I mentioned in one of my AX posts that I bought Rescue Me Mave-chan from Bandai’s booth for $8 (MSRP $10), a cheap price compared to the full pricing of another OVA from a different publisher, Voices of a Distant Star. It’s a spinoff from the Yukikaze series of OVAs. Does it entertain within its 25 minute runtime, especially to someone who hasn’t seen the originating work?
A high school loner, Rei, gets a ticket to a Yukikaze/Stratos 4 fan event after mailing in a postcard. He gets nervous about the large crowd and when he heads into the bathroom to take a break, he instead wanders into a desert where he is confronted with gunfire. Some fighter plane girls rescue Rei and introduce themselves personifications of the Yukikaze planes spawned from the collective imagination of the series’ fans. It turns out the girls are fighting their own disappearance as fans move toward newer anime and forget about them as characters. That meta-concept drives the lightweight plot as the group is split between those resigned to their fate and those who want to fight against the Demon of Oblivion.
This OVA is well-animated but doesn’t particularly deliver in terms of worth. Rei’s story is a cliched one of a boy building self-confidence after feeling alone for much of his youth and there frankly isn’t much compelling action since you don’t care or get attached to the characters over the short timespan of meeting them.
I figured I would listen to the English voice track since that is one of the few features along with Interactive DVD Menus on this barebones disc. (Sidebar: Really? Are we back in 1999 or something?) The dub casting is surprisingly good with my favorite being Michelle Ruff as the knowledgable fighter Sylpheid and other Bandai regulars like Johnny Yong Bosch, Stephanie Sheh, and Kari Walghren also contribute their familiar voices.
It’s really hard to recommend this as a purchase but you might get a kick out of renting it if you are a Yukikaze fan or need something to boost confidence in a sappy and non-challenging way.
Entries (RSS)