YMMV / MD Geist

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Did Krauser save those people and offered them hospitality because he actually cares about their well-being? Or was it all just so he could get them all to worship him like a god and satisfy his own ego? There several subtle hints that imply the latter.
• Awesome Music:
  • Violence of the Flame, the insert song from the original, is an early Hironobu Kageyama work. It shows. See caption.
  • The whole score is actually pretty awesome, but Kageyama's songs — Violence of the Flame and Merciless Soldier — stand out.
  • While Kageyama didn't come back for Death Force it more than made up for it with composer Yoshiaki Ohuchi's songs — The Moon is Crying, End of Desire/Answer Again, and Ohuchi's own take on Violence of the Flame.
• Broken Base: Fans often debate over whether the original 1986 cut or the Director's Cut is better. Defenders for the former bring up how elements like the added scenes and digital zooms mess up the pace of the film. Defenders of the latter bring up that it cleans up a lot of the animation errors and the new scenes make the story more cohesive.
  • There's also the placement of Violence Of The Flame in both cuts. Some see it more fitting as the cap off to a rather dark ending over the credits (Original cut) while others think it's better playing over the fight with the Final Striker (Director's Cut).
• Cult Classic: Due to its bad reviews, people watched it out of Bile Fascination. Nowadays, people watch it for the same reasons, and find out that it's not as bad as people make it out to be.
  • While it took a while for Western fans to reach this point, the OVA had long become a cult favorite in Japan amongst otaku types. As an example, requests for Geist's power armor to be released as a Moderoid or Figureart are very frequent.
• Evil Is Cool: Say what you will about Geist unleashing the Death Force, but he's pretty badass.
• Gateway Series: This, of all things, was one of the first anime imported to the U.S. (without a pile of Woolseyisms trying to disguise its overseas origin, that is). For a lot of people, this was one of their first experiences with uncensored seinen anime.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: M.D. Geist would've been another forgotten one-shot OVA from The '80s had it not been for its success in America. The director's cut of the original and the sequel were actually funded by Central Park Media. This was noted by Kageyama in an English interview.
  Kageyama: I can't believe you guys remember MD Geist. I barely remember MD Geist, and I did the song for it!
• Hilarious in Hindsight: In the original Japanese version, at least in the Director's Cut version. Geist is voiced by Kazuhiro Nakata, who is also the actual Japanese dub voice of Marvin The Martian, whose main goal in life is destroy Earth because it was blocking his view of Venus. At the end of the OVA, he exactly does that, except in another planet and for more selfish reasons.
• Hype Backlash: During The '90s, Central Park Media (the company that produced the English dub) hyped the release of the OVA so much, that they made Geist himself the "spokesmecha" of their U.S. Manga Corps division. Many anime snobs who dislike M.D. Geist go as far as to declare it the "worst anime" they ever saw (even though there are more deserving contenders for that title). Central Park Media founder John O'Donnell loved the series as such where it actually made the staff at CPM disgusted with their founder's fascination with it, if the comments of Anime News Network's Justin Sevakis are any indication as he used to work with the company.
• Moral Event Horizon: You just know Geist isn't quite kosher throughout the first OVA, but you don't see just how utterly fucked up he is until he intentionally triggers a worldwide genocidal Robot War (that almost succeeds in wiping out humanity) just so he can fight deadly foes constantly.
• Narm: The animation errors and the poor dubbing make MD Geist a much more hilarious experience than was likely intended.
• Narm Charm:
  • There is something really enjoyable about just how deep Geist's voice is in the dub.
  • Krauser's Villainous Breakdown is both silly and pure awesome in how hammy it is.
• So Bad, It's Good: While it's technically incompetent and the dubbing is hilariously awful, it can honestly be a lot of fun. It occupies a similar niche of enjoyment to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night's original English dub; it's incredibly goofy and questionably executed, but entertaining in spite of itself and clearly made with love.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel:
  • The OEL manga seems to have been written by someone who desperately wanted to make something good of MD Geist's story.
  • For that matter, MD Geist II is significantly prettier and, while perhaps a little less coherent, certainly more original than the first OVA's "What if there was a bizarro-world version of Fist of the North Star where the invulnerable hero was a sociopathic dickhead?" High Concept.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The only morally upright characters in the entire show are either very quickly killed or get very little screen time. It can be a bit draining.
• Vindicated by History: Back in the day MD Geist was easily one of the biggest punching bags for Western anime fans in regards to it's quality due to how snobbish the community can be. Not helping was the ANN article by Justin Sevakis, which helped paint public opinion for years. As time would go on people who liked the OVA started to speak up and even those that didn't pointed out how it's an interesting relic of a bygone era in anime while also noting how Koichi Ohata's then inexperience led to some interesting choices made that wouldn't have happened otherwise. Others have pointed out that there's far worse anime out there than Geist before and after it's release, even among more professional work. Nowadays, it is generally regarded as enjoyable shlock, comparable to the 80s action and horror that inspired it.

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