DNA² OVA Review

story 3/10

Originally, this three part OVA was actually the last three episodes of the TV series. For some reason it was made into an OVA (an utterly useless one, I might add), and thus I'm reviewing it seperately. The 12 TV episodes end off nicely, yet open ended for another season. The issues with the Mega-Playboy have been resolved (but I won't say how, in case you are reading this without having seen the TV series), everyone is happy and taken care of, and all is well. But like El Hazard Magnificent World, Fushigi Yuugi and a number of other series, the creators just had to throw on some extra crap at the end for the fanboys, I suppose. This ended up creating a monstrous waste of time for the DNA franchise, and one I wish I wouldn't have had to watch.

As far as the actual plot, a distant ancestor of Junta has come to the present from the future to make sure Junta becomes the Mega-Playboy. Others are working behind the scenes as well to make this happen, and we learn about a grand scheme that was plotted before Karin first came to meet Junta, in fact. This unveiling of the hidden agenda was literally the only thing interesting, but the secret itself was horrible and uninteresting. Like I said, it's like they needed an excuse to make anything else related to the DNA story so they filled out a Mad Libs (DNA edition, of course) and then wrote the worst story ever. The funny thing is, I don't remember seeing a flood of DNA merchandise, so I seriously wonder why this was made at all.

In general, the entire idea for this OVA was silly and uninteresting. The villains didn't seem that evil, and the ulterior motive behind coming back in time was shallow and inane at best. Most descriptions I've read for this OVA talk about how Junta's ancestor came back to make sure she was born, but I don't remember hearing ANYTHING about this. In addition, the other villain makes it very clear why they came back, and it wasn't for that reason. Had it been the reason the other descriptions claim, that might have made it a little more interesting and comical. Alas, it wasn't.

The tone, also, is much more serious than the TV series. Granted, at least the OVA wasn't stuck in harem comedy-land, but it certainly wasn't whimsical or downright funny (such as the vomiting scenes) like the TV series. The tone was very serious and action filled, and it was able to pull off neither. In general, the story was terrible and this shouldn't have been made, period. I want that hour and ten minutes of my life back.

animation 6.5/10

Since this was originally part of the TV series, the animation is the same. Colors tended to be very pastel for some members (Karin) and very dark and heavy for others (Junta). One big element of the OVA was mind control, which showed the characters as having slightly glowing red eyes, and that's it. Hello?! If you are going to mind control someone, can you at least make them look crazy and berserk? Changing someone's expression to a frowny face instead of a neutral face just doesn't cut it. No special effects were used that I remember. The animation itself seemed fluid and not jerky, and was decent enough. Character designs are a bit older looking but seem proportionate, except for Junta whose DBZ style hair seemed to have grown even larger than it already was. Decent animation, but nothing fantastic.

sound 7/10

The audio was definitely the one high point of the DNA OVA, by far. The music was either non existant or was ethereal sounding synths which always fit the tone. The tracks reminded me of something I'd hear in an old school Sierra adventure game or something. The intro was the same (due to the whole TV thing), which is one of the catchiest tunes I've heard for an intro, ever. Definitely the highlight of the OVA, I just wish there had been fewer silent parts.

characters 5/10

The same characters were around for the OVA (as the OVA was the last three episodes of the TV series), but turned down a notch, in my opinion. Junta was back but instead of being his loveable bumbling (and vomiting) self, he was transformed into a mind controlled thug who wasn't very exciting. The main villain of the TV series was back, and yet again he became a bad guy (poor guy). The newbies from the future weren't developed at all and were incredibly useless and uninteresting, and not convincing at all of their scary-ness and evil nature. I seriously just wanted this viewing to be over, and the characters didn't help at all on that aspect. There were no meaningful relationships to speak of (once again, Junta and Ami's relations were mild and utterly boring, though I still felt Ami was fairly useless), and nothing anyone did made me feel empathetic towards them. Really, this says something about the TV series considering had they been effective there, I would have felt something for them here.

overall 3/10

This OVA was easily one of the most useless things I've seen. It reminded me of watching any of the Fushigi Yuugi OVAs, to be honest. Hey, let's take something which has a decent ending, and tack on more garbage just so people buy our stuff! The ending of the 12 TV episodes clearly was a good one, and left things open to make another series. But nope! Instead, three more episodes were added that had a very weak and stupid story, more of the same characters (without the comedic quirks and such we came to know and love in the TV series), and little inspiration. Even if you loved the TV series I can't think of any reason you'd enjoy the OVA, unless you REALLY love the characters and want to have an orgy with all of them (assuming you are an extremely weird otaku who enjoys buying those anime realdolls and/or refuses to date anyone that isn't an anime female... then again you'd just be in denial since no woman would want to date you!)

Just don't watch this. Point made.