Jason Lee steals the spotlight as Shibas Scotch the evil, twisted, alcoholic, sleazy, boastful scumbag who just happens to be one of the most powerful entities in the known world. In a time where being a sorcerer means quite possibly getting the shaft for simply being involved with that career choice, keeping a low profile is something more than a passing interest for sorcerers, particularly for ones as renowned and feared as Shibas. Especially if you happen to be flat broke with a HUGE amount of debt that just keeps piling up thanks to some backstabbing loanshark by the name Million who somehow keeps finding you and hassling you. In an effort to clear a chunk of debt, as well as find an amusing way to pass the time, Scotch and friends head out to snag a cash reward for killing a beast. Traveling with Shibas is an airheaded werewolf and a love-sick swordsman, both of whom have sworn their love and loyalty to Shibas. In tow is the unfortunate and naive priestess who thought she might be able to persuade Shibas to set aside his greedy, evil ways and walk the path of moral righteousness... which is exactly what got her set up to become his personal slave and grope toy, not to mention an unwilling source of income when squeezed into a playboy bunny outfit. Little do our heroes know, that they are instead playing right into the hands of an ancient evil looking to rise again.
The misadventures of Shibas were first chronicled (like most anime) as a manga, but this particular title heads down a road that a more notable series has already taken. Is it worth seeing? Well... I'd say decide for yourself but... Then I'd have nothing to do :)
Why it sucks: Gah… I could barely watch it all the way through the first time… The second time I saw it I fell asleep halfway through. When it ain't funny or it isn't going for the "fan service" bits, it's pretty dull. Might as well mention that I like the dub better than the sub because to be brutally honest, the subtitled Japanese isn’t as funny or as well acted for the most part. The fact that it’s only two episodes doesn’t help either. Much like the hilarity riddled Dragon Half anime, production stopped following one particular story arc. To sum up SOTR, Scotch (our “hero”) wanders into a monster plagued town to make a buck and winds up caught up in the scheme of someone trying to resurrect a big arse monster.
Caught in the middle of this fairly ho-hum story is this idiot priestess who, when trying to cleanse Scotch of all his evils, wound up becoming his slave, or something to that effect. He smacks her around as if he were shooting for “Alabama's Man of the year” award, forces her to prance around in tawdry undergarments as an exotic dancer constantly, possesses her body when he happens to lose his, demands that she refer to him as "master" and reminds her quite often through physical means and pretty much does everything in his power to make himself look like an asshole because... er... well, he IS an asshole. It took me all of five minutes to realize this was a piss poor stab by someone (the original manga author behind SOTR) at doing their own version of BASTARD, a manga/anime which depicted the dastardly acts of the nefarious evil wizard, Dark Schneider. While such a concept can be funny or at least amusing if used properly, these guys didn't let up and despite the almost romantic spin they tried to do on the relationship between Fizz and Shibas it just came off as stupid. Shibas tries to beat into Fizz's head that HE'S the only one she can trust despite the fact that forces her on a regular basis to do exotic dancing, gropes her to pass time, puts her in constantly humiliating situations, drags her around by a chain on many occasions, won't hesitate to strike her on a whim and otherwise makes her life a living hell. And he claims he wont betray her because she's his property, he's her master, blah blah blah... Basically, this whole thing could've worked if they'd lightened up a bit on making Scotch look like an asshole (they did too good a job and if weren't for the dub I doubt I'd like him AT ALL), focused a little less on Fizz, done a little more character exposition on the swordsman and werewolf who pledged their love and loyalty to Shibas and ended the story with on a slightly less lame note.
Why it rules: That bit in the beginning with Scotch getting sick because of the scenery had me in stitches, that alone was almost worth the price of admission. Then there was the bleep gag and the swordsman who constantly goes from serious to hysterical with his multiple confessions of love for Scotch were pretty funny too. Sending Fizz to the strip club was pretty funny too... for awhile. The dub is great, the actors are par for the course and the dub script is excellent. ADV has this annoying habit of making even turds shiny enough admire and this is no exception, the straight literal translation for the subtitled Japanese is a nice touch and as per usual, their localized dub is awesome! If it hadn't been for the dub I doubt I would've enjoyed what little I did. Oh yeah and there's a lot of cute anime chicks running around almost naked or entirely naked during the bath scnes! Hooray fan service!
Can you say DVD?: I know I mentioned before there's the English/Japanese dialogue which comes fairly standard, the subtitles (wooooooooooooo! Subtitles!) and some ADV previews and the scene selection. As for extras? Well, I was absolutely shocked to see what these guys did... There's this goofy like DVD remote game called "Hunt the beast" or something, and involves you choosing a direction to go in order to track this beast. A wrong answer results in seeing a framed still from the anime, many of which would qualify for naughty fan service. At random, a wrong answer will instead result in a hearty gulp and belch from some random anime alcohalic. "Finding" the beast will result in you seeing the end to the final battle in the anime which is a bit odd since the "beast" which was in question is not the one shown when you hunt that sucka down. Weird. Other than that there's just not a whole lot in terms of DVD bells and whistles that this particular one has to offer.
Overall: It makes an okay rental, but I doubt you'll keep it long. Might as well sucker the store saying it won't work and instead trade it in for something word watching. While there's 4 or 5 bits that are screamingly funny, the rest seems really half assed. I'd be pretty hard pressed to suggest this sucker to someone as anything besides a rental, especially when you can easily obtain the complete collection of the series that this anime is essentially trying to rip off. I'm talking about the BASTARD, the one, the only, Dark Schneider. BASTARD is the series you'll definitely enjoy, I mean if you like Sorceror on the Rocks' Scotch, you'll cream your jeans for Dark Schneider. It's filled with glorious, gory, goo covered ultraviolence, sexual innuendo, spectacular battle scenes, a comparatively strong story and some great voice acting. For the Subtitled Japanese version anyway, they apparently went for the worst dub they could manage when it came to Bastard, gah. But seriously, SOTR has some moments... just extremely few and while I've seen worse, this is only saved from being a coaster because of cute girls, the rare side splitting moments and the wondrous dub. I swear, if there were a conveniently lubed hole somewhere alongside the ADV Films building, I would have sex with it because they make the absolute best english dubs, period. And that folks, makes me randy. Rowr.