Landlock

Landlock has really well designed and written characters, good animation and an interesting premise. Unfortunately the plot is subpar. The narrative is interesting but messy. There are many points that are not well explained or shown. Lots of things happen solely to further the plot with little explanation. The animation is well done and does not feel dated. The best part of the OVA is the characters. They are mostly stereotypical but done really well. There are moments that drag on a tad too long but they are not super noticeable. Overall Landlock is a ... rather average anime that has really well designed characters.

Landlock is a short, well-animated OVA with a strong identity and a passion for the world it wants to portray, even if the story itself isn't necessarily groundbreaking. Beginning with the story, Landlock's meets the basic standards of quality for the time, presenting the viewer with a classic yet somewhat predictable tale that hits all the classic tropes of your typical techno-fantasy 90s OVA. You've got an ancient prophecy, mysterious powers, a militaristic empire subduing countries all over the place, and of course people using guns, swords, planes, tanks, and magic all in the same setting. There's not much more to say about the story ... other than it does what it was meant to do, and that is to give all the badass visuals a reason to exist.

Moving on to the art, which is the strongest aspect of this anime, it's got that classic 90s charm, with a vibrantly colorful palate, a gritty yet detailed illustration style, and an art direction that fills the world with a visual intrigue and overall uniqueness that is so characteristic of titles from the era. The strongest aspect has to be this anime's firm grasp on movement and scale, as fight scenes feel weighty and consequential, while larger-than-life scenes have an appropriate sense of grandiosity, complete with points of reference for the sheer scale of things. One notable example is when the ship called the Longinus moves in and hovers over a town, and we're given a sense of scale by showing just how many orders of magnitude larger it is when compared to the buildings and people below, and the shadow it casts over the landscape. We're even given a view of how it looks from the ground, from the point of view of the people in the town itself. This sense of space and scale rears its head again and again, and is one of the defining aspects that makes this anime so notable, apart from the ocean of similar titles released during this era.

The sound is good, meeting the basic standards of quality for the time, with a fun soundtrack and emotive voice work, and even an interestingly comprehensive approach to the sounds of life, ranging from the ethereal sounds of magic to the calming patter of rain.

As for the characters, they feel competent and independently interesting for the most part, feeling as though they have some sense of agency within the bounds of what is an otherwise predictable story. Of them, the main character Ruda just felt like a kind of whiny crybaby, so I didn't like him, but even so, he wasn't totally unbearable. My favorites are definitely Bork and Agahari. I like Bork because he feels like more of a genuine person than Ruda does at any given point in the story, with well-written dialogue, a sense of charisma, and a heroic selflessness that doesn't crumple to despair in the sense of adversity, striking a good balance between comedy and badassery. Meanwhile, I like Agahari because she feels interesting and competent- outside of her admirable character growth, it is genuinely interesting to watch her fight, since she seems to have a unique, somewhat unpredictable style when compared to other characters in the show, and even more, she's not some invincible mary sue either, so her character also strikes a good balance in the end. Overall, Landlock is a cool, satisfying watch, and while the intricacies of its compelling world aren't really explained all that much, it's still one hell of a time watching it come to life in the context of a metaphysical battle between good and evil, defined by high octane action and an art direction that really knows what it's doing.

I'm always drawn to the evocative art stylings of Masamune Shirow, who is one of the very best at character designs and visuals, but if he had written Landlock, this could've been a much better movie that didn't simply just look really good. Instead of what should've been a pretty entertaining fantasy epic turns into a mildly contrived, relatively boring endeavor.
It starts off strange, with the protagonist speaking in an introductory monolouge, but then little is explained or told to you as things begin to immediately happen with little rhyme or reason. If this had been fleshed out over a course of ... one act as opposed to seven minutes, it would've been more effective. I was lost, but pieced thing together as events clumsily unfolded shortly thereafter. The plot is very simple, but so much vital information is either not given to you, or rushed so fast it has no impact. It's like if Green Legend Ran was hacked into bullet points, with people getting kidnapped every ten minutes.
The characters aren't that great, but I've seen worse. The problem relates to the plot, as everything regarding the mystique of relationship shared between the origins of Ansa, Luda, and Agahali. I wasn't given a lot of time to know these people that well, so it's hard to care about them. Stunning reveals don't pack the same emotional punch when you're not given much reason to get behind your heroes. The villian is predictable, and isn't built up to be much of a threat, quite honestly. He plays by the numbers with no surprises whatsoever. The other support characters don't add much, except for Volk. He rules. At least with Shirow's art, the cast looks very good.
Above all, the sound is probably the worst aspect of Landlock. It's old, but for goodness sake, the audio sounds like it was recorded through a pillow. And the English dub is atrocious enough that 4KidsTV dubbing sounds like an orchestra by comparison.
IN CLOSING: Once you get over the clunky hump of the goofy first act, it turns into a moderate adventure movie with some decent action scenes. It's worth checking out if you're in the mood for a mediocre fantasy title, just don't expect anything stellar.

STORY: 5
ART: 7
SOUND: 3
CHARACTERS: 5
RE-WATCH VALUE: 6
OVERALL SCORE: 6 out of 10

PROS: Nice artwork, C movie-level atmosphere makes it a little fun
CONS: Poor plot, bad English dub, weak characters