It’s strange: Cobra 1982 and 2010 are animated from the same manga, and yet their focus is completely different. Cobra 1982 interpreted “adventure” as “killing bad guys”, while Cobra 2010 interprets “adventure” as meeting interesting people and settings. I think that that’s why I consider the latter to be superior: killing of bad guys for 33 episodes does get old, even though a few of them stand out as original. Especially considering that to get to these interesting people, Cobra first has to kill of hordes of nameless minions and goons. Cobra 2010 leaves the goons for what they are, and therefore is much more able to focus on the creativity.
What also changed is that this series adds a bit of depth to the characters that Cobra meets. It’s small, but because of that I’m much more interested in these people. These people are overcome by greed, so much that they forget to think rationally. It’s been the same for three arcs now, but it actually says much more about them than the umpth minion of the Pirate Guild who want to kill Cobra. I think that the “why” in Cobra 1982 got ignored too often, and that allowed it to get stale. Plus, Cobra 2010 has space cars. How awesome is that?
One thing I liked in this episode was how well the conclusion was handled, and especially how powerful the soundtrack was at that time. That’s another thing at which I consider Cobra 2010 to be superior: its soundtrack is ten times better than the original.
Rating: * (Good)
Think you underestimate the populairty of Cobra 1982 series. In countries where it aired besides Japan like France or Italy it was/is pretty popular (still huge series in France).
I myself still prefer the 1982 series over this (as it also features the fanfavourite Rugball story arc). While it’s still decent and about the only series I religiously watch, it hasn’t exactly covered my favorite unanimated Cobra stories, except for 1-4 and 5. Exactly the ones you seem to like I think are the mediocre Cobra stories.
I like these cobra stories as mandrad or mt kagero but i have to say that Cobra 1982 is not only “killing bad guy ” . Rugball story arc and some episode of ultimate weapon arc ( with captain nelson’s daughters ) are diversified in storytelling . And soundtrack of cobra 1982 is considered by a lot of animefans as a wonderful soundtrack . On other side, Cobra 2010 is a good serie and it is my best serie tv of winter 2010 with durara.
loempiavreter, i am also registered in forum of cobraworld .
Glad you got a pic with the Jet Piranha with the cigar in it’s mouth. That was the most priceless moment in this episode. I’ve really been diggin this series way more then I thought I would.
Have you checked out the Time Drive OVA? It seriously has some of the coolest and strangest ideas I have seen in an anime in a long time.