Warau Hyouteki

Warning: This is my first review and I also don't have a lot of knowledge of the author so idk much about their "style".

Anyways, on with the actual review!
First off, great style (its the normal one tbh) but it just can't be replicated by new anime because of the amount of more creative freedom studios get.

This is one of those kinda basic stories but thats not surprising given that this is from the 80's.
Even then, this story was decent and deserves a 6 or 7 rating.

The visuals..... well..... they were scary and obviously complemented the horror genre.
yk.... pixelated fuzzy animation usually fits quite well with ... the genre in my opinion.
Although, the animation was kinda eh but it wasn't bad, it was fine :)

No real music aside from the ep and beginning so no real comment on that.

My real issue is with the character, no real development or change... but hey. can't do much in 40 minutes.... and thank the lord he wasn't a loser.

So yeah, overall, decent anime, 7/10... nothing too ground breaking but it shouldn't go in the trash either.

Takahashi, the "Queen of Manga", is best known for her long-running and influential series such as Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku. Hundreds upon hundreds of episodes spanning four decades. It is these comedies that are the mark of her career.

But, in the deep shadows of these giants, Takahashi has also done a handful of dramatic/horror stories, such as this entry in the Rumic World series. But since all the money and all the fame went to the funny shows, these little gems are almost forgotten.

It's a shame, because I prefer her more ... serious works. Laughing Target is a single-episode, self-contained OVA, about two teenagers reuniting after having been promised to each other in their youth, and the insane supernaturally-charged jealously that is the result when the story doesn't start with "happily ever after".

While it's nothing exceptional, it is a good, tight story with some chilling scenes, the standard Takahashi character designs and mid-grade eighties animation. And for the modern anime viewers that are always looking for those hard-to-find 'yandere' characters, this will fit right up your alley.

Back in the mid '90s, I got a catalog in the mail from The Right Stuf International, which was a mail-order smorgasbord of all of the anime they had for sale. There was a ton of artwork and stills throughout the hefty book, with some amazing looking stuff, and I wanted it all! Of course, being 13 years old at the time, and also having a comic book and video game habit, I could only afford to occasionally make an order, as anyone that was into anime at the time can attest to, this stuff was expensive.

Laughing Target was one that had always caught ... my eye when I browsed through the catalog, but I never pulled the trigger on it. Now having finally seen it, it was somewhat of a letdown. Granted, this may be my own fault for having built up a massive amount of hype for it over the years in my head (the same happened when I finally saw Genocyber on DVD in the mid 2000's, yet upon a revisit not too long ago, I kinda liked it), but even so, the story here is pretty damn predictable and it doesn't do many different things to break out of its tried-and-true narrative. I can't deny however that the animation is excellent, it captures a nice atmosphere, and there are some well-done moments of suspense and mystery here and there. There is nothing wrong with this whatsoever; it's a perfectly good anime. But taking into consideration how I had yearned for seeing this way back then and imagining how awesome it must be as I stared at the artwork and screen-shots, mid-'90s me is feeling the disappointment of it being "just" good.