Cleopatra D.C.

I'm mainly reviewing this because none of the reviews are positive on this show yet but I really liked it. This is like Gunsmith Cats but way cooler. If you found your way to this page you're probably already ok with cool unique 90s OVAs and this is one of the best. What a welcome surprise. The girls are super cute and capable, the technology is advanced and the situations try to feel like what'd be used by a super secret spy program.

The main girl Cleo and her secretary have some of my all time favorite character designs. The set designs are beautiful too, ... constantly going to New York and Dubai and France with all the best spots being depicted in the accompanying shots. It's just good solid spy movie fun, like a a more light-hearted James Bond. If any of this sounds good to you then check it out!

Manga writer Kaoru Shintani has had an interesting career, having worked on stories of varied genres: military drama (AREA 88), journeys of self-discovery (HIDARI NO CLOCK), and comedy (I DREAM OF MIMI). Renown seems to elude him though, I guess because his work is rather ordinary by anime standards. That doesn't mean it's not enjoyable, though.

This feature tells the adventures of Cleopatra Corns, a corporate heiress who prefers play to work and who has various adventures. The stories focus mostly on corporate thrills and the race against time to stop deadly plots, and in general are adequately written: there are the mandatory comedy and half-naked ... girls common to anime, balanced with Cleo's fast thinking and employment of resources as she outwits her enemies; however, there is one above-average story involving a dangerous but lonely girl whom Cleo befriends and tries to help, that is well worth watching.

The artwork is beautiful, featuring elegant character designs and stunning backgrounds of cities and vistas. The voice cast is also very good; Maria Kawamura leads an all-star cast as the bubbly beauty Cleopatra. And there is a distinct 1980s vintage atmosphere throughout the feature, which is very nice (in my opinion) or very dated, depending on your view.

All in all, it's a generally decent and fun watch.

“Cleopatra D.C.” tries to be a fun, action-filled series, but falls short due to its messy, disjointed plots and poor attempts at humor and fanservice.

The three episodes, which are self-contained but linear, follow the adventures of Cleopatra Corns, the CEO of the titular company, and her “four aces” or company executives/friends working with her, as they get involved in all manner of global-scale events befitting an action series.

It’s not explained why a 16-year-old is the head of a company that supposedly runs half of the US economy, or how these other people came to work with her, or even who their main enemies are, exactly. ... Perhaps there are details about all of that in the manga. These people own or have special privileges with OPEC, the UN, NASA, NORAD, and even Coney Island, and you’re just expected to roll with it.

The unrealisticness of the premise aside, the stories themselves are messy, and tend to have jumpy progress that isn’t logical. Some of this is done in an attempt to be funny, but the jokes usually fall flat. Key elements of the stories also do not make sense sometimes. For instance, in the first episode, Cleo calls President Bush (really) to ask him to fire a missile at an oilfield in Saudi Arabia that’s on fire, in an attempt to put out the fire. How would that even work? But somehow it does.

The first two episodes are 37 minutes long and based on manga chapters, while the third is 50 minutes in length and is mostly anime original. In contrast to the strictly action-thriller style of the first two episodes, the third one adds in a sci-fi twist and is a bit more serious in tone. However, it’s still full of plenty of “humor” and nonsensical deus ex machinas.

Although the episodes are linear, no real character development takes place, and most of the characters besides Cleo, Suen, and whoever the main person they’re dealing with in that episode is get little screentime.

The art of “Cleopatra D.C.” is unique. While the male characters look generic, the female characters are oddly proportioned, and have massively thick eyelashes. This style has the potential to be appealing, but due to the shoddy animation, it’s difficult to look at at times. There’s another review here that touched on this, but one of the characters has an eye that’s drawn over her hair, which is somewhat distracting. By the way, Cleo is supposed to be Black, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at some of the promotional art for this series. At least her skin tone is largely consistent throughout the series itself.

The voice acting is okay, but nothing special. Cleo’s voice can get a bit irritating. The dialogue tends to be corny, even during the “serious” moments. The three ending themes and background music are forgettable.

Despite the lighthearted nature of this OVA, there is plenty of objectionable content, with the most obvious being the fanservice. There are butt shots galore in this one — even one of the male characters’ bare butts gets shown. There are also almost-but-not-quite bare breast scenes a few times, and Cleo in particular is almost always wearing revealing clothing. There is some violence, with a few minor character deaths and some blood shown. There are scenes of a plane flying into a building in New York City, and a space shuttle exploding — these are reminiscent of actual events, so sensitive viewers may want to avoid this one.

Overall, I found very little to be appealing in this OVA. It certainly wasn’t the worst I’ve seen, but due to the convoluted, farfetched plots that were likely a result of trying to cram way too much into a short runtime, and the attempts at “comedic” fanservice, I found it difficult to watch. Not recommended.