't think I could honestly give it a recommendation. Still, if it sounds right for you, don't hesitate (you know what you want more than I do), but be sure to watch out for those tentacles!

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