Nineteen

So to start, the plot is mostly an excuse to string a series of amazing music vidoes together. The musical selection in this OVA is the best thing about the whole production so the decision to go all out on the music video sections is the correct one. Now, seemingly the plot is mediocre and the character's motivations lacking but this is only because they represent something much bigger. I am going to somewhat spoil the plot here but honestly this is an art project not a to the book story. Everything means something and honestly watching the OVA through a lens is much more ... rewarding than watching it without any analysis.

This OVA was made in 1990 and it is a reflection back on the 1980's bubble burst in Japan. Kazuya represents the new Japan post bubble burst. He is meek and shy and doesn't really know what to do just like Japan as it tried to sort itself out after the burst. The love interest represents the methods of economic development that 1970's and 80's Japan used. The girl's ex represents Japan before the burst as he is very confident and forward much like Japan was with all of their projects and ambitions before everything burst. The break up is the bubble burst. So when the girl tries to hook up with Kazuya, the old methods of doing business and managing the economy are trying to find a place in this new meek and shy Japan (Kazuya). But, the new Japan (Kazuya) decides that shedding those methods (by leaving and driving away in the OVA) would be the best way forward rather than repeating the same mistake. (The scene where Kazuya meets the ex in the apartment is representative of Japan reflecting back on how it used to be and deciding whether or not it wants to continue in the same direction as before.) That is the point of the plot. This OVA is a metaphorical presentation of the feelings and events in Japan as it went through the bubble burst.

“NINETEEN 19” is a 1-episode OVA about the trials and tribulations of young love that’s half music video and half story. Featuring a nostalgic citypop soundtrack, aesthetic visuals and some innovative montages and scene transitions, this OVA has a lot going for it, but it’s bogged down by the uninteresting characters and plot. The sexually explicit scenes and dialogue also make it an uncomfortable watch.

The story revolves around a 19 (hence the title)-year-old guy named Kubota, who spends his days blithely hitting on girls on the street with his friends, and working at a cake shop under a boss who enjoys grabbing his butt. One ... night, he sees his old middle school crush, Fujisaki, in a club. Recently broken up with her long-time boyfriend, Fujisaki is aware of Kubota’s feelings, but she plays hard to get. She eventually reciprocates his feelings, but then she becomes aggressive, urging an uncertain Kubota to sleep with her ASAP. How will their relationship turn out?

The plot is rather simple, and the characters are similarly simple. The main characters get a few brief flashbacks, but that’s it. Since this is only one episode, the relationships between the characters aren’t explored or explained well, so one doesn’t get the full picture they might get if they read the manga. This is really more of a “style over substance” type of anime, so from here on, I’ll talk about those aspects.

The art is stylish, and the animation is mostly fluid, but there are lots of still shots mixed in. Many of the scene transitions are done in an avant-garde style. There are also montages set to music, in which the images range from standard animation to hand-drawn manga-like cutout figures and some other forms of art.

The soundtrack is full of catchy citypop tunes, plus the English song ”Boys! Boys! Boys!,” giving this anime a nostalgic feel. The voice actors are all famous, but their performances don’t stand out here due to the subpar dialogue. Fujisaki (Hiromi Tsuru) says “Kubota-kun” at least 26 times, for instance (I counted). That’s nearly one “Kubota-kun” for every 1.5 minutes of runtime! Also, if you’re familiar with some of the other characters these actors portray, the dialogue feels a little awkward. It’s basically Meryl from “Trigun” trying to get Vash to sleep with her — with Ranma and Dio encouraging him as Soun Tendo sexually harasses him at work. To top it off, the ex is Spike from “Cowboy Bebop.”

There is a significant amount of objectionable content in this OVA, but most of it is in the dialogue. There’s no outright nudity — just some stylized non-detailed nudity around the beginning, and then there are some scenes with a female character in her underwear and a towel. There’s also a condom shown. There aren’t any sex scenes, but there’s almost one at one point. There are several explicit sexual references in the dialogue. In addition to these, there are multiple scenes of and references to sexual harassment, most of which are instigated by an older male boss towards his younger male employee, and these scenes are treated as humorous.

In addition to the uncomfortable sexual content, the story and characters of “NINETEEN 19” are quite lacking, and I didn’t empathize with any of them enough to care about what they were going through. It would have been better if this OVA was either 70% music video or 70% story, not half and half. More story would give us more time to understand and care about the characters, while more music video would have made this feel like something akin to “Cipher.” As it is, it doesn't go far enough in either direction to leave a clear impression.

Overall, “NINETEEN 19” is good at evoking a late ‘80s atmosphere (although it came out in 1990), and as such, those who feel nostalgic for that time period may enjoy watching it just for the images and music, as long as they aren’t bothered by the sexual content or the bland story and characters.

If you're going to do a show where Style trumps Substance, then you better make sure that the style you choose is actually interesting.

Instead, it looks like the creators of this one-shot story must have spent a day flipping through books of Patrick Nagel paintings, while listening to a few albums of Spandau Ballet, followed off by a nightcap marathon of Miami Vice.

About half of this OVA is 'story', which explores the much-trodden and uninteresting path of teenage angst and yearning, first loves and heartbreak. Pure-Pure Boy searches for first love, and comes across ... his junior high first crush, who is on the major rebound. But not all goes as he dreamed. This is interspersed with visual collages and music video clips of forgettable eighties VH-1 music.

This is pretty much a throw-away story, with decent artwork (if very stylistically dated), average animation and cheesy music.