Chaika: The Coffin Princess OVA

When first aired, Hitsugi no Chaika was a well written series that was severely underrated at its time. Now with its second season and the entire plot of the series all wrapped up in a neat little bundle, what exactly was left to make an OVA out of? Well, I guess burning things to the ground was a start. Story (7.00/10): OVA stories are never really quite fleshed out or developed, more or less existing as an extra side story for fans of the series to watch. In this case, the OVA for Hitsugi no Chaika more or less follows a plotline oftwo minisodes, each of which taking up about half of the runtime in a single episode. Within each minisode lies pretty much the same sort of plot that the original series has been running through throughout its two seasons which involves our main characters Tooru, Akari, and Chaika running away from the Gilette squad in order to resist arrest and capture, before ending in a nice fiery explosion. (In addition, the OVA is set sometime during the first season.) Literally, the entire OVA is about our main characters attempting to escape capture, before destroying some historical monument in a fiery explosion. While the OVA was really more fluff for the series' fans more than anything, with an oddly entertaining flair to it, there really wasn't much in terms of the story. However, as a fan of the series, I definitely did thoroughly enjoy this extra 20 minutes, and while it wasn't exceptional story-wise, it definitely was entertaining. Overview: + Entertaining OVA + Interesting comedic flair added in Characters (7.33/10): The characters don't really differ all that much for the most part. Since there are no changes to cast or development, as this is an OVA that comes off as a little side adventure, there really isn't much to say. Art and Sound (7.44/10 and 7.79/10): The art quality for Chaika has always been relatively fantastic and of great quality since the series was produced by studio bones. However, some parts of this OVA do dip a little bit in quality. Some character faces look slightly off, and for some reason, the overall quality looks less than what it was originally. That's not to say it's bad, but it certainly is a sad change. Sound for the OVA recycles the songs from the second season, Avenging battle. Both using the kickass OP and the awesome ED as its two tracks. Overview: + Good soundtrack - Art quality dipped a bit Personal Enjoyment (8.00/10): Chaika was a series that I felt exceeded what I had expected from it originally. After the series was over, I had pondered what this OVA would have as its plotline. I originally thought that it was going to feature something post Avenging Battle, but sadly, I was disappointed. Regardless, this is a fun OVA that brings a little light-hearted nature to the series, making odd things like seeing Tooru cross-dress and seeing the characters destroy random buildings a lot more interesting than they should've been. If you're a fan of the Chaika series, watch this. It'll definitely be worth your time. Overall Score: 7.21/10