I'll admit; I saw this five episode OVA series after I had already watched seasons 1-3. However, it was still entertaining, though that just made the two-parter easier to predict. After I saw the OVA, I felt that season three is somewhat of an expansion of the two-parter which had introduced the king of Small Shimeron.
Again, docked points from the animation. Not because of lack of quality, but because of disappointing fight scenes. Though I learned from the first three seasons that Kyo Kara Maoh isn't exactly the go-to anime for good fight scenes, the necessary ones are over in a heartbeat. There are also too many pauses or interruptions to the fights for me to rate it higher in how it was animated.
This is going to be a short review, as there were only five episodes (and because the major plot was explored in greater detail in the third season, and not fleshed out enough to give it a long review without spoilers in the two episodes in which it was presented).
Story
There really wasn't a plot in the OVA, with the exception of episodes one and five. Episodes two to four were the silly filler episodes we sometimes saw in the first two seasons (and occasionally in the third season).
To be honest, especially since the plot with Small Shimeron is later explored in full in season three, it's the second through fourth episodes of this OVA which makes it enjoyable to watch.
The smaller plot is contained within episodes one and five, which are two-part episodes. So, if you plan on watching the anime and are reading this first, you'll have a more enjoyable time with it if you watch episodes 2-4 first, then episodes 1 & 5. Or, watch episodes 1 & 5 first and take a break before episodes 2-4, because the mood might feel a little ruined.
Basically, there are the daily happenings around the Blood Pledge Castle in episodes 2-4, and episodes 1 & 5 introduce a new character (unless you've seen the third season before the OVA, like I did), the king of Small Shimeron, who has his eyes set on Yuri for his own reasons.
The OVA story is independent of the third season (as in, one or the other; they're not consecutive nor congruent with one another).
Judging them separately, the OVA does have a good story in the first and fifth episodes. There were things I wish had been expanded on, and for a complete conclusion to it, but I suppose it has more of a feel of the first 78 episodes in its inability to completely wrap things up in a satisfying way.
Characters
Everyone was in character despite the odd situations in the fillers, and we even got to see the return of a couple popular characters (like Pochi, Aldebert, and Al).
A new character is introduced, and that is Saralegi, the psychopathic king of Small Shimeron with a strange power (along with his vassal, Berias).
We also see the return of Shinou, though obviously not in the "flesh". He also appears in the third season.
Otherwise, everyone is still the same, so there isn't much to say about them. Yozak is pretty awesome in this OVA, and appears quite a lot (which is a nice change, though that means other characters, like Conrad, are often out of the spotlight).
Overall
There was barely any story, and what story there was happened to be covered much better in season three, so obviously, I didn't give it a high rating on the story.
As a stand-alone, it is interesting as a story, but with only 5 episodes total and two of them having the plot, I gave it a mid-range rating.
What really dropped the overall rating were two factors; one of which would have some spoilers in it (and unfortunately, there isn't any way to hide spoilers on Anime Planet, so I tend to keep them out of my reviews).
All I'll say on it is that anyone who dislikes Sara's character as much as I do will be extremely disappointed by the end of episode five. Even if people like his character of have a neutral opinion of him, it's still disappointing (which is why I'd suggest to non-Sara fans to watch episodes 1 & 5 first and take a break before the rest, or watch those two last).
The other reason for the overall score is the scattered way the episodes were arranged. I happened to see an episode guide before I watched it when I was looking for the spelling of a character's name to write my third season review, so I knew to watch episodes 1 & 5 together and episodes 2-4 separately.
However, the episode order is 1-5; to have the first and last episode be two-part episodes (episode one with the beginning, and episode five with the conclusion with fillers in between) is extremely poor planning on the part of the writers.
As in, even worse than the hodge-podge feel that the first and second season (episodes 1-78) had to them. Anyone who hasn't seen an episode guide or been warned of the poor flow of the episodes would probably be extremely confused going from episode one to episode two (as they have nothing to do with each other).
That's a huge "no-no" to make, and if episodes 2-4 weren't as interesting as they were (as well as the plot of the first and last episode when viewed as a stand-alone from the third season), I would have given the OVA an even lower overall score.
Again, I'd recommend this, but if you're going to watch it, watch it out of order (episodes 2-4, and episodes 1&5).
Screenshots
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