This OVA is stupid. Really, really stupid. But somehow, I just can't hate it.
Jungle De Ikou is a Magical Girl comedy about a 10 year old girl named Natsumi who transforms into a large-breasted, scantily clad goddess who uses magic by doing bouncy dances after being visited in her dreams by an inoffensively racist caricature of a old black man who claims to be a New Guinea earth god in need of her help to battle his ancient enemy, the evil god Ongo who was released from his prison by her archeologist father, but Ongo turns out to be a goofy little pygmy who accidentally floods the city of Tokyo in an attempt to get some delicious whale meat.
That's the first 20 minutes, and it doesn't get any saner from there.
I had never even heard of this 1997 OVA until sixteen years after its release, but watching it triggered some of the most intense nostalgia I've felt in years. Every moment of this OVA takes me back to those magical days of the early 2000's when I first discovered anime; from the cheap animation, to the deformed character designs, to the violent and perverted sense of humor, to the ludicrous plot, to the cliched one-dimensional characters, to the shameless, over the top fanservice. Jungle De Ikou is stupid, but it's stupid in a creative way that belongs so distinctly to that time period that all I can do as an anime fan from that period is enjoy the ride.
This film is some serious guilty pleasure material. Emphasis on the "guilty" over the "pleasure" when it comes to the numerous prepubescent panty flashes, mind you.
Anime A Nostalgic Time Capsule of Stupid
This OVA is stupid. Really, really stupid. But somehow, I just can't hate it.
Jungle De Ikou is a Magical Girl comedy about a 10 year old girl named Natsumi who transforms into a large-breasted, scantily clad goddess who uses magic by doing bouncy dances after being visited in her dreams by an inoffensively racist caricature of a old black man who claims to be a New Guinea earth god in need of her help to battle his ancient enemy, the evil god Ongo who was released from his prison by her archeologist father, but Ongo turns out to be a goofy little pygmy who accidentally floods the city of Tokyo in an attempt to get some delicious whale meat.
That's the first 20 minutes, and it doesn't get any saner from there.
I had never even heard of this 1997 OVA until sixteen years after its release, but watching it triggered some of the most intense nostalgia I've felt in years. Every moment of this OVA takes me back to those magical days of the early 2000's when I first discovered anime; from the cheap animation, to the deformed character designs, to the violent and perverted sense of humor, to the ludicrous plot, to the cliched one-dimensional characters, to the shameless, over the top fanservice. Jungle De Ikou is stupid, but it's stupid in a creative way that belongs so distinctly to that time period that all I can do as an anime fan from that period is enjoy the ride.
This film is some serious guilty pleasure material. Emphasis on the "guilty" over the "pleasure" when it comes to the numerous prepubescent panty flashes, mind you.