MD Geist
Encyclopedia
is an anime
and manga
about a post-apocalyptic world. The series is extremely violent, often depicting graphic scenes of human dismemberment and evisceration.
Geist (the main character) is MD-02, a Most Dangerous Soldier, genetically engineered
to function as a killing machine, but every one of the MDS units went homicidally insane. As a result Geist was placed in suspended animation
in a stasis pod orbiting the planet Jerra until it crashed several years later, awakening him and bringing him into another war on the planet.
M.D. Geist was originally released in Japan by Nippon Columbia and re-released under the Denon
label. In 1988, a trailer of the OVA under the title "Thunder Warrior" was produced by Gaga Communications along with a string of other anime titles the company was hoping to sell to the U.S. market. M.D. Geist was released in the U.S. by Central Park Media
in 1992; two years prior, the company used Geist as the logo for their mainstream anime label U.S. Manga Corps. Curiosity by fans over U.S. Manga Corps' logo boosted domestic sales of the OVA and prompted Central Park Media to collaborate with co-creator Koichi Ohata in producing a sequel. In 1996, Central Park Media released M.D. Geist - Director's Cut, featuring roughly five minutes of additional footage - including a new introduction and epilogue that paved the way for the sequel. Months later, CPM released M.D. Geist II: Death Force. In addition, the company commissioned Ohata and American artist Tim Eldred to illustrate the comic book adaptation.
In the United States
, the Sci Fi Channel
premiered M.D. Geist I and II during their Ani-Monday block at midnight E.S.T. September 29 and October 6, 2008 respectively. Following the closure of Central Park Media, M.D. Geist was re-licensed by ADV Films
and was re-released on DVD on July 2009. It is currently available for streaming on Hulu
and digital download on iTunes
by Manga Entertainment
, alongside with Now and Then, Here and There
, respectively.
After several years, Geist awakens after the stasis satellite crashes on Jerra. In a desolated city, Geist discovers a group of bandits, whose leader kills a stray soldier wearing a powered suit
. Geist confronts the bandit leader over acquiring the dead soldier's suit. In a fight to the death over the suit, Geist slices off the leader's arms before impaling his combat knife through his skull. Vaiya, a female bandit, is attracted to Geist's strength, but other than her knowledge of both armies' activities, Geist shows no desire for her. The bandits spot a Jerran mobile fortress being attacked by Nexrum forces and find it as an opportunity to save the fortress for a price. Geist and the bandits form an uneasy alliance with the Jerran forces led by Colonel Krutes (Geist's former superior) before participating in a mission to stop the Jerran doomsday weapon "Death Force" from activating. Death Force's countdown commenced shortly after the president of a Jerran country was assassinated. Its purpose is to annihilate all life forms on Jerra without discrimination.
Like a black knight, Geist equips himself with the acquired powered suit (which eventually becomes his trademark), and goes into the Brain Palace with Krutes' commandos and his bandit team in tow. All but Geist and Krutes are killed during the invasion. Upon reaching Brain Palace, Geist faces an advanced combat robot activated by Krutes, realizing that the colonel set him up. While Geist battles the robot, Krutes reaches the control center to deactivate the Death Force. He succeeds, but discovers that the robot he activated has failed to kill Geist. Krutes laughs heavily before Geist crushes his skull with his hands. When Vaiya arrives at the control center, she sees Geist set off Death Force, unleashing an army of machines that consume living matter to replicate, condemning all life on Jerra to death in order to have an enemy he can fight.
After Krauser and his soldiers have finished placing and activating the Jignitz Bomb, they are confronted by Geist, who wipes out the platoon and engages Krauser in a battle. With the clock counting down to detonation, Krauser's men attempt to rescue him in a VTOL (against the Nexrum officer's pleas), only to be shot down by Geist. Geist seizes the homing beacon that was used to lure the Death Force into the city, and leads the machines toward Krauser's fortress, with Krauser in close pursuit. The Nexrum Officer, now crushed under the wreckage of the VTOL, drops the remote detonator as he dies, causing the bomb to explode. Most of the Death Force is consumed in the bomb's massive explosion, but a large number of the machines fall upon Krauser's fortress while Geist confronts Krauser himself. Geist defeats Krauser in hand-to-hand combat while the Death Force machines consume most of the refugees. At the end, Krauser is shown to be impaled as his fortress goes up in flames. As the end credits roll, it is shown that a small band of refugees (led by Eagle and Vaiya) have survived, possibly signaling a more hopeful future for Jerra. The final image is that of Geist's Empty helmet amid the rubble of Krauser's fortress, with Geist himself nowhere to be seen.
Later, Stanton briefs his men on the mission they will be undertaking, in which they are to investigate and if necessary, destroy a Nexrum collective at a temple within a jungle. Wong interrupts the briefing to make mention of the Nexrum's cyborg units, to the interest of the men who have never heard of them before; her interruption is in hopes that Stanton will make use of Geist, who is the only soldier with experience against cyborgs. Suddenly, a private rushes in to tell both of them to come outside. Sgt. Robard, a soldier with whom Geist has gotten into a fight, lies twitching on the floor with both arms severed, Wong quite sinisterly sees it as proof of Geist's efficiency.
The next morning, Stanton and his men are preparing to begin their mission, only to be halted when Wong and Geist suddenly show up. Once again, Stanton refuses to accept Geist, especially after what happened yesterday, keeping him as a reserve without armor. In the jungle, Geist takes effortless care of their encounters, eventually they reach the temple to discover a Nexrum ship armed with a large cannon. Geist and the soldiers quickly occupy the base, taking the enemy forces prisoner. Wong and Stanton investigate the ship, when suddenly the soldiers are ambushed by cyborgs piloting Nexrum machines. Geist is the only one to survive, having jumped on to the ship once it has begun to take off. On board, Wong discovers a plan for the Nexrum to fire the ship's cannon at their own city, which is loaded with nuclear weapons, and it's been ordered by Earth. With no way to stop the ship, Stanton and Geist take off to destroy the engines, but before they go any further, Stanton makes it clear that Geist is to tell no one of Earth's involvement with this plan, even if Geist outlives him, he must not mention it. The two of them battle with a machine that is guarding the engines, by the end of it Stanton is fatally wounded, and his armor covered in oil leaking from the enemy machine. With his view on Geist finally re-evaluated, Stanton delivers one final order, to don his armor and take out the ship's cannon. Geist successfully does so, tangling briefly with the same machine after he discovers its connections are still active, and prepares to hijack the jet section of it. Geist escapes just in time as a defense unit destroys the reactor circuit controls in the cockpit, destroying part of the ship's thrusters, causing it to dive into the temple. Wong cries out as she sees Geist fly past, unable to save her.
The temple goes up in an enormous explosion, and a Regular Army patrol discovers Geist waiting to be picked up. Before a jury, Geist does not speak of what happened in the mission, remembering Stanton's orders. For this, Col. Krutes comes to the conclusion, based on evidence, that Geist is in some way responsible for the deaths of Regular Army personnel and for failure of the mission. Krutes expresses his wish to execute Geist, but because of President Ryan's input, he is instead to be imprisoned in stasis.
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
about a post-apocalyptic world. The series is extremely violent, often depicting graphic scenes of human dismemberment and evisceration.
Geist (the main character) is MD-02, a Most Dangerous Soldier, genetically engineered
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
to function as a killing machine, but every one of the MDS units went homicidally insane. As a result Geist was placed in suspended animation
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
in a stasis pod orbiting the planet Jerra until it crashed several years later, awakening him and bringing him into another war on the planet.
M.D. Geist was originally released in Japan by Nippon Columbia and re-released under the Denon
Denon
is a Japanese electronics company that was involved in the early stages of development of digital audio technology, while specializing in the manufacture of high-fidelity professional and consumer audio equipment. For many decades, Denon was a brand name of Nippon-Columbia, including the Nippon...
label. In 1988, a trailer of the OVA under the title "Thunder Warrior" was produced by Gaga Communications along with a string of other anime titles the company was hoping to sell to the U.S. market. M.D. Geist was released in the U.S. by Central Park Media
Central Park Media
Central Park Media was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York, that was active in the distribution of East Asian cinema, television series, anime, manga and manhwa titles in North America prior to its bankruptcy in 2009...
in 1992; two years prior, the company used Geist as the logo for their mainstream anime label U.S. Manga Corps. Curiosity by fans over U.S. Manga Corps' logo boosted domestic sales of the OVA and prompted Central Park Media to collaborate with co-creator Koichi Ohata in producing a sequel. In 1996, Central Park Media released M.D. Geist - Director's Cut, featuring roughly five minutes of additional footage - including a new introduction and epilogue that paved the way for the sequel. Months later, CPM released M.D. Geist II: Death Force. In addition, the company commissioned Ohata and American artist Tim Eldred to illustrate the comic book adaptation.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the Sci Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
premiered M.D. Geist I and II during their Ani-Monday block at midnight E.S.T. September 29 and October 6, 2008 respectively. Following the closure of Central Park Media, M.D. Geist was re-licensed by ADV Films
A.D. Vision
A.D. Vision was an American international multimedia entertainment company headquartered in Houston, Texas, prior to its collapse and distress sale to four other Houston-based companies in 2009...
and was re-released on DVD on July 2009. It is currently available for streaming on Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...
and digital download on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
by Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
, alongside with Now and Then, Here and There
Now and Then, Here and There
is a thirteen episode anime series directed by Akitaro Daichi and written by Hideyuki Kurata. The story was originally conceived by director Daichi. It premiered in Japan on the WOWOW television station on October 14, 1999 and ran until January 20, 2000. It was licensed for Region 1 DVD English...
, respectively.
M.D. Geist I: Most Dangerous Soldier
The Regular Army of the planet Jerra has been locked in a bloody civil war with the rebellious Nexrum Army, who believe that Earth should not be involved in governing its extraterrestrial colonies. The war has left most of the planet's infrastructure in rubble and has killed countless numbers of people. In response to the Nexrum's more advanced weapons, the Jerran Army developed the Most Dangerous Soldiers, which turned out to work too well; the MDS units attacked everyone, including their allies. One such soldier, MD-02 "Geist", was ordered placed in suspended animation aboard a stasis satellite and launched into Jerra's orbit.After several years, Geist awakens after the stasis satellite crashes on Jerra. In a desolated city, Geist discovers a group of bandits, whose leader kills a stray soldier wearing a powered suit
Powered exoskeleton
A powered exoskeleton, also known as powered armor, or exoframe, is a powered mobile machine consisting primarily of an exoskeleton-like framework worn by a person and a power supply that supplies at least part of the activation-energy for limb movement.Powered exoskeletons are designed to assist...
. Geist confronts the bandit leader over acquiring the dead soldier's suit. In a fight to the death over the suit, Geist slices off the leader's arms before impaling his combat knife through his skull. Vaiya, a female bandit, is attracted to Geist's strength, but other than her knowledge of both armies' activities, Geist shows no desire for her. The bandits spot a Jerran mobile fortress being attacked by Nexrum forces and find it as an opportunity to save the fortress for a price. Geist and the bandits form an uneasy alliance with the Jerran forces led by Colonel Krutes (Geist's former superior) before participating in a mission to stop the Jerran doomsday weapon "Death Force" from activating. Death Force's countdown commenced shortly after the president of a Jerran country was assassinated. Its purpose is to annihilate all life forms on Jerra without discrimination.
Like a black knight, Geist equips himself with the acquired powered suit (which eventually becomes his trademark), and goes into the Brain Palace with Krutes' commandos and his bandit team in tow. All but Geist and Krutes are killed during the invasion. Upon reaching Brain Palace, Geist faces an advanced combat robot activated by Krutes, realizing that the colonel set him up. While Geist battles the robot, Krutes reaches the control center to deactivate the Death Force. He succeeds, but discovers that the robot he activated has failed to kill Geist. Krutes laughs heavily before Geist crushes his skull with his hands. When Vaiya arrives at the control center, she sees Geist set off Death Force, unleashing an army of machines that consume living matter to replicate, condemning all life on Jerra to death in order to have an enemy he can fight.
M.D. Geist II: Death Force
Less than a year after Geist activated the Death Force, which decimated most of Jerra's population, he has kept himself busy by dismantling the Death Force machines one by one. Most of the remaining human population have fled to a remote haven run by a warlord named Krauser. Krauser is another MDS unit, MD-01, who has a technology that hides his mobile fortress from the Death Force. When he encounters Geist, an initial fight takes place, where Krauser defeats Geist, throwing him from a bridge of the fortress into an abyss that is used for waste disposal. Some time after, Krauser forms an Alliance with the remnants of the Nexrum Army in a plan to lure the Death Force machines into an abandoned city and detonate the lethal "Jignitz Bomb" to exterminate them. Unknown to Krauser, the Nexrum officer assigned to aid him plans to detonate to the bomb while he is still in the blast zone via remote. Meanwhile, Geist finds something of an ally in Eagle, a cyborg who detests Krauser for forcing servitude upon him. Eagle provides Geist with a powered suit and weapons.After Krauser and his soldiers have finished placing and activating the Jignitz Bomb, they are confronted by Geist, who wipes out the platoon and engages Krauser in a battle. With the clock counting down to detonation, Krauser's men attempt to rescue him in a VTOL (against the Nexrum officer's pleas), only to be shot down by Geist. Geist seizes the homing beacon that was used to lure the Death Force into the city, and leads the machines toward Krauser's fortress, with Krauser in close pursuit. The Nexrum Officer, now crushed under the wreckage of the VTOL, drops the remote detonator as he dies, causing the bomb to explode. Most of the Death Force is consumed in the bomb's massive explosion, but a large number of the machines fall upon Krauser's fortress while Geist confronts Krauser himself. Geist defeats Krauser in hand-to-hand combat while the Death Force machines consume most of the refugees. At the end, Krauser is shown to be impaled as his fortress goes up in flames. As the end credits roll, it is shown that a small band of refugees (led by Eagle and Vaiya) have survived, possibly signaling a more hopeful future for Jerra. The final image is that of Geist's Empty helmet amid the rubble of Krauser's fortress, with Geist himself nowhere to be seen.
M.D. Geist: Ground Zero
This comic takes place before the events of the first OVA. At a board of Regular Army officials, Lt. Leigh Wong attempts to persuade them to use Geist in battle; he is a genetically-engineered soldier bred to specialize in strategy and versatility, designed to perform as a solitary fighter, rather than within a group. Wong also mentions how Geist strictly follows feasible commands. She is dispatched to a base along with Geist, who has been instructed to work with the squad already stationed at the base, much to her frustration. The squad, led by Col. Stanton, reject Geist, viewing him as lifeless, who in turn is unaffected and assigns himself to the reserves as ordered by Stanton, much to Wong's displeasure.Later, Stanton briefs his men on the mission they will be undertaking, in which they are to investigate and if necessary, destroy a Nexrum collective at a temple within a jungle. Wong interrupts the briefing to make mention of the Nexrum's cyborg units, to the interest of the men who have never heard of them before; her interruption is in hopes that Stanton will make use of Geist, who is the only soldier with experience against cyborgs. Suddenly, a private rushes in to tell both of them to come outside. Sgt. Robard, a soldier with whom Geist has gotten into a fight, lies twitching on the floor with both arms severed, Wong quite sinisterly sees it as proof of Geist's efficiency.
The next morning, Stanton and his men are preparing to begin their mission, only to be halted when Wong and Geist suddenly show up. Once again, Stanton refuses to accept Geist, especially after what happened yesterday, keeping him as a reserve without armor. In the jungle, Geist takes effortless care of their encounters, eventually they reach the temple to discover a Nexrum ship armed with a large cannon. Geist and the soldiers quickly occupy the base, taking the enemy forces prisoner. Wong and Stanton investigate the ship, when suddenly the soldiers are ambushed by cyborgs piloting Nexrum machines. Geist is the only one to survive, having jumped on to the ship once it has begun to take off. On board, Wong discovers a plan for the Nexrum to fire the ship's cannon at their own city, which is loaded with nuclear weapons, and it's been ordered by Earth. With no way to stop the ship, Stanton and Geist take off to destroy the engines, but before they go any further, Stanton makes it clear that Geist is to tell no one of Earth's involvement with this plan, even if Geist outlives him, he must not mention it. The two of them battle with a machine that is guarding the engines, by the end of it Stanton is fatally wounded, and his armor covered in oil leaking from the enemy machine. With his view on Geist finally re-evaluated, Stanton delivers one final order, to don his armor and take out the ship's cannon. Geist successfully does so, tangling briefly with the same machine after he discovers its connections are still active, and prepares to hijack the jet section of it. Geist escapes just in time as a defense unit destroys the reactor circuit controls in the cockpit, destroying part of the ship's thrusters, causing it to dive into the temple. Wong cries out as she sees Geist fly past, unable to save her.
The temple goes up in an enormous explosion, and a Regular Army patrol discovers Geist waiting to be picked up. Before a jury, Geist does not speak of what happened in the mission, remembering Stanton's orders. For this, Col. Krutes comes to the conclusion, based on evidence, that Geist is in some way responsible for the deaths of Regular Army personnel and for failure of the mission. Krutes expresses his wish to execute Geist, but because of President Ryan's input, he is instead to be imprisoned in stasis.