Asagiri Yohko is an ordinary high school student, and she is in love with a boy who does not know it.
To help things along, she has written a song to explain how she feels but that song has quite a bit
more than a couple of good bridges.
Yohko learns that while she is listening to her song, she is transported to Earth's other-dimensional
sister world "Ashanti." This song has the potential to open a gateway between Earth and Ashanti wide
enough for a conquering force to invade and take over. And it is exactly why it was forbidden eons ago
by the legendary warrior Leda who saw this coming.
This Leda warrior's duty now falls to Yohko and some newfound friends to stop the onslaught and return
the 2 worlds in balance.
Maybe Yohko is not so ordinary after all.
(Source: AnimeNfo)
This OVA is remarkably strange. It's seemingly one of the least-watched entries in the entire site. Only a small handful of people have even heard of it, much less experienced it themselves. From the premise, I expected something trashy and uneventful. However, I surprisingly wound up with something far more delightful than I ever thought possible for a one-hour experience. The story starts with a girl-in-love Yohko who seemingly gets whisked away to another world. You know, typical isekai stuff. Unlike most modern titles, this series properly explains how the girl arrived to this new fantasy-like world of Ashanti and why some malevolent being is pursuing her. In any case, there isn't anything particularly special with story itself. I found it neat that Ashanti isn't littered with uncivilized humans. In fact, there are barely any humans at all. Instead, there were several plant-like monsters and other creatures. There's even a talking dog in addition to plenty of high-tech machinery. It works together various experimental ideas into a surprisingly watchable experience. The characters are neither particularly complex nor interesting. In many ways, they behave like actors playing a certain archetype instead of being actual characters. For example, the villain seemingly brought Yohko to Ashanti so he can harness her emotional energy to traverse into Yohko's world. He ends up no different from the classic fantasy villain. The side characters are largely present, but they never amount to anything special. Yohko herself seemingly becomes too comfortable in her role as a warrior. However, this seems to counterbalance the internal struggles throughout her adventure, something which seems to be carried forward in an almost metaphorical sense. The true saving grace lies in the production itself. It features a relatively unique art style with original designs for both mecha and characters alike. I particularly appreciated the warm and vivid color palette which made everything visually eye-popping. The numerous action sequences were also handled brilliantly with dynamic movement and excellent scene framing. Angles and perspectives were changed frequently for added visual effect. The sound design also lands exceedingly well. Most of the sound effects are relatively standard, but it's complemented well by the experimental musical choices. The soundtrack ranges from classic piano scores and 80s rock to city pop tracks. Ultimately, I found this OVA somewhat delightful in spite of some unintended shortbacks in the story and character departments. As it stands, the series is eventful enough to satisfy anyone looking for some action with bits and pieces of 80s anime cheese.