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There’s more space opera/fantasy adventure out there featuring that classic character of Japanese comics, Cobra!
Cobra The Animation: Time Drive is a 2-part anime (originally created for the OVA market in Japan) made in 2008 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Space Adventure Cobra comic by Buichi Terasawa. Cobra The Animation: The Psychogun was also made as part of this project (I wrote about The Psychogun and the comic originally in this article here, click to read all about the goodness).
Time Drive follows the story of Cobra’s partner Lady Armoroid  fading, literally. Not just weak but almost as if she’s crossing over into another dimension. Cobra takes her to a queen of time and space to find out what is going on and is forced to travel into the past to unravel the mystery and save her life. Not only does he come face-to-face with Lady Armoroid’s past as a space princess but also crosses paths and finds the plot intertwined with himself from 20 years earlier.
Time Drive has a ton of science fiction elements but really plays up more of a fantasy vibe with demons, men who turn into swords, magic and more. Although there is that fantasy element, like any Cobra story, it is mixed with the sci-fi aspect nicely and never feels out of place or a misrepresentation of the source material.
A fun aspect here for Space Adventure Cobra fans is getting to see (and go on) an adventure with Cobra and Lady Armoroid from 20 years ago before his plastic-surgery and the bounty on his head, and before she was locked into her living-metal body.
The staff behind Time Drive have created a 2-parter that is enjoyable even if you know nothing about the original Cobra series, so check it out. Currently you can watch it for free at www.crunchyroll.com . Enjoy!
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net