Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro

Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro is a pleasant surprise in a sea of formulaic OVAs and anime. To an unsuspecting viewer expecting a complex plot from a short movie equivalent format, the OVA, might end up frustrating you. At least to me, the most precious quality of this animation is the simple fact that it is utterly unpretentious. I cannot recall a female protagonist placed in this position of power that she occupies here in Dougenzaka. Anyone acquainted with Japanese animation knows how unusual it is to see a female CEO. Women are often relegated to owners of small commercial establishments, let alone ... being president of an entire company. In 2016, for the first time, a woman was elected governor of Tokyo, so you can imagine where things stood on gender issues back in the 90s. The ugly true is that less than 1% of Japan CEOs are females. To summarize, Ai no Shiro is in no way a disruptive narrative tackling gender inequalities, but it can still breathe a fresh air that was lost in the production of animations with more adult themes. If a 90s animation can humorously address Japanese society’s taboos in under 30 minutes, without having to worry about shame and pettiness, then I think the trip is undoubtedly worthwhile. P.S.: Thanks for Josei demographic cut for breaking the norm.

“Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro” has one of the dumbest plots I’ve ever seen in an OVA, and that’s saying a lot. There is nothing redeeming about the vapid story — heck, it’s not even “so bad it's good” material — it’s just a lame, nonsensical excuse for a romantic comedy.

“Milky Passion” follows Hiromi, a 20-year-old woman working as a stereotypical office lady at a large Japanese company, who is whisked away into a car after work by two suspicious men and taken to a love hotel, where she’s told by the manager there that they want her to become the hotel’s new ... president. Before she can decline the offer, made to her because her late estranged father was the hotel’s founder (and she was also born in that very hotel, by the way!), she’s given a fancy apartment near the hotel with designer clothes and accessories, which impress all of the people at her workplace, so she agrees to it (and presumably quits her other job). Qualifications? Experience? Who cares about those things when looking for your next president?

As president, she doesn’t do much of anything. She tries to at least observe some of the daily activities of her fellow employees at the love hotel — which has an unusually large staff for a love hotel — but the manager, a (naturally) handsome man named Fujiwara, tells her she doesn’t need to do that. So basically she’s just getting pampered and treated like a princess without actually having to work.

After a former coworker she had a crush on tries to force himself on her at the same hotel (during which she gets saved by Fujiwara in an incredibly ridiculous way), a foreigner checks into the hotel and intentionally causes a bunch of problems for the staff. Right after he leaves, someone conveniently comes in with a newspaper article stating that that very guy is planning to open the ultimate love hotel in Japan. Will Hiromi and Fujiwara’s hotel survive competition with the foreigner and his fancy, high-tech hotel? And will Hiromi’s romantic feelings towards Fujiwara be reciprocated?

This OVA is quite bad all around, and the above synopsis doesn’t even get into the worst parts — like the scene where they treat the idea of being raped as a joke, the part where Hiromi’s coworker tells her she needs to dress prettier, wear makeup and put in effort to become a “full-fledged woman,” and of course the nudity and many sex scenes (mostly still scenes) that come from setting this OVA in a love hotel. I was facepalming and rolling my eyes continuously throughout this OVA due to all of the banal plot developments and dialogue. The characters are so barely there that I wouldn’t even consider them characters; they don’t really have personalities, not even stereotypical ones. The animation and art are both of poor quality, and character designs sometimes go off model. The voice acting is not good, despite the cast being filled with famous voice actors. The ending theme is so bland, you’re likely to forget it as you're listening to it.

Overall, this is a terrible OVA with nothing redeemable about it. Avoid.