"All characters depicted in sexual conduct or in the nude are 18 years or older. No actual or identifiable minor was used in the creation of any character depicted herein."

- The disclaimer for "Vixens." Just in case you were wondering. About a cartoon fantasy. A cartoon fantasy.

"I love anime. I love sleeze. I love grindhouse sexploitation. Just so you know."

- The disclaimer for this "Vixens" DVD review by Bradley Harding.

"Vixens" is a series of bizarre anime shorts rife with adolescent male sexual shenanigans. It functions as an anthology of sorts although the segments feel more like episodes from four separate ongoing series. Little information is given about this compilation in the liner notes or special features. The chapter stops appear to feature only the episode titles (in English), but they sometimes differ from what is actually shown during the segment. For example, Chapter 5, entitled "Skydiving in Love" on the menu is also called "College Women Are Very Sexy" in the actual short. Adding to the confusion is what appears to be the real title for the series: "Visionary by U-Jin," and this title pops up about three times seemingly at random. Not once is the enticing "Vixens" moniker ever seen as a graphic. Aside from the confusing titles, which might partly be explained by sloppy translation, there are the episodes themselves - which vary greatly in quality.

Viewed on their own terms, without benefit of back story, we have four shorts all focusing on college-age kids and their burgeoning sexuality. The first episodes feature a lucky computer geek who, through chance, is visited by a sexy, magical kitty-girl from another dimension. These first anime shorts feel most like a recurring series. The set-up is typical Hollywood formula: a magical entity (a witch, a genie...) helps geek score with women. This being a Japanese anime product, however, things get weird quickly. Our sexy kitty-girl, complete with ears and tail, is coerced into giving our protagonist his wishes with sweet potatoes. She sure does love putting them inside her tiny mouth and eating them up! Mmmm... Although she can levitate and will our randy every-man inside a computer, she is unable to grant wishes all by herself. Further magical pursuits can only be granted by "giving birth" to a Giger-like egg, which immediately hatches a snake. Naturally. The reptile, dubbed SM Snake (also the name of this particular segment) wraps itself around our protagonist and then transforms him into a squirrel. Don't ask. Each story in the sexy-kitty girl arc (who's named Doreimon for those who care) revolves around the geeky school boy attempting to have sex with an angelic infatuation. In another episode a "miracle alien" is attached to his crotch to compensate for what he lacks. Comedy ensues... This first series (4 chapter stops) plays out more or less like a softcore version of Sailor Moon. The animation is rather flat and the dialogue is done in the requisite rapid-fire Speed Racer tradition. What is of note in these first sequences is the bizarre way the sex act is handled. Female breasts are in abundance and indeed celebrated in a near fetishistic manner, but genitalia (female and male) is evidently still considered a taboo subject. Intercourse is illustrated (no pun intended) with whimsical flower metaphors or alien creatures/objects representing the act. There may be a large population of Japanese and even American viewers who find this kind of story-telling compelling or even erotic, but this reviewer isn't one of them. The sexuality is at once extremely antiquated and yet so perverse (a squirrel sucking milk out of a woman's breast) that the proceedings have a frustrating, schizophrenic quality. Like watching fetish porn without the climax.

"Visionary Volume 2: College Women are Very Sexy" a.k.a. "Sky Diving in Love" features superior animation and a somewhat more coherent narrative. The basic premise focuses on another unlucky school boy who becomes obsessed with a girl he saves from a rapist in a park. He also has a sexy tutor who teases him with her amazing breasts. Though stylized, this portion is refreshingly free of magical set pieces and treats the sexual situations in a far more realistic fashion. "New Century Queen," the third and best segment by far tells the story of a corrupt talent competition. Its companion piece (or second episode) "Screwing the Judge" pretty much says it all. The direction in these two sequences is the main reason anime can be such a pleasure to experience. Though the animation is also pretty flat, the composition and movement shows a visual flair missing from the rest. It's more along the lines of a "Cowboy Bee Bop" than a syndicated Saban entertainment like "Sailor Moon." The sex is also free from juvenile metaphor and is truer to the titillating promise of the front box illustration. The fourth segment introduces a vampire scenario to the school girl mix and stylistically looks like a combination of '70's Hanna Barbera and today's Digimon. The menu calls it "Vampire Tradition," but the only graphic to distinguish the piece is a sign that reads: St. Stoker University. Clever, no? It seems that a vampire is loose at a Catholic girl's school. Ritualistic sex with cups of blood and "Fun with Nuns" are the main appeal in these two sequences. The sex is also more lurid and frequent here with lots of nubile young women exposing their amazing breasts. It sounds much more exciting on paper.

Again, there is obviously an audience for this type of anime anthology. But aside from randy teenagers who are still obsessed with the mysteries of sex, I don't know who that audience is. The animation is not particularly great (though the rendering of the naked females is often quite striking) and the annoying synthesizer music often makes the production feel at least 15 years old. It may be. As groovy background party material, this DVD might make a nice rental. It's also an interesting document on the sexual mores (albeit fringe) of Japanese culture.

The picture on this Anime 18 disc is an adequate full-frame presentation. The colors are somewhat soft, but it's impossible to know whether it's an aesthetic choice or a merely a poor transfer. The sound, presented in Dolby Digital Stereo, is also adequate. There is no distortion and all the sound design and music is clear. You can also listen to the original Japanese track (with subtitles) or simply play the English version. It's a nice feature and listening to the sequences in Japanese does make the proceedings in the first sequences, oddly, less bizarre. The extras include a short music video (nothing more than a quick montage of the anthology cut to an innocuous rock song), a trailer for "Vixens" plus six other anime DVD's from this line. It also offers up a short on the anime art form that provides a very simplistic overview of its history.

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