Story
Well, with it's story alone, I don't think that Nineteen will win over too many fans. It is presented as a somewhat standard coming-of-age teenage love story the likes of which has been told many times through both live-action and animated film. It's nothing groundbreaking, but we are at least given a coherent plot with a proper climax and resolution.
Art
Backgrounds are all very detailed and well done. It's fun to see all of the name brand products and familiar places that are included. There are also a few creatively directed scenes set to only clips of music which I found to be quite enjoyable. The characters have the standard late 80s/early 90s OVA design so nothing in that department particularly stands out. If you're a fan of the style, you'll be a fan of what's here as well. Overall, a great job by Madhouse that's still looks good 18 years later.
Sound
The music of Nineteen is what will make this OVA memorable. It's soundtrack consists of mostly dance/pop tracks from the late 1980s. As this was distributed by Victor Musical Industries, I can only assume that the music was considered to be an important part of the production. The result of this is a highly successful soundtrack with my personal highlight being the use of Sabrina Salerno's "Boys (Summertime Love)" in a very memorable sequence. The voice acting is also above par with the entire cast providing convincing voice work. Additionally, we get to hear an early performance by Kikuko Inoue as the lead female, Fujisaki.
Character
This OVA has a very small cast which places the focus on only our two main characters, Kubota and Fujisaki, his love interest. Since the story is told through Kubota's perspective, we don't get to know much of what Fujisaki feels beyond what she makes obvious to Kubota. This is an aspect that left me slightly frustrated and disappointed, but on the other hand, I can understand the reason for this as it made me sympathize with Kubota a bit more than I otherwise would have. There was some character development for both and I liked that they behaved realistically in their situations. The remainder of the cast play minor roles and are really nothing more than set pieces. However, with there being only 45 minutes available, I think that you can't ask for much more than we were given.
Enjoyment
I went back intending to view just one particular scene again and ended up re-watching just about the entire show. That is, in fact, what prompted me to write this review. Therefore, I can say that there is certainly some replay value here.
Overall
Nineteen is an above-average OVA which seemed to have been lost in the large sea of mediocre videos produced at the time. Hopefully, as I myself was only able to discover it recently, others will also follow suit. It is definitely worth a look.
