Here we have an anime that only saw a vhs release in Japan. And that's really unfortunate. Released in 1988, Dragon's Heaven is but a brief 40 minute OVA based on Makoto Kobayashi’s manga of the same name. With such a short running time, it's unsurprisingly light on plot, but gives you just the right amount of character for you to care, and more than anything, has a aesthetic style unlike what's ever seen in anime. Developed by design studio ARTMIC (who also produced such OVAs as Genocyber, Bubblegum Crisis, and the anime the kicked off the OVA boom, Megazone 23), the art style veryaccurately mimics that of mangaka Kobayashi’s, which has a gritty and rough style that's reminiscent of French artist Moebius. Something of which gives it a visual flare more akin to the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal than in an anime, giving it a look that's truly unique in the medium, and much like California Crisis two years prior, has a visual style that hasn't been seen in anime before or since.
In the very far future, a young woman and a sentient combat mech battle robots in the desert of Brazil. Like I said, there isn't much plot, but the characters aren't poorly handled either. Make no mistakes though, this is almost purely about the artistic style. And despite being made during the mecha boom of the '80s and creator Kobayashi having worked on two Gundam series, the mechs don't look quite like what one would expect from the time. Like the art style itself, they too look unique. Speaking of unique, the OVA very surprisingly begins with a live action segment featuring the hero and villain robots in the form of remote controlled models. It's an interesting way to start an anime for sure.
Dragon's Heaven was easily one of my favorite "obscure" anime I'd seen some years back, and I truly wish it was given a blu-ray release. I've heard anime fans talk about how expensive new series on blu-ray can be, but it's even worse with some of the older stuff. As mentioned in the beginning, it was only released on vhs in Japan, so getting a physical copy will cost you some dough if you find one. Last time I saw one for sale, it was going for over $80, and art books of the anime (also only released in Japan) run from $49 - $94. Luckily there are funsubs, and it can be easily viewed on youtube, but an anime with such a unique artistic aesthetic really needs to see an official release on blu-ray, and simply doesn't deserve to be forgotten.
Not RecommendedFunny
Somewhere out there has to be an artbook that is far more interesting to read than this is to watch. Given that the first few minutes of the show are shots of their human-sized, model robot articulating, the priority of the OVA is almost exclusively on the mechs to the detriment of everything else. Honestly, the biggest criticism of Dragon's Heaven I have is that there just isn't anything to it. It's a post-apocalyptic setting, but it boils down to a desert that is a featureless Tatooine (and that isn't the only thing that looks ripped off from Star Wars). Our protagonist is acute, spunky, 80's anime girl, and the most important thing about her character is... hold on, I'm sure there was something... she takes a bath? She's out in the desert and wakes up a robot. The robot follows her home, and she decides to keep it. Now she and her pet robot become the only force to stop invaders, for some reason. They win and mecha-fido doesn't even have to die.
Then there is the art that rides the line between being highly detailed and being messy. A lot of the shading was done in the lineart, and sometimes without any color, so there might be times you only see four or five solid colors. There will also be times where a liberal airbrushing puts colors everywhere, so it ends up feeling like it's lacking coherent art direction. Did I mention the four minutes of filmed footage?
If you have started to exhaust all of 80's mecha anime, then give it a shot. Otherwise, no one is missing anything that hasn't been done better elsewhere.
mamatthigh
December 29, 2018
Mixed Feelings
There's really only one reason you would want to watch this one-shot OVA: The artwork. It's like nothing else you are going to see anywhere else in anime or manga (with, maybe the exception of some of the ancient tech of Hayao Miyazaki in the Nausicaa manga). The art style is much more reminiscent of eighties European comics. More in the tradition of Heavy Metal or Epic Illustrated, heavily leaning on Jean Giraud or Pepe Moreno. All of the artwork, that is, except for the main female character. Which is designed in a much more standard stereotypicalanime design. The juxtaposition between the two is very, very jarring, and because the running length of this is less than 30 minutes, you never have the time to get over it. It's annoying all the way through.
The story is nothing worth writing home about - a post apocalyptic grudge match between two sentient giant mecha in the far, far distant future. But really, forget the story, it's meaningless anyway. Just soak in the gritty art instead.
