The Chohjotai

Welcome to the year 1991. The Chohjotai captures nicely all the things great of the era. This is a one shot OVA based on a novel. I've never read the novel, but was pretty happy with the pacing of the story. I felt like no part was dragged out and we got a nice development the characters without a giant exposition. The art felt fairly consistent (I'd hope so for a one shot). But I noticed that the background animation and action shots did NOT use a terrible lines-moving behind the characters. While there weren't a ton of details in the backgrounds, it never felt terrible. Theaction sequences and ESPER power usage was animated well. The art of the characters had nice soft lines and edges, but I suppose that could be a personal preference. I'll admit that for the sound, I might have been generous. But the few sound effects for psychic screaming and "Spirit Gun" were good. Mostly I enjoyed the insert song at a cafe and the end credit song. The 3 main characters were well written. This is impressive as writing for women characters was not always strong in 1991. But in 45 minutes, I had a nice understanding of the characters wants and personality without it being giants tropes. I watched this with 2 friends and we all enjoyed it. We laughed at intended times, enjoyed guessing character motivations and where the story was going. I think if you enjoyed the earlier spirit detective arc of Yu Yu Hakusho, you'll enjoy this. I felt my time was well spent and if you want a nice one shot to watch with friends, this is a great option.