Devil Hunter Yohko (1990) Anime OVA Series Review

Mamono Hantā Yōko - Devil Hunter Yohko is a 1990 action comedy fantasy anime OVA mini-series that was released until 1995 and consists of six episodes. It was directed by Katsuhisa Yamada, Hisashi Abe, Jun'ichi Sakata and Akiyuki Shinbo with scripts by Sukehiro Tomita, Hisaya Takabayashi, Katsuhisa Yamada, Tatsuhiko Urahata. The cast includes Aya Hisakawa, Konami Yoshida, Yūji Mitsuya, Hiromi Tsuru, Chieko Honda and Noriko Hidaka. Aya Hisakawa also gives us some wonderful songs on the soundtrack, which take prominence as a way to sell the series. The success of the OVA series was enough to warrant a manga created by Gaku Miyao in 1996.

Teenager Yohko lived a normal life in Japan but one day she finds out that every woman in her family becomes a powerful demon hunter, who must go after the forces of evil once they are unleashed. Backed by her grandmother, her friend Chikako and an unwanted apprentice named Azusa, Yohko must both struggle between her new life as a demon fighter and maintain her virginity or else she will lose her abilities.

This coming-of-age fantasy action show with strong ecchi elements plays out like a normal storyline involving a girl that comes from a lineage of demon hunter women who battle the forces of darkness with their powers and abilities. This, of course, comes with the price of having to neglect some typical teenage stuff in favor of her duty. This is where some of the main conflicts in the show are found but none of it really becomes the focus as every episode changes the stakes drastically. Every chapter is a self-contained story, this episodic structure could have worked better if the show had far more episodes instead of just six (well, five actually but we can't count episode 4). So even though the episodes are fun and captivating you end up wanting a lot more.

I think my issue is that most of the series doesn't have a throughline outside of just presenting the main set-up in its near perfect first episode. The rest are just secluded plots with their own narrative, not relating much to each other. Not only that, but episode four is just a clip show that consists of new music videos with some footage from the series. It's of no real interest outside of some cute new animation but it works as something you can put on the background. Either way, the other storylines aren't bad, they are fun and playful while having enough emotional load to be worthwhile.

I gotta say some things about the series are quite disturbing or creepy, it invokes scenarios and images that are somewhat crude and daring in how much they want to deliver in the fanservice department but while having such inappropriate elements. An example is the female teacher harassing a male student or the several panty shots of the girls, some who are very young. It's weird but it's all greatly animated and brought to life that it looks nice. The animation itself is a highlight as the amazing battles between the main girl and the demons are outstanding in how majestic and epic they are executed. This is something that really couldn't have been as polished and detailed if it was a proper TV series, so the lack of episodes ultimately works out.

With great technical aspects and some entertaining episodes, Devil Hunter Yohko is a highly recommended retro anime series that will be more than enough for vintage anime fans.

Slayers Gorgeous (1998) Anime Movie Review

Slayers Gorgeous is a comedy fantasy anime film directed by Hiroshi Watanabe and written by Hajime Kanzaka. The cast includes Megumi Hayashibara, Maria Kawamura, Akira Kamiya, Kyoko Hikami and Junpei Takiguchi. Released on August 1st, 1998, on a double feature with Martian Successor Nadesico: The Motion Picture – Prince of Darkness, it was the very last Slayers prequel feature film to be released during this decade  and it was one of the last gasps of the franchise as it had been squeezed by executives ever since 1995.

Lina and Naga wander around a little town but they are surprised by the attack of a girl riding a gigantic dragon. Lina confronts her but she is stopped by one of the local guards. Turns out the girl riding the dragon is the King's daughter, Marlene, who decided to turn on her family and kingdom when her dad wouldn't give her enough money, using the kingdom's fleet of dragons to her advantage. Lina agrees to help the king stop her but Naga allies with the dragon princess looking to gain something out of it.

Instead of a sprawling adventure with a variety of environments and places we have a very self-contained story secluded to a few locations inside a small kingdom. This is fine as we get a tightly constructed script involving the royal family feud with the help of the girls on each side. Relying more on strategy and the cleverness of each side rather than discovering a mystery or something. Naga joining the villain's side is a bit too automatic though, taken for granted, but coherent if you already know the character. It doesn't even feel like a retreat of Slayers Great because there was more of a motivation there but it still works here as it never goes against what the characters are. It all makes sense.

The combat sequences are more focused and rely more heavily on the characters game plans and the construction of the motion and position of the characters rather than discontinuous shots of violence at a grand scale like other fantasy or action shows do when it comes to storyboarding and direction. In a similar fashion to Slayers Return, we have more intricate action sequences in which the animators can skillfully pull you into the set-piece without lazy bombasticness. Not only that, but the humour is solid enough and is incorporated into the animation with ease, as usual for the Slayers franchise, but because of the purity of the premise it stands out even more in this highly comedic plot that doesn't take itself seriously at all, making fun of itself at every chance.

The new characters are enjoyable and are the perfect comedy fodder that Slayers often takes full comedic advantage of. A spoiled brat like Marlene only could have worked in this series in a way that you both like her and find her brattiness funny and not annoying in any way. They accomplish this by both her well built characterization and her hilarious failures.

A very cool Slayers entry. The prequel movies go out with a bang in this funny and charming little film. Completely recommended.