May 23, 2022
“Lonely Cats Battle Royale,” a spinoff of 1987’s “Shin Kabukicho Story: Hana no Asukagumi!” OVA, has some positive aspects, such as a promising start and decent music, but it’s rather subdued and lackluster compared to the original story.
The gist of the plot is that Asuka, and her friends Hime and Miko, have been put into a “battle royale”-style fighting bracket without their knowledge or consent, and they have to fend off various groups of delinquent girls attacking them while trying to get to the bottom of who created this bracket and why. Provided you know who the characters are, the setup is okay and is
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easy to follow, but as the story unfolds, it begins to fall apart. The reveal of the culprit behind the bracket, as well as the reason for making the girls fight, is explained clumsily. The climax is drawn out and boring, and although they try to wrap it up at the end, the characters’ interactions with each other don’t feel genuine. Compared to the over-the-top antics of “Shin Kabukicho Story,” “Lonely Cats Battle Royale” is underwhelming.
The characters act roughly the same as they do in the first OVA, but since there’s a different character designer here, some of them look different, particularly Miko. I didn’t even realize she was supposed to be Miko at first. Asuka is even tougher and meaner than she was in “Shin Kabukicho Story,” and she comes across as not being very likable here. Neither Hime nor Miko stand out very much, and Yasuhiro shows up briefly and adds little to the story. “Lonely Cats Battle Royale” has its own set of bullying schoolgirls, just like “Shin Kabukicho Story,” but the interactions between the bullies and their victim, as well as the bullies’ motivations, seem forced. Asuka’s way of dealing with them in “Lonely Cats Battle Royale” also isn’t as satisfying as it was in the first OVA.
The animation is serviceable, but subpar, and as touched on above, the designs for some of the returning characters are different. Also, many of the new characters look bland, compared to the outlandish designs in “Shin Kabukicho Story.” The voice acting is average. The music is decent, particularly the catchy, upbeat ending theme. The direction isn’t very good; it’s hard to tell what’s going on at times.
As for potentially objectionable content, “Lonely Cats Battle Royale” has fighting, blood and references to drugs. Also, gambling plays a major role in the background of the story, as do anorexia and bullying. This OVA is a bit tamer in general than the first one, though.
Overall, while there are a few positive aspects to this OVA, it’s missing the spark that the first one had, and thus comes across as dull, and with a messy plot on top of that. Not recommended.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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