Freedom

Akira but set on a moon colony, with high tech motorcycle races and apocalyptic conspiracies. This OVA is a giant sponsor for Cup Noodles, yet honestly, they're barely in it (outside of some very overt shots and zoom ins of characters eating it). Visually stunning and richly detailed, this OVA goes way above and beyond the standard for these types of anime, with the implementation of cell-shaded CG characters into traditional 2D (with the occasional 3D background elements) making it a treat for the eye. While I definitely enjoyed my time with this, it at times became a bit difficult to love, suffering from a semi-undercooked plot, with Takeru, our lead, desiring to go to (what was previously thought as destroyed and uninhabitable) Earth to find this woman he stumbled across in a picture that he found outside of the colony on the Moon's surface. This kicks off the adventure of a lifetime as Takeru and friends navigate the inside walls and hidden areas of the Eden moon colony, coming across a ship that can get them to Earth. From there, they go to Earth, find the woman, dick around a bit, come back, tell the rest of the moon colony that "hey, Earth is actually pretty good" and then get all their other friends and whatnot to Earth. The overall narrative, and the dialogue between the characters, feels like it needed a bit more thought put into it. But honestly, I can look past these less than stellar aspects when the show itself is entertaining and visually arresting. Mayhaps not as thematically rich and deep as Akira, but this is still something that fans of the film would dig. Definitely something worth watching, for the visuals alone, and for the fact that it falls into a very niche subset of sci-fi that is often at the top of my "this needs to be a setting more often in film and TV": taking place on a high-tech space station or planet colony that showcases the daily lives of the people in these communities, who seemingly live a utopian existence. Think WALL-E, Aniara, Avenue 5, Prey (2017) etc, preferably before everything goes to shit.

Akira but set on a moon colony, with high tech motorcycle races and apocalyptic conspiracies. This OVA is a giant sponsor for Cup Noodles, yet honestly, they're barely in it (outside of some very overt shots and zoom ins of characters eating it). Visually stunning and richly detailed, this OVA goes way above and beyond the standard for these types of anime, with the implementation of cell-shaded CG characters into traditional 2D (with the occasional 3D background elements) making it a treat for the eye. While I definitely enjoyed my time with this, it at times became a bit difficult to love, suffering from a semi-undercooked plot, with Takeru, our lead, desiring to go to (what was previously thought as destroyed and uninhabitable) Earth to find this woman he stumbled across in a picture that he found outside of the colony on the Moon's surface. This kicks off the adventure of a lifetime as Takeru and friends navigate the inside walls and hidden areas of the Eden moon colony, coming across a ship that can get them to Earth. From there, they go to Earth, find the woman, dick around a bit, come back, tell the rest of the moon colony that "hey, Earth is actually pretty good" and then get all their other friends and whatnot to Earth. The overall narrative, and the dialogue between the characters, feels like it needed a bit more thought put into it. But honestly, I can look past these less than stellar aspects when the show itself is entertaining and visually arresting. Mayhaps not as thematically rich and deep as Akira, but this is still something that fans of the film would dig. Definitely something worth watching, for the visuals alone, and for the fact that it falls into a very niche subset of sci-fi that is often at the top of my "this needs to be a setting more often in film and TV": taking place on a high-tech space station or planet colony that showcases the daily lives of the people in these communities, who seemingly live a utopian existence. Think WALL-E, Aniara, Avenue 5, Prey (2017) etc, preferably before everything goes to shit.