Back in August, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the site, Zimmerit.moe asked a bunch of people about their favourite OVAs:
Direct-to-video anime was a format that really helped set anime apart. The original video animation format allowed unusual ideas to flourish, creators to experiment, and offered up the perfect mix of length and shock value to help jump start the anime licensing industry in the English-speaking world. OVAs (or OAVs, if you’re of a particular age) offered a new way to commercialize anime and make money off an older subset of anime fandom following the implosion of the early ’80s gunpla boom.
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To celebrate the site’s anniversary and to encourage folks to go looking in the video bins of history, I reached out to a range of folks to hear about their favorite OVAs. I asked them to write about an OVA they loved. Not necessarily their favorite or even one that was easy to recommend, but a single OVA that they loved. The following article consists of what was shared with me.
The result is a love letter to the format, full of both obscure and well known examples. with the emphasis on the former rather than the obvious big names. Thinking about what example I would’ve chosen, if I did the same and not go for nostalgia titles (Bubblegum Crisis, Dominion Tank Police, Guyver, there waas only one choice: Genmu Senki Leda:
A 1985 original seventy minutes long story about a school girl upset about how her first love ended, that least with an elegiac mood piece of her mourning her lost love, before she promptly gets abducted into another world. Where it turns out she’s the legendary warrior princess destined to save the world, all while wearing a chainmail bikini and having to fight off barbarian warriors and mecha both.
It’s great fun and cramps a lot into its runtime but mostly I love the animation and mood setting in this. If you like things like Greed or Legend of Lemnear this is worth seeking out.
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