If there's one thing that I've learnt over the course of the past few years, it's that OVAs, whether they wind up being terrible or great, are usually the result of pure, undistilled, unadulterated passion. The kind of devotion to art, fun, props, that creates new concepts, immense machinery, entire worlds, and a true love letter to any and all kinds of narrative media.

In short, it's pure...

The Dragon's Heaven OVA is an 1988 adaptation of the 1986 manga by Makoto Kobayashi. If you've looked up some of the images, you'll probably immediately notice that the artstyle feels very familiar, and that's natural: Dragon's Heaven is a hommage to early Hayao Miyazaki works, as well as the works of fairly obscure yet very appreciated (in the right circles) French cartoonist Jean "Mœbius" Giraud, author of several works of sci-fi who became a big influence among some famous Japanese mangaka (including Jiro Taniguchi and Go Nagai) and who would even take part in certain very popular works of fiction, like Alien or Masters of the Universe.

These are some big influences if I may say so, and while I have yet to take a look at the original media, this OVA left absolutely not doubt in my mind: as soon as the corny, goofily theatrical display of the real life animatronic props that are meant to represent the fight between Shaian and El Medine comes to an end, we're treated to some downright gorgeous, detailed artstyle with this very organic, almost Western feeling that reminds you of Nausicäa or Heavy Metal while never feeling like a cheap knockoff. In fact, the sakuga never falters in this short work, and those very outlandish environments illustrated with pure shading awesomeness, as well as some very appreciated grain during the flashbacks/historical perspectives, certainly are a boon for any person sensitive to aesthetics and beauty. One thing to note in particular is the robots' designs. While Shaian is closer to your average mecha/robot from the 80s, El Medine's appearance is very much unusual, with its abnormally large head, its tendrils and small claws, feels more "bug-like", or at least crustacean in essence. The contrast is certainly striking and could have been used to denote the technological differences between two empires. Alas, there was no time for that. If the visuals are certainly a reason to watch this OVA, the same cannot be said of basically any narrative part of this work, unfortunately. I should just be honest: no matter how much I enjoyed this OVA (and I did), it is simply too lacking in the story and characters departments for me to give a very good mark in good conscience. In fact, it's ESPECIALLY because the base of this work is so appealing and the overall product could have been so much more that it is even more of a shame that they stopped so fast. When it comes to characters, we really have only 3 of them: our robotic protagonist and star of the show, Shaian, who seems to have a gentlemanly, noble personality with a strong sarcastic side. Our human protagonist is Ikuuru, a young, brash, sexy girl who's a bit of a Daredevil. It's hard to say whether or not they have a good chemistry but it did look like they could have been a nice cop duo, with a bit of "romance" on the side. The third main character is El Medine, Shaian's worst enemy and nemesis. Having been active for the past millennium, it's become a strong robot working for the "Brazilian empire", and is a conniving individual but proud enough to underestimate its foes. Again, there hasn't been much in terms of events for me to talk about, that's just how it is.

Dragon's Heaven is the perfect example of the average passion project, with a lot of amateurism, probably not a lot of budget, and yet so much love poured into it and there's no more obvious sign of that than the aforementioned introduction sequence. This one was very much inspired by other Japanese live-action and American movies' use of practical effects. And even if you don't buy it not even a second, you can't help but find it charming. Seemingly, this intro was made entirely on director Kobayashi's decision, vision and personal dime (as we can see in the making of) in order to bring his own paper creation to life. Such corny, otaku-style, almost chuunibyou-like presentation were not unusual back during that time, as evidenced by other creators such as none other than Anno Hideaki himself and his old, amateur Return of Ultraman movie. These people truly loved the craft, the tech, the feelings, no matter how silly they were, or perhaps BECAUSE it all looked so silly. Times have changed, the technology has changed, filmmaking has changed, our standards have changed, but I believe it'd be disrespectful to not acknowledge their passion as they made the thing they truly wanted to make, and were happy about it.

All in all, it'd be stupid to ignore Dragon's Heaven just because it didn't leave a mark on the OVA landscape or isn't fleshed out. Who knows, maybe watching this will spur you to go back to that one amateur project you'd been working on but put aside for XYZ reason(s). Sometimes, a good concept and enough heart are just what you need to proceed to the next level.