Introduction

StarsStarship Troopers (宇宙の戦士, Uchū no Senshi, lit. “Universal Warriors”, “Universal Soldiers” or “Soldier of Space”) is a six-part anime OVA produced by Sunrise and released in 1988.

It is based on the 1959 book Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.

The OVA was dedicated to Heinlein who died before the first part of the series was released.

Outline

Juan “Johnny” Rico, a high school student living in Buenos Aires, joins the Federation military in the hope of following his love, Carmen, into space.

He has to undergo harsh training to become a soldier, harsher than he expected, but despite several setbacks and traumatic experiences, Johnny perseveres and finishes his training.

However, a war is brewing on the outer planets with a strange alien enemy and Johnny is thrust into the conflict.

You can find some very good history and background on the series at Future War Stories.

Cast

• Yasunori Matsumoto as Juan “Johnnie” Rico.Akira Kamiya as Sgt. Charles Zim.
• Hirotaka Suzuoki as Greg Patterson.
• Kazuhiko Inoue as Alphard “Kitten” Smith.
• Masahiro Anzai as Cherenkov.
• Mika Doi as Captain Yvette Deladrier.
• Rei Sakuma as Carmencita Ibañez.
• Saeko Shimazu as Claire.
• Shingo Hiromori as Sgt. Dunn.
• Sho Hayami as Bud and Pat Leivy.
• Shūichi Ikeda as Azuma.
• Tomomichi Nishimura as Captain Ian Frankel.
• Yuji Mitsuya as Carl.
• Kazuko Yanaga as Maria Rico.
• Kazuyuki Sogabe as Theodore C. “Ted” Hendrick (ep 2).
• Kimie Hantani as Chris (ep 5).
• Kyōko Hamura as Female Pilot (ep 5).
• Mahito Ohba as Bartender (ep 5).
• Mizuka Arima as Mary (ep 2).
• Satoru Inagaki as Boss (ep 5).
• Shinji Ogawa as Emilio Rico.
• Asami Mukaidono (ep 6).
• Daiki Nakamura.
• Hirohiko Kakegawa.
• Hiromi Yokota (ep 6).
• Hiroyuki Satou.
• Katsumi Suzuki.
• Nobuyuki Furuta (ep 6).
• Takehito Koyasu.
• Yoshio Kawai (ep 6).

Trivia

• Kazutaka Miyatake of Studio Nue originally designed the mobile infantry powered armours in the OVA for a Japanese edition of the novel (published by Hayakawa Publishing, Japan’s largest science fiction publisher) in the early eighties.
• A mecha based on this design also appears on the DAICON III and IV Opening Animations from 1981 and 1983, a few years before the OVA was released.

Starship Troopers Series

• Episode 01: Johnny.
• Episode 02: Hendrick.
• Episode 03: Maria.
• Episode 04: Greg.
• Episode 05: Cherenkov.
• Episode 06: Carmencita.

You can find a full index and overview of the Starship Troopers franchise here.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): Tetsuro Amino.
• Producer(s): Hironori Nakagawa and Minoru Takanashi.
• Writer(s): Tsunehisa Ito and Sho Aikawa.
• Music: Hiroyuki Nanba.
• Cinematography:
• Editor(s): Takeshi Seyama.
• Production: Sunrise, Studio Nue, and Bandai Visual.
• Distributor(s): Bandai Emotion.
• Release Date: 25 October 1988 to 17 December 1988.
• Running Time: 150 minutes (25 minutes per episode).
• Country: Japan.
• Language: English.