Cyber Team in Akihabara (アキハバラ電脳組) is a 1998 Japanese anime television series created by Tsukasa Kotobuki and Satoru Akahori. It aired from April 4, 1998, to September 26, 1998, on TBS and ran for 26 episodes. It was released in the United States by ADV Films and was also broadcast on international networks such as Anime Network (United States), AXN Asia (Singapore, Philippines and Thailand), Locomotion (Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Spain and Brazil). A 1-hour featured animation film of the series was subsequently released in Japan entitled Cyber Team in Akihabara: Summer Vacation of 2011 (アキハバラ電脳組　２０１１年の夏休み); unlike the series the film was produced by Production I.G and Xebec. The show has an array of characters, many of whom are named after birds, gods, and real-myth villains. The conception design was hand drawn. Media format initial was Japanese VHS Vol. 1-7 release on 23 Dec 1998, along with LD. Outside JP, NA region had 2004 volume and a complete DVD collection box released on 2006, by ADV Films. In 2016, announcement made by King Records for a limited Blu-Ray box set release, are included all various video benefits, a 48P booklet and Summer Vacation 2011 film which already had VHS and DVD JP physical retail.

Story

Twelve-year-old junior high school student Hibari Hanakoganei lives in Akihabara, a suburb of Tokyo, in the year 2010. The current craze among young girls in Akihabara are electronic pets called "Pata-Pi." Hibari seems to be the only girl in town without one and can only admire the PataPi owned by her best friend, Suzume, whom she has named Francesca. Late one evening, Hibari sees a hill and recognizes a person standing beside a tree at its peak as "her Prince", who has been appearing to her in her dreams. She runs towards him and he mysteriously vanishes. A glowing sphere descends from the sky and lands on her palms. It materializes into a PataPi. She hugs it and the adventure of Hibari and Densuke the PataPi begins. Unbeknownst to Hibari, she is under the watchful eye of a shadowy character and is ambushed while walking home from school by strange creatures called Homunculus and a masked woman (Jun). Hibari finds out that they are after Densuke and strives to protect him. When all else fails, Jun calls out a more powerful creature called Cerberus to attack Hibari and take Densuke from her. Out of extreme love for Densuke, Hibari cries out and an intense beam of light descends from the sky onto Densuke. Densuke vanishes and transformed into a woman in a black body suit to which various mecha components materialize and bond to her. Densuke has become the Diva (Aphrodite), who looks remarkably like Hibari. Aphrodite soundly defeats Cerberus while Jun runs away in defeated frustration. Unknown to Hibari, a masked man in black (Takashi a.k.a. Shooting Star) stands at the top of a building, observing every moment of what happened. Shortly thereafter, Aphrodite vanishes, and Densuke re-appears and falls to the ground as Hibari quickly scoops him up. The next few episodes focus on unlocking the Diva within the other PataPies. It shows how the three girls get along and form the Cyberteam in Akihabara, aimed at stopping masked women and their Homunculus from terrorising the city of Akihabara. In subsequent episodes, Kamome and Tsubame are introduced. Washuu is revealed as the founder of a Celtic organization called Rosenkreuz (Rose Cross in German) and he himself is Christian Rosenkreuz, hiding under the name of Washuu Ryuugasaki to carry out his agenda. He once worked for the famous alchemist Paracelsus and collaborated with a French man, Cigogne Raspailles, and a young American man, Crane Bahnsteik to invent a device that can grant immortality (Divas). However, due to their secrecy, none of their inventions is revealed to the world. After Crane discovers that inventions made by the world lead to World Wars and the implications of Divas falling into the hands of warmongers, he ran off to space in his invented space rocket with all the plans on the immortality project. The owner of the PataPi can fuse with the Diva to form a complete Diva. This is only possible for those who are the chosen Anima Mundi and possess a pure and undefiled heart. Towards the end of the series, only Hibari and Tsubame fuse with their Divas; Hibari beginning in episode 17 and Tsubame during episode 21. In the movie, all five of the girls fuse with their divas just prior to the film's climax in the Primum Mobile space fortress. The fact that Takashi is a clone of Crane, and used by Washu like a puppet to awaken the sleeping Divas in space (kept in Crane's space fortress the Primum Mobile), causes Takashi to rebel and find his identity in the world, with the three women Jun, Miyama and Hatoko joining him. Towards the end of the series, Kamome's grandfather, Shimabukuro Sengakuji, reveals everything he knows about Rosenkreuz, the concept of Divas, which are artificial forms powered by neutrinos, and the principal Washu, who is the mastermind behind the events. Soon after, Washu discards his pseudo-identity, reverting to the original Christian Rosenkreuz, and changes the school into a large altar to welcome the descent of the Primum Mobile. He finds out that Crane was the one controlling the events that happened and dies soon after of old age due to rapid aging. Then Crane issues an ultimatum to Japan that he seeks the Anima Mundi and will threaten to destroy the country and the world if it is not met. Finally, at the end, the girls rebel and the Divas sacrifice themselves in place of the girls. At the end of the series, it appears that Takashi survived. He is seen at the end of a speeding train with a small girl who looks exactly like Tsubame. She has a Pata Pi that looks exactly like Petite Ange. He cradles the child in his arms and says, "Come now, my Anima Mundi, we have work to do."

Cast and characters

PataPi

Cute cybernetic toys that are a hit in Japan among schoolgirls, PataPies are miniature robots that can be upgraded by purchasing better components and equipping it with special devices, like the Kame Hame Maki that can tell fortunes from horoscopes. Developed and propagated by Washu, the sole purpose of PataPies is to stimulate brain waves in girls so that they can synchronise with the Divas in the Primum Mobile, but the creator of the PataPi is Crane himself. Six PataPies are featured in the series:

Songs

Episodes

Reception

THEM anime gave the series three stars out of five. Carlo Santos of Anime News Network gave the first ADV Films DVD volume a D for the original voice acting and art, an F for the English dub voice acting, animation and story and a C− for the music.