© 1987 モンキー・パンチ／
© 1987 Monkey Punch/

スクーパーズ
Sukuupaazu
[Scoopers]

Scoopers

Another Monkey Punch title turned into an OVA, Scoopers is a futuristic tale about a female investigative reporter and her android cameraman. Their latest investigation into the Technoland amusement park pits them against the evil Mister X. The OVA was filmed using a special 3D technique and requires specialized hardware to view the 3D effects. Dave Merrill's post provides a bit more information and a few pictures of the VHS release.

source: http://www.lupinencyclopedia.com/anime/scoopers

I was going to write about this at the Anime Jump message board, but it seems to be down at the moment so I'll write about it here.
SCOOPERS is an original anime video from 1987 with character designs by Monkey "Lupin III" Punch. It's the story of a reporter and her android cameraman as they investigate Technoland, a futuristic amusement park run by the mysterious Mister X. So basically we're dealing with "Westworld", with a dash of "Terminator" thrown in, as executed by Generic Japanese Animation Studio Of The 1980s.
Extra cheese is provided by a completely inept sequence involving "cyberspace" as our heroes go "inside the computer" which where everything is rendered as "wireframes" and animated by "cheap video effects". Think cheap video effects as seen on MTV videos and "Captain Power", those kind of cheap video effects. Though the spectacle of the floating rotating head of Mister X is admittedly entertaining in a ZARDOZ kind of way.
Mister X is the kind of evil genius who wears a giant puffy half-face mask that reveals his giant moustache. He sports an enormous overcoat with a collar the size of a manhole cover. This ensemble is accentuated with gigantic medals and epaulets. Since all his henchmen are robots, one wonders why he bothers to wear anything more than a T-shirt, but who cares? It's the 80s!
A forgettable Casio keyboard soundtrack and off-the-shelf character designs featuring a remarkable array of middle-aged men with moustaches make SCOOPERS a perfect example of what Japanese cartoons looked like in the late 1980s - all shiny cities, high-tech robot weapons, and videophone booths. Nothing dates a SF cartoon like phone booths. There are a few fairly bloody killings and some bare-breasted killer robot monster women to remind viewers that this isn't some kiddy cartoon, this is serious entertainment for mature adults who want to sit down and relax with this mature adult tale of android cameramen battling android beast women on super rollercoasters of the future.
Apparently this was released in some kind of 3D. Stick with Lupin III, Monkey Punch.

source: http://davemerrill.livejournal.com/435502.html

LINKS

http://www.lupinthethird.info/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi
http://www.lupinencyclopedia.com/anime/scoopers
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=7806
http://davemerrill.livejournal.com/435502.html
http://letsanime.blogspot.com/2007/07/scoopers.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0406197/
http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BBBA-3075
http://www.neowing.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BBBA-3075