Teito Monogatari

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.

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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.

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Story: 6/10
The base is there. I mean, it's based off a novel, so it's quite literally there. However, it feels incomplete, since it technically is- it's based specifically on the first four books of the novel (which is around 1/3rd of it). It's a darker (AKA more violent and sexualized) adaptation of the source material, which I'm okay with, but I can see that driving away potential viewers. The nudity is almost, if not always, unnecessary. Even if you don't mind the darker aspects of it, you'll most likely find that the story feels unfocused and even rushed at times. There's lots of confusing plot elements, which can be explained with the knowledge that this isn't actually the full story, but that doesn't help anyone who's unfamiliar with the novel viewing this for the first time.

Art: 6/10
Pretty standard for the time. Nothing really stood out to me, be it in a good or bad way. I personally really like this type of old anime styles that are a bit more on the realistic side, but that's personal preference. Again, too much unnecessary nudity, that's really my only complaint with it. Some of the animation was pretty good, too.

Sound: 5/10
I watched the original japanese version, and there was an instance where I couldn't hear what was being said (or sung, in this case)- I thought something was up with either the video or my headphones, but nope. The sound was just meant to be really, really quiet. Other than that, it sounded okay for the most part, keeping in mind that this is an old anime, of course.

Character: 6/10
None of the characters are fleshed out properly. This is a huge shame, especially with the main antagonist, Katou, and Yukari, another main character. These two are the focal points of the story, but just about nothing gets revealed about their past. The lack of development is a shame, especially in the case of Katou- we get to know he wants Tokyo to be destroyed, but not why, and that left me wanting more.

Enjoyment: 7/10
I know I've been complaining for about the entirety of this review, but I actually really enjoyed myself watching this OVA. In fact, there wasn't really a point where I was bored viewing it. It's just a shame that when analyzing it further I couldn't get more than what I saw.

Overall:6/10
It's not awful. In fact, I would recommend it to people who are into weird and/or old anime that doesn't get talked about much. But if you haven't watched it, don't set yourself up to be disappointed- it's fun and short, but it's nothing spectacular. I can see that there was effort put into it, but it could've been better. And hey, it actually left me wanting to read the original story, so I guess there's that too.

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