Elf 17

After crashing a ridiculous intergalactic martial arts tournament being held by the eccentric prince Masukata Taira (or Muscat Tyler as I've seen throughout the internet), the sometimes winged superhuman protagonist Ruu battles the perpetually mech suit wearing K.K. for the prize of touring the galaxy with the aforementioned prince. Ultimately both Ruu and K.K. accompany Taira, and hilarity ensues as they get into hijinks on a planet that's vaguely Middle Eastern. This 1987 OVA is predictably light on plot, with most things occurring for no other reason than for the sake of goofy humor. The art and animation is serviceable though, and Elf 17 is rathercute and fun in its own way. The elf Ruu is positively '80s, and the fact K.K. never gets out of his mech suit is amusing. He freakin sleeps in the thing. And keep an eye out for the blink and you'll miss cameos from the likes of Chewbacca, Jabba the Hut, and Lum from Urusei Yatsura in the crowd of the opening tournament scene. Which isn't to say this thing is some kind of laugh riot, because it's not. It's pure '80s silliness that is rather hit and miss on the jokes. I guess one could file this under "useless anime" if they were so inclined. But let's be perfectly honest here, this is an OVA that's a few seconds shy of 30 minutes, expecting a well crafted story and deep character development from it is like expecting a coherent plot from an Italian horror movie. You're just not gonna get that. Which isn't to excuse its shortcomings, but understanding that goes a long way to being able to just sit back and be entertained by the lunacy that you're about to behold. There's certainly worst ways to kill time after all.

#11841