Honoo no Labyrinth

You completely miss the point of this anime. COMPLETELY.
It's not just another parody OVA with bunch of fanservice.
It's a USSR and Russian culture parody. So, for haters it does not count as worthy, but we Russians (and I think Russian culture lovers) like it very much. Not all, but most of us, who is not an ill hooray-patriot and can laugh upon its birthplace.
I am not a patriot (who said wapanese?..), but I still like Russia, so thematical jokes I found sometimes funny. For example, this anime.
It is good. It is really good.

Story: 9. An ordinary tale about neophyte-samurai turns to become a crazy ... and action story. Imagine that.

Art: 8. Maybe it's because I like old-fashioned drawing style.
Who said about boobs? Go to hell with your boobs, if you can't see anything more.

Sound: 8. It's not so special, but Kalinka-malinka in ending - that's a very interesting move.

Character: 10. Wapanese-samurai - you won't see somebody like him in lots of anime, right? Of course, there are some anime and video-game characters which wants to be Japanese, but without such deep color.
Another characters are not so original, but samurai sweeps them all.

Enjoyment: 10. I liked it. Really.

Overall: 10.
Very good "cranberry". I laughed out loud.
We want more like this.

Спасибо, чуваки!

Ok all I have to say about this OVA is one thing.

What..the..!#$%

This would have to be one of the most random anime that I have ever seen in my entire life, even more random than Paranoia Agent. But I have to admit that this was a pretty funny show and it made me laugh at several scenes throughout both episodes and I really enjoyed it. So I am going to give this OVA a 10 for being so funny and for being so random.

Ever heard of the saying "It's so bad, that it's hilariously good"? Well, I guess you can say this is one of those animes.

Story 7/10
So, when you read the synopsis for the story at first. It sounds completely ridiculous, right? But, when you actually watch the anime and story unfold, it's hilarious. It's about a guy, Galan, who is obsessed with the samurai lifestyle and even wants to become one if possible. When his friend, Natsu, gives him a ancient sword as a present, strange events start to happen (i.e being attacked and his friend asking him to marry her). Now it is up to ... Galan to stop these strange events.

(Also, you got panties in your face, how worse can the story get, right? xD)

Art 8/10
The art is very good. Some scenes were badly done, which is why I took points away.

Sound 7/10
The soundtrack is good, nothing spectacular here.

Character 9/10
Man, all the character are so funny! You got Natsu who has a dad who is a pervert and wants to grope her, to which Natsu beats him up (despite that he says he enjoys it). You got a overly protective servant of Natsu, who is really strange. You have a freelance reporter who speaks in a weird what seems to be Texan accent xD And you have your protagonist, Galan, who is stupid at everything he does xD

Enjoyment 8/10
At first, I thought this was going to be a serious samurai anime. Boy, was I wrong! This is a comedy and it's really funny and I ended up really enjoying it!

Overall 8/10
Don't think this is a serious samurai anime 'cause it's not! This is a comedy that has many hilarious laughs. If you're just looking to laugh at something, then I recommend this anime. But if you're looking for a more serious samurai anime, then this is not it.

Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts on this review and any feedback you may have for me. Until next time!

Rate a 6
English Dubbed

Story
Pro:Simple and straight forward
Pro:had some okay/cheese lines/jokes.
Pro:Ending was done in a nice comical manner.

Con:Too predictable with comedy and some aspects of plot. Mainly with character's body language. On the positive aspect of it the character was drawn perfectly. So, unless you knew what you were looking for you wouldn't notice it. The curse of over watching anime i suppose. Where aspects of surprise diminish.
Con: Ending was conflicting in regard to main female character's love. Was love more important or money?
...
Art
Pro: In terms of the ending credits they were original but the elongated picture was too slow. I understand teasing is tempting but realistically you aren't changing the rating with each picture so why delay it? For tension is good for buildup and buildups tend to be better than what was just shown.

Pro: characters were nicely drawn along with background.

Characters
Pro:all presented a kind soul regardless of good or evil standing. A great concept for those that appreciate happy films.

This is the essence of anime.
Labyrinth of Flames is a completely wacked out little OVA that never stops coming at you the whole way through.
Its funny, its sexy, it has unique & memorable characters, it has fantastic animation, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome.
It doesn't have any deep lore, it doesn't have fight scenes that you'll find on anyone's Top 10 Anime Battles of All Time list, it doesn't have a touching romantic resolution between the main guy and girl, but it doesn't need any of that.
Because this anime has soul. Soul that drips from every word and frame. ... Soul that reminds you why you love anime.

Labyrinth of Flames is the anime of anime.

I guess what I'm saying is, it's pretty good.

Honoo no Labyrinth is what I consider a very decent anime. It's a short 2 episode OVA. For the 1 hour run time I would say it was enjoyable, yet simple.

The Good:
Overall I enjoyed it's art style, very 90s which I enjoy, and for an OVA the animation quality itself isn't too shabby. I also thought the humor wasn't too bad, it was kind of hit, and miss with more hits for me than misses for me personally. I felt the characters were nice, and decently written.

The Bad: The humor I felt while enjoyable was very obvious with it's punchline. I felt the ... over abundance of panty shots were too much, but it's an ecchi anime, what am I to expect?

Would I recommend it?: Short answer, yes. It's an hour long, it's goofy, and filled with OVA cheese. It's not perfect, but it's a fun time.

Not bad for an early 2000s anime. I found this one mildly funny although it kind of left more to be desired in my opinion. The plot was more or less basic and most of the characters were entertaining hilariously, still it did not grab me for some reason.

The main male protagonist was okay yet Natsu and her aunt were the only two characters who I really liked.

While I love Samurai-themed anime, this one did not excite me as much as I thought it would but made me laugh when the humor was well struck. It's not terrible but at the same time kind ... of meh.

Labyrinth of Flames is horny, goofy, and funny as hell, proudly leaning into anime's most ridiculous tropes from start to finish. However, it does so in a way which preserves its unique little world as something all its own, not feeling like carbon-copy ecchi slop that's so common in the medium. Beginning with the story, Labyrinth of Flames finds itself following in the footsteps of the inimitable Golden Boy, with an oblivious yet optimistic horndog of a protagonist surrounded by beautiful women getting wrapped up into hijinks of a nature far beyond his comprehension, and sometimes more serious than he is made to handle. In ... this way, Labyrinth of Flames does well, delivering regular laughs, and crafting a short tale that is simultaneously eager and self-aware. It excels in laying on the stupid, lowbrow humor, while not losing itself in it. The best part of the writing is how they harp on Galan, and make frequent jokes referencing the fact he's Russian. However, it isn't perfect. In a show like this, it has to absolutely nail the execution, and for the most part it does. However, there are moments where the comedy falls flat, and certain gags which don't land, and when you only have 2 episodes there's only so much room for error. Most of these have to do with jokes surrounding the father, Shigemitsu, who I believe was intended to be much funnier than he was, but I'll get to that later. The art is the strong point of this anime, wreathed in that characteristic warmth and detail which 90s anime is known for, despite being released in the year 2000. Pretty much everything about it is fantastic, from the vibrant use of color, to the character design, and seamless execution of visual gags. I can't emphasize enough how beautiful the art is, and how much it adds to the type of comedy this show is trying to pull off. I also must mention that, while this is an ecchi anime, complete with the frequent use of low camera angles, it's actually way more tame than you'd expect. It only just earns that title, to be honest. I'm not making a judgement on that one way or the other, it's just a creative decision I wasn't expecting. The sound is great, with fantastic voice acting, sounds of life, and music. The soundtrack is particularly notable for its Russian musical motifs, and the bold use of 'Kalinka' as the ED song, which is a wild choice when contrasted with the slow panning shots of scantily clad anime women, adding an almost surreal element to the comedy. The characters are notably stronger than one would typically expect in an ecchi, and I think this is part of why the whole thing feels so put together. All the characters have their own quirks, even the myriad anime girls who are usually only there to be sexy in your typical ecchi. Kasumi is a maid in a short-skirted uniform, but she's also awkward and literally anemic, leaning on an IV stand nearly the entire show. Natsu is the rich heiress of her influential family, but she also has rage issues and often takes matters into her own hands. Galan is our oblivious Russian protagonist as mentioned earlier, but he's also a massive weeb, who wants nothing more than to be a real life samurai. These descriptions only scratch the surface, but they're not all great. Specifically Natsu's father, Shigemitsu, who comes off as a one-note, run-of-the-mill pervert, with no other crazy trait about him. Everybody else has really funny contrasting traits, so he comes off as one-note, and takes the wind out the sails of certain scenes he's in. Of the cast, my favorites are Kasumi, for her hilariously unique character archetype as the anemic yet obsessive maid, and Galan, as a well-written goofball protagonist who fits perfectly as the leading man for this kind of story. Overall, Labyrinth of Fire is lovable garbage, and though it does have some unmistakable flaws, it features a much better execution than one would expect going in, which betrays a level of creativity and dedication that elevates this title above its comparable peers in the ecchi genre.