–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
(Attack of the Giant Insects)
Giant Insects. Girls with large breasts. An isolated island. This combination usually spells death, danger, and destruction. And what do you know, there will be death, danger, and destruction. There will be nudity along with several guro scenes, there will be shitty-looking CGI insects, there will be unlikable characters who do morally questionable actions, and finally there be an inconclusive ending to an otherwise terribly written story. Overall, if you are expecting a good story from this OVA, then you will be very disappointed. On the other hand, if you are expecting giant insects attacking our characters, then you might enjoy this OVA.
STORY:
Summary: Oribe Mutsumi and her classmates are stranded on an island after a horrible airplane crash. Mutsumi believes that they will be rescued in roughly three days. Little did they know that the island is inhabited with giant insects. Now, it's up Mutsumi and her knowledge about insects to help others survive the coming days, or die trying.
The story is simple and based on the anime title alone, you can expect an island with giant insects to inhabit the place. Throw in a few high school students, and we got death and destruction everywhere.
Unfortunately, the first couple of scenes doesn't depict that, instead we are treated to one of Mutsumi's past memories. The memory takes place in high school, where she was forced to strip nude in front of Jinno Misuzu and her posses. Then, Chitose shows up and stops them, and then it suddenly jumps to where Mutsumi and her classmates, that includes her bullies, are stranded on the island.
That entire scene was just to show the strong relationship between Mutsumi and Chitose. Why did they throw in that random nude scene, I don't know, maybe for fanservice. Anyway, my first thought was that, they didn't need to throw in the random strip scene. But, fanservice is fanservice.
After that many guro and nude scenes occurs, Chitose gets kidnapped by the insects, she gets rescued, and then the episode ends with everyone surrounded by a nest of Ixodids (i.e., ticks). It's basically an inconclusive ending, however the producer state that this OVA is only a “prologue to the full anime project”. So hopefully, this anime gets a full anime project soon, otherwise the ending will fail to answer many lingering questions.
For some manga reader, there were several differences between this OVA and the manga, for example, (1) the anime fails to depict the death and insect rape of the first dead girl on the screen, instead the anime shows her shriveled up body alongside two other classmates; (2) the anime fails to show Jinno Misuzu having sex with the teacher; (3) the anime depicts how Mutsumi got into liking insects, but this occurs much later in the manga; and finally (4) the anime fails to depict the airplane crash and the scenes that follow.
Considering that this is an OVA, it's understandable that many scenes were left out, but couldn't the producers try to create a longer OVA? Instead of 22 minutes, they should have made this OVA, at least, one hour long, removed many unnecessary nude scenes and upped the guro. Overall, the story is terrible and not very good, unless you enjoy our main characters getting attacked by giant insects.
ART/ANIMATIONS:
The character and background designs are okay, not outright terrible, but mediocre and uninteresting. The trees, plants, and buildings are plain and not very detailed, but just enough to show that the characters are in an unfamiliar forest. Most of the characters have very generic looking faces with little to no scars or other distinguishable features; it's only when the characters are dead, or in the process of dying do we see different and interesting facial designs.
It should be noted that many of the female characters have large and voluptuous breasts, which serves no purpose other than fanservice. Conveniently, the first couple of scenes depicts our main character stripping completely nude, exposing her large breasts for everyone to see. Other moments of nudity includes: Chitose being “insect raped”, and a random female character with her clothes ripped and shredded apart being eaten alive.
The animations are also okay. The action scenes, while tense and thrilling, are far and few in between and, short. These action scenes are improved by the shitty-looking CGI insects, which by its nature appears grotesque and hideous, but the CGI effects further propels that grotesqueness. I don't know if those CGI insects were intentionally or unintentionally created like that, but its effects are well appreciated.
SOUND:
The sound design for Kyochuu Rettou is probably its strongest point. You can hear the sounds of insects flying, insects crawling or scurrying, insects beings smashed or pulverized in half, people screaming and yelling, high-pitched piercing sounds, and loud chatters and vibrations amongst the insects. It's also unsettling to hear insects flying overhead looking for their next prey, or hearing the sounds of several characters yelling and crying for help as they're being eaten alive. These scenes only reinforces the notion that Kyochuu Rettou is a horror series at its core.
The voice acting is outstanding as every voice actor and actress is able to express many various types of emotions, such as fear, distress, disgust, panic, relief, joy, and shock. The background music is mainly there to reinforce the atmosphere and horror elements that are prevalent throughout the series. And finally, there is no opening song, but a dread and dreary ending song that forebodes future events.
CHARACTERS:
It's understandable that there will be little to no character development for an OVA that last one episode long. However, during that time, I found some characters to be unlikable, detestable, and sometimes downright cruel. For example, Kamijo Atsushi, the wannabe leader for the group, doesn't care about rescuing Chitose, the class representative. And when they did find her, he only rescued his friend, and himself, leaving Chitose and Mutsumi to fend for themselves. Jinno Misuzu acts likes a Bitch, and bullies Mutsumi in school, even forcing her to strip in front of her.
The other characters are cliched and unremarkable. Mutsumi is the smart one in the group and has knowledge about many types of insects, unfortunately nobody is willing to listen to her or let her be the official leader. Chitose acts as the stereotypical strict class representative, who is very righteous and wants to save everyone, even those who don't deserve to be saved. Matsuoka is a kind, athletic girl with a strong moral conscious, willing fight at the very front and attack anything in her way. There are several other characters, but they have little presences on the screen or are killed very quickly, making them a non-essential character.
Overall, besides two unlikable characters that cause unnecessary drama, everyone else is boring and cliched. However, that's to be expected from a single OVA episode. Furthermore, it's hard to feel sympathy for any character that has little to no screen time, and then they suddenly die.
ENJOYMENT:
For a 22 minute OVA, it has served its purpose, I mean the anime is called, “The Island of Giant Insects”, and what do you know, there are a bunch of highschoolers struck on an island with giant insects. The premise and story sounds stupid, the characters act stupid, and even the way certain characters die is stupid. Overall, a terrible story with awful writing combined with unlikable characters equals an unenjoyable experience. The only thing I'm looking forward to is, if they do turn this story into a full series/season, then I will enjoy the deaths of many characters, as most of them are unlikable and irredeemable.
