OBSCURE O.V.A.S: *Battle Angel

Yukito Kishiro's original manga Gunnm ran for 9 volumes in the early 90's, followed by an even longer follow up titled Last Order, and now continuing in the Mars Chronicle manga, with some various prequels and spinoffs. The manga gained such international fame that it became the focus of James Cameron to do a live-action feature based on it, but since Cameron become more overwhelmed with hit Avatar saga, after a near two decades it was hand over to Robert Rodriguez to direct as the last official movie under the 20th Century Fox label. Prior to the American movie's inevitable release though, the manga first adapted into a 2-episode OVA in 1993 by Madhouse directed by animator Hiroshi Fukutomi which roughly covers the first two volumes of the series, which also acted as a blueprint to the American movie as it also recaps the same opening story arc. The OVA didn't go further than the two episodes because the original author wanted to focus more of his attention on his manga rather than an anime based on it.

Taking place in the future where a good portion of the Earth was decimated in world wars, one of the few remnants of civilization is the dystopian town of Scrap Iron City which lies directly below the floating utopia of Zalem that tosses their unwanted material down to the dingy city populated largely by cyborgs. An exiled Zalem citizen named Ido now works in the cityscape scrapyard as a cybernetics doctor who sometimes checks the huge piles of junk for salvageable robot parts. He happens to find the remains of an android girl that he takes back home and repairs to act as his surrogate daughter that he has named Gally. The young mechanical maiden later discovers that Ido is also a part time hunter-warrior which are volunteer bounty hunters that patrol the city for wanted fugitives. Gally decides to become a hunter-warrior too, partially to help her would-be boyfriend Yugo who secretly has been robbing innocent people of their spines so he can buy his way up to the Zalem. Gally has to confront the rowdy criminal Grewcica who was sent to kill her by Ido's former partner Chiren, a character original to the anime which was rewritten in the movie as being Ido's ex-wife. Gally learns that Yugo is now wanted for his crimes and watches as he is gutted down by a rival hunter-warrior, so our battle angel brings his remains to Ido who saves him by turning him into cyborg. The now mostly mechanized Yugo is later killed in an attempt to physically climb up to Zalem by a giant ring of spinning spikes. The OVA ends with Gally and Ido mourning what was left of Yugo in a small, ballooned basket.

Madhouse really delivered in this production with their detailed character designs and fighting sequences. There is also a mind-bending amount of violence in this for a 90's anime, that was mostly tempered down for the movie adaptation. Most Americans might have trouble accepting the fact that the translated version of the title character is Gally instead of Alita which was the name used in the original manga English release by Viz Manga. The American version of the OVA was available on dubbed VHS and DVD with a completely separate dub made for the European market by Manga Entertainment. Both of these releases were put on ice after James Cameron got the rights to the movie which also gave him authority on its anime adaptation, even though the OVA has been out of print for decades now with nothing available for streaming. It's unknown if the anime will finally get a re-release or even put on Blu-Ray, so you might need to hold your breath if you want to see a licensed edition of this cyberpunk classic.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *D.N.A. Sights 999.9

The late Leiji Matsumoto had several manga titles over his career, most of which were part of a shared continuity known as the Leijiverse. The manga Fire Force DNA Sights 999.9(having no relation to the Fire Force anime TV series)was later turned into an OVA one-shot in 1998 that was released in America under the now defunct Urban Vision only on dubbed and subtitled VHS. That limited engagement is enough proof that this particular anime didn't leave the same kind of mark that other Leijiverse sagas like Harlock or Emeraldas had made. Like other Matsumoto projects, there is the addition of a number to the title similar to Galaxy Express 999 and Interstella 5555 to distinguish them from other anime. DNA Sights 999.9 doesn't have any strong relations to the rest of the Leijiverse aside from some gratuitous cameos in its finale. It does have some impressive animation for the time though by Madhouse Studios.

Set in the far off future of 2024, a meteor had previously split up and caused mass destruction all over the Earth. The survivors of this apocalypse set up a new order secretly led by an alien agent known as Fouton who is trying to cover up the involvement of her people from the arrival of an investigating visitor. The girl reaches Earth in a fiery impact and goes by the name Mello appearing as a ghostly image. She is found by young scavenger Daiba who begins to notice that he has special mental abilities that allow him to figure out any kind of technology. He is later rescued by Yuki, a teenage girl with similar powers that just awakened in her. They find a cat who can communicate telepathically as all three of them have reached a higher level of evolution that gives them understanding of not only alien science but potential future tech. The two teenagers and their cat rendezvous with a more corporeal Mello and realize that they have to leave the planet in order to ready mankind for their next stage of evolution while the Earth spends the next thousand years recovering from the meteor attacks. Fouton is having none of that as she calls the remaining forces under her command to stop their launch into space. Our advanced heroes end up getting saved by Captain Harlock and his ship the Arcadia along with a supposedly automated Yamato from Star Blazers which seriously screws with the Leijiverse timeline as most of the events involving their respective realities haven't happened yet.

Exactly why the Leijiverse history is so wonky is explained slightly in the Harlock Saga OVA where Harlock goes to war with the Norse gods resulting in a new unstable timeline mixing in different titles into a single reality. DNA Sights 999.9 is a victim of this cosmic reshuffling which makes for an incoherent story that is like a chemistry experiment gone wrong. Trying to figure out where the plot is going is a decathlon of endurance with the only relief being that the running time is under an hour.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Mask Of Zeguy

Mask Of Zeguy might seem like a premise merges Fushigi Yuugi and Fate/Stay Night where two schoolgirls get sent to a parallel world that is inhabited by famous historical figures, but this was made in 1993 before either franchise got its own anime. The OVA was only two episodes long which wasn't based on any existing source material. The story is a hodgepodge of ideas and concepts that were poorly thought out and seriously hard to follow. Its mixing of time travel and parallel worlds only make it more confusing as director/writer Shigenori Kageyama made it out to be which only helps if you're fluent in Japanese history. Since this was before isekai became the instant hit it is nowadays, it is difficult to see what kind of plot they were going for, even with cyborgs and werewolves added to the fold.

Miki is a schoolgirl who has a fight with her friend Sayaka, and they both end up in a magical realm called the Cloud World. This place is a crossroads of several different points in time allowing people to travel from one point to another, but the only way to navigate it was the instincts of a common looking cat. Miki runs across a Shinsengumi samurai and an eccentric scientist who invented an airship with its own self-replicating organic engine whose droppings can be used as defensive mines. Her friend Sayaka has been captured by an evil queen that now possesses the titular Mask of Zeguy which allows its owner to gain access to the portal between both their world and ours. This villainess employs a time displaced Leonardo DaVinci who makes her instruments of destruction while at the same time operating a small puppet doppelganger that he keeps on his shoulder. Miki is recognized by some telepathic locals as being the reincarnation of their prophesied priestess who can use the power of the deity Zeguy to oppose the evil queen. Sayaka is thought to be the priestess and Miki has to rescue her from the queen's clutches. It might seem like they won't be able to conclude the series like several 90s OVAs, but the final battle with werewolves and cyborgs wraps up pretty quickly as the two schoolgirls get sent to their own time after defeating the newly powered queen.

This OVA staggers all over the place with misleading ideas and plot complications that seem to resolve themselves offscreen. There is unforgivable meandering throughout the 2-parter leaving the watcher bewildered as to what the heck is going on and where the resolution is coming from. You can pretty much just leave this one behind and spare the $100 asking price for the Central Park Media DVD.

ANI-MOVIES, *Missing Link

Laika Studios already had a winning streak with their stop-motion animated movies Coraline, Paranorman, and Boxtrolls, their latest endeavor was a little less epic than their previous entry of Kubo And The Two Strings. Their more humor-based entry was Missing Link calling back to the literally adventures of Henry Rider Haggard and Arthur Conan Doyle while creating a family-friendly comedy in the spirit of Disney's Emperor's New Groove. Animator Chris Butler is back as writer and director of this Victorian era globetrotting story.

In the late 19th Century, knighted explorer Lionel Frost hopes to eventually join a gentlemen's club made of big game hunters. Lionel fails on his latest attempt to get a picture of the Loch Ness monster, so his new plan is to find the cryptid known as Sasquatch after receiving a letter regarding the creature come from the Pacific Northwest. Once in America, Lionel finds a large hairy creature he names Mr. Link who informs him that he was the one who sent the letter. Link is the last known Sasquatch and he wants to find his distant Yeti cousins on the other side of the world. Lionel disguises Link as his new valet as they seek to acquire a map left behind by a deceased explorer which is now in the possession of his widowed wife Adelina, of whom Lionel had a previous fling with. Meanwhile the club's president Piggot-Dunceby wants to prevent Lionel's admission into their society and sends rival hunter Stenk to sabotage his efforts as the newfound threesome who have set out to find Link's Yeti brothers. They travel to the Himalayas and discover the Yeti sanctuary, but the white hairy cryptids are a society of snobs that see Mr. Link(now with the first name of Susan)as an unwanted country bumpkin. After being tossed into a pit, Lionel, Adelina, and Susan make their escape for a final battle between Piggot-Dunceby and Stank on an ice bridge over a deep chasm. Adelina leaves them to find her own adventure while Lionel takes on Susan as his partner as they plan for an expedition to Atlantis, despite the fact that Disney already beat them to it.

Missing Link is a fine middle of the road film meant to entertain audiences while simultaneously providing a sensational visual experience. The stop-motion animation by Laika is still up to the quality of their prior movies' standards, although not as captivating as their past releases. It's mostly clear that this was intended to be a pacifier for movie buffs, not being too deep but just a rollicking good time.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Iczelion

Titled Iczer Girl Iczelion in Japan, Iczelion is the third entry in the Iczer anime franchise, as well as the final one so far. Toshiki Hirano returns as the writer/director for this "supergirls from space" saga, even though it appears to take place in an alternate universe from the previous two Iczer anime titles. There was a trio of radio drama albums that is supposed to bridge Iczer Reborn to this new 2-episode OVA, none of these CDs were available in America. This was available on dubbed and subtitled VHS through ADV Films with so far no DVD release. Iczelion was one of the last in a line of anime titled like Bubblegum Crisis and Ronin Warriors where it's a team of heroes that use special armor to fight bad guys.

Sent in what is probably modern Earth, yet another girl named Nagisa gets pulled into a fight between good and evil aliens. This time, it's the remaining Iczer sisters from the previous two anime titles who have created a new form of AI called Iczels which take on the form of robotic suits that merge with the natives on other planets, sort of like being drafted into the Lensmen or Green Lanterns. The opposing aliens are the cybernetic overlord Chaos whose forces called the Gaes plan to take over the Earth as soon as they take out the four Iczel warriors assigned to it. This includes the Black, Silver, and Gold Iczelions, as Nagisa is now the White Iczelion who is constantly being hunted down by Chaos' sister Cross. Nagisa's hope to be a female wrestler might be an homage to Iczer-3's original voice actress herself being a real-life wrestler, but the whiny girl keeps running away from the deadly droids while her wouldbe teammates handle the bulk of the fighting.

Iczelion does feature decent animation for a 1995 release, even the plot seems to dive more into the superhero market like various sentai or magical girl shows at the time. The dub is tolerable, even though if you were familiar with ADV Films' track record its not too hard to notice the lack in quality. If you were looking for an all-girls take on Saint Seiya, then this is a good if not brief enough attempt at that formula.

ANI-MOVIES, *Son Of The White Mare

After 40 years, the lost animated fantasy epic is finally available in English. Originally titled Feherlofia, the translation of which is Son Of The White Mare is based on a Hungarian fairy tale that borrows elements from Norse mythology. The late Marcell Jankovics was the director of this full-length movie who already had created the first Hungarian animated movie, Johnny Comcob, and his style seems to reflect that of the Yellow Submarine film. Marcell Jankovics was later asked to be a consultant for Disney on their abandoned Empire Of The Sun project which eventually became The Emperor's New Groove, and you can see his work reflected by future animators like Genndy Tartakovsky in Samurai Jack and Primal. The film has been gloriously restored by American company Arbelos Films making it fresh and new for post-20th Century audiences.

A god king known as Forefather has his kingdom taken from him by a trio of multi-headed dragons which capture his son's wives causing the princes to be killed and have their own castle locked off in the Underworld. A single white mare manages to get away and she gives birth to three human sons, the last of which, Treeshaker, receives messages from Forefather's spirit to stay with his horse mother until he has finally come of age. Treeshaker leaves his deceased equine parent behind as he seeks out his other two brothers, the bumbling earth mover Stonecrumbler and the weapons forging Ironrubber. The brothers have to deal with a taunting long-bearded gnome who keeps ruining their dinner plans, only to have Treeshaker finally succeed in descending into the Underworld with a special sword his brother crafted for him. The youngest son takes on each dragon separately, freeing all of the princesses, but he gets trapped in the Underworld. Treeshaker gets help from a griffin after protecting its children who gives him a flight back upstairs. We learn that the brothers were reincarnations of Forefather's original sons, and they go on to be with their former wives each in their own kingdom.

Son Of The White Mare is a fantastic ride employing constantly shifting visuals both in the characters and backgrounds. You can see how stories like this one went on inspire future fantasy properties such as Masters Of The Universe and Marvel's Thor. The original Feherlofia tale is formatted like other creation myths, although there are elements of modern influence in the movie adaptation like some of the dragons appearing like machines of war. The legacy this film left behind made its mark first among 80s animation aficionados, and now has the chance for a totally fresh generation of viewers.

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Yotoden: Wrath Of The Ninja

From 1987-1988, anime studio J.C. Staff released a popular 3-episode OVA series titled Yotoden that was popular enough for Japan's version of MTV to put together a compilation movie that was released out English under a new title, Wrath Of The Ninja. This was one of the first anime to stick its flag in the ground under the genre of historical fantasy, and even got a one-shot manga adaptation. Yotoden wasn't a samurai epic, but more of a supernatural martial arts series co-written by Ultraman author Sho Aikawa.

Set in an alternate version of 1580's Japan, the tyrannical Oda Nobunaga starts a campaign to take over the country by sending his armies of disposable ninja monsters lead by his cadre of generals with their own unique powers, like being able to summon up a giant triple-headed caterpillar out of nowhere or possessing an enemy's body like a parasite. Nobunaga's forces had already destroyed two villages that each had the last descendants in the line of a martial arts schools escaping with a special weapon. One of them was Ayame wielding a short sword, the other is the katana toting Hayate who meets Ayame after she encounters some random bandits. They both head to the village of Hagakure which is the last of three fighting schools where they are joined by Ryoma who owns an enchanted halberd. All three weapons are supposed to be the only thing that can defeat Nobunaga and his demonic forces. The trio goes through multiple campaigns and personal struggles before finally reaching their fight with the evil ninja lord, only to find that the whole war was a scheme cooked up by Nobunaga's right-hand man, Ranmaru. The creepy underling had manipulated all these characters to generate enough negative energy to open a door to the underworld. The three heroes of course stop Ranmaru thanks to Ryoma's sacrifice.

This was dubbed by Central Park Media, although numerous bootlegs were shoved on to the American market, some of which labeled under ADV Films but unauthorized. The mid-80s anime design and fighting sequences are above average for the time, but if you want the full version try to find The Complete Yotoden Saga edition.