Tobira wo Akete (1986) Episode 1 Discussion

What did you think of this episode?

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Jan 25, 2014 9:56 PM

lanblade

Offline

Jan 2011

3324

THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
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Wow, I actually really liked this OVA.

Strong independent women. Male characters which aren't oafs.
Realistic tragic back-stories.
Realistic character interactions.
An antagonist with a decent cause.

I feel like I've found the fucking unicorn of the anime world!

Oct 9, 2015 10:24 PM

basspig

Offline

Nov 2013

499

lanblade said:
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
----------------------------------------
Wow, I actually really liked this OVA.

Strong independent women. Male characters which aren't oafs.
Realistic tragic back-stories.
Realistic character interactions.
An antagonist with a decent cause.

I feel like I've found the fucking unicorn of the anime world!

I saw this nearly thirty years ago. Got it from a tape trader in Hawaii. I've always had fond memories of this OAV.
The soundtrack is an old favorite of mine, especially "Ai Saratakute" from the scene of Raideen's funeral pyre.
Been looking for the CD for a long time. Very obscure. Even my Japanese friend doesn't know this anime.

Nov 25, 2015 8:08 PM

_-_Sally_-_

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Jun 2014

22519

This was pretty exciting to watch. I somewhat got a He-Man/She-Ra vibe when watching it.

Jun 25, 2017 3:54 AM

mozgow

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Jul 2014

4294

Never judge anime by its cover, and in this case by a score.

Seeing it had a score of 5.86 I expected something enjoyable, but nothing one would call good. What I found was a classic fantasy adventure with good animation (high quality of the 80s), memorable characters and damn good story.

If it was a bit longer (maybe full 2 hours), with more time spent on characters forming bonds, it could even be a great anime.

mozgowSep 30, 2021 1:32 AM

Sep 29, 2021 5:49 PM

FMmatron

Offline

Nov 2016

32013

Love me some isekai adventure and this was a pleasant surprise for something I didn't have any expectations for.

One Piece episode 914 & 915 & 1027 were a mistake and 957 brought the salvation - FMmatron

Oct 23, 2021 6:46 AM

mtsRhea

Offline

Jul 2016

455

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

contains nudity btw

May 10, 2022 2:26 PM

Fullmettle

Offline

Aug 2020

278

The moment a buff Herculean character with white hair rode in on a giant chicken, and then turend out be a major antagonist, I knew this OVA was going to be special.

While quite a simple story, it does do an excellent job at depicting it's themes through a contrast between it's fantasy setting and it's real world setting. The characters are all fairly likeable, and a lot of modern anime could take notes from this on how to write strong female characters in a believable way (minus the bathrobe-girly-sleep-over-pillow-fight-scene, which in context was absolutely hilarious for all the wrong reasons, even if it did a decent job of reinforcing the OVA's themes).

The main villain even has a decent motivation, and while his plan isn't very good, the logic of "war breeds innovation" holds true in real life, and carries a wonderful parallel to the OVA's main theme of "conflict being a necessary part of personal growth and development".

It's also just really fun, with well choreographed fight scenes, really silly and entertaining magic, and generally gorgeous art and solid animation. The soundtrack is nothing to write home about, but does it's job very effectively. More could have been done to flesh out the side characters, but overall an entertaining watch from beginning to end, and funnily enough, one of the few isekai I actually like.

Also love that detail about the fantasty character with the silly neon hair colours thinking that the main cast look weird for having dark hair. Stuff like that is great.

May 26, 2022 11:47 AM

Catalano

Offline

Oct 2010

21239

very good fantasy movie, it kinda had it all, bare tits, violence, a cool fantasy world, some fun characters, friendship, action, honorable fights, a decent villain. Very entertaining
7/10

Mar 27, 2023 9:47 PM

SnowxFlower

Offline

Jan 2013

Want to watch this one but couldn't find it legally subbed or dubbed.

'Dreams Start by Believing' ~ Haruhi Suzumiya

Feb 19, 2024 11:45 PM

#10

PrawnGuard

Offline

Jan 2021

526

This was metal af. Loved this! They're sword fighting on the back of a flying dragon, how sick is that?? Dimida and Neko's battle princess costumes were cool as hell, you had Neko with the Carrie psychic attacks, and the final boss was something else. They reach him and you expect it's going to be this dramatic battle and he's like "nah, you helped me, thanks for that, there's no reason we need to hurt each other, here's the way home btw and have a nice life." What a cool villain. No, he's not even a villain, he's just the antagonist but seems like a pretty nice guy in the end. His methods were a little bloody but you can't fault his plan really, and at the end he helped Neko by saving her life a few times and didn't ever want to hurt her. Never seen a final boss like that before in any piece of media now that I think about it. And his costume with the black cape and giant horns was wicked. That black knight falconer was really cool too. He injures Dimida and she wants to fight on so he handicaps himself so it's a fair fight. All the "bad guys" were really cool dudes.

Can't say enough good things about this one really. I went in having zero idea about what to expect or what the genre even was but it was really entertaining. Neko's voice was a little "shirouto" but looking up her VA on here this was her only role, ever apparently. I can let it slide. The guy's special power was turning into a lion was... oddly specific and strange, but it worked for the story. This felt like a cross between Genmu Senki Leda with the art designs and the light hearted comedic elements and Legend of Lemnear with the medieval battle aesthetic and dragons, though Lemnear came out three years later. I would love to see this get a BluRay remaster like Project A-ko got.

PrawnGuardFeb 19, 2024 11:49 PM

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Tobira wo Akete (1986) Episode 1 Discussion

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