Ryokunohara Labyrinth: Sparkling Phantom

“Ryokunohara Meikyuu” is a paranormal, otherworldly tale of possession (both literal and figurative), friendship and romance that feels like a fever dream. The story centers on Hiroki and Kanata, two high school students who have been very close to each other since they were kids. One night, Hiroki gets hit by a truck and apparently dies, but his ghost watches as his body miraculously seems to be okay and acts more or less normally. Meanwhile, Fhalei, a mysterious redheaded female spirit, approaches Hiroki’s ghost several times, saying she loves him and wants to be together with him, et cetera. But of course, Hiroki only haseyes for Kanata… and if Hiroki’s not in his own body, then who is? The way the story in “Ryokunohara Meikyuu” unfolds is somewhat unusual. It starts out in a relatively standard fashion, and then dives off the deep end into a surreal dreamlike sequence about halfway through, and then weaves back and forth between plot progression and surreal sequences until the end. The dreamlike parts seem to be figurative, like you’re supposed to interpret them to derive some sort of meaning from them, but that meaning is lost on me since this is only a 1-episode, 40-minute OVA with no time to really develop characters or plot. Thus, I’m not sure what purpose these parts are supposed to serve, unless this OVA’s intended audience is specifically those who have already read the manga and may have more context to understand such scenes. The short runtime also means that key elements that would facilitate understanding of the story, such as Fhalei’s background and motivations, as well as the “power” Kanata is hinted at having, are left almost completely unexplained. It’s also unclear why some of the events in the climax occur; they happen and you’re just expected to accept them. The characters also fall victim to the limited runtime. Besides Hiroki, Kanata and Fhalei, there are a handful of other named characters who are supposed to be the boys’ friends (they all go off on a trip together), but these characters only get a handful of lines apiece (maybe even less than that), and we learn nothing about them over the course of the show. The animation and art are both decent for the time this was made; the characters look nice, everything is colorful, and the surreal scenes feature a number of interesting fantasy elements. The voice acting is okay. Hiroki sounds like just about every other character Toshihiko Seki has voiced, so Seki’s performance is just average. Kappei Yamaguchi shows surprising range with his performance as Kanata. Kumiko Nishihara is good as Fhalei, and nobody else really gets enough lines to stand out. Music plays an important role in setting the tone for this OVA. Both the opening and ending themes are happy and upbeat, and there’s a variety of background music. The instrumental song that plays during the strange sequence about halfway through has a lot of unusual elements mixed into it, and it’s memorable for that. Regarding objectionable content, there is male and female stylized (not detailed) nudity, and a few scenes where characters’ lives look like they’re in danger. But that’s about it — this OVA is pretty tame. Overall, “Ryokunohara Meikyuu” is certainly watchable, although it’s a bit on the unusual side with its trippy elements, and it feels too incomplete and vague to leave a lasting impression. Recommended if you’re in the mood to see something different.

Something about Yaoi always bothers me to the point I will always prefer to look at good Yaoi fanfiction or fanart. While there's the whole shotacon and abusive behaviour in a positive light, even without those there's always this. Story Yaoi could be a good genre and writers could put effort for their OVA and manga but alas they never do. This is better than most BL I've seen but it got the same problem. A potentially good story but never really fully realized. Story:(warning: spoiler, do not read second sentence onward if you do not want to be spoilered for this section) Good idea but bad execution. It'sabout this boy, Hiroki who died(his death reminds me of Yu Yu Hakusho but whatever how many protagonists actually dies in the beginning anyway?) and got an evil girl Falir trying to get him for herself while his best friend/boyfriend Kanata isn't aware as Falir possesed Hiroki's body to break them up while his spirit tries to stop her and get his own body back. While this sounds interesting frankly 30 minutes is terribly short to really put much into this. There's a fair bit of the boys childhood which is pretty cute but then there's a section which has this really funky music and god knows what of the kids hanging out which has no point. Then Hiroki somehow managed to tell Kanata about how his body got possessed which in a way is a blow since frankly it could be more interesting for Falir to try to break them up and him never knowing what really happened. And eventually Kanata has to fight with Falir which is good and all but all of a sudden wham Falir seems to be redeemed which makes absolutely no sense at all since and she merged Hiroki's soul with his body and helped Kanata prevent his death and all ends well. It's pitiful really the public could be treated to a good BL story and this is all we get Art I'll say this is the best thing from this OVA. The art is cute with round faced people with fluffy hair and slim bodies. I'm a bit bothered about the eyes when not in profile view though, they are a tad too big for my liking. Backgrounds are also very nice Sound Eh I'm never good at judging sound but I like the ending song Character Flat. No personality and Falir is the worst for the reason I mentioned on story but the other kids seem to have no point in appearing at all Enjoyment Still though it's better than most BL for having no blackmail or abuse from our boys or OMG HE'S BETRAYING ME MOMENTS Overall. 7 out of 10. Better than most BL but could do much much better and that's being generous

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