Minky Momo in Yume ni Kakeru Hashi

This is my favourite-ever standalone OVA, and nowhere near enough people have seen it. Bridge Over Dreams is quite close to my heart despite only having watched it fairly recently and not expecting much out of it. It's a quiet story that serves as the first part of a final goodbye to a series most people in the West will never get the chance to see. It's best, I feel, to go into this one with as little background knowledge as possible. As such, expect little more than a brief run down at what this work excels at and why I feel so strongly about ... it.

Have you ever heard of "Minky Momo" before? I wasn't even familiar with the name until I came across this highly obscure gem by pure chance. As it turns out, "Minky Momo" was a really popular and influential magical girl anime that came out in the early '80s, and it's noteworthy for being the first magical girl anime not produced by Toei, who had previously 'owned' the genre since the late '60s. The series is also quite controversial -- at least in Japan -- for several spoilerific reasons (and scenes). There was an odd sense of 'maturity' to this series that hadn't been seen in any previous magical girl anime, and it was this 'maturity' that culminated in one of the most controversial scenes in magical girl history. Some might even say that particular parts of the franchise planted the seeds for Madoka Magica and following shows. Either way, I find it extremely odd that so many people in the West just don't know anything about this anime despite its popularity in Japan, because I strongly feel that it is unique and well-written, starting with this OVA.

Bridge Over Dreams is the second-last part of the Minky Momo franchise to be released, and while this might take place after the first series, it isn't in any way necessary to know anything about the franchise to be emotionally in tune with this OVA. For sure, there are clear benefits with being familiar with Momo's personality and knowing what an impact losing her magic had on her beforehand - the drama gains a lot more context and weight, but I didn't learn any of this until after I had already finished it, and I can tell you that I felt the weight of Bridge Over Dreams' drama quite strongly. One thing that first-time viewers won't be able to appreciate is the distinct tone of the OVA in comparison to the original series. Aside from that, this OVA is effectively standalone.

Bridge Over Dreams manages to craft a very distinctive atmosphere that really draws you in, early into the episode. Its prevailing sense of atmosphere meshes well with the themes it develops gradually throughout the episode. This OVA is rich in characterisation - not only Momo herself, but the other characters have plenty of personality. What I find particularly endearing about Bridge Over Dreams, however, is how it develops all of these characters primarily through its audiovisuals and implications rather than direct dialogue. These layers of subtlety add another dimension of depth to the OVA's more straightforward storytelling, which serves well to amplify the character's emotions and the overall authenticity and power of the atmosphere.

Minky Momo's audiovisuals do a lot to help build a complex and engaging atmosphere. The soundwork, in particular, is particularly noteworthy. Not just the OST - though it is distinctive and engaging - but the OVA's focus on sound in general, be it a gust of wind, the crashing of waves, or merely someone biting into an apple, this work is lined with a wide range of sound effects. It's not something I've ever really paid attention to in other shows, but in this very quiet OVA, you can't help but notice them. It helps to craft an incredibly engrossing atmosphere. It also helps that the voice actors (with particular regard to the eponymous Momo) bring a lot of emotion and energy to their roles, adding yet another layer of authenticity to the work's overall composition.

The character designs in Bridge Over Dreams are easily the weakest aspect of the OVA; the childish aesthetic seems to be a holdover from the kids-oriented TV series, though it is at least visually appealing and easy to adjust to within the first few minutes. On the flip side, I found the detailed backgrounds to be the most impressive facet of production Bridge Over Dreams has to offer, though the animation is also very smooth, with one of the best examples of its painstakingly hand-drawn animation showcased in the first two minutes. While its production values aren't so mesmersing two decades later, they hold up quite gracefully.

All of this comes together to form one of the best atmospheres I've ever been drawn right into throughout all of the anime I have experienced. The way the episode builds all of these characters up and how the passage of time is portrayed is a direct extension of the power of its atmosphere. Bridge Over Dreams thrives on its atmosphere and characters right up until the climax, where its themes take center stage. Everything culminates in a scene that will remain in my memories, most likely, for as long as I live.

Put aside 40 minutes of your time and be one of the few people to have seen this little gem. Perhaps you won't love it nearly as much as I do, or perhaps you'll feel that this slightly weird OVA simply wasn't for you, but I urge you to at least give it a shot. These 40 minutes are something I will remember fondly for a very long time, and I hope that you may feel even a semblance as strongly about Bridge Over Dreams as I do.

The story depicts the everyday encounters of people who walk past a certain old bridge everyday. Nicely woven into this scenario is a legend of the bridge which says that the people who meet for the first time on this bridge will meet again. The story starts off with Momo standing on this bridge waiting for someone because she too has heard of its legend. She meets a boy on the bridge who is skeptical about the bridge's legend. She however insists that it must be true and asks the boy to try to find out for themselves whether they will meet here again or ... not. Thus her wait starts to meet him again. She comes to the bridge everyday but the boy doesn't. Waiting on the bridge, she observes all kinds of people walking past her everyday. She has some conversations with some of the people and comes to know that the bridge is a special place for many people who have met here. This is the aspect shown in the OVA which gave a magical touch to the short story. Momo finally meets up with the boy she met a few days ago which proves the truth of the legend. Though sadly the bridge which has seen so many encounters till now would be demolished soon. Momo sees the bridge till the end only to start another wait on the new bridge which is built parallel to this older one.

A short beautifully narrated OVA. Recommended to watch.

MINKY MOMO IN The Bridge Over Dreams is a poignant gem. Both this OVA and its sister series, MINKY MOMO IN Tabidachi no Eki, take place after Momo has *lost her magical powers and are from the perspective of her life as a normal, prepubescent girl. While these stories are slightly more melancholy than the usual shenanigans of the serendipitous Minky Momo, it is a fitting—coming-of-age kind of sobriety; an inventive approach to a mahō shōjo’s graduation from childhood.
*Explains the title change from ‘Mahō no Princess’ to ‘MINKY MOMO IN,’ because Momo is starring in these side stories as a main character but she no ... longer is the spectacle.

This review of MINKY MOMO IN Yume ni Kakeru Hashi (1993) contains spoilers! You have been warned!

—Story/Characters

The story begins when Momo meets a boy on a bridge. The boy is waiting for someone but talks to Momo to pass time; she then walks over to a food vendor and buys them a couple of crêpes. After that, the vendor asks if her and the boy are friends or lovers, Momo fervently denies their relationship—explaining to him that they had just met. The vendor tells her that everyone who meets on the bridge, are destined to meet again.

After Momo chats with the boy for a little bit, he promises to come see her the next day. But when the day comes, he never shows up. The rest of the story consists of Momo people-watching while she waits on the bridge, hoping to see the little boy again. There’s a large array of colorful characters—(1) the first is a hat model who gets fed up with her employers disregard for her well being and quits to go on a date with a miscellaneous man, who tries to catch her hat from flying away in the wind, (2) the second is a flower vendor who turns down a marriage proposal from a military pilot that is getting deployed the next day, she loudly exclaims to him that she refuses to be a widow, (3) a buxom beauty is seen on the bridge *with several different men, (4) there is an elderly man and woman who walk their dogs every day, but never seem to notice each other, (5) there’s a triathlon runner, (6) a blonde-haired girl, (7) the vendor, and (8) an elderly woman, resembling a Native American indian, who is always there.
*There are light implications that the woman in question is a sex worker. There is an infamous scene, during a Tōrō nagashi (lantern floating) festival, where she is in a suggestive position against a statue and asks him to wait until the fireworks show is over. This could either mean one of two things—she either really wanted to watch the fireworks or she didn’t want to be seen doing something illicitly vulgar.

Days and months pass, and Momo has yet to reunite with the boy that she’s smitten with. During those days and months, the model and her boyfriend break up and his glasses roughed up again—a call-back to their first meeting, when he accidentally crushes his own glasses when trying to catch her hat! With a critical mindset, the glasses could be emblematic of him losing sight of what he originally wanted. There’s an implication that he might have had an affair with the sex worker because during a segment, while it’s raining, she walks by him and he ogles the her in front of his girlfriend. The last scene that it shows of him, is the man dropping an engagement ring on the bridge, ultimately deciding to leave it on the ground, and walking home dejectedly. Momo picks up the ring and decides to hold onto it, so she can return it when he comes back.

The flower vendor begins to yearn for the military officer once he’s gone and stands on top of the bridge—when he signifies his return, as the fighter jet flies over them. After these events have transpired, winter comes and Momo is still waiting for the boy, in the freezing cold. The buxom beauty then approaches her and advises Momo not to wait for the boy to return. She goes onto to explain that she has never reunited with her past lovers, because there are better left as memories and seeing them again would be too painful. The old woman on the bridge then interjects, stating, ‘If you don’t wait through the harsh winter, you realize when spring has come.’ After that, the sex worker gives Momo an *apple—telling her that the fruit can provide more warmth than another person.
*Her visual motif is always carrying around an apple. My interpretation of the sinful woman carrying around fruit harkens back to the Garden of Eden in the Bible. She is trying to tempt Momo to stray away from her promise of meeting the boy again, in exchange for worldly wisdom.

In the OVA’s finale, Momo discovers that the bridge is going to be torn down. That evening, the old woman stands up and reveals to Momo that she’s the human embodiment of the bridge and tells her that she can use magic to reunite everyone… one last time. The reoccurring characters get their swan song—(1) the man with the glasses *has contacts now and when Momo returns the ring, the model reveals that he had bought her another ring and proudly displays it on her finger, (2) the flower vendor and the military pilot are having their wedding ceremony, (3) the buxom beauty is surrounded by a crowd of her past lovers and she responds by taking a bite out of the apple, (4) the elderly dog-walkers gets tangled up in the leashes—similar to Disney’s ‘Hundred and One Dalmatians’—and they blush, while staring amorously at each other, (5) the triathlon runner bursts through the goal as people cheer around him, and (6) the blonde-haired girl is reunited with the boy.
*Implying that he won’t ‘lose sight’ again! The apple, yet again, is a signifier of worldly desire.

When Momo and the boy exchange glances again, a nurse is pushing him around in wheelchair. ‘That’s her,’ he says, while pointing in Momo’s direction. Momo soon realizes that he was pointing to the blonde-haired girl behind her and Momo’s enthusiasm is deflated. The boy then adds that he got hit by a truck on his way to come meet her the next day, smiles at Momo, and verbally recognizes that they had met before, too.

Momo has the sudden epiphany that she’s surrounded by a lot of strangers that she had met on the bridge, that are also happy to see her again. The buxom beauty winks at her, gesturing a ‘I told you so!’ And Momo realizes that the point of her encounters on the bridge weren’t meant for one person, but for the many friends she made along the way. The journey is more important than the conquest after all. So, the bridge is torn down and a new one is built with a railroad track dividing the parallel sides. Momo concludes the story by reminding herself that even if a bridge is divided, people will somehow be able to find each other again.

Before this OVA, I was unaware that such a harrowing tale could be told in thirty-eight minutes! The beats of the story are reminiscent of a Charles Dickens novel, in structure. This kind of moral catharsis is echoed through centuries of classic literature. A story that cannot be done justice with words alone.

—Technical

The stylization of Yume ni Kakeru Hashi is similar to Ghibli’s productions during their *golden era. The scenery is draped beautifully around the meticulously designed characters. It is obvious that this OVA was created out of pure love for the Minky Momo franchise, or simply for the sake of art itself.
*Every brilliant artist, or studio, typically has a ten-year period where they make their most prolific pieces and, after that bracket of time, an artist usually runs out of creative fuel. In Ghibli’s case, their golden era spanned from 1986–2001. A fifteen-year culmination of memorable stories is exceptional! Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata deserve all the praise they get!

It’s strange because, other than Minky Momo’s *chief director, the main director credited to this project is Yoshitaka Fujimoto and, aside from Cyber Team in Akihabara, he has mostly directed smut. I can’t say whether his pornographic productions have been any good or not, because I don’t watch hentai, but they must be if Fujimoto can create such a heartrending Minky Momo OVA.
*Kunihiko Yuyama has had a hand in directing every series, movie, and OVA—that is part of Minky Momo’s franchise. Other than that he has directed nearly every Pokémon TV series and movie to date, as well as other notable productions: Wedding Peach, Genmu Senki Leda, and Windaria.

Other notable figures in the production of MINKY MOMO IN The Bridge of Dreams are animation director, Keiichi Satō: Tiger and Bunny, Gantz:0, Inuyashiki, Karas, Shingeki no Bahamut, and Asura; the character designer, Hiroshi Watanabe, also did designs for Yume de Aetera—a staple series in ‘90s otaku culture.

There are a few famous seiyū in this OVA—first of all, in the ‘90s, Momo’s original seiyū (Mami Koyama) was succeeded by, none other than, Megumi Hayashibara: Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop), Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion), Musashi (Pokémon), Ranma Saotome (Ranma ½), Lina Inverse (Slayers), Ai Haibara (Detective Conan), and many other popular roles!

Mika Doi was cast as The Beauty, this seiyū is known for her roles as Queen Serenity from Sailor Moon and Misa Hayase from Macross.

Yūko Mizutani was cast as The Flower Girl, this seiyū is known for her roles as Pinoko from Black Jack, Sora Takenōchi from Digimon Adventure, Sara Zabiarov from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Minnie Mouse in Kingdom Hearts, and Mihoshi Kuramitsu from Tenchi Muyō! Unfortunately, Yūko Mizutani died from breast cancer on May 17th, 2016.

Conclusively, MINKY MOMO IN The Bridge Over Dreams is a must-watch OVA! You don’t have watch the rest of the Minky Momo series to be able to enjoy this one! I rate MINKY MOMO IN Yume ni Kakeru Hashi a 8/10 and a hard recommendation to anyone willing to put aside thirty-eight minutes to see it!