Dragon's Heaven

If you enjoy that classic 80s mecha atmosphere with a touch of raw creativity, this one will probably catch your interest. It has that old school energy and charm that makes vintage anime feel alive. The story feels compact and focused, almost like a short feature that tells just enough to keep you curious.

The live action intro really surprised me. it completely breaks the animation’s flow, almost as if the show is reaching out to the viewer directly. It’s strange, unexpected, and yet it’s one of those moments that stays in your mind long after watching.

What I truly appreciate here is the artistic direction. It ... has wonderful artwork and well designed characters that stand out even without a heavy storyline. It’s not a complex anime, but it gives just enough personality and emotion to make its world believable.

If you’re into rare 80s mecha anime with style, creativity, and a unique presentation, this one is definitely worth checking out.

In a far future post apocalyptic world where robots rule and everything has been turned in to a desert wasteland, this is a story of two opposing robots that meet up to have a grudge match. The art style as mentioned in the other reviews is gritty, and the world is pretty standard desert wasteland. The character designs are pretty standard for the time and I got heavy vibes of the old comics from Heavy Metal magazine.

Overall I would say this a decent show, the episodes overall short running time is my main complaint. There is a live action sequence at the beginning and then ... an ending credit scene where they are showing the crew working on the robot etc. other than that if you want to watch a short show that doesn’t eat up much time in your day than I would say give it a shot.

Somewhere out there has to be an artbook that is far more interesting to read than this is to watch. Given that the first few minutes of the show are shots of their human-sized, model robot articulating, the priority of the OVA is almost exclusively on the mechs to the detriment of everything else.

Honestly, the biggest criticism of Dragon's Heaven I have is that there just isn't anything to it. It's a post-apocalyptic setting, but it boils down to a desert that is a featureless Tatooine (and that isn't the only thing that looks ripped off from Star Wars). Our protagonist is a ... cute, spunky, 80's anime girl, and the most important thing about her character is... hold on, I'm sure there was something... she takes a bath? She's out in the desert and wakes up a robot. The robot follows her home, and she decides to keep it. Now she and her pet robot become the only force to stop invaders, for some reason. They win and mecha-fido doesn't even have to die.

Then there is the art that rides the line between being highly detailed and being messy. A lot of the shading was done in the lineart, and sometimes without any color, so there might be times you only see four or five solid colors. There will also be times where a liberal airbrushing puts colors everywhere, so it ends up feeling like it's lacking coherent art direction. Did I mention the four minutes of filmed footage?

If you have started to exhaust all of 80's mecha anime, then give it a shot. Otherwise, no one is missing anything that hasn't been done better elsewhere.