This short OVA discusses the concept of virtual world vs. real world. There is network and people can actually get ‘inside’ there networks and interact virtually. The story takes place when a young man is asked to join an organization called FLAK, which job is to dive in the network and attack the hackers who try to hack into FLAKs servers. This is only a portion of the story, the story is a lot more complex than this, there is revenge, friendships, and secrets waiting to be unraveled.
The animators did a good job with the character designs and backgrounds. The buildings were beautifully drawn, the interiors were very detailed and the slums looked real. There is nothing too fancy about the art; in this is what made it beautiful. But that is all; it was beautiful, not extraordinary. The characters, on the other hand, were averagely drawn, there was nothing new in the designs, but they were (well some of them) beautifully drawn. There were some details that were better than other things. The mechs and fighting scenes were done in a very good way, the mechs were designed beautifully and the fights were smooth and tens at the same time.
The music was one of the strong points of this OVA, from the quick beat of the fighting scenes, to the quite rhythm on the hills, to the sad tone of the music box, all of those made a good combination of sounds. The opening theme was actually very good, it fit with the futuristic theme of the OVA. The ending theme was beautiful, it gives a sense of melancholy which also fits with this OVA’s theme.
This OVA had various types of characters, we have the good people, the bad people, the victims, the culprits, the friends, the enemies, and so forth. Some characters were quite average, the types you would see in many series; but some were actually quite good, there were hidden pasts, tragedies that engulfed some of the characters. There was also a strong emotion that motivated the characters do some acts. Some were even ready to do some extreme things to reach their goals. The characters in this OVA were pretty good, there was some decent character development and some of them deserved the viewer’s sympathy.
This OVA is a good watch, actually, it’s more than a good watch. It might take some time to get used to, but once the viewer gets used to it one can see that this OVA has much more that it offered. One should look beyond what was shown to the viewers, one should try to understand the message the developers were trying to tell to us. Even in a futuristic world, even when the the real world and the virtual world are slowly mingling with each other, there is value of ‘real’ relationships, of real friendships.
Another point is, when people can freely dive into the network, if they were attacked by a virus or something their physical bodies in the real world would suffer as well. Are we humans ready for this? Are we willing to create a virtual world that is so real we might actually die in reality if we died virtually?
