Teito Monogatari

Darker, meaner and sleazier than the live-action adaptations, Doomed Megalopolis stands firm on the tradition of simple carnage, relying on an overwhelming sense of terror to create its mood. Covering the same material as the first live-action film, this OVA greatly benefits from not being compressed into a two-hour runtime. It allows for a more in-depth exploration of its broader narrative. Granted, this is still the first third of a 10-book epic, mind you, so not everything is tied up as neatly as you’d like, and threads that seem essential can be left behind without a care. It can be confusing at times, as it ... has a habit of introducing unwanted or unnecessary plot lines and characters, making it almost impossible to keep up with the storyline. However, that being said, the animation by long-time heavy hitters and personal favourites of mine, Studio Madhouse, is frequently excellent and genuinely unsettling at times. Shadows that creep into the corners of your mind, old Japanese-style theatre techniques and its use of old folk songs that crawl under your skin and chill you to the bone. They even bought back Kyusaku Shimada from the live-action films to play the role of Kato again, and he’s just as terrifying here. On the whole, Doomed Megalopolis offers up a steady balance of action and character interaction with a strong dose of disquieting supernatural horror.

Overall/Enjoyment:
I've seen much worse. Much, much worse. This was reasonably solid and had a fair mix of good and bad points. At 3 hours it's probably a little longer than necessary, and the transitions between leaps in time are a little awkward. Although some cheese is present, it never gets ridiculous enough to where you can't take it seriously. In fact, part of the reason I kept watching was because despite being fairly silly at times, it still presented itself in a manner that at least made an effort to tell a real story.

Story:
Not the most original of stories, naturally, but few seldom are. I ... always say it's more important how you tell a story than the particular story itself. A good writer can make even mundane everyday situations interesting. So to that effect, I'd say Doomed Megalopolis brings just enough intrigue with the introduction of plot elements, the development and progression of events, and the characters involved. There were a lot of confusing plot moments, like the ending, where something may get resolved, but you are left wondering, "So what was the point of all that?"

Characters:
The chars are somewhat interesting, at least there was a respectable balance between realistic and symbolic ones. Not sure any of them are really developed well enough to be particularly memorable, or at least, the more memorable ones are probably the least likable ones...

Art:
The art was fine. Typical of its time. Nothing really stood out to me as bad or ugly, however, there was more nudity than really needed. (To make whatever point one tries to make by including nudity that is...) Also, the main villain really looks A LOT like Bison from Street Fighter :p

Sound:
Mind you, the only version I have is the dubbed. This was probably my biggest problem with this DVD. I had my volume maxed at 100 just to be able to barely make out what the hell they were saying.

Being that this OVA has only one other review I decided to write my first review on Teito Monogatari. Directed by Rintaro as you all know from Astro Boy and Metropolis, Doomed Megalopolis is an adaptation of a historical dark fantasy novel that was written by Hiroshi Aramata. While I have not read the novel I have done some research and found out that this OVA adaption is much darker in basically every aspect. This OVA is in a way incomplete since it was based on the first 4 books of the novel so be wary while watching because like Berserk (Anime) you'll have to ... find out what happens in the end by reading the original source. Since this OVA was created in 1991 do not expect too much. While at times it was ugly and hard to watch it also had some moments that really surprised me. The story itself had a lot of potential but the focus on a more sexualized and violent direction held it back from becoming something much better. It had a good back story but hardly any character development made it lose it's depth and otherwise complex symbolism. What I did enjoy however were the crossovers between Japanese history and the world that Hiroshi was trying to create in his novel. It goes to show that past events can be interpreted and displayed in a artistic manner without losing the viewers attention. I won't go into detail as to what these events are since I would be spoiling the story but if you want to watch something that is not only bloody but visually striking at times I suggest watching Teito Monogatari at least once. I give it a 6/10.