3 Fun 80’s Sci Fi OVAs

This week, I’m aiming for some short posts because I feel like I’ve been writing a little too much recently. One thing that I noticed about Anno August is that my posts got longer and longer. Something I didn’t originally plan, but I got more and more into the movies and Eva as I kept going along with it. Now it’s time to step back a little bit, put our feet up, and just enjoy ourselves. Or that could just be me. Does it matter who relaxes? Someone should. I’m going to try doing that at least, though I don’t know what resting means. No seriously, I always have to be busy with something. That’s part of why this blog exists.

Anyway, for the past few months I’ve been found and watched a few fun and mostly science fiction OVAS, one is only vaguely science fiction, that seemed like something at least a few people on here would be somewhat interested in. A couple of them are around 48 minutes in length to one almost being a movie length at 75 minutes. There is just something about short, self contained stories that can have a appeal of them to me. Each one builds their own little world, tell a story in it, then be done with it. Why? Because restraint is good sometimes. The potential to keep going is there, but that doesn’t have to always happen.

Anyway, I should at least talk about these OVAS. That might be reasonable. Before I start though, this isn’t a ranked list of any kind. I just wanted to talk about them a little bit. That’s it. No more specifics are needed here. No red tape and such, blah blah blah.

There is some small amount of female nudity in some of these though like women getting dressed or just not wearing clothes in their apartment before heading out the door to solve all of the things. Sort of relatable in a way, I suppose. Oh, and violence. Lots and lots of detailed violence and gore make their way on these things. It happens with 80’s OVAS I suppose unfortunately.

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Lily C.A.T.
Year: 1987
Studio: Peirrot
Length: 70 Minutes

Lily C.A.T. could easily be described by saying that this film is just Alien with a cat/bacterium that kills people. And yeah, that’s it for the most part. Still, there is a lot of art artistry in it and the film digs into deeper reasons why the crew is their in the first place other then just being space truckers.

Some people want to escape society, others have no place to go anymore because they’ve been in space for some long that they’ve outlived almost everyone they’ve known before or technology completely surpassed them. That’s a small part of the film, but it’s something that separates the two. I feel worse for the people that died in this film then Alien because of the tragedy. Still hurts that it’s very alien forward though.

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Riding Bean
Year: 1989
Studio: AIC
Length: 48 Minutes

Apparently as a failed TV pilot, Riding Bean is something similar to being what the transporter was like if it was anime. It features the invisible Riding Bean and his fantastic partner, Rally Vincent, who can more then handle herself with fire arms. They drive around in their invincible racing car that is unbeatable on every level with Bean’s driving skills.

The plot itself, where they get framed for kidnapping the daughter of Electronic Company’s CEO, is just an excuse for a lot of well animated and cool driving scenes and car crashes with memorable characters and relationships on the side. This would later lead into Gunsmith Cats, which I really need to see. That’s for the future though.

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Black Magic M-66
Year: 1987
Studio: AIC
Length: 48 Minutes

From the mind of Masamune Shirow, Black Magic M-66 is the first of his works that was ever adapted into an anime. This one is a very terminator like OVA. A secret military project crashes in the middle of the woods and is actively set after the builder’s grand daughter, Paris. An investigate reporter by the name of Sybil (basically Ripley), figures this out and rescues Paris.

Eventually, it becomes a game of chicken with Paris and Sybil against the female terminator unit across the city until it’s stopped and it’s a lot of fun to watch. So, very Masamune Shirow in that respect. Well, at least that’s what I’ve seen from everything I’ve watched adapted from that guy’s work.

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All three of these are either legally available on Crunchyroll, HiDive, or VRV and I’m just glad to have some access to them otherwise I probably wouldn’t have heard about them. Anyway, I’m glad that you guys stuck around (hopefully) and listened to my usual insanity. Are there any self contained OVAS from the 1980’s that capture your imagination? The 1980’s were full of them because Japan had an major economic boom in the 1980’s. To make this easier, what about modern Ovas? Yes, those do exists. Maybe you will be surprised about that fact.

I know there is the old Appleseed OVA from Gainax and other Gainax ovas that interest me, so I suppose I need to watch those next. Could this possibly be a new sort of series on this blog? Maybe, who knows really. I just like finding and watching unusual things sometimes and I don’t think I’m going to stop anytime soon. Try and stop me if you dare. Muahahaha.

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