OZ

Only watch this show if you're bored or yearning for a 90's anime. The characters are lacking, the story seems forced, and on top of that it's average 90's looking. The only plus side is that it's only an hour short. The story throws you into mid-scene of apocalyptic earth with 60% of the population dead from nuclear war, but you don't know why. The relationship between each character has no reasoning behind it. Just from these facts alone, the show already sucks. I had to continuously scroll through the second episode to get to the end because that's how bad it was. Do notwatch.

Despite having nothing at all to do with Oz and having the production values of, well, a 1992 anime OVA, there's some pretty funky stuff in this movie that makes it interesting to the point that if trashy late 80s/early 90s sci-fi is your thing, it's worth checking out. The second episode is much more interesting than the first, even if the ending isn't exactly gonna blow your mind or anything. For some reason there's an actual transgender character in the story and a frank discussion about it, even going far enough to use the word dysphoria and everything. I mean, it's handled about as wellas you'd expect from a 1992 anime OVA, but the fact that it is there adds another layer of funk to what should have been a super generic and edgy action movie.

Starts off strong in both episodes, but can't really land in the second. It's about a girl named Filicia Epstein's quest to find her brother. Her uncle is killed when a plane crashes into his house, and a bioroid emerges from the wreckage. Also, there's a military guy who's given more focus overall, but is mostly a generic action dude. It's pretty violent, as expected and desired from a 1992 action OVA, but the most interesting part is the psychology of a bioroid named 1019. They have a male body, but they are based on a woman's personality and, it turns out, they have that woman'spersonality inside them. So, with my 2020 brain, I'm thinking this movie is saying "trans rights." It's not NOT saying "trans rights," but I think it ended up being fairly transphobic because of the way this clone interacted with and was compared with the other clones. For one, the other clones just have female bodies and they are "superior" models because they do not have any dysphoria. For another, the female original personality within 1019 is a homicidal maniac who starts killing people left and right when she comes to the surface. The swift pacing may have prevented them from exploring this in a way that ended up affirming for trans people, but they also wasted time with some minor sideplots, so it's kind of a wash. Only the first five minutes bear any resemblance to The Wizard of Oz. The Wicked Witch of the East didn't kill himself.