Not Recommended
“Ankoku Shindenshou Takegami” is yet another dark Shinto/Buddhist mysticism-laced OVA. It adds tokusatsu and kaiju elements to be distinctive, but it’s dull, the characters are difficult to sympathize with, and the story is convoluted. The story of “Takegami” centers on a typical Japanese teenage boy, Koichi, who finds out that he’s the “chosen one” destined to fight against some ancient dragons when they reawaken and try to destroy humanity. Being the “chosen one” means that he hears the voice of the god Susanoo in his head (who was his ancestor and is inhabiting his body), and he unconsciously dons a red “Power Rangers”-esque monster suit andfights when necessary. This suit is later upgraded (without much explanation, if any) to a giant mecha-like, lipstick-wearing monster, which appears to be more of a final transformation than a suit. (Contrary to what MAL has listed here, this isn’t a mecha.)
Complicating matters is the fact that he doesn’t want to fight, and in fact, gets very angry about it and lashes out at everyone trying to help him, even his childhood friend, Terumi. Due to a desire to become prettier, which would stop her from being bullied and gain Koichi’s attention, she lets herself get possessed by one of the dragons, and Koichi has to somehow kill the dragon without killing her. Lots of monks get involved, including a semi-immortal one, and chaos ensues. The ending is somewhat conclusive, but underwhelming.
Since this OVA tells an original story, there’s no source material to reference which would help in making some sense out of the plot. The plot is difficult to follow, especially if you’re really trying to understand what is causing all of these events to take place. It tries to connect elements from Shintoism and Buddhism, as well as Japanese myths, but it doesn’t do a very good job of it. Sometimes things will occur which don’t make any sense, and characters act illogically. In the third episode, we get introduced to new characters that apparently the main characters have already known for a while, so it seems like there was a timeskip, but this isn’t explained. The romantic relationships suggested throughout the anime all feel forced.
The characters change over the course of the three episodes, but the changes are rather abrupt and we don’t get to see much development which would lead to those changes. The two main characters, Koichi and Terumi, aren’t likable, and most of the other characters are forgettable.
The technical aspects range from subpar to average. Animation is fairly fluid, but there are some issues here and there, such as using a series of still images to show a character running in one instance, and characters’ voices not matching their lip movements. The character designs are okay; the backgrounds aren’t that detailed. The monster designs seem particularly of note, but since the monsters mostly show up in the dark, they’re hard to see. The fights, which should be the highlight of a series like this, are painfully dull and difficult to sit through, probably due to the lack of color and the direction.
The voice acting (Japanese) is serviceable. The cast is mostly big-name voice actors, but none of them give a standout performance here. The music is decent. Although the background music can get repetitive at times, it’s notable for its use of traditional Japanese instruments, such as the sho, which do a good job of establishing the atmosphere for the series. There’s a ballad played during the final battle which is an okay song on its own, but not really suitable for an action scene.
Regarding objectionable content, there is some graphic violence and death, a brief and mostly covered-up sex scene, and a couple of instances of nudity (which are also mostly covered). There are also many instances of flashing lights, especially during the fight scenes.
Overall, “Ankoku Shindenshou Takegami” attempts to bring something new to the table in terms of Shinto/Buddhist-themed OVAs with its tokusatsu and kaiju elements, but it doesn’t deliver, resulting in a jumbled mess of an anime instead. I don’t recommend watching this.
