Choujigen Game Neptune The Animation OVA

I've talked about the Neptunia anime. It was okay. Definitely designed for fans of the games and with a real problem over-condensing, but decent enough. Well, last July they put out a one episode OVA. There's been speculation that it may be a harbinger of a second series for the anime. But, for now, let's just look to see if it's any good. Story: Gamindustri is experiencing a very hot summer. Neptune decides that this would be a perfect time to meet up with the other goddesses and play, as the alternative would be doing her work. Which Histoire would prefer, but Neptune being Neptune doesn't listen.Things go a bit awry when Nepgear and the other sisters find themselves inadvertently going through a gateway to another world. The biggest issue with the OVA is that it's too short to do much with the concept. So, kind of an extension of the issue with the anime proper overly condensing things and not developing them well. Except this isn't based on anything from the games, unless it's part of a newer one I haven't played. Just like it has the same major issue as the main anime, it also has the main positives. A strong sense of fun and good comedic moments. It is fairly enjoyable to watch and seeing Nepgear interact with a more serious, responsible version of her sister is interesting in its own right. Characters: There's not that much in this OVA that's new for the franchise, aside from the other dimension Neptune. It's mostly the characters that fans will recognise being themselves. Which is fine. The cast of Neptunia is a lot of fun and they have compelling interactions that are also very very gay. Other dimension Neptune is largely based around being a foil for the regular Neptune. Which works nicely. Art: It looks like the anime proper. Which looks like the games. So, it looks good with strong character designs, great action sequences and a slight fan-service problem. Sound: The actresses in this franchise as a whole are just really good. And this OVA gives both Tanaka Rie & Kanai Mika a chance to shine by giving them other dimensional versions of their characters to play who both sound enough different to make them really believable as different characters but also similar enough that they're believable as different versions. If that makes sense. The music is very much like you'd find from the games with the theme tunes from the anime mixed in. So, that's good. Ho-yay: There's not that much considering the source material. There's a little bit betwixt Uni and Nepgear as well as some between IF and Compa at the start. I guess with the limited time and focus on the sisterly dynamic they just didn't have room to Red it up. Areas of Improvement: Give things more time for proper development. This was a problem with the twelve episode anime as well. And if this is the precursor to a second series for the anime, that would be my primary advice. Take things more slowly and develop them really well. Because both this OVA and the anime proper could have been paced so much better. If you're going to bring up the idea of a slacker Noire and a serious Neptune and then show a serious Neptune, at least give us a glimpse of a slacker Noire. This should have been longer. This goes along with the pacing thing. A part of the problem is that they make this basically the length of a single episode but you can't really do much with a whole new dimension and building up the characters therein while also showing the regular dimension in that amount of time. Honestly, this probably should have been an hour long. That would have given them enough time to really do something compelling. Final Thoughts: This OVA, like the anime it's based off of, is fine. If you're a huge fan of the franchise, you'll find some things to enjoy. If you're not, this isn't going to change your mind in the slightest. If you don't know anything about the franchise, you'd be better off trying the first game. Just because its pacing is so much better and you get a stronger sense of the characters. Ultimately, I give this a 6/10 and if it is leading up to another series of the anime, I'll watch it but I don't have much hope of it being better than decent under the circumstances.

It. Was.. fine I guess. Ngl I just feel rather underwhelmed because this ova didn’t feel like it had much substance. Still, if I can give it any credit, most studios don’t usually give us any new content from a series years after it already ended. Maybe this was supposed to transition into a potential 2nd season, but eh. The animation was nice, the reference to the super crown was hilarious but that aside this OVA was rather dull. If you were a fan of Neptunia and this was the first episode you’d seen in 5 years, you’d probably be majorly disappointed. There’s not muchconflict, the stakes are pretty low, it’s just dull. Also Neptune herself doesn’t get much screen tine in this special allegedly about Neptunia. It’s mostly relegated to her taller, Long haired AU counterpart. Plus, the climax of the episode (where any action really happens) wasn’t all that intense.

As a big fan of the Neptunia franchise, especially when it comes to the games, the Neptunia Anime has always been more of a letdown. There were some high parts of the anime and there were some pretty low parts. The Neptunia OVA seemed to be very promising when only Episode 1 was released, but the following 2 episodes left a lot to be desired. Since the 3rd Episode just aired, this will be a review of all 3 episodes of the OVA. Story: 5 There really was not much to the story at all for any of the 3 Episodes. The trailer for Episode 1showed a summer vacation and the CPU Candidates getting lost in a different dimension where they meet Adult Neptune. And while Episode 1 does feel like the most well-made from the whole OVA, there isn’t much depth to the plot other than what the trailer implies. The CPUs go on a summer vacation, the CPU Candidates somehow get sent to a different dimension where they meet Adult Nep, and now they have to find a way to get back. That is all it is. There is really not much else to it. The way it was executed was good, but the story was not anything special. The trailer for Episode 2 basically showed that Neptune passed out from overworking herself on planning a festival around her, so now Nepgear and Adult Neptune have to find a way to keep things running smoothly. The story is very generic, there is not much depth to it either, and scenes were pretty strange to say the very least. It was probably my least favorite out of the OVA. Trailer 3 basically showed that all the CPUs (excluding the Candidates) got turned into children and now they need to get back to normal. Generic story once again, but this episode really surprised me. Because our comical villain of the series, Arfoire, is one of the main focal points of this episode, we get to see an aspect of her that is pretty much forgotten since it was only utilized in the original Hyperdimension Neptunia game and Re;Birth1. It was certainly very interesting and my favorite after Episode 1. Characters: 6 I mean the only new characters here are Adult Neptune, Croire, and I guess you can also count Arfoire as Episode 3 expands on her past. The other characters like the CPUs, the CPU Candidates, IF, Compa, and Histoire are pretty much the same which is what I expected. Adult Neptune’s character is captured perfectly. She is mature and caring, but she is still the same old Neptune on the inside. Croire is a bit more tame here, but since there isn’t anything close to the shenanigans in Megadimension Neptunia VII, she has no real reason to embrace her more chaotic side like in the games. However, her character is otherwise still pretty spot-on. I don’t want to get into too much detail about Arfoire as it’s a pretty big spoiler, but I really like it. It shows an incredibly different aspect of her that was really never expanded on because she suited the role of a comical villain rather than someone ”human”. Art/Animation/Sound: 6.5 I was never a huge fan of the animation and art style used for the Neptunia anime, but it certainly was not bad. And while there wasn’t much new music that was added, everything was pretty much serviceable. Overall: 6 I think that the Neptunia OVA is okay. It is definitely serviceable, but it leaves a ton to be desired. Most of the story was pretty generic and each of the episodes did not try to dive deeper into these relatively generic stories to make them all that more interesting. There were definitely highs and lows, but they are very noticeable. I feel like it would’ve been much better to animate some of the side stories from the games, but since the anime already took up the mantle of splicing together bits and pieces from the games to make its own plot, this was to be expected. Overall, it’s fine, but it’s not great.

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