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This is more a warning than a review - this two-episode OVA is clearly meant for readers of the manga, as was very common with OVA manga adaptations when this came out. Manga readers knew all the backstory and wanted to see their favorite characters in anime form. As a result, this OVA just drops the viewer in media res - we're told a few sentences of backstory but there's no room to breathe or meet the characters before things start happening. Which is fine - that is not what this show was meant to do! But that makes it probably not worth watching in ... 2024 especially when a TV adaptation also exists. (We'll see when we get there, I suppose, but if it's anything like 99% of situations like this, that will actually build up the story.) It's difficult to review this as we're nowhere near the beginning of the story: we're told Maze turns into a boy at night and we see a few scenes of this. (Another warning worth mentioning here is the high level of ecchi here veering into sexual assault which may not be palatable these days.) We get a cursory introduction to their traveling companions but we barely get a hint of their personalities. I'm just going to write this one off and go to the series but I thought it prudent to make it clear to anyone stumbling across this that this is definitely more of a manga supplement OVA than a standalone.

This is sort of a mixed bag but once I started picking up what it was putting down, I enjoyed it. You just kind of have to get what it’s saying.

In many respects, you “had to be there,” and I wasn’t even there. Bakuen Campus Guardress is a supernatural comedy OVA from 1994 and definitely leans into the comedy/parody aspect in a way that may be jarring at times. Many tropes are sent up in this but you do have to realize it’s a sendup—the ambiguously not-related siblings, the over-the-top action and fanservice, is as much as reflection of the anime landscape in 1994 ... as anything else.

And when it is funny, it is very, very funny. Not just the entire school, but the entire town, is in on the plan to protect Takumi. School goes on, even after it’s been destroyed. Also, the characters’ emotional lives feel real even if the world they live in is satirical. Indeed, the tone may be so subtle that it can take some time to pick up on. There are certainly dated aspects—the incest teasing and some of the offensive villain designs have aged extremely poorly. There is some gratuitous fanservice, but this is Akahori after all. The ED theme is absolutely dire. But there is some heart here. At only four episodes, it’s not a deep time investment, but that has the downside that there really is no room to breathe. The time allotted is used effectively, but there’s very little downtime to get to know the characters beyond Hazumi.

I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a hidden gem but it wasn’t a bad way to start my day.

This web special predated the main TV series and is a fun individual little story to bring the characters to animation for the first time. Chiyo brings a video camera to school and chaos ensues once Tomo gets hold of it. Tomo’s rampage is captured in a series of brief cuts. The use of the camera’s POV is interesting and well handled, and the very short runtime is used efficiently to cover most of the familiar characters, with everyone doing something characteristic. It’s stylistically somewhat different from the TV series, with a different cast so it has a different feel, and the punchline at the ... end is hilarious.

This is definitely worth watching for fans and is even enjoyable as a standalone, but why would you keep it as a standalone?

This is a scant overview of what can be expected in the then-upcoming series. For manga readers, it’s a lovely run through already-familiar scenarios and characters: Osaka's dream about Chiyo's pigtails, Sakaki daydreams about the cat and so on; for new viewers it’s a preview of what’s to come. It probably isn’t required viewing now as it has outlived its usefulness as a preview of the TV series but it’s so short it doesn’t really matter.

The standout here is the animation, as this was shown in theaters, so it's theatrical quality animation. Watching the characters is the main appeal of this short, otherwise there ... isn't much new here.

This was an unexpected hidden gem! A blend of parody comedy with some heartwarming moments, it's not a standout classic but definitely enjoyable for fans of parody anime.

Akahori Gedou Hour Rabuge is sometimes billed as an anthology series, but that's not quite correct. It's really more of a parallel dual POV story, following two sets of characters.

Aimi and Kaoruko are an aspiring manzai duo, who happen to have secret identities as sentai "heroes" Love Pheromone, though they cause more destruction than they prevent. The five Hokke sisters are the focus of the other half of each episode. They're the daughters of sentai-style minions ... who are determined to follow in their parents' footsteps as examples of excellent evil.

The series blends the silliness of Aimi and Kaoruko's struggles with the heartwarming story of the Hokke sisters. The blend of humor and poignancy does make the Hokke sisters' story better; I might have liked to see an independent series following them. Otone working to support her family is compelling as are the interactions among the sisters, though Aimi and Kaoruko have their own warmth from time to time. They are definitely the comic relief here. The show excels on absurdity, parody, and situational humor. The formula might have gotten old with a longer show but in 1 cour it doesn't wear out its welcome.

The series does require a tolerance of a certain level of fanservice and some sleaze particularly Kaoruko's shotacon tendencies. The character designs are cute, the voice acting is good. This seems like a labor of love, or at least that the staff and cast are having fun.