Overall Score: 4/10
Release year: 2004
My Completion Date: 2017-2-25
Genre: Sci-Fi, Mecha
On MAL: https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=241341
I wanted to see the worst rated anime on MAL and was honestly disappointed. First of all, the rating was higher than I would have hoped, but also the OVA itself wasn't as bad
as I'd hoped. It is certainly telling, though, when you read the synopsis and find terms and significant plot points that were not mentioned in the OVA itself. I have not seen
Mars of Destruction, or played the game that this OVA is based off of.
Story and Character: 2 and 3
These are where the OVA fails most. Having not played the game this is apparently based on, I think that the biggest problem is that it doesn't make much sense. While it is
probably difficult to introduce 5 characters and make the viewer invested in them and the story in 20 minutes, it's also difficult to do anything well. Had it had more
episodes, it would have had more of a chance to do this, and it probably has done it better in the game, but as this OVA exists stand-alone: Character and Story introduction
is terrible. I was not invested whatsoever.
Art and Sound: 5 and 4
It doesn't look as bad as it could, except the 3D CG. The CG is terrible, and is the only reason that I give Art a 5 instead of a 6, because the 2D art looks about on par with
other anime that I've seen from this era. As far as sound, the voice acting is sub-par at best. The music is par at best.
Enjoyment: 6
Since I went out of my way to find something horrible, you can guess that I enjoyed it somewhat. Certainly not as much as something good, though. It was amusing, but it failed
at what it was intending to do, so... Take that how you will. There was a funny scene where (not a spoiler), two of the main characters were bouncing up and down on some kind
of machine. For training, of course, nothing sexual. It serves no purpose in the story and had no explanation, but it made me laugh.
Release Year: 2005
My Completion Date: 2017-2-25
Genre: Sci-Fi, Psychological, Horror
This OVA was somehow noticably worse than it's predecessor in a lot of ways, but the story is a lot more comprehensible and I commend it for that. It shows that Idea Factory probably learnt something at some point. I will be comparing this to Skelter+Heaven throughout, but it is not seemingly related. Most of the criticisms that I have with Skelter+Heaven apply to this as well, but this doesn't make use of CG (at least, not noticably as much), and the story is told in a comprehensible way, unlike Skelter+Heaven.
However, for what this improves upon in pacing, it continues to lack in explanation and logic.
Set only five years after its release (I think), it goes to show how desperate people are to make works focussed on "technology" and the "future", because this sure tries to do that, but fails immensely.
There was comedy to be had, but mostly because the "fight" scenes are ridiculous. I usually hate gore, but I laughed when the girl at the beginning got her head blown off by the "Ancient". The best part is how nobody reacted. At least in Skelter+Heaven the characters cared about each other.
You would think that music-wise, you can't go wrong with Beethoven, right? Nope. This OVA also shows how original music just works better in original media. Although, it probably would have been at least mediocre if the music had fit the tone of the scenes and wasn't at a fluctuating volume.
Both of these are pretty bad, but I recommend anyone to watch them if you have 40 minutes to spare and like very bad media. Although I feel like I need to warn that Mars of Destruction has a bit of gore, coming from someone who hates gore it has no impact. Expecially when the viewer has little or no empathy for the characters.
Both of these OVAs can be found in full on YouTube. I put them in a playlist just for you. Here is the link