Rockman Hoshi ni Negai wo

"This Anime (Episode 2, to be exact), where Rockman travels from the Game-World to the real world, to learn some cultural differences about Japan, was intended to be a Special Episode for the original Mega Man Cartoon Series by Ruby-Spears, which aired around 1995 in the US.
As it seems, the special was finished before Ruby-Spears decided to redo their whole show with a completely new design, better suited for American audiences.

Thus, not fitting the new style anymore, it never was included in the series. Still, two more episodes about the same story were produced a bit later, this time under the main title "Rockman" (unlike Episode 2, where he's called Mega Man, even in the japanese dub).

It's unknown if these 3 Episodes ever saw an official release, until 2002, when Capcom of Japan decided to finally (re)release them on DVD for Rockman's 15th Anniversary (all featuring a Japanese and English dub, but no subs).

It's unknown if there are any more secret animated works of the original Rockman game-series."

(Source: AniDB)

Rockman Main

Shiina, Hekiru Japanese

Right, Thomas Main

Naka, Hiroshi Japanese

Rush Main

Takagi, Wataru Japanese

Wily, Albert W. Main

Ogata, Kenichi Japanese

Blues Supporting

Takano, Urara Japanese

Roll Supporting

Koorogi, Satomi Japanese

Beat Supporting

Eddie Supporting

Suzuki, Katsumi Japanese

Minoguchi, Katsumi Director, Storyboard

Tanaka, Hideyuki Sound Director

Kawasaki, Itsurou Episode Director, Storyboard

Kusaka, Naoyoshi Episode Director

Reviews

Jun 18, 2010

Colonelfancy

Recommended

This awesome little OVA puts me in the mind of the great Saturday morning cartoons I grew up on. I spent a good while trying to find this and it was worth the wait. Mega Man is one of the defining figures in not only platform gaming, but video games in general. I love the Mega Man franchise to death, and I love the X series, at least up until X6. His run in anime has been pretty steady given the quality of video game-based anime I've seen, but at the same time, just a tad under-utilized. I really liked the 50 episode tv ... series and Irregular Hunter X: Day of Sigma was a pretty awesome prelude to events of what I thought would make a great anime X series. I've never liked the NT Warrior series, it's alright, but I'd rather have Mega Man in his element, not really a mmorpg with a stock character kid and his sister playing the parts of avatars Rock and Roll.
The story is easy to follow, and quite honestly, seems like a scenario that's played out in my dreams since age 9 of my video games hopping out of my television and run amuck throughout town. With the help of two adorable kids, Rock and his allies must put a stop to Wily as he creates his same seemingly useless robot masters that he's been using since Mega Man 2 to combat the heroes.
The animation team who worked on the opening and ending animated scenes for most of the games on the PSX in the mid 90's looks like they were behind this one as well. It's dated, but crisp and vibrant, doing a great job in bringing the villians and familiar faces of the franchise to life. I got a huge kick out of Dr. Wily leaping out of a kids window just to get away, for that matter just Dr. Wily!
What this may lack in a core story, it makes up for it in overall enjoyment. It gave me such a nostalgic longing for just how much I found myself enveloped in the Rockman universe. I could watch this little venture forever, and I think fans of the Mega Man franchise would enjoy this as well. It's short, but sweet, and watching Rock and his sister try to understand Japanese culture, spend time with Yuuta and Akane's family, and take part in festivals was just incredibly precious. This is thumbs up for me, and I felt happy watching this.

Story: 7
Art: 7
Sound: 9
Character: 10
Overall Enjoyment: 9

PROS: Sound effects, music and enemies straight from the game, adorable original characters, Dr. Wily
CONS: A bit cheesy, I can't buy it and put it on my shelf

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 14, 2017

LovelyTekki

Recommended

The Rockman OVA's only issue is that it doesn't last longer.

While it has a very simplistic story (your typical "game character comes into reality and they need to stop the game villain" plot), it's executed in an interesting way. They make it educational for a younger audience without pounding it over your head in a boring way. You might even learn something new about Japan when you watch.

The characters are all likable enough, and there's a lot of nice interactions between them. I thought it was very sweet when Blues complimented Roll's kimono. It has lots of humorous moments as well. Even the decision ... to make Rush talk was done in a cute and silly way, not in an annoying way.

It's just a shame that instead of more of this anime, we got that hideous Ruby Spears Megaman cartoon with a butt-ugly art style and horrible characters that disrespect the source material. Rockman is a series that naturally lends itself to anime adaptations, so hopefully we can see more like Rockman: Hoshi ni Negai wo in the future.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 10, 2021

ktulu007

Not Recommended

Megaman or Rockman if you prefer, is a classic gaming icon. He's had multiple game lines and several animated adaptations. This OVA was produced in '93 but didn't come out until 2002. Apparently, it was supposed to be released alongside the '94 cartoon as a special but that fell through. Who knows, maybe they realised the cartoon was terrible and Production Reed just decided they didn't want the association.

Story:

The narrative is simple enough. Megaman accidentally falls out of the game world and into our world. Doctor Wily follows and our blue hero has to stop Wily before he threatens the real world. Fortunately, ... he has a pair of small children to follow him around and teach him something about Japanese culture. Since it would be a bit rude to visit a nation without learning anything about their culture. Each episode has a different situation where Megaman and Wily both leave the game world and Megaman has to save our world from Wily.

The big problem with the narrative is simply that it's stupid. The "educational" elements don't mesh well with the actual plot. Saddling Megaman with a pair of annoying kids just makes it far less interesting than it could have been. And the whole concept of Megaman leaving the game world to learn about Japanese culture is just a waste of the character. And on the subject of wasted characters, this OVA features the robot masters from Megaman V and they suck in this. Any time Megaman comes across them, he beats them easily. Even Beat is shown as beyond their abilities. It would be like Batman bein attacked by eight of his strongest enemies and them not being able to deal with Alfred.

On the plus side, at least we got the meme about the Goggles doing nothing out of this.

Characters:

In terms of characterisation, this was badly thought out. Megaman comes across as a complete tool. Wily is written like a bad Silver Age villain. The Robot Masters are useless and the ordinary human characters who get added in are just obnoxious. I thought the human characters were bad in Transformers but at least they had some purpose. These kids just tag along with Megaman and Roll while explaining festivals and holidays.

Art:

This is probably the actual element that caused this OVA to not be released alongside the '94 cartoon. Because, frankly, this looks much better than that cartoon. The character designs actually follow the games and the action sequences look fine. If they were actually a decent length, they might actually be really good. The backgrounds look decent and the animation is completely competent.

Sound:

The acting in this is kind of rubbish. I don't think it's the fault of the actors. I think it's the direction and characterisation. But regardless Shiina Hekiru, Korogi Satomi, Ogata Kenichi and the others give poor performances. And the sound mixing is actually really bad in places.

Ho-yay:

There's none to be found. Which is fair enough. A Megaman OVA needs romance as much as it needs random lessons in Japanese culture.

Areas of Improvement:

1. Megaman is not a franchise that should ever be "edutainment." If you want to take lessons from Megaman, learn about overcoming adversity and using the strengths of your enemy against them not about festivals and holidays. We an learn about those from Bottle Fairy.

2. No series about battling robots needs or should have human sidekicks. Especially not ones that are basically useless.

3. If you're going to give screen time to the big eight enemies of Megaman V, actually make them a threat. Seeing them go down so easily undermines Megaman as a hero and the threat in general.

Final Thoughts:

This OVA is pretty bad. In terms of quality, you can see the connection betwixt this and the '94 cartoon. It's an ill-conceived and badly executed effort at educational entertainment. My final rating is going to be a 3/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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