First, let me briefly address the backstory of this OVA's development. To oversimplify things, Under the Dog was an idea from the 90's for a 26 episode anime that was never made. Certain people were very passionate about the project though, and believed that they would have more success if it was funded by the masses, rather than by other companies that might want to affect the creative direction that the anime takes in order to fit their own agenda. They made a kickstarter campaign with a beautiful and exciting trailer advertising Under the Dog, and they managed to raise nearly $900k to make it. Fast forward roughly 2 years, and after various development issues and changes to the team working on it, this OVA is the result.
So, the question that many are asking is, "was this worth the wait/money?" And here's where I want to make my point, because a lot of people are saying that it wasn't. Think about what we got, and think about what they wanted to make. This is a story that needs 26 episodes to make - their options were essentially to cram the entire plot into one short OVA, cheapening the entire story and ruining the entire idea of having more creative freedom on a project that they're passionate about, or to essentially make a teaser for the full story that makes us wonder but doesn't answer our questions right away. Personally, I'm very happy that I contributed $75 towards the latter rather than the former.
This OVA is actually pretty spectacular as a pilot/teaser if you ask me. For one, it shows that there is indeed talent behind this project - yes, the visuals don't look as crisp as the trailer, but it still looks quite good and the animation during the action scenes was on point. Beyond that, there is a surprising amount of detail that builds a narrative on top of what is actually being said by the characters. A lot of people like to preach "show, don't tell" when it comes to storytelling, and a lot of anime does a lot of telling rather than showing, which to me isn't that terrible of a thing. Take JoJo's Bizarre Adventure for example, if they didn't explain everything that was going on all the time it would be impossible to follow, and a huge part of the style of JoJo's is the presentation of their long-winded explanations. In the case of Under the Dog though, I'd say that there's a lot more being shown than told, and I appreciate that as well.
I'll probably start spoiling the episode a bit from here out, so this is your warning if you haven't seen it yet and are interested in avoiding spoilers. You can already tell that I liked this quite a bit though, so if all you're looking for is a recommendation, consider this it.
What I liked about Under the Dog was the little things that it tells you about its world as you go along. Thinking of this as an episode 0 or even an episode 1, I have a pretty solid idea of what I'd be getting into with this story based on this one episode. It seems that something that was meant to give people hope is now some kind of military threat, so much so that even seemingly normal, unassuming schools are equipped to be completely locked down with barricades at a moment's notice. Whatever this issue is results in people turning into terrifying monsters that are immune to normal bullets, and there are at least 2 factions that take interest in this - the US military, and an organization that creates "flowers," which are girls that are trained to be assassins under the threat that if they fail, their families will be killed. These girls carry out dangerous missions of assassination as well as protection of certain individuals that are for some reason labeled "white," and I can only assume that their assassination targets are all labeled "black." The girls seem to be convinced that if they can finally find a person that is truly "white" that they can all be saved from this situation, implying that this so-called "white" person can bring an end to this military struggle that the world is dealing with. Whether this person can act as a cure to whatever makes people monsters or as some way to shift the power over this force to one side or another remains to be seen, but what is clear is that people who are "white" can change to being "black," which seems to mean that they will start turning into a monster and need to be killed.
Naturally, this brings up a lot of questions, and thankfully, almost no answers. Let's assume that they'll eventually be able to make a full series out of this - I am deeply interested in what is happening and how things will happen from now on, which is a great way to feel at the beginning of any story. Here are some of the questions that I'd like answers to based on this episode (keep in mind, I didn't read the plot synopsis before watching so I only know the context that was shown to me in the actual episode): Why is the US military involved and not the Japanese military, given that this seems to be based in Japan? (This implies that whatever issue that is going on is being dealt with on a global level, or is considered important enough to apply the largest force possible to take care of.) Why is this military force at ends with the flowers and whoever controls them? What is causing people to turn into monsters? What does either side stand to gain by capturing someone labeled "white"? What is it that Hana injected into herself? Why do the flowers' eyes glow green? Do they have the power to disrupt people's guns or are they just observant of the correct opportunities to rush in for an attack? How much of society is aware of this issue? What powers do the monsters really have? Are they mostly biological or are they partially machine, based on the apparent force field that can deflect bullets? What was up with that badass gun Anthea used to actually damage that monster? Did Anthea's yelling at the end actually stop the monster, or was it just distracted by something else? If it did, seriously, what powers do the flowers have? And for that matter, why is it necessary to essentially hold their families hostage? What determines who will become a flower or not?
I have other questions but if I get into too many details it'll just drag on too long. My point is, I have a lot of questions, and having questions means that I find the anime interesting. If it wasn't interesting, I wouldn't care and therefore I wouldn't have questions. But it was interesting, because it deliberately gave me a lot to think about and wonder about. More than anything, this OVA made me crave the full story, which is a perfect way to introduce a story. Yet, I see a lot of people complaining. Unfortunately, the majority of people that I've seen complain about this OVA have offered very little explanation of what makes them not like it (saying "it's shit" doesn't mean anything to anyone, unless you think that your opinion is so important that no one will need any explanation in order to agree with you). The main complaint that I've seen boils down to 2 things, the animation quality and the "lack of story." As for animation, if you were expecting it to look exactly the same as the kickstarter trailer, maybe you'll be disappointed. But it does look quite good to me, definitely still above average.
And as for "lack of story," I think what people should be saying is "lack of conclusion" or "lack of answers," which is honestly the entire point of this OVA's existence. This OVA introduced a lot of concepts, it primarily follows 2 characters, a "white" person and a "flower," and both of them die by the end of the episode. Their stories got a conclusion, but the world did not, because the overarching story has not yet concluded. Anthea, the main character, doesn't even show up until near the end, and from what I noticed, she doesn't have a single speaking line of dialogue, just a couple grunts and a really great yell at the end. The OVA baits you into thinking that Hana and the one guy were going to be the main characters, only to reveal that they only existed in order to give us insight into all of the primary conflicts of the world that this story takes place in. I really disagree with the idea that no story is being told here, because in the span of these side characters' short stories, by the time they each died I had learned enough to be interested in this world and the many, many questions that I would now love to have answered someday.
So, TL;DR: This is a fantastic pilot episode that raises a lot of questions in a really great way that makes me want more. I'm giving it an 8/10 because if there was a full series based on this, I'd probably give it at least an 8/10 based on the potential I see here. If this ends up being all that we ever see out of Under the Dog, I guess I'd probably lower it to a 6/10 or maybe lower. If you expect this to be a full story contained in a single episode like Little Witch Academia, you will be disappointed by this because it's written to only work as a 26 episode series. It's simply not a full story, but it's a promising start, and I think it deserves a bit more praise for how good it is at being what it is.
Oh, but the English voice acting sucked 90% of the time. I was laughing at it for the wrong reasons, I kind of wish that it was Japanese people speaking "Engrish" instead so that I could laugh at it in a better way. There's a difference between "bad pronunciation" and "bad voice acting," and I'd take the former any day.
