Ranked #6217

Tenkuu Danzato Skelter Heaven

From Idea Factory, the creative minds that gave us Mars of Destruction, comes Tenkuu Danzato Skelter Heaven. I use the term creative minds loosely when it comes to anything from this studio. About the best I can say about this anime is, well its better than Mars of Destruction.

The info page says this anime is based on a game. I have never heard of it but I will take their word for it. Perhaps playing the game would have made the story make more sense. From what I can gather, five cute and huge breasted girls who also happen to be artificial beings are part of a military team of mech pilots. Seriously if you’re going to go through the trouble of making artificial beings you might as well make them big breasted cute high school girls’ right!? Their job is basically to do clichéd school activities and train in bouncing chairs that shake their tits. A crisis situation hits Tokyo when a gigantic mechanical squid monster appears over the city. Apparently this is only a crisis when it starts moving and is immediately deemed an enemy. I guess if a giant floating squid appeared over Stockholm my country's military would react. But I kind of think someone would attempt communication with it first. I mean at least check and see if they have a killer recipe for miso soup first. Our heroines are so enthusiastic about being called to an emergency situation that they rush to their mechs. And by rush I mean they take the time to shower before leaving. There is a gigantic squid floating over Tokyo and they are completely oblivious to this as they horse around and practice archery. Sounds like an exciting story huh? At least its only 18 minutes long, and 4 minutes are OP/EN songs. It will be over soon, mercifully.

The characters are just as pointless as the story. The only way you might remember any of their names is that they are displayed in the OP animation. They are flat and uninteresting and completely clichéd stereotypes. There is also way too many of them. There are almost as many characters as there is minutes of animation. They exist and their boring, that’s about all you can say about them.

Looking at when this was produced I am actually surprised this came out a year before Mars of Destruction. The animation quality and overall production values is light years ahead of the before mentioned classic turd. Though let’s not get carried away, the art and animation still suck pretty bad. Skelter Heaven uses a lot of CG effects. I am not a fan of CG but for the most part these are pretty decent. They aren’t bad so much as silly looking. (in particular the giant floating squid monster) Where it really fails is the integration of the characters into the backgrounds and mech units. It’s hard to describe, but they almost look like cardboard cutouts placed on top of the CG effects. There isn’t much detail to any of the characters and besides their hair styles and colors there is basically no difference in any of them.

The sound and music is the best aspect of this show. Some of the acting performances are pretty horrible though and several characters including the male lead seem to have voices that are horrible matched to their characters. The songs at the OP and EN are ok and are probably the only thing that feels like it was done by anyone with any talent.

Perhaps if you played the game and REALLY liked it you might want to check this out. However, my guess is the game probably sucked really badly too. Its mercifully short so it has that going for it. But it’s also too short to develop any kind of story or interest in it. The ending is also open and unresolved as is the fates of several characters. Not that you will care.


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This show was so great, I forgot the character's names.

This was one of Idea factory's best works since Mars Destruction. The music was outstanding, it really helped bring out the deep emotions that the story was laden with. The art was also quite delicious. I was by no means screaming "RAEP!" and "GET SOME!" while I was watching this.

If you loved MArs of Destruction, you'll probably love this even more.

Skelter Heaven is an outstanding OVA. Of course, it's hard to avoid comparing it with Mars of Destruction, the most notable work of the same company, and I can say that this is definitely worth more attention.

The story is very coherent and easy to comprehend even though the pacing is as fast as a bullet train (It's a common trait of all works of Idea Factory). The writers managed to insert several unexpected plot twists and shocking revelations, and the most amazing part was the final scene. It's as deep as the Mariana Trench and the End of Evangelion combined, extremely thought-provoking and philosophical. The meaning of the final scene can't be comprehended without an insight into the inner world of the characters, because there's so much development and drama in these 18 minutes. Note that all the characters have names, however they can be seen only in the credits roll. Probably the authors wanted to show how universal their characters are, and that's not surprising considering that one of the main plot lines is about the eternal problem of unrequited love between people from different social groups.

Art is definitely the strongest point of the series. Not only the character designs are at the incredible level of typical eroge, Idea Factory decided to use modern technologies to the fullest. Unlike Mars of Destruction which had old-style graphics, Skelter Heaven offers us GLORIOUS 3D robots and space monsters. Even though the characters aren't 3D, they are inserted into the CG models, and it looks especially innovative. Even after five years, other studios still can't reach this revolutionary level of art quality.

Sound in Skelter Heaven isn't as awesome as in Mars of Destruction, there aren't any Beethoven's pieces in the soundtrack. However, the creators didn't hesitate to make an opening and an ending for a single episode OVA, and decided to hire top-class voice actors who did their job of conveying the emotions of the characters perfectly. I'll never forget the heart-rending scream of the heroine when she was in despair during the fight with the overwhelming enemy force.

Overall, this OVA is very enjoyable, it'll literally make you laugh and then move you to tears (though you'll probably laugh most of the time). read more

Before Idea Factory made the MAL famous Mars of Destruction, they made a few other oneshot OVAs. And the one I'm going to be talking about today is Tenkuu Danzato Skelter Heaven or Skelter Heaven.
First I must mention that this OVA is based on a game, so I asume that this OVA comes with the limited edition of the game. Quite an extra, or is it?

Before I talk about the story I'd also like the mention the intro which is an establishing shot of the Earth reminiscent of the intro to Mars of Destruction, which I found amusing. Must be a trademark scene of theirs.

The story is decent. Alien invasion and the squad of pretty anime girls has to fight the invasion of use mecha suits. Not exactly the most original plot but could make for a decent watch. The problem is that the characters for the most part lack depth. The majority are flat, uninteresting and poorly definded, if at all and are just there to look pretty.
In true Idea Factory tradition it would seem, Skelter Heaven has a plot twist you probably won't see comming. I won't spoil anything, but I will say it's not too bad.

The artwork and animation is of fair quality but nothing special. There's some CGI in it. And while it's not too bad looking, it might be a turnoff to some. Basicly, it looks fine.

Sound is Skelter Heavens strongest point by far. There's fitting music this time around and the voice actors sounds like they are alittle bit into their roles, even though they are vaugely defined. And a special mention to the catchy as hell opening theme which made me pumped up.

When it all comes down to it though. Skelter Heaven is not bad like Mars of Destruction so people looking for a "so bad it's good" experience will probably not be satisfied. However It's not really good either so Skelter Heaven ends up in the worst possible position. It becomes very forgettable with the exception of the opening theme.So it's destined to live in the shadow of Mars of Destruction. What a fate.

So if you're desperate for something to watch... go watch something else and don't waste your time with this.




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