So let's get into the first video game-themed Oh Me, Oh My, OVA! with a quartet of my choosing, two of which are very well known among older anime fans & saw official English release, and two of which you might not have known even existed!
Debuting back in 1991 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Sonic the Hedgehog was Sega's response to Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. games on the NES/Famicom & would become a massive success in its own right (due, in part, to Sega of America's Tom Kalinske managing to convince his Japanese bosses to make the first game the Genesis' pack-in game, in place of Altered Beast). By the mid-90s the series was on the verge of entering a tumultuous time (the game intended to be the next main entry was starting to enter true "development hell", & would eventually be cancelled), but was still more than successful for Sega to greenlight the production of a two-episode OVA adaptation in cooperation with Taki Corporation (now Odessa Entertainment) & General Entertainment (which went defunct in 2011), the same companies Sega would later work with for the (absolutely terrible) Panzer Dragoon OVA. Released in early 1996, & animated by Studio Pierrot, the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA would eventually get licensed for international release by ADV Films, which combined both episodes into a single "movie" & initially released it on dubbed VHS & dual-audio DVD in 1999 before re-releasing it on DVD in 2004 under its short-lived ADV Kids label. In modern times Discotek Media (which has released a number of anime based on Sega IP, including Sonic X) has admitted that they'd love to re-release "Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie", and Sega is more than happy to license it out, but unfortunately it's currently stuck in legal limbo due to Sega losing the paperwork that clarified how international royalties would get paid when it comes to the music & voice work; Sega is able to continue offering the OVA in Japan, but international licensing is not doable at the moment. However, is the Sonic OVA even still truly worth all this effort, nearly 30 years after its original release?
Sonic the Hedgehog & Miles "Tails" Prower are enjoying a break on the beach one day when they get an emergency summons from the President of Planet Freedom... only for it to be revealed that Dr. Eggman was actually behind it, having held the President & his daughter Seirah hostage. However, this time around Eggman doesn't look to be the villain & instead is pleading for Sonic's help. Eggman's titular city of Eggmanland has recently been taken over by a massive robot calling itself "Black Eggman", forcing Eggman out & putting his robotic Egg Generator into overdrive, and if not stopped it'll create an explosion that can cause massive destruction across Planet Freedom, both the Land of the Sky outer shell that Sonic & his friends live on as well as the Land of Darkness inner shell that Eggman resides in. Sonic & Tails begrudgingly accept the mission, and shortly after they depart Eggman & Seirah wind up finding themselves flying about in a mysterious metal orb that crashed into the President's office. However, while Sonic & Tails eventually get the help of their buddy Knuckles the Echidna on the side of the villains is Hyper Metal Sonic, a robotic clone of Sonic that has all of Sonic's data, making him essentially an exact clone.
Stylistically, the Sonic OVA is very much inspired by what's technically the first anime "adaptation" of the character, which would be the opening animation for 1993's Sonic CD (which, coincidentally, would get a PC port later in 1996, which allowed said animation to be seen in much higher quality). I don't even mean that solely by visuals, which were done by Pierrot & director Kazutaka Ikegami instead of Toei/Studio Junio and director Yukio Kaizawa, but also the music by Mitsuhiro Tada very clearly follows the generally jazzy & upbeat CD score by Naofumi Hataya & Masafumi Ogata (in Japan & Europe only, originally), with there being specific scenes & moments in the OVA where the animation outright imitates a scene from CD's intro, the music sounds like a immensely close to CD's score, or even both at the same time. There's also an interesting "flat" aesthetic to the animation itself, which might look a little too plain for some but I think actually worked out rather well, and makes certain moments (like Metal's Sonic's proper introduction) look notably different & stark, in comparison. In terms of the story that's told, though, the Sonic OVA is very much a mixed bag, as the first episode is merely OK, with the secret behind Black Eggman being instantly obvious (& the OVA itself barely tries to hide it, anyway), Seirah essentially kidnapping herself by accident, & Knuckles literally just appearing from out of nowhere during the fight with Black Eggman. However, the second episode, which is all about Sonic & Metal Sonic, is a marked improvement & is where the OVA shines best. Metal Sonic is shown to be a fittingly challenging rival for Sonic, Tails & Knuckles are given some proper plot relevance, and while Seirah's inclusion in everything is still rather unneeded she at least makes for some bizarre moments with Eggman, who now wants to marry her for some reason.
Overall, if I had first watched the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA back when it first came out by ADV in 1999 (right around the time the Dreamcast had launched in North America) then I think I'd have the same strong nostalgia as others seemingly have towards it. Seeing it for the first time nearly 30 years after it first came out, though, I do acknowledge it as a fun way for long time fans of Sonic the Hedgehog (which I am) to spend an hour, and the clash between Sonic & Metal Sonic is indeed a proper highlight, with some neat touches that make it unique when compared to clashes between the two in other Sonic titles. However, that first episode is definitely a bit of a letdown, as while it's not bad by any means (the style of the visuals & music, plus good vocal performances [in Japanese, at least], definitely hold their own) it is kind of bland in comparison to how good the second episode is. Regardless, the Sonic OVA has managed to remain relevant in small ways & has been referenced here & there in other Sonic works, like Knuckles wearing his (oddly fitting) cowboy hat in the live-action mini-series that spun-off from the live-action movies, both the Archie & IDW comic book runs making the occasional reference to it, & I think the design of Sonic Mania's Heavy King may have been inspired slightly by Black Eggman's design.
Coolest of all, though, was that it was through a hardcore Sonic OVA fan using the name "Illuminor" simply asking an old member of the staff for the official lyrics that the full version of the ED theme, "Look-a-Like" by Riyu Konaka, was actually released to the public for the first time ever a few years back, as it never received a proper release back in the day. And, really, that ED theme is an all-time banger, so good on Illuminor for (accidentally?) making that happen.
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| I usually try to show title splashes in their OG Japanese, but I think what CPM added works nicely. |
Originally released in Japan on New Year's Day in 1995, Toshinden was the debut game from developer Tamsoft (which was previously just a CG studio) & came out barely a month after the launch of the PlayStation in its home country. Due to that early release, Toshinden was able to lay claim to it being the PS1's very first 3D fighter, and it notably differed from other early 3D fighters like Virtua Fighter & Tekken by being a weapons-based fighter that still hewed closer to something like Street Fighter II (due to its inclusion of projectiles), as well as being the first 3D fighter to feature the ability to sidestep at will, i.e. it was arguably the first "truly 3D" fighter; it was also notable for featuring character designs by animator/illustrator/mangaka Tsukasa Kotobuki (Saber Marionette J, VS Knight Lamune & 40 Fire). While Sony took advantage of the game's notoriety to make it a major launch title outside of Japan, where it was given the "Battle Arena Toshinden" moniker, the game would quickly lose momentum once other 3D fighters started appearing on PS1, though it still maintained enough of a fanbase to result in three sequels (with only the fourth game in 1999 not appearing in North America), a number of spin-off games, a manga adaptation by Takeshi Takebayashi that ran in Monthly Shonen Ace, ports to both the Saturn & PC, and (most important here) a two-episode OVA adaptation that was directed by the venerable Masami Obari. Originally released in Japan in mid-1996, the Toshinden OVA would get licensed & released in English by Central Park Media, and while it initially came out on VHS (in both dubbed & subbed flavors) it would actually make history in 1997 when it became the first ever anime released on DVD in North America, introducing the concept of the dual-audio release; it even got released on CD-ROM for PCs that had early MPEG support, though this was dub-only. The Toshinden OVA was never really considered anything all that special, even back in the day, but I do have a soft spot for the franchise itself (& have admittedly never watched the OVA before) so let's see if it's aged any worse all these decades later.
The Toshin Tournament one year prior came to an inconclusive end when the final match between Eiji Shinjo & Gaia (the man behind the tournament) was interrupted by the mysterious Organization that Gaia was a part of, as they found out that Gaia's aim was to use the Tournament to recruit powerful warriors that can help him destroy the Organization. Since then Eiji has roamed the world, both to become more powerful should he encounter Gaia again as well as to continue his search for his older brother, Sho. However, someone who looks like Sho has been engaging in fights with those who fought in the Toshin Tournament last year, like Fo Fai & Mondo, and he looks to be working with the Organization led by Uranus, who is trying to perfect the idea of the "Man Machine", a cybernetic warrior that can allow the Organization to truly rule over all. With the help of his fellow Toshin Tournament contenders from a year prior, plus some new help in the form of the police officer Tracy, it'll be up to Eiji to put a stop to Uranus' ambitions... and maybe finally discover what truly happened to Sho.
A potential hurdle many anime based on video games tend to have is that they can be aimed at a very precise audience: Pre-existing fans of the game itself. This 100% applies to the Toshinden OVA, because it very much assumes that whoever is watching this is already familiar with the cast of the games (namely the first two entries), but also because at the end you realize that this OVA is actually an interquel that acts as the set up for Toshinden 2, with everyone agreeing to see each other once again at the next Toshin Tournament, now headed up by Uranus & the Organization itself. In true fighting game anime adaptation tradition the OVA makes sure to include everyone from both games, with only Master (the true head of the Organization) being left out completely, while secret boss Vermilion makes an extremely quick cameo in the literal last few seconds of Episode 2. However, the OVA doesn't try to actually make everyone feel important to the plot, instead putting the focus primarily on Eiji & Kayin, with Gaia, Sofia, & Ellis getting short moments of relevance, while Uranus, Chaos, & (to a small extent) Sho getting focus on the villains' side; everyone else (Rungo, Mondo, Fo, Tracy, & Duke) get what are essentially glorified cameos. The end result is a story that, though perfectly comprehensible on a general level, really won't matter to anyone other than hardcore Toshinden fans as, aside from a handful of lines spoken throughout, the OVA makes no real effort to make anybody who doesn't already know these characters care about them or the situation put in front of them, and the fact that it pretty much ends with "Play Toshinden 2 to see what happens next!" means that it doesn't give newbies any proper conclusion. For those already existing fans they'll definitely have some fun with the Toshinden OVA, but for everyone else it'll feel really hollow. I remember some trying to tout this as one of the worst anime of all time, but in reality it's nowhere near that. It's perfectly fine, but requires one to be a fan of a fighting game franchise that hasn't had a proper new entry since 1999; the Wii game from 2009 is "Toshinden" in name only & isn't related in any way.
Despite being directed by Masami Obari, who Takara originally asked to do the character designs of the game for (but he was busy, so Obari recommended Kotobuki), the Toshinden OVA actually doesn't really look like an Obari anime. That's because the character designs for the animation were actually done by Kazuto Nakazawa, and the end result definitely gives the OVA a starkly different look than any of the games, so much so that it's actually kind of weird that it even acts as a interquel to the first two games. Still, visually the OVA looks solid enough, though a change in animation director from Nakazawa to Rihiro (formerly Masahiro) Yamane has resulted in some deeming the second episode as looking notably "worse", and while I wouldn't say that Episode 2 looks bad it is noticeably different, animation-wise. Another aspect that makes it all the more weird that the OVA ties directly into the games is the fact that the original Japanese version recasts literally everyone except for Gaia, Duke, & Mondo (apparently as per the wishes of Obari himself), though Yumi Touma would wind up being the regular voice of Sofia after the OVA, reprising her for Toshinden URA, Toshinden 3, Puzzle Fighter Toshinden, & Toshinden Card Quest. Overall, I'd argue that the Toshinden OVA is nowhere near as bad as it's been stated as being by many for the past ~30 years, but at the same time I can see why some would feel that way. This is a picture perfect example of an anime adaptation of a video game that is absolutely only meant to be watched by hardcore fans of the game, and anybody who tries to watch it without any knowledge of the game & its lore (which, to be fair, Toshinden actually has a surprisingly large amount of, for a fighter of its era) will find no enjoyment in it whatsoever.
Debuting back in late 1999 on the PS1, Growlanser was a series of tactical RPGs developed by Career Soft (& published by Atlus) that was essentially a spiritual successor to the studio's Langrisser series (which was published by NCS Masaya), right down to having music by Noriyuki Iwadare (for the first game, at least) & character designs by the legendary Satoshi Urushihara. Growlanser infamously didn't see any English release until 2004 when Working Designs released the second & third games for the PS2 together as Growlanser Generations (a decision forced upon them by SCEA, & one that'd lead to WD's eventual closure in late 2005), but by then the series had already seen the release of Growlanser IV: Wayfarer of (the) Time on the PS2 in Japan back in 2003. The fourth entry would be especially successful, & on March 10, 2005 Japan saw the release of Growlanser IV Return, an adventure game (though now it'd probably be described better as a visual novel) that acted as both a sequel & side story to Wayfarer of Time. Also included with Return, though, was a second DVD that contained a full-on 30-minute OVA (simply titled "Growlanser IV Original Animation" on the back cover) that told yet another sequel story, this one apparently taking place after Return, though this one starred (non-playable) supporting cast member Diana Silverneil; the animation was co-produced by sister studios Zexcs & feel. I should also note that this OVA should not be confused with Growlanser: Aratanaru Densetsu/A New Legend, an "interactive DVD" from 2004 that stars the Growlanser IV cast. Despite my only real experience with Growlanser being from its various characters appearing in crossover RPG Chaos Wars (& having played a very little bit of Growlanser V long ago), I'm going to give the Growlanser IV OVA a try & see if I can still find something in it to enjoy. You might think it'd be weird to watch a post-game OVA without playing the game itself first, but this OVA was fansubbed back in the day, years before Growlanser IV eventually saw an English translation via the PSP port in 2012; therefore, most people who saw this OVA outside of Japan likely did so without playing the game first.
It's mere days before a giant peace summit happens between all the nations of the Confederacy, one that hopes to continue the peace that has come over the land two years since the war ended. However, some are not pleased with what their nations have received so far during this tenuous peace, including Prince Lyros of Valkania. Therefore, before the summit happens, Lyros decides to stage a rebellion & asks for the assistance of Diana Silverneil, the woman who was a part of the royal guard of Lyros' father, the now deceased King of Valkania, and is now a leading member of the Confederate Parliament. Silverneil, though, has apprehensions about allowing the peace that she & her friends previously fought for being disrupted so early on, and things become all the more awkward for her when her two of friends from Iglesias, Eliza & Vallery, arrive early to inform her that their nation's attempted involvement in this rebellion had been quashed after a secret letter was discovered. In the end who does Silverneil side with: The friends she had fought beside in the past, even if it puts her at adds with Prince Lyros... or the nation that she has fought for in the past that wishes to now lead a rebellion against the very peace she herself helped forge?
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| I'd call this a standard Growlanser IV party, but apparently Silverneil can't be recruited. |
To be fair, the Growlanser IV OVA has a bit of an out when it comes to "spoiling" the events of the game, because the game features (apparently) over 40 different endings across three story branches, so it could very be possible that someone who had played the game might not have even seen the ending(s) that this OVA is technically following, i.e. the warring nations unifying as a confederacy. Not just that, but this OVA actually manages to work just fine as a standalone story, to some extent, mainly because it doesn't really bother to make reference to the events of the game, outside of the basic set up. Instead, it simply tells a rather straightforward & easy to follow story of Silverneil being put into a compromising position by Lyros (who apparently first appeared in Return, not the original game), and her having to decide if the Prince is technically in the right. After all, it is admitted that even though peace reigns throughout the countries that now make up the Confederacy the commonfolk are still suffering at points due to things like a rise in costs & the like, while the formation of the Parliament has resulted in numerous nobles & royal families now having next to no real power anymore; Lyros is still a "Prince", but essentially in name only. To Lyros the Confederacy is doing more harm than good, and the plan Lyros has to instigate the rebellion looks like it wouldn't involve the commonfolk whatsoever... so is he truly in the right? Or is the very act of rebellion a bridge too far for Silverneil, who doesn't want to see Lyros sully his blade (& hands) with the blood of others, like she had done before? This OVA is 100% Silverneil's story, and even from this little bit I came out of it really liking her as a character.
In all honesty, despite my relative unfamiliarity with anything Growlanser, I still wound up enjoying the Growlanser IV OVA, and in fact watching it does make me want to play the fourth game via the PSP port. It's admittedly a rather simple story that's told here, and it will obviously appeal way more to people who played that specific entry, but it's still a well told story in its own right for a 30-minute one-off, and it does so in a way that references so little of what came before it (i.e. the actual game's plot) that it doesn't really spoil anything beyond a handful of character deaths, but in a way where the actual context of how they died isn't revealed; that's still a spoiler, sure, but I'd at least be interested in seeing how it all got to that point. In terms of the animation it's decent enough, though seeing the Satoshi Urushihara character designs in motion will always be an appeal, in & of itself; no bouncing breasts or anything of that sort, however. Is the Growlanser IV OVA an essential watch in any way, even for fans of the game? No, not really, not even from the perspective of seeing what happens after the events of the game, but it's still a solid little production that actually winds up working pretty damn well for newcomers. The ED sequence, though, is 100% nothing but Growlanser fanservice by showing off various characters across all four games (at that point) before ending with a tease of Zeonsilt/Haschen, the main character of Growlanser V: Generations/Heritage of War, which came out in Japan the following year; this OVA might have been the first time Zeonsilt was ever publicly revealed.
We end off the eight OM, OM, OVA! with yet another OVA based on an RPG series, though in this case the OVA was released on its own & it wasn't a "series" quite yet when it happened. By the mid-00s development studio Gust had truly made a name for itself with its self-published Atelier Series of RPGs, which was seven entries in at the moment. Possibly seeing interest in what the studio was doing, Banpresto would work Gust to create a brand new RPG for the PS2 with a focus on singing, with the end result being 2006's Ar tonelico: Sekai no Owari de Utai Tsuzukeru Shojo/The Girl Who Keeps Singing at the End of the World; when the game saw international release by NIS America (505 Games in Europe), it was understandably shortened to just Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia. Ar tonelico originally saw release in Japan on January 26, 2006, but two months later on March 22 Columbia Music Entertainment released a 25-minute OVA based on the game, with animation done by Trans Arts, & it came packaged with a maxi-single CD containing some music from the OVA; understandably, this OVA was not included for the game's international release. From what I can tell this was meant to be the first episode of an actual OVA series, but seemingly only this one release ever actually happened. Much like Growlanser I have no real prior experience with Ar tonelico, but let's see if this works well enough as a standalone work.
Aurica Nestmile is a Reyvateil, one who can utilize magic based around singing, that lives in the lower landmass called the Wings of Horus, which is held up by a massive tower known as Ar tonelico. Unfortunately, Aurica is seemingly unable to properly sing & spends most of her time sulking over that fact, but one day she notices something fall from the sky & crash on a nearby cliff. There she finds an airship piloted by Lyner Barsett, a warrior from the upper realm of Platina, and tries to treat his wounds with a song, but the two proceed to fall off the cliff & crash land somewhere in the middle of the city of Firefly Alley. Lyner & Aurica decide to look for an engineer who can repair his airship but find no luck, being repeatedly told that it's impossible to fly through the "Blast Line" that separates the lower realm from Platina, only to discover that a female engineer named Krusche Elendia found Lyner's airship & is now holding it for an absurd ransom while she works to fix it herself. However, when Firefly Alley is attacked by a dragon-like monster Lyner & Aurica have no other option than to force Krusche to pilot the airship so that they can distract the monster away from the city & into the Blast Line.
Compared to the Growlanser IV OVA, which is a post-game original story, the Ar tonelico OVA looks to be much more what one would expect from a production like this, i.e. nothing more than an adaptation of the very beginning of the RPG itself. However looking up a walkthrough for the video game's early part just to see how far into the story the Ar tonelico OVA goes, I quickly realized that this isn't really all that accurate to how the game's story starts off. Sure, Lyner & Aurica's first encounter seems to be accurate, but where the game has the two make their way through forests & towns before eventually reaching Firefly Alley the OVA just jumps ahead with that whole second crash landing (& the airship does it a third time at the end, with Lyner even going "Not again!"), so I'm not sure how much of a proper adaptation this OVA really is. Unfortunately, though, since this is still technically nothing more than what amounts to a prologue the end result is an OVA that can only really tell so much of a story, overall. To be fair, there is at least some character development for Aurica as her time with Lyner, complete with some growing feelings towards him (& his selfless attitude, always willing to put others ahead of himself), eventually allows her to properly sing for the first time during the climax, and I'll admit that I did enjoy the gag of Krusche taking ownership of Lyner's airship while they were trying to find an engineer for it the old fashioned way. Also, while there were some small appearances from other characters who (I imagine) play major roles in the game's plot, the OVA was smart to keep the focus primarily on just Lyner & Aurica all throughout, with Krusche's more friendly nature coming through when she helps the two out with dealing with the monster.
All that being said, though, the Ar tonelico OVA really isn't essential in any way, outside of the most hardcore of fans of the original PS2 game... but even then it'd solely be for the novelty of seeing (at least some of) that world via animation. There's nothing really wrong with this OVA, but at the same time there's nothing really all that special about it, as even the magic singing (which is a key aspect of the entire series) comes off as kind of bland here. I try to not judge an OVA featured in OM, OM, OVA! too much in comparison to other entries seen in the same installment, but it is really such a difference watching the Growlanser IV & Ar tonelico OVAs in this format. Aside from the former simply telling a self-contained story that managed to make me interested in playing the game, it also had a nice & relaxed pace that allowed the situation & emotions to be conveyed well & feel more important, despite the lack of character development for most of the cast. In comparison, the latter really does have this constantly moving pace that feels as though it's simply trying to move from one bit to the next, not helped at all by Lyner being very cavalier & even upbeat about the scenario he's found himself in. This, in turn, kind of removes pretty much any of the tension of why he needs to get back to Platina, despite the very beginning kind of establishing things as being seemingly really important up there. Does the Ar tonelico OVA necessarily make me want to play the game itself? Maybe not as much as the Growlanser IV OVA does, but I can't say that it's necessarily bad or unappealing as a short, one-off watch; it simply exists, more than anything.
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As mentioned at the start, anime adaptations of video games have tended to always have a bit of a rocky reputation, & that seemingly applies doubly so when it comes to short OVA adaptations. With this first installment of such a subject for OM, OM, OVA! we've definitely seen why that is, as the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA is a bit of a mixed bag (a weaker first episode, but a very strong second episode), the Toshinden OVA is absolutely only really intended for fans of the games (so much so that it won't make too much sense for those unfamiliar with the lore), the Growlanser IV OVA is a full-on post-game story (though I felt that it still managed to work well enough for a newcomer like me), & the Ar tonelico OVA is essentially a prelude to nothing (& seemingly isn't even 100% accurate to the game's early portion, anyway). However, this is a subject that I can always return to for OM, OM, OVA! (& I plan to, eventually), so maybe next time I can pick a quartet that maybe do things a little bit better... or worse, for all I know!
All I do know for sure, though, is that next time OM, OM, OVA! returns I'll be praying for mercy at The Almighty Wheel once again...
Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie © 1991, 1994, 1996 Sega Enterprises
Battle Arena Toshinden © 1996 Takara
Growlanser IV Original Animation © Atlus 2005
Ar tonelico Original Video Animation © Gust Co., Ltd. 2006 © Banpresto 2006
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