Salamander

I genuinely don’t understand why does this anime have such a low score and such a small community (at the moment of writing this review, the score is 5,83 based on 465 votes only), and I think it deserves a little more than this. Let’s be clear, this is not an all-time classic nor an unforgettable mastepiece by any means, but it’s definitely not a bad one. It’s quite good actually and I’ve seen more obscure ones having a bigger community. Apparently this isn’t well known despite being related to a famous videogame franchise. It is the adaptation of a 1986 Konami game by thesame name which is related to the Gradius series. To be fair I admit I haven’t played any of them so I don’t know if the anime is loyal to the plot and to the setting of the story told in the game, but since both Gradius and Salamander are horizontal shooters set in space (and from the ‘80s...) I assume there isn’t much plot, and it would make sense if the writer took some liberties. Anyway, a previous knowledge of the game isn’t required to understand the plot so you can watch it even if you haven’t played the game. The plot has already been summarized in the synopsis section of this page and there isn’t much to add, except the fact that it’s quite generic but not overly simple. It just works, it doesn’t have plot holes and the length of the episodes (50 minutes) gives enough time for development. Maybe it’s not much but there are tons of low quality obscure OVAs from the 80s and the 90s with plots so rushed they don’t even make sense, or barely do. There isn’t much room for character development but you can’t expect it given the limited duration. The quality of art and animation is what you would expect from an average oldschool OVA: it’s nothing special but still much better than many other anime out there. I personally don’t mind this style of aesthetics. A little sidenote: the character designer is Haruhiko Mikimoto, who worked at several Gundam and Macross anime (and other sci-fi anime as well). The soundtrack is ok too, and the ending credits song is actually quite catchy. In conclusion, Salamander is an overall enjoyable anime. You can certainly miss it, but watching it won’t be a total waste of time. I watched a lot of terrible, generic, poorly animated and designed, almost unknown OVAs from the ‘80s-’90s and maybe my standards have become too low, making me appreciate an average one as if it was good, but I think this is at least decent. I recommend watching it if you are a big fan of the game but you can give it a try if you love sci-fi anime in general, expecially those from that era.

A 3 episode OAV based upon the shoot'em'up series with the same title plus the Gradius games (that are sets in the same shared universe?) where a war against eldrichtian space monstrosities known as "bacterian" is on the loose between two forces from the Planet Gradius and Lotus, as been introduced in the second OAV. The show pace is good, maybe a little too long and stretched in the first episode, the characterization is... Decent, i must say, but with the original source (that i don't know at it's best, sorry) i don't know what to expect, there's be only starships and aliens, and the "original"characters done are good and doing their job well, they act like cardboards characters sometimes but it's not a massive problem to me, thanks to the story pace and especially the character design, made by Haruhiko Mikimoto of Macross fame, a artist i really enjoy his works. Animation is good even if a little stiff in some rare moments, the music is good and uses classical pieces with game BGM in a pretty good orchestral version. The only part i didn't fully enjoyed is the first OAV, with some weird decisions in the plot leading to a finale that i didn't fully understood the reasons this happened and the slow, sluggy pace of the story, but it's a cool show from the 80s overall.

As a Gradius fan I absolutely adored this OVA. This three part covers Gradius, Salamander (Life Force in the USA) and Gradius II Gofer no Yabou *LOOSELY*.I don't think this is cannon to the games but it was nice seeing some additional lore and politics brought into the Gradius universe. The animation was great, the music was nice and appropriate with some familiar tunes from the games showing up. I definitely recommend this to anyone who even has a passing interest in the games. It's a real treat; however, if you are just watching it just because. You may not enjoy it as much.There is action, but not as much as I'd like. Ultimately if they cut out about 15 minutes of plodding nothingburger filler and added in more space fights and shot more cores. I might have given this a 9. Good luck and shoot the core! <3 P.S. that ending theme is absolute fire ♪♪♪

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