Seto no Hanayome OVA

"A splendid addition to an already successful series."

Seto no Hanayome fans should be pleased with the recent OVA. From the familiar comedy/parody that it is well praised for, to the unexpected heart-stopping horror, AIC and GONZO deliver one of the best OVA of the season. For new Seto no Hanayome fans, feel free to check out my review on the TV series if you are unsure about whether you should watch it or not.

The OVA consists of 4 mini-stories about 15 minutes each. Most of these stories are very humourous and entertaining (albeit a bit all-over-the-place at times), but what is rather lacking is the characters development. In fact, you will be disappointed if you are looking for some romance between Nagasumi and San. In short, most of the relationships between all characters stayed roughly the same since the end of the TV series. This means Luna Papa-san is still trying to bring happiness to his daughter through some ridiculous methods, Gouzaburou is still beating the sh!t out of Nagasumi whenever possible, Nagasumi is still a slave to Luna, and you get the point.

The introduction of the new character Satori (monkey Hideyoshi's younger sister), was not really well done. While no one expected her to be main star for the show, many of us actually expected something more from her (and perhaps give her more screen time and elaborate on her relation with her brother).

As for sound and animation, both are very well executed especially the OP for both episodes. In particular, I personally find the 2nd OP "Tenshi Ranman Love Power" really addictive. To suit the whacky nature of this show, the animation technique used throughout each mini-story differs slightly from time to time and it is always done in such a way as to maximize the atmosphere to get the viewers to the right "mood". This is extremely true when one compare the previous mini-stories with the last story in the OVA.

Overall, Seto no Hanayome OVA (Jin + Gi) met the level of expectation from fans and it is without a doubt that it'll worth your one hour of time watching it.

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Many times have I seen an OVA to a popular series being used to cram in pointless fanservice, beach or onsen scenes that didn’t make it into the series. However Seto no Hanayome is no such thing, as it does its best to cram in all the stuff we enjoyed from the series into this 2 episode OVA.

There isn’t much of a story but this was originally an outrageous Parody, Romantic, Comedy so it doesn’t matter as the main plot remains the same. Each episode is basically split up into two scenarios; where it starts off by quickly setting the scene and all you have to do is sit back relax and see how it all plays out. The first scenario is as follows: it’s the beginning of a new school semester and Nagasumi is forced to move to a class of delinquent students, then we have a date to the movies scenario, followed by a maid café one and to close matters with a horror story. These scenarios may seem pretty ordinary for your average anime but this is Seto no Hanayome, so you can expect an outrageous, original, experience from this short OVA.

The outrageous part stems from the characters and surprisingly all the characters make an appearance at some point, never forgetting to show their usual quirks. There are also two new characters that make an appearance in this OVA but don’t expect any character development, since that was never this series’ strong point.

Although just as you’d expect from an OVA, the production values are quite high. It has the same colourful, comical, designs that made this series so funny but anyone can tell that a lot of effort has been pumped into the outrageous moments and various parodies. The music is also nicely done; with a catchy OP and ED theme for each episode on the other hand the soundtrack is pretty much the same deal.

Overall Seto no Hanayome is one of the few awesome TV series that managed to spawn an OVA that just as awesome. Even though it lacks any form of development and common sense, the fast-paced comedy is what makes up for it and also makes this the most enjoyable OVA I’ve seen in a long time.

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I'm not in the habit of reviewing OVAs that are bonuses for TV series, but I just can't pass up an opportunity to talk about My Bride is a Mermaid some more.

It's not often that an anime comes along and really blows you away the way Mermaid did for me in the comedy department. It's even LESS common for there to be OVAs for a great series and they add something meaningful or retain the same quality of the original. This is where Mermaid again proves that it's one of the most hilarious, savvy productions out there.

Artwork and Animation: 10

It's hard for me to rate this a 10, because it really should be 11. The original Mermaid covered a ton of art forms in its parody and spoof elements, and it's alive and well in the OVA- more pop culture references and other popular anime looks. This time though, the animation got even 'sharper'! One can tell just from the opening that a great amount of attention to detail was paid to these little extras, which is refreshing for in what most other series would be an afterthought. It's silky smooth, more colorful than ever, and greatly fleshed out.


Sounds and Voice Acting: 8

Unfortunately, the OVA was never licensed, and so didn't receive the awesome dub attention that the main series got, but nevertheless, it's still very effective in conjuring up laughter from the craziness. Lunar and Chimp are probably the biggest standouts in Japanese audio.


Characters: 10

Same players, slightly different game. There are two new characters introduced- Saturn- who is one creepy, insane chick. To say more would be spoiling it, but suffice to say that she leaves her mark on Lunar and Nagasumi in a somewhat creepy, but hilarious spoof on the horror genre. The other new character is Chimp's little sister, Satori- a fiendish little brat who has a thing for "bad boys".


Story: 7

Given the short nature of the OVAs, (1 hour of total content, but divided up into 4 chapters, or 13 minute episodes) the stories don't build on each other, but upon the series as a whole. They take place one year after the close of Mermaid season 1, and is the chaos of Nagasumi's life ever funnier! As I said before, it's rare that an OVA adds anything meaningful, but we get to see how things are going beyond the close of the original series, with some fun little short episodes that have nearly as much comedy and as many references as a full episode in the original.
In my opinion, the first episode of the first OVA was the best- with an utterly bonkers takeoff of Battle Royale (known to most as the Hunger Games) where Nagasumi is put in a new homeroom for delinquents run by Shark Fujishiro, who organizes a fight to the death amongst them. Nagasumi of course ends up with a garbage weapon and has to fight The Emperor, a middle school student straight out of Jojo's Bizzare Adventure who's at least 30 years old.
Elsewhere, there's a new transfer student in Gozaburo Seto's class... LUNAR PAPA! Yes, he's still wearing the sailor uniform, and yes, he still kicks a lot of ass.


Enjoyment and Overall: 9

Mermaid is still funny as ever, and some other characters get a little bit of the spotlight in these, particularly Akeno. If you're looking for another taste of My Bride is a Mermaid after finishing the main show- this is a very worthy bonus!

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OVA Episode 1 -
Nagasumi appears in a strange place..
Sun, Lunar and Akeno are starting their senior year,
Nagasumi is fighting for his life, while the girls are fighting for their humiliation.
Gouzaburou is still their teacher, and Edomae is still dressing like a girl.
It's still full of references. The whole first episode is basically one massive reference.

OVA Episode 2 -
Akeno is a maid!
She accidentally caused some damage, and had to get a job to pay off the debt.
Sun, Mawari and Lunar join in too.

In the second part of the episode, something weird starts happening... Ghosts?

Both OVAs are a good ending to the season.