Venus Wars (ヴイナス戦記, Vinasu Senki), also known as The Venus Wars, is a 1989 theatrical anime film based on Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s manga series of the same name. The film was adapted by studio Kugatsusha, and the staff credits include director, writer and character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko with writer Yuichi Sasamoto and music composer Joe Hisaishi. The film was first theatrically released in Japan on March 1989.
Background:
“When an ice comet slammed into the planet Venus, terraforming its toxic atmosphere into one capable of sustaining human life, mankind’s dream of colonizing other worlds became a reality. Unfortunately for the colonists, Venus isn’t the paradise they’d dreamed of. As crops fail and competition for resources intensifies, hostilities grow until the two inhabited continents stand on the brink of war.
Reporter Susan Sommers arrives in the capital of Aphrodia just as Ishtar attacks and only the intervention of Hiro Seno and his Battle Bike team saves her from certain death… but now Aphrodia is under Ishtar’s control and Sue, Hiro, and his teammates find themselves on the run! However, their unique skill at Battle Bike, which combines motorcycle racing with roller derby, may just prove to be the secret weapon Aphrodia needs to win the VENUS WARS.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, April 2024.
Back in the 80s and 90s there were a lot of classic sci-fi futuristic mecha shows and films produced by different companies, and among the bunch was Mobile Suit Gundam with some great artwork done by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Now Yasuhiko has worked on a number of anime productions before Gundam came along, but a lot of people tend to use Gundam as the one that they recognise the most from his illustrations, especially considering he did eventually write Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin.
Since Gundam, he’s worked on a couple other notable films and OVAs including Crusher Joe, Giant Gorg and Neo Heroic Fantasia Arion. Among those, he also wrote Venus Wars which he later directed into a feature-length anime film.
Venus Wars was also one of many films and OVAs that were licensed and distributed over to the UK and US for home video by Manga Entertainment and Central Park Media. Surprisingly the film did not add excessive swearing to bump up the age rating here in the UK which Manga Entertainment were known for doing because of how anime was portrayed as animation for adults.
The license for Venus Wars was eventually rescued by Discotek Media in 2012 for North America on DVD, then a few years later in 2015 it was released on Blu-ray (it was also Discotek’s 10th Blu-ray release they put out). Out of nowhere, the license had expired, however in 2020 distributor Sentai Filmworks rescued the film for their own Blu-ray release – this time using a High Definition transfer straight from Japan’s 2019 Blu-ray Disc Box, and a new in-house English dub via Sentai Studios (they did not include the classic English dub with this release).
Meanwhile, the UK never managed to get their hands on Venus Wars this whole time. Anime Limited included the film through various festivals here and there, and it wasn’t until December 2023 where they finally revealed they had secured the UK home video rights for the film.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Considering it’s a classic film, Anime Limited have provided a collector’s package for Venus Wars, though when you compare it to the Sentai Filmworks version it is weaker on the artwork part.
This release is presented with a rigid box containing an Amaray case to house the Blu-ray disc, in addition to a 76-page booklet that contains character designs, story information, interviews with the staff and more about the film’s production. This is almost the same booklet included in the Sentai Filmworks limited edition release, except the manga portion is not included here.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £39.99, and is also available in a standard edition Blu-ray.
The film was made available as an early bird very recently for £24.99 with the Anime Unlimited membership lowering the cost down to £22.49.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 76-page Booklet
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 15th April 2024
The collector’s edition release for Venus Wars contains the film on a single Blu-ray disc, with the encode & authoring done by MediaOCD and Discotek Media via their release in 2015. The audio options are Japanese with English subtitles and the Manga Entertainment English dub from 1993.
It is very weird that the UK release ended up using the 2015 Discotek Media master rather than the updated 2021 Sentai Filmworks master, but at the same time this does mean the classic English dub is now back in print and available once again.
Update: One tidbit I didn’t mention at the time of this write-up was that the director/creator Yoshikazu Yasuhiko during an interview in Japan was asked about the US Blu-ray release by Discotek, and he responded that he was not made aware of it, which could explain why the license had expired but the fact that Anime Limited ended up with this master is not a good look to see.
The yellow subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are restricted to Blu-ray players set to B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 1 BD-25 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- English Credits
- Central Park Media Trailer
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Venus Wars is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition Blu-ray release can be bought through the AllTheAnime Store.
For the standard edition, it is also available across different retailers including Amazon UK, AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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