Project A-Ko 4: Final

This is an improvement over the previous OVA for two reasons.

1) There is at least some crazy superhuman kung-fu and cartoon violence.
2) Kei, introduced in the previous OVA, goes from being a cookie-cutter bishonen love interest into a strangely passive lust-mannequin who loves him some porn. This makes for actual comedy when all the girls fight over him like a piece of meat.

Beyond that, it needs less of C-Ko whining and more of Mari doing hundred crack girlslap.

Listen, I can't give this lower than a three stars on account of it being Project A-ko, but this is a big step down from the first three because of its responsibility to "conclude" the series (there are two more after this but they appear to be spinoff-sequels), and its inability to actually do so.

Yeah, the thing is hilarious, and the animation got an upgrade for sure. As usual, a bunch of disparate plot threads converge into one wacky, nonsense-filled action extravaganza in the finale, but this time, the connecting points are very weak and at least one subplot ends up being a dead end ... with no resolution. Plus, the lessons learned from the previous movie ("Gay is the Way") are not only forgotten, but retroactively erased, as the male love interest from the last movie is brought back with A-ko and B-ko still fighting for his affections despite everything... And then C-ko's growing discontentment being a literal rehash.

But hey, we didn't exactly come this far into Project A-ko because the plot was good, right? It once again gets gay as A-ko and B-ko realize they've forgotten their true reason for fighting, which is over our ditzy space princess, and it kind of works better as a metanarrative this time because of the way C-ko has been increasingly sidelined since her starring role in the first one. It's just... BIZARRE that they'd redo half of the plot of the original, even if this time involves a mecha A-ko robot fighting against a fleet that interrupted a hasty wedding ceremony being held at a high school gymnasium.

Very little in anime will ever top the Assembly of the Public Worker Defense Force gag, but I really wish this one had a little bit more time to bake before it came out.

“Project A-Ko 4” is the final entry in the main “Project A-Ko” series, and it’s arguably the weakest of them. It’s got plot threads that go nowhere, multiple fake-out endings and twists, and the girls continue to obsess over a guy who couldn’t care less.

Even compared to the other three, whose stories are unrealistic to say the least, the way the plot develops in this OVA is pretty out there. I got the impression that the writers came up with 3 or 4 different storylines and tried to brainstorm a way to tie them all together before the episode ended. I say “tried” because they ... weren’t successful; some of the plot threads just abruptly end — they attempted to turn them into gags but the punchlines fall flat. And the ending (the final one we get after the fake-outs) doesn’t make much sense.

Similar to the previous OVA, in “4” the main characters tend to act out of character at times, usually with the purpose of delivering a joke that just doesn’t work. There are a few new minor characters introduced in this episode, and they don’t get much screen time and aren’t developed well. Also, although this is the last entry in the main series, the main characters have received little to no development (but I guess that’s normal for a show like this). We do get a little bit of development for the teacher, Miss Ayumi, though.

The animation and art are on par with the rest of the episodes, as is the voice acting, so nothing to note there. The ending theme, “Sayonara no Signal,” is a rearranged version of the melody of the movie’s ending, “Follow Your Dream,” with completely different lyrics in Japanese. The background music is decent.

Regarding objectionable content, this OVA has a few scenes with nudity, particularly one with a sex act being performed. There are some upskirt shots, which is normal for this series, and there is at least one crude joke in the dialogue. The violence is cartoonish. There are also some flashing lights here and there, so you may want to be careful when watching this if you are photosensitive.

Overall, if you have watched “Project A-Ko” 1 through 3, you might as well watch “Project A-Ko 4” to finish the series, even though the conclusion is lacking in many aspects and won’t give you any closure. I wouldn’t recommend watching this OVA otherwise.