Therefore, it's time for me to ask The Almighty Wheel to "Help the Halloween Party" (as they used to say in Ireland) & see what I'm given in return. Will I be treated well... or will I be tricked once again? After all, last time I asked The Wheel one of the OVAs it gave me was Homeroom Affairs, so I already know that it is not a wholly merciful demiurge.
First up we have a work from the minds of creator/director/storyboarder/mechanical designer Koichi Ohata (seen most recently directing this year's 9-Nine: Ruler's Crown... which wasn't simulcasted by anyone) & writer Riku Sanjo (who's still slowly writing Beet the Vandel Buster & Fuuto PI, among other titles), the same duo that gave the world M.D. Geist! Yes, it's 1989's Seijyuki/Sacred Cyber Beast CyGuard -Cybernetics Guardian-, a 45-minute OVA that, admittedly, seems to often be considered the also-ran of Ohata's early OVA output, being neither as notoriously infamous as M.D. Geist or as beloved/hated (depending on the person) as the later Genocyber (which Sanjo had nothing to do with). Still, it's an early Ohata work so Central Park Media head honcho John O'Donnell made sure to give it an English release, whether it was on VHS, MPEG-encoded CD-ROM (again, yes, this was a thing), or multiple times over on DVD. On that final format it was given a standalone dual-audio DVD release in 1999, then bundled as a two-pack with the Sony Music Entertainment & Movic-produced Judge OVA in 2002, & then finally as part of the "Mecha Masters: Explosive Anime Classics" boxset in 2002, alongside M.D. Geist I & II and Genocyber (though no soundtrack CD for Cybernetics Guardian here, unlike the others); in short, it was a boxset aimed clearly at the hardest of Koichi Ohata's core. It's been a long time since I covered something directed by Koichi Ohata on the blog (Saiyuki Reload -burial- back in 2012, to be exact), but said last time it was something that actually worked to Ohata's strengths as a director, so time to see if Cybernetics Guardian truly deserves its seemingly middling place amongst Ohata's oeuvre.
It is the year 2019 AD (you know, the future), & in the city of Cyber-Wood is the company Central Guard Company (though visibly abbreviated as "SGC"... whoops), which had found a way to use the natural ability of the material Astenite (discovered in 1995) to absorb the psychowave energy of humans in order to highly accelerate recovery time from injuries. John Stalker is a willing test subject for the Guard Suit, an Astenite-driven power suit that (if successful in its test run) could potentially be used to save those unfortunate who now live in the slums of Cyber-Wood nicknamed "Cancer". However, one of SGC's higher-ups named Adler Einstein feels that all this effort put towards the Guard Suit is a waste of resources, feeling that the denizens of Cancer should simply be left to their fates, so Adler has the Guard Suit's test go wrong, resulting in the suit exploding... yet John somehow survives with nothing more than some minor burns. That night, John is kidnapped from his hospital bed by the mysterious cult of Doldo who live in Cancer, who believe that John is the human host for Saldo, their biomechanical god of destruction. However, what's really the truth behind any of this? Why is John the vessel for Saldo, what exactly is Saldo, what's the truth behind Astenite, & how far will Adler go to make sure John is dead & Laia Rosetta, the head of the Guard Suit project & John's paramour, can be with him instead?
Going into Cybernetics Guardian knowing only that it's about a guy who's stuck in some sort of power armor I figured this was probably Koichi Ohata's response to Metal Skin Panic MADOX-01, Shinji Aramaki's iconic OVA from just the year prior (& also an Artmic/AIC production, like CyGuard), and now after having watched it I think that assessment is at least partially fair. Both feature a normal guy who finds himself stuck in a bizarre situation that he has to fight his way out of, a girl who's a lead behind the project that the guy is involved with (to some extent), a villain/rival who has his own (evil) plans regarding the tech our leads are a part of, and lots of mayhem brought about from the guy being stuck in his predicament. The main difference with CyGuard, though, is that Ohata also decided to toss in a bizarre cult, create a swerve regarding what power suit John actually finds himself stuck in (the bit at the start involving the Guard Suit definitely seemed like a playful jab at MADOX-01), some extra future-tech mumbo jumbo when it comes to Astenite, and finally some elements of not just King Kong (John inside Saldo definitely plays up that element, especially with Laia) but also Godzilla. The latter is felt most in the climax, when Adler (now connected into his own spider-like power suit, amusingly named the Genocyber) takes on John, a la Godzilla fighting the monster in most films. This OVA even has the gall to tease more story, as the cult is revealed to have more "gods" it can bring to life, obviously to take on John/Saldo, while John & Laia manage to find a way to give John full control over the Saldo armor.
Really, this is just a fun way to knock out 45 minutes & it certainly doesn't seem to try to aim for anything more than that, outside of the teased continuation that never happened. It's paced well enough, allowing for things regarding the truth behind everything to slowly be revealed over time, while also giving a variety of different ways John in the Saldo armor is portrayed, whether it be uncontrollable rampage, resistance to what he's "meant" to be doing, & then finally acceptance/control of the situation. The Saldo armor's visual style even changes in accordance with the story, starting off as dark & hard to really see details for, before eventually becoming the red-haired, silver armor seen above at the end. What also helps keep the generally fun mood is the music score by rock band Trash Gang, with their song "Can't Get It Enough" heard at various points, namely during action sequences. Without a doubt, Trash Gang's music shows that Koichi Ohata wasn't trying to do anything super deep or highly contemplative, outside of the basic idea that even a place as seeming terrible as Cancer deserves to be given a chance to stand for itself & be saved, rather than become whatever everyone else wants its denizens to be. No, Cybernetics Guardian is (first & foremost) a hard rock-laden action romp that's meant to be a fun little divergence from the doldrums & stresses of life, something to put on & have a good time with, before returning to regular life.
In that regard, I had good time with this OVA. I certainly won't be fighting for it to be given a renewed chance, but I won't put it down for knowing what it wanted to be & delivering just that.
Up next we have an OVA picked by The Wheel that actually (kind of) fits the season, Puppet Princess! Created by the legendary Kazuhiro Fujita (Ushio & Tora, Karakuri Circus), the one-shot manga Karakuri no Kimi appeared in Issue #47 of Weekly Shonen Sunday back in 1994, before eventually being made the first chapter of Fujita's two-volume one-shot collection titled... Kazuhiro Fujita Short Stories; sometimes, simple is best. In the Summer of 1999, to help celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Shonen Sunday, TMS made a ~40-minute OVA adaptation of Karakuri no Kimi that initially had a limited run in theaters & special events via Toho, as part of a double-feature with the Me Gumi no Daigo movie, before being properly released on VHS in March 2000. Media Blasters would then license the OVA & rename it Puppet Princess, putting it out on dubbed VHS & dual-audio DVD in August 2001; meanwhile, Japan wouldn't release this OVA on DVD until mid-2009 as a bonus disc for a book. Then in early 2021, as part of the company's modern-day revamping, Media Blasters would re-release Puppet Princess, both on DVD as well as an HD remaster on Blu-Ray; it's also available via streaming on both Crunchyroll & RetroCrush as of this piece. A few years back I watched all of both the 90s Ushio & Tora OVA & the 2015 TV reboot, and absolutely loved both, so I'm looking forward to checking out this anime adaptation of a Fujita short.
It's the Warring States period of Japan & Rangiku Ayawatari (subbed by MB as "Fumiwatari"... whoops) is the daughter of a minor lord who was killed a year ago by a rival, Sadayoshi Karimata. Carrying a load that looks to be twice her height, Rangiku makes her way to what looks to be an abandoned house in search of "Mr. Katoh", a ninja master who can help her out, only to find a man resting on the side of the house named Yasaburo Manajiri. He reveals that Katoh has long been killed by Shingen Takeda & that Rangiku should get away immediately, as she's in enemy territory, but the two are encountered by one of Karimata's ninja, who has with him a squad of "Deathless Ninja". However, Rangiku has a message that she wishes to have sent to Karimata, one that says that "the Princess" is back & is coming for "the puppets". That's because when Karimata & his forces destroyed Ayawatari Castle last year they took all of the clockwork puppets that had been collected there, creating the "Deathless Ninja" that now protect Sadayoshi. However, a few puppets were deemed lost: The giant puppet samurai Taromaru, ninja puppet Jiromaru, and warrior puppet Benkeimaru. Rangiku was able to keep all three & is now a master at controlling all of them, so with Yasaburo (a ninja mercenary who had been hired to kill Sadayoshi but had to retreat after his crew was killed by the puppet forces) she has a chance to finally get the revenge she seeks, and not just on Sadayoshi. During the destruction of her home Sadayoshi also stole her father's greatest creation, a "living puppet" that the "Deathless Ninja" are based on... and Rangiku wants it destroyed as well, due to the fact that it "lives" by way of strings made from the skin of young children.
Anime adaptations of one-shot are generally rather rare, and usually when they are done they tend to be as part of a series (see: Aoyama Gosho Tanpenshu, Mankatsu, Rumic World, or most recently Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26), so when a one-shot is adapted as its own, wholly unique production that should hopefully mean that it's a damn good one. Luckily, if the OVA is anything to go off of, the original Karakuri no Kimi one-shot is indeed that damn good because this OVA is great. The story is a rather straightforward one, but as it goes on it keep adding in little touches, details, & minor twists that result in it having just that little extra bit of depth & panache that helps make it standout, showcasing Kazuhiro Fujita's talents as a storyteller. Rangiku is an enjoyable main character with a mix of some slight naivete when it comes to communicating with Yasaburo & dogged determination when it comes to achieving her goal of revenge, while Yasaburo is rather straightforward with his intentions (i.e. taking Rangiku's job request, but warning her that he'd be more than willing to run if things go sour) but also absolutely reliable & honorable in the end. The side of the villains are admittedly fairly generic, with only Sadayoshi being given an actual name, but I do love me some cool uses of clockwork creations, which this OVA more than delivers on, as well as the concept of Rangiku needing to rely on the standard string-controlled style, but in a unique fashion; the sight of Yasaburo pushing Rangiku along on a cart to keep up with her dolls during combat is amusing but very practical.
Beyond that, Puppet Princess is simply a very well made production. The animation from TMS is very nice, and while Media Blasters' BD release is very clearly an upscale rather than a proper HD remaster it still looks good by avoiding any of the smearing that can happen from certain digital upscalers' habit of "cleaning" the footage. The music by Kaoru Wada is super fitting for the era the story takes place in, with a heavy focus on orchestral & wind instruments, and I'd say that anyone who's familiar with Wada's work on something like InuYasha will know what to expect from Puppet Princess' score. Interestingly enough, this OVA marks the first time animation director & character designer Hirotoshi Takaya (Brave of Gold Goldran, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury) ever led an entire project as director, and he'd only do it one more time when he directed the first half of Project Arms in 2001. That's a little sad to see, because Takaya does a pretty good job as director here, and since he was also character designer & (co-)animation director here we also get to see what looks to be some common visual calling cards of his, like close ups on eyes in oblique angles to emphasize tension or horror, and it works rather well here.
Overall, Puppet Princess was something I went into with maybe only a bit of high expectations, if only because of how much I loved Ushio & Tora's anime productions, and I was pleased with the end result here. I guess, in some sense, this could be seen as the spiritual precursor to Karakuri Circus, which had already begun its serialization two years prior to this OVA, so if nothing else watching this does make me curious to finally check out Studio VOLN's anime adaptation of that series from 2018, even if I hear it suffers a bit from some wild accelerated adaptation (the manga is 43 volumes long, while the anime is only 36 episodes, after all).
OK, for the third pick The Almighty Wheel has most definitely thrown an absolute obscurity my way with Prayers. Originally announced in April of 2005, Prayers was a co-production by JSDSS, a division of Softgarage, & TV/film production company Ikina Entertainment based on a concept by TV writer/producer Hiroki Ikeda, with animation from small name studio PPM. Oddly enough, Ikeda is known primarily for his work on variety shows rather than story-focused dramas, but has written some proper fictional stories, like 1991's Hard Break Busters & 2008's GR8!, the latter of which was made in concert with the gal club (& clothing store?) of the same name. By this point Softgarage had become the steward of KSS' catalog after the latter went bankrupt in 2004, and I only bring this up because like many OVAs produced by KSS in the 80s & 90s (Mighty Space Miners, Iczelion, Mars, etc.) Prayers would wind up being unfinished, with only two episodes of a planned four seeing release in August & November of 2005. Really, there's not much else I can find about Prayers outside of a staff & cast list, plus the fact that its name could be easily confused with 2004's CosPrayers, so time to see if Prayers is such an (unfinished) unknown of an anime for good reason.
In the year 2014 (you know, the future... wait) the youths of Japan based out of Shibuya rebelled against the government, & eventually declared Shibuya as an independent nation from the rest of Japan. Five years later, though, the whole of Shibuya is a nigh-wasteland after having collapsed into a massive sinkhole, & has come under the control of a group named Ilsaib, with the people left stranded in the region managing to eke out some semblance of a "normal" life amongst the destruction. Some have become Prayers, people who use chips embedded in their temples to convert musical sound into digital signals that are sent into their opponent's mind, resulting in a musical battle where the goal is to play music so powerful that it sends your foe into a unresponsive state, with some Prayers having died in battle; naturally, Pray battles have become popular with the Shibuya populace to watch. However, Tasuku is a Prayer who refuses to kill his foes, and one night during the climax of a battle a young girl crashes on top of him, having falling through a glass skylight in the ceiling while trying to escape a humanoid monster from Eatas, a cult that fights against Ilsaib. Tasuku decides to take the girl in, as all she can remember is that her name is Shoko & that she was being chased, though she can't remember why. Shoko, though, can sing & asks to team with Tasku as a Pray Unit. However, Shoko is seen to already have had the operation to make her ready to Pray, and during their first battle Shoko's singing is shown to be so powerful that she can easily kill her opponents in combat, and it's hard to stop her as she gets into a bit of a trance once she really gets going. Who exactly is Shoko... and what exactly is she "#6" of?
I should first state that, as I thought when I first read what the basic concept of this OVA was, the title of this OVA is a victim of Japan's phonetic history when it comes to the letters R & L, because what this OVA really should be titled is "Players", rather than Prayers, due to it being about people playing music; there is indeed not a single "prayer" made across either episode. Anyway, despite being literally only half finished, I'd say that Prayers is just interesting enough that it's "almost good". The concept of Praying, where two sides play the same song in an attempt to play it so well that they overwhelm their opponent's literal brains, is utterly bonkers yet intriguing enough that it makes you wonder where exactly it could have gone with this. Also, the two episodes we did get do at least get a little bit into the ethics behind Praying, since while killing your opponent isn't required it is very much encouraged, especially by the crowd. Therefore, Tasuku's relationship with Shoko is quickly strained after she kills their opponents in Episode 1, and while she comes to his rescue during another match in Episode 2 she still winds up killing their opponents, one of which was an old friend of Tasuku's that he reunited with earlier in said episode. To be honest there's a really neat idea there with the concept of Praying and when mixed with the mystery behind Shoko, who's very blatantly shown to the viewer to have some relation to Ilsaib, I just can't fully disregard what this OVA was attempting to do here. That being said, though, for a story where singing can play a rather notable role it's rather brazen that there's no actual singing to be heard whatsoever. Instead, Shoko literally just go "La" at all times in Episode 1, & in Episode 2 she sings using that fake Latin/chanting you often hear in movies & the like. To be fair, the music that's played during both Pray matches are technically rock renditions of classical music, so there are no "official" lyrics to sing, but what the OVA goes with is so absurd that it's honestly hilarious in all the wrong ways.
However, what really confuses me to no end is what role the cult of Eatas plays in the story, & why their conflict with Ilsaib has any relevance whatsoever to the stuff with Tasuku & Shoko. Sure, the story would have obviously (or at least hopefully) explained how exactly Eatas would have related to Shoko, especially since the end of Episode 2 reveals that one of Ilsaib's cyborg soldiers is secretly working with one of Eatas' higher ups in what looked to be a plan to destroy both sides, and Ep 2 literally ends with the reveal that said soldier is the "#2" to Shoko's "#6". However, in what got made of Prayers there's literally nothing that even gives the slightest hint as to what relevance Eatas has to the overall plot, as even Shoko being chased at the very beginning, later explained as Shoko having seen where the entrance to Eatas' hidden base is located, is later dismissed by the founder of Eatas as not being important whatsoever, since Shoko has no idea what she even saw in the first place; again, I'm sure it would have played importance later on, but still. Seriously, everything involving Eatas in Prayers, outside of it resulting in Shoko meeting Tasuku at the very beginning, is completely pointless in what was made of the OVA, and I really would have just preferred if it had just stuck solely to focusing on Tasuku, Shoko, the Pray battles, & Ilsaib, as I imagine the reveal of Eatas' relevance to the overall story likely wouldn't have amounted to something irreplaceable, anyway.
In the end, I can safely say that Prayers has more than earned its utter lack of notoriety & relevance, and the reason why it's become so obscure & forgotten is plain to see. It's a literal half-finished OVA that, admittedly, has an interesting concept to it (& it's not exactly terrible) but otherwise has little to nothing else that makes it worth watching today; it's about as pure of a "5/10", i.e. middle of the road, as something can possibly be.
Finally, we end this Wheel-chosen installment of OM, OM, OVA! with something truly wild: An adaptation of a Gataro☆Man manga. For those unfamiliar, Gataro☆Man is notoriously legendary for his extremely crude style of gag manga, with artwork that purposefully aims to never look "polished", a strong focus on black humor, eroticism, gore, & even scatology, and an "anything goes" execution that has often resulted in his manga getting cancelled early, seemingly due often to complaints from readers of the content found in his works. However, it's precisely because of that stuff that Gataro☆Man is a bit of a celebrated legend in Japan, and amusingly enough his early works ran in both Weekly & Monthly Shonen Jump, most notably his debut serialization Chinyuki -Taro to Yukaina Nakama-tachi- (those who played J-Stars Victory Vs. will be familiar with that series); he even returned to Jump in 2017 via some serializations through Shonen Jump+. It's from those earlier days that we get the source of our final OVA: Jigoku Koshien, which can be best translated as "The High School Baseball Tournament from Hell". Running from 1996 to 1997 in Monthly Jump & lasting three volumes, Jigoku Koshien is probably best known abroad for its live-action film adaptation from 2003, which was produced by Ryuhei Kitamura, directed by Yudai Yamaguchi (who co-created Versus with Kitamura), & saw an official English release by Subversive Cinema in 2005 under the name Battlefield Baseball. However, a second adaptation of Jigoku Koshien would happen in 2009, as part of Gataro☆Man's 20th Anniversary as a mangaka, and in this case it was a 45-minute OVA made entirely in Adobe Flash, which was admittedly something that was done often enough at the time. It was directed by Haruki Kasugamori, who has since continued to direct anime to this very day, like 2021's Dragon Goes House-Hunting, 2024's Astro Note, & most recently the third season of PuniRunes Puni that aired this year. So let's end this ninth installment of OM, OM, OVA! by imitating Nicholas Cage & going more than a bit nuts.
Seido High is set to enter the Koshien Baseball Tournament, & the Principal is feeling really good about his school's chances at making it all the way. After all, the team's got a bunch of talented & promising players, and they're confident in their skills. Unfortunately, the Principal's hopes turn into a nightmare when he's shown the bracket... and Seido's first opponent is Gedo High, which has a team notorious for inflicting physical pain, torture, & all manner of rule breaking, seemingly only getting away with it because of how terrified everyone is of them. However, a potential hope is found in the form of Jubei Yakyu, a transfer student with a powerful "magic ball" in the form of the Super Tornado Pitch, though Jubei is hesitant to play due to a traumatic past, as he accidentally killed his own father with a magic ball pitch when he was a kid. On the day of the game, though, Seido High's team want to prove that they can do it all on their own, barring anyone (even the Principal) from attending... only for Seido High's promising team to all die in the top of the first inning, despite getting six runs. With no other choice left if they want to beat Gedo High & advance, the Principal & the young Megane (a member of the team who arrived late, as he was waiting for Jubei) now have to dig deep in order to keep the game going long enough for Jubei to finally arrive.
Jigoku Koshien is almost too much to put into words, because it's so utterly insane, so absolutely rude, crude, & unrepentant is being as "wrong" as possible... but at the same time it's honestly a bit of comedic genius that so utterly takes all of the piss out of not just the sports genre but also various storytelling tropes & traditions. Make no mistake, Jigoku Koshien cares not about what one would normally think is "proper" or "decent", as once the Principal & Megane start their heroic stand against Gedo they're literally butt naked for like 80% of it, complete with the Principal seriously just playing with his junk while giving hand signals to Megane for what pitch to throw next; also, the rest of Team Seido are either dead on the field or have their decapitated heads impaled on spikes. Jubei's introduction shows him with a two-piece bump on his head, and during a confrontation with the leader of Seido's delinquent gang (fittingly named Bancho) he gets hit in the head again, resulting in a three-piece bump that's clearly meant to make it look like Jubei has a flesh-colored piece of poop on his head. This OVA also fakes being a two-episode production by implementing the end credits only about 1/3 of the way in, during which the theme song is literally just Jubei explaining his entire backstory to the Principal, while the second part of "Episode 1" begins with the OVA literally just fast-forwarding itself through all of the recap & boring parts in order to get the real meat of the story, which would be Jubei's "fight" against Bancho; there's even a fake live-action ad between the two "episodes". And, of course, there are the visuals, which aim to perfectly replicate Gataro☆Man's artwork (& could very well just have been traced over) & are supposed to look as "bad" & "ugly" as possible, with both sides (Seido & Gedo) looking almost equally as repugnant... and Gedo is made up of people who might as well be literal zombies. In all honesty, I think using Flash for the animation here made perfect sense.
Oh, and the baseball action itself? Yeah, you're not supposed to take this as anything remotely serious, whatsoever. Gedo players throw two different bats at Megane, both of which have rocket propulsion for extra impact (& one is even a homing bat!), while one of the baseballs is literally an explosive filled with nails. In fact, the entire reason why Seido technically have the lead when Megane & the Principal make their heroic stand is literally just because Gedo's coach orders that the opposition gets points whenever he feels impressed with their gumption & bravery to stand tall against them. After all, if the opposition's players are all dead in the end then Gedo still wins via forfeit, regardless of the score. Of course, this is also a parody of the genre, so Megane & the Principal continue to stand back up, even after Megane's body is riddled with nails & the Principal has been beaten up so badly that he's continually bleeding from the head & his eyes have been popped out of their sockets. Finally, there's the ending of this OVA (which, to my knowledge, is the same as in the manga), which takes a storytelling trope that many tend to despise (or, at least, a variant of it) & gives it the same kind of crude & unexpected twist that the rest of the story had been doing, and I found it so hilarious & fitting. Looking up Battlefield Baseball's Wikipedia page the movie looks to be about as different from this OVA as possible when it comes to the plot, with a completely different ending that (in my opinion) has none of the memorability of what I saw here. That being said, though, I imagine no studio would accept actually adapting the manga/OVA's ending, so fair enough.
Look, Jigoku Koshien most certainly won't be to everyone's tastes. In fact, in all honesty, that line more or less describes anything from Gataro☆Man, from what I can tell. Still, those who are fine with absolute & utter crassness delivered in such a purposefully crude fashion will likely find Jigoku Koshien to be rather hilarious, even if it's sometimes for the wrong reasons.
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And with that we bring an end to another installment of Oh Me, Oh My, OVA!, and were any of these titles worth giving a single iota (Ha!) about? Well, to be fair, The Almighty Wheel didn't give me anything outright terrible or something that made me question my choices in life, so that's nice. Of these four the one I would outright recommend without reservation is easily Puppet Princess, a very cool & enjoyable self-contained story that shows off Kazuhiro Fujita's talents as a storyteller. Meanwhile, both Cybernetics Guardian & Jigoku Koshien are OVAs that I personally had a good time with, but both definitely are more "for a certain crowd", whether it's the former being mainly appealing to those who are fine with a (mostly) mindless fun romp with a heavy metal soundtrack, or the latter requiring either specific tastes or (at least) a willingness to let a lot of crassness off the hook. Really, the only one I wouldn't recommend would be Prayers, which has an interesting concept to it but unfortunately was just not allowed to be fully completed, resulting in what did manage to come out feeling a little unsure of itself.
Still, I'll gladly take even Prayers over something like Homeroom Affairs, so I think The Wheel decided to "treat" me more than "trick" me this time around. Happy Halloween!
Cybernetics Guardian © 1989 Soshin Pictures Enterprise Company/AIC
Puppet Princess © Kazuhiro Fujita/Shogakukan·Toho·TMS
Prayers © Hiroki Ikeda/Ikina Entertainment
Jigoku Koshien © 2009 Gedo High School Baseball Team (Shueisha/Liverpool/Panda Factory)
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