Warning! Here there be spoilers!
I actually reviewed this OVA a few months ago, but I wrote a joke review entirely for laughs. Now I will actually give my real opinion on it. The OVA is a mixed bag honestly. There was a lot more backstory that the Director and writer of the series Mamoru Kanbe wanted to put in, but he only was given the budget to barely make one 20 minute OVA with drastically inferior animation. He knew there wasn't time to fit in the subplots he really wanted, so the OVA focuses mostly on lighthearted comedy. Unfortunately, it decides at the last minute to tease us with some really interesting backstory, but it runs out of time to explain several hugely important details and leaves anyone that didn't read the manga with more questions than answers. The ending of the main series was intentionally ambiguous, but gave enough hints and felt complete on an emotional level. The OVA on the other hand, just suffers from poor "clock management" to borrow a football term.
Story and characters: 8/10
We see Nana trying to adapt to life at Kouta's home for girls with serious psychological issues. This results in some actually pretty funny shenanegins and heart warming moments. Nana is slowly starting to realize that there is world outside of the hell she has endured her entire life. We also see Nana's internal struggle on how to handle Lucy/Nyuu. Even the saintly Nana, who is basically anime Jesus, struggles to forgive the girl that tore her limbs off in slow and sadistic fashion. However, Nana realizes that Lucy has been reborn and killing this alternate personality would be like killing a child with a clean record. Nana contemplates taking Nyuu to Bando and getting her killed in order to protect her new found family from Lucy, who Nana believes is simply evil. Honestly, I don't see how we could blame Nana for thinking that way. However, Nana being her extremely kind hearted self has second thoughts and abandons the plan.
We see Lucy have a flashback to 3 years before the start of the series and 5 years after the festival massacre. Lucy has been laying low for years and living on to one day apologize to her beloved for her crimes. She continues to wear the ski cap that he gave her as a momento. Lucy has met a new friend it seems, a girl that is roughly her age. This girl like Kouta before her treats Lucy with kindness even after seeing her allegedly "hideous" deformity. Lucy seems like she is beginning to trust mankind again and is clearly trying to turn over a new leaf. Unfortunately, the 2 girls are on the run for reasons never explained. The girl, who is never even named has blood on her shirt, but what happened is never explained. It is hinted that she killed someone in self defence, which indeed is the case in the manga, but in the anime you pretty much have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure that out. Lucy tells her new friend that she will go to the police station in the morning. Apparently Lucy is getting ready to take the blame for her friend's crime as a final act of repentence. In a symbolic scene, Lucy gives her friend the ski cap of friendship and humanity, which will soon lead to her tragic demise when the police mistake the girl as another mutant. Kanbe really liked his metaphors between the hat and the damn clock. Did anyone else notice the last thing Lucy does in the main series before listening to her hallucination and slaughtering the festival goers? She takes off the hat and throws it to the ground, abandoning her humanity and desire for love. I guess she went back and got it after the massacre? Anyways, Kurama has been spying on Lucy for some time now and decides this is now the right moment to move in and capture her. Did he know she was going to the police? Is he psychic? How the hell did he even find Lucy when all the clues he had was a picture of Lucy from 5 years ago and the knowledge that she was born in Kamakura? Maybe he just assumed she was still in town and looked for people wearing ski caps in the summer with red eyes. Lucy fights off the guards but shows restraint and doesn't kill anyone, because this new penent Lucy has no desire to kill anymore. Tragically, Lucy's friend takes a bullet to save Lucy, leaving our mutant anti-hero completely devastated. Lucy agrees to surrender peacefully as long as her friend is saved.
Lucy is dragged off in undignified fashion and her ski cap momento was left behind. Kurama promises to save the friend, but callously tells Lucy later that day that her friend has died. Having lost her friend and her symbolic momento, Lucy hardens her heart and filled with extreme rage, starts to become the cold blooded murderer that we are introduced to in episode 1. Lucy vows while crying through her mask that she will make Kurama feel the pain of losing the only people that love him. I have one question. Why the HELL did Kanbe leave in those silly comedy scenes with Bando instead of explaining JACK SHIT during the flashback? Wouldn't that have been a more effective use of episode time? What the HELL was Kanbe thinking? You directed Baccano! You worked with Miyazaki himself on Nausicca! You're better than this Kanbe!
Art: 5/10
The animation took a nosedive from the main series and any seen where characters are actually walking are pretty painful to look at. The animators try to mask the lower quality with the wild facial expressions and chibi style that anime is known for, but this was never done in the main series and looks completely out of place here!
Sound: 8/10
It still has that awesome opening, but this episode mostly uses the comedy tracks, which are the weakest part of the OST and are fairly grating at times.
Overall : 8/10
This OVA has some moments where it shines, so firstly I will explain the good. It explains Lucy's capture and why she didn't kill Kurama in episode 1. It shows Nana's moral struggle over whether it is right to kill Lucy and allows the viewer to better see into the psyche of Nana's character. The OVA also does have some cute moments and some fun comedy that gives us a break from the extremely dark and brutal tone of the series. Lastly, the OVA also manages to do fine with virtually zero blood and no nudity, shutting up the obnoxious haters that think that is all the series has. On the negative side, the OVA squanders many of its precious few minutes on goofy comedy like Nana trying to cut vegetables rather than explain some background that easily could have been summed up and left viewers far more satisfied and less confused. It is too bad Kanbe will never be given a mulligan and allowed to make more episodes to fill in more story.
