Customer Rating: 
Summary: This is not the good version - get the other one
Comment: There seems to be some some disappointed folks with this movie, having high expectations but being let down as they watch it. There's good reason for this: this is the version that sucks.
This is the 1998 version brought over and dubbed by Urban Vision. The main villain's name is "Crystal boy" (really? yes.) and it's completely lame. I don't even know who does the music. It's an attempt to be more mainstream anime and more energetic. Unfortunately, the story is all over the place and makes little sense. The only thing I like better about this one is the type treatment for the title on the cover of the box - it's more dynamic and more easily identifiable.
However, back in 1995 Manga did a different version with a soundtrack by Yello (the guys who did "Oh Yeah" in Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and the main villain's name is Lord Necron (a real villain's name). This is the GOOD version that you want to find. The soundtrack is more mellow but the story makes much more sense. Seriously, it's the one that's enjoyable to watch.
I don't know how products get onto Amazon, but that's the version that they should be carrying.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Awesome cartoon butchered to cater U.S. audience
Comment: I was 15 when I saw the Cobra TV series, back in 1987. The impression I got from this ultra-cool character lingers to this day. The stories were very imaginative, the settings amazing, the character made all his dangerous adventures look easy. Not to mention the rarity of that time of having a TV cartoon with nudity and a hero smoking cigars to breathe underwater!
I thought I was the only fan of this cult TV show until I saw Cobra in the Matthew Sweet videos which were played on MTV ad-nauseam in the early 90s. Maybe because of the popularity of these music videos ("Girlfriend" and "I've been waiting") they decided to release this atrocity to the U.S. audiences. This videotape has one of Cobra's most popular stories, but somehow they stripped all the coolness of his character. The plot now is quite incoherent and hard to follow. Very lame.
If you want to know why Cobra became a cult hit, skip this video and demand the original TV show to be released in the U.S.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not even close
Comment: This video/"movie" does this awesome character no justice. The story is all cramped up, and the dubbing (as is the case with most english language anime) is terrible.
It's a shame, since the TV series and manga are A+, but hey, even Cobra isn't perfect.
Buy this item only if you must...
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Little Disappointed But Still Worth Checking It Out
Comment: If this review seems harsh it's only because Buichi Terasawa has created such a high bar for himself that it seems even he can't live up to it. This movie is like Metallica's 'St. Anger', a disappointing work that if it had been created by another artist, would have been hailed as a masterpiece.
For those who don't know Cobra, the infamous space pirate, the story started as a manga series and still remains one of the most imaginative works in anime history, imo. The charm of Cobra isn't in the action but in being thrown into a vivid and dynamic world that is hundreds of years into the future and how the main character handles the challenges of this over-simulated but sometimes hostile world with wit and humor. The series is like James Bond meets Star Wars if Bond is funnier and the Star Wars' worlds are inspired by Salvadore Dali and scantily clad women.
If ever there is a character that is made for a feature-length film, Cobra is it. He's the coolest guy on the block but you still root for him because he doesn't take himself too seriously. He pokes fun of himself, he often say the wrong things at the wrong moment, and he sometimes come off as a buffoon. As the story moves on, you realize that this is part of his strategy. He presents himself as a harmless clown and the antagonists underestimate him.
There's a lot that a genius like Terasawa can do with a movie budget and a longer running time. You expect him to go wild with his imagination. You expect strange new worlds and memorable characters. You expect an adventure for the ages. What you probably didn't expect is Terasawa recycling his old stories and copy and paste them to the big screen, but that is exactly what happened.
As a matter of fact, the movie is based on two Cobra adventures. One is a treasure hunt involving three young females who are triplets. Each woman has part of the treasure map tattooed on her back and Cobra must find the women, each located in a different part of the galaxy, and obtains the treasure before the Pirates' Guild gets to them first. The second story involves a men-made planet that is mysteriously veering off orbit and on a collision course with destiny. To open the gate to the planet core, Cobra must find a mysterious queen who processes the key but an untimely accident left him with head trauma and loss of memory.
If Terasawa had simply retold the stories verbatim, we could treat the movie as a graphically enhanced version of two old tales. But Terasawa decided to combine them into one overly long and boring affair. He takes the first story and eliminates the treasure hunt. He takes the second story and eliminates all the colorful planet occupants and the mystery behind the planet going off course. Then he fit one into the other. What we end up with is: three young queens, triplets, who are in control of a man-made planet's orbit. The Pirates' Guild controls one queen and wants her to crash the planet into something. Cobra is hooked up with another queen and wants her to foil the evil plan. And if the story sounds a little dull you're exactly right.
The worse part is Cobra himself. He is, quite frankly, not the Cobra we remembered. The original is the ultimate go-getter: a man who is fueled by the need to make something happen. This Cobra is a bystander. Aside from killing one or two baddies and hooking up with two hot chicks, he is irrelevant to the story. Near the end of the movie, there's a scene where hundreds, if not thousands, of fully armed pirates/soldiers filing past a dumbfounded Cobra to return to their mothership. They didn't pay attention to him; it's as if they didn't see him. And in a movie where Cobra is a mere observer, why should they?
All in all, it's worth checking out for the first timers. But for the Cobra fans who expect the usual, this is probably a let down.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very best space opera
Comment: Cobra is just one of those legends that once in a while the comic industry manages to develop. Cobra himself is a gentleman of the future, a true knight aiming to rescue ladies in danger and searching for justice in a galaxy under the Mafia's utter control; but he is also a gambler, a pirate, a clown. Under his carefree outlook and indiference, beats the heart of a very sophisticated soldier, always prepared to enter in action, always quick to resolve conflicts.
Buichi Terasawa wrote the manga series in 1978 portraying a space pirate whose major purpose in life was challenging the Galatic Guild, mastered by Crystal Man (his alter ego and most important enemy). Along the story line Cobra was involved in many adventures, recipients of influences such as occidental comics: Flash Gordon (by Alex Raymond) or Prince Valiant (by Harold Foster), and even movies such as James Bond's, along with the heritage of its alikes (Golgo 13, e.g), but never losing its own originality.
Cobra Space Adventure, the OAV, was produced in 1982 by Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Great animation director Osamu Dezaki, and superb character designer Akio Sugino were the leading members of the staff. Both creators have been collaborating together in many projects, some of which can be considered real jewels of worldwide animation. Cobra Space Adventure is a direct heir of their know-how, of their special concept of animation and scripts. That is why this movie reflects not only the same humour and flooding action of the manga, but also deepens in the character's feelings and ulterior motives.
Cobra Space Adventure deals with one of the most important and renowned Cobra's Adventures: The Myra's Princesses. Three women, three sisters, seeking for the secret that lies within the tatoos they have marked in their backs. Jane, Catherine, Dominique. Will Cobra find real love this time? Will he be able to rescue them? Will Crystal Man achieve his long awaited dream: killing Cobra?
Misticism, romance, action, humour, science fiction are the basic ingredients of this film. If you like classic manga, if you appreciate well-done, wise and breathtaking anime adaptations, do not hesitate! This is your OAV.
