Choujuu Kishin Dancougar: Ushinawareta Mono-tachi e no Requiem

This is the sequel/true ending to Super Beast Machine God Dancougar, and my general feelings about it are the same as the series, so you should read my review for that first.

Anyway, it was really nice for Ashi Productions to provide a proper ending to the series. It's disappointing that the length of this ending (when the recap is subtracted) amounts to a mere ~30 minutes. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth that Ashi Productions are saying that they could've had the series go on for a meager two more episodes and wrapped it up just as well.

The Death Gaia fight also takes ... up more screen time than the Zorbados emperor himself, which is just bizarre, and when the battle is settled in one blow it's... have I said "disappointing" too many times yet?

There are some positives: Ashi Productions didn't screw around with the budget this time and the only reused frames I saw were character faces, and the frame rate is much improved, as is the art style in general even though things mostly look the same there's more detail with the shading.

My favorite part about this OVA was Shinobu passing Dancougar's controls to Ryo, a thing we haven't seen before that helped make Dancougar feel more like teamwork rather than only Shinobu being at the helm.

Anyway, this is an acceptable conclusion to a good anime, and I'm happy to see a resolution with characters I really like, and suitably there's a real theatrical atmosphere to the whole thing with the lack of background music. Though I view this as a part of the series it gets a lower rating than it individually for not having the build-up the longer series allowed.

Now, as I mentioned in my review on the Dancougar series page, I had trouble enjoying the show. The series drags at times, and can sometimes feel more repetitive than it really is. Most of my issues for the show do seem to come from overhype and expectations. However, I am starting to believe most of the hype is due to the OVAs, and SRW appearances.

Also, like in my review for the series, this OVA is a good starting point for viewers having trouble watching the show. This OVA tries to nicely condense 38-episodes into an hour then give longtime fans the closure they ... deserved in the final 30 minutes. Yet, since the new footage is nearly 30 minutes, it makes me question why there could not have been 39-episodes.

Anyway, the new footage goes to embrace its Super Robot roots by busting out a sword and letting Obari show off! Also, the Emperor dies like a vintage Super Sentai villain, as he is super strong but gets killed easily. In addition, there is a neat hidden message during the final explosion on alien homeworld that reads "Thank You for Buying the Video!" Finally, the ending is still a cliffhanger, but it feels more rewarding than questioning on if the CBF won like the show did.

Overall, I enjoyed this OVA more than the series. I actually look forward to watching the other OVAs sometime soon. I hear the next ones range from typical "heroes return" side-story to awesome wrap-up epilogue. So, I am hoping it will wash the bad taste out of mouth.