The Mask of Zeguy is a short 2 episode OVA from 1993 which is known for being both relatively obscure even for an early 90's anime title and incredibly strange even by the standards of its genre. With an English dub that didn't materialize until the middle of the 2000's, an odd cast of characters that includes many real world historical figures and a setting that liberally mixes both technology and magic Mask of Zeguy is certainly not your typical isekai fantasy story. There are sand-filled werewolf bikers, living airships that can attack with electrified dung, cyborg warriors and even more weird and outlandish things than that to witness as the plot unravels.
The story begins with two young girls named Miki and Sayaka getting into an argument before heading off to school, resulting in Miki running away in anger without noticing that her bell has fallen off and prompting Sayaka to pick it up. Before it can be returned to it's proper owner, however, the girls find themselves being flung into another world where an evil force seeks the power of the priestess of Zeguy and her bell. Since Sayaka was still holding onto the bell when she was first found in this new world she is taken away by the ones seeking the power of Zeguy to rule both worlds.
Now, completely alone and defenseless in this strange new land, Miki must find a way to rescue her friend, get back the stolen artifacts before they can be used for evil and then return them both back to their own world before its too late. Along the way she is aided by the legendary warrior Toshizo Hijikaha and his partner Gennai Hiraga who pilots a living airship. With their help she just might have a chance of saving her friend and ending the threat Zeguy's Mask poses once and for all.
Mask of Zeguy Provides examples of:
- Big Bad: Himiko. She seeks to combine the power of the Mask of Zeguy with Miki's bell to gain the ability to rule over both worlds. Luckily, she needs the priestess of Zeguy to pull that feat off and accidentally grabbed the wrong girl when the two teenagers were transported into her world. This prevents her from actually gaining the power she seeks until Miki (the real priestess of Zeguy) confronts at the end of the story alongside her friends.
- Big Damn Heroes: Oh no, Miki and Gennai are about to be killed by one of the cyborg bikers! But wait! Here's Toshizo to knock him off the airship and save the day! Oh no, Miki is falling to her death! But wait! Here's Toshizo to catch her and then land safely back on the ship! Oh no, Miki's friend Sayaka is about to be killed by Big Bad Himiko so she can gain Zeguy's power! But wait! Here's Toshizo to cut her down and perform a last minute rescue! Yeah, Toshizo does this a lot. For bonus points he's also voiced by none other than Dan Green himself, ensuring that each of his hero moments is also very cool and dramatic!
- Cool Airship: Gennai's airship, the Heavenly Wind, which gets its name from an ancient Japanese poem. It isn't the fastest thing around but it has a living electromagnetic engine and can deploy the creature's waste material as a form of defensive counterattack during battle. (See Dung Fu below for more details.)
- Damsel in Distress: Sayaka. She's Miki's friend from school who was with her on the bus when it entered the magic portal. Because she had Zeguy's bell after Miki lost it she is mistaken for being the priestess of Zeguy and kidnapped so that the villainess Himiko can gain her power. Hilariously, Himiko never once suspects that Miki is the real priestess until the very end of the OVA after several attempts to complete her ritual with Sayaka all fail and the heroes come knocking at her front door.
- Dung Fu: One of the most truly bizarre examples in anime history. The airship Gennai pilots is alive and can apparently use its own waste material as electrified cannon balls that it discharges through a small port on its rear to destroy some of the werewolf bikers. Miki is noticeably grossed out by this.Miki: What the heck are those things coming out?Gennai: Heheheh! They're droppings from our living engine!Miki: Ewwww! That's gross!Gennai: Gross?! This is precious energy that we're wasting on those fiends!
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Infamously done with Leonardo DaVinci of all people. Rather than being a great inventor he becomes a generically evil mad scientist who seeks to make powerful and deadly weapons that he can test out on living targets as his primary motivation. Bennett the Sage wastes absolutely no time setting the record straight when this little plot point shows up on Anime Abandon.Leonardo DaVinci: I've spent my whole life designing weapons of power and might and don't want to see them go unfulfilled!Komei Shokatsuryo: So you want to test your weapons against living targets? Heheheh. You are a cruel man!Bennett the Sage: Historians hypothesize that Leonardo DaVinci intentionally sabotaged his own schematics by designing hidden faults within them to keep his commissioned work from actually being used in battle during the 15th and 16th centuries. Or, he coulda been a warmongering asshole, that too!
- Living Battery: Gennai's airship is powered by a strange "living engine" that takes the form of a small energy discharging creature that can apparently even use it's own electrified shit as a powerful defensive weapon. (See Dung Fu above for details.)
- Mask of Power: The titular Mask of Zeguy is this, as would be expected of the treasure the show is named after. If used with a few other objects and the priestess of Zeguy it can grant the power to rule over both worlds and perhaps a couple other useful abilities as well.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The world that the story takes place in has a few really weird hybrid animal species living in it such as green goat/giraffe creatures that make sounds similar to that of sheep.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: This anime features samurai bikers, cyborg warrior bikers and even sand-filled werewolf bikers as just a few of the unusual sights viewers will be treated to.
- Schizo Tech: The world this anime takes place in happily combines all kinds of high end technology with more traditional magic and sorcery. There are cyborg bikers and werewolf bikers, there are creature-powered airships and armored tanks, there are magic artifacts alongside modern electronics and almost everything is all blended together in one way or another.
- Trapped in Another World: The main plot kicks off when two schoolgirls (one of whom is the priestess of Zeguy) get transported into another world where evil forces seek to use them to complete a ritual that will give them the power of Zeguy. Due to a case of mistaken identity one of the girls is kidnapped by the villain's werewolf minions while the other (the true priestess) has to find and save her with the help of a few famous Japanese historical figures.
