I really wanted to like this one, but the positives just don't outweigh the negatives enough to recommend this vintage OVA.
A young lady escapes the martial arts training of a hundred-year-old hag to seek her older brother. Along the way she encounters her brother's old workmates and fights off some magic users. There's a pervy nerd, a vengeful dryad, and a number of mysterious folks who bark orders from the shadows.
But little of it gets explored. The first episode features a number of nice fights and a bit of fan service (even during the fights!) and seems to set up a direction for
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Jun 5, 2023
JaJa Uma! Quartet
(Anime)
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This is animated way better than it deserves to be.
Playing card themed heroes battle ... who are these people? Who is this guy with bad grammar and a flying drill? Who is the leggy wolf lady? What's up with the Cookie Monster-eyed ninjas? Who's this Joker guy or the Red Lobster guy? More to the point, who are these heroes, zipping around, crashing vehicles, fighting gargantuan chess pieces? Who knows? The world-building and characterization in this brief OVA are as shallow as a playing card is thick. A bit more meat on the story's bones wouldn't have hurt. The world of table-top-game-themed heroes and villains ... 
Apr 9, 2023
Alice in Cyberland
(Anime)
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Definitely a product of its time with a moderately strong start and a pretty weak finish. Fans of the early internet's promise may find this entertaining, back when the world wide web was imagined as an alternative world for users to explore. Here, "cyberland" comes in layers to be delved by the avatars of heroes and misfits alike.
The first episode is definitely the superior one. The animation is better, the story is stronger, the jokes hit better, the stakes are higher. The end-boss monster is tentaclicious per the era's norms. Its tendrils are probably the best animated things in the OVA. The second episode is a ... 
Oct 26, 2022
Kouryuu no Mimi: Mina no Shou
(Anime)
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For an OVA about a guy with a magic earlobe, this anime is woefully mediocre.
A young man has inherited the power of "The Dragon's Ear" which gives him superpowers. Every time he removes his earring, he goes from cute fop to wild-haired Lothario, able to use the superpowers of incredible luck, weather control, hyper-seduction kisses, super agility, and the ability to see the future. These he uses to conquer an evil clan of women and save the girl he loves. The series starts out pretty tame, but by the end of the finale, the show devolves into bonkers. One would assume that a story ... 
Jun 30, 2022
Solidly mediocre 80s sci-fi anime.
Reporter Yoko and her unique photographer Beat are on the prowl, seeking answers about the mysterious Mr. X, a terrorist who has been making a name for himself by blowing things up. Along the way there are robots, mechs, and monsters to stop them. It's standard stuff—so standard that I'm a bit surprised that there was only one OVA made. It seems like the kind of thing that would have really found an audience back in '87. There's just enough blood and bare skin to lure those who need that flavor in their anime, and for the others there's the draw ... 
May 6, 2022
Bai Niao Gu
(Anime)
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This is a sumptuous little film, albeit a bit vague on the story. Magic using characters and creatures meet in a verdant little alcove—but beyond that broad description, I'd have trouble pinning down any other details about the story. Birds, leaves, magic, phantoms, water, wood. The film is maybe more of a poem than anything else.
However, because it is short (15 minutes) I think it's worth watching for the backgrounds alone. Gorgeous stuff. Lush and living, I felt like I could reach out and touch the damp leaves and water-logged wooden huts. The simplified style of the characters' design played well against the watercolor-esque ... 
Mar 16, 2022
Shin Karate Jigoku-hen
(Anime)
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This is pretty dire.
Watching the protagonist slip from one group of horrible people to another, witnessing brutal acts of sick violence and desperate vengeance, starts to feel a little nihilistic. Suicide, murder, torture, sexual assault, racism—this OVA plumbs the depths of the worst things humans can do to each other, so much so that our karate champ often wonders why humans can be so depraved. As a viewer, I started to wonder what the moviemakers were trying to get at. Why tell this story in this way? It's certainly not subtle. In some ways the OVA seemed to bump against the edge of exploitation, ... |
