For this post I will be taking on Doomed Megalopolis, a four episode 90s ova recommended by HellSpawn28. I was expecting something gory yet entertaining like Demon City Shinjuku, Devilman, Cybernetic Guardian, Geno Cyber, Violence Jack, MD Geist 1 and 2, etc. What I got instead was a travesty on a magnitude I was not prepared for.
The animation is lackluster for an OVA of its time complete with questionable consistency and failing at anatomy (in example, glut cracks are not drawn and the camera poking through wooden bars gives it the illusion they are moving away from each other). This isn't getting into the obnoxious amount of ecchi material and gratuitous sex garbage (especially multiple accounts of rape that are unnecessary). Half the run time is layered with filler/padding/time wasting/things not relevant to the plot. The music has a bad habit of not being fitting with what is going on and is kind of bad on it's own. Then there are really stupid moments like when Kouta constantly strangles women and removes anti-demon seals for no reason. For a series about a city we barely know much about it beyond the budget used to make it and the earthquake that busts it up halfway through is not even shown. In other words the title is kind of a lie AND it should have ended at the half way point! The final episode throws in a second massive conflict that wasn't built up and moments not pertaining to the plot act like an overly dark epilogue. To top it all off there are WAY TOO MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS: Why the hell is Kato dressed like a soldier? Why do people call him a demon when he is a sorcerer? (we see actual demons he summons) If he is a minion of the dragon he is trying to wake up, why does he continue when said dragon explicitly states he doesn't want to wake up? Why does a horse god wait until the final episode bother doing jack squat? Why does the Moon have demonic magic, it is a celestial body and has more in common with Heaven. Why are pentagrams associated with magic in Japan when that is a European idea? How the hell is only Japan affected by the Moon being so friggin close to the Earth? How was everything brought back normal after what SHOULD have had cataclysmic results? How did Kato get inside a demon that spews acid without dissolving? Why were the stars being affected by something happened on EARTH!? Why did that demon spawn have an actual penis mouth complete with a urethra!? HOW THE HELL ARE THE DEMONS AT THE END SUDDENLY PURIFIED!? What the hell was the staff of this thinking!?
And that ending was a perfect example of tone whiplash that went against the dark setting it was going for. Every "bad" OVA people complain about (IE Skelter+Heaven, Mars of Destruction, Vampire Wars, Psychic Wars, Plastic Little, Roots Search, Sword For Truth, and the like) usually ends with one friggin episode, this went on for four with an overall length over two and a half hours, most movies are not that long! This was a special level of stupid riddled with sex junk and bad production quality that warrants ultimate scolding.
1/10
