Dirty Pair no Ooshoubu: Nolandia no Nazo

I felt that the seriousness of the OVA distracted me from the plot a bit. Dirty Pair shouldn't be this serious, although it was quite a bit more lighthearted than the previous OVA. However, the plot was neither rushed, nor dragged along, with convincing plot twists to keep me interested. Additionally, the plot was very hard to read.

The visuals were pleasing, living up to the crisp animation quality of the series. This OVA was a bit more fearless about pushing the limits of the characters' bodies, going so far as to, at least to me, imply that Kei dreamed about getting tentacle raped, a ... scene I found rather disturbing. However, one scene rarely hurts the image of an entire feature.

Overall, the feature was definitely better than Flight 005 Conspiracy, addressing most everything I mentioned in my review of that OVA. The way Yuri was portrayed (very serious, and a bit of an action girl) made me wonder what happened after that mission that made her so girly. Crisp animation, deep dialogue, and Mughi actually being useful (sort of) made for a good watch. I would recommend this OVA to even casual Dirty Pair fans.

An odd follow-up to a great series. It's apparent that Affair of Nolandia wants to be a bit of an "event" in the sense that it wants to be bigger, darker, and more serious than the TV Show, but in doing so loses a lot of the original's charm. The more surreal, morose tone is interesting at times, but the plot just doesn't have enough meat to justify the runtime which makes the whole thing feel sluggish. While some of the animation feels more consistently fluid than the show, the action is very low-key, the colors look dull, and the attempt at making the characters ... look more like real people just makes them look blander and kind of off. The attempts to be a bit more "adult" don't really fit the established tone, Dirty Pair was always a bit flirty and fanservicey, but this one has a couple of stereotypical tentacle bits that felt out of left field. Kei and Yuri are at least their usual selves, but even that doesn't work, because they're right back to their usual goofing after things that should be a bit more somber. Overall, this OVA does have it's moments, but the inconsistent tone, unimpressive action, and sluggish pacing make it kind of a drag. Not even the music really sticks out and that was a huge part of the original's aesthetic.

This felt to me like a long, lower-budget, weak episode from the Dirty Pair TV series. Production values seem lower across the board. Art is much rougher, though there are a couple nice backgrounds. Musical numbers are okay, but generally forgettable. The main weakness is the writing. Very little is explained as to why anything is happening; with all the surreal sequences mixed in, it just feels like a bad trip. Like a couple of the weaker episodes from the series, it feels like the elements of the story are all there in a rough form, but loosely jumbled together, like the writers didn't get ... enough time to revise and refine their ideas. The pacing is very wacky; there are several moments where something serious or deeply disturbing happens, followed immediately by some light-hearted comedy, which just comes off as jarring. Character motivations are also often confusing. Instead of problem-solving, like they usually do, the Dirty Pair ("Lovely Angels!!") seem to spend this entire OVA simply running around, while (often rather unpleasant) things happen around or to them. All this, combined with a more serious tone that cuts into the characteristic lighthearted charm of the TV series, makes this OVA kind of a drag.