Crows

I first encountered this anime merely because it was listed in the criteria for the GAR achievement here on MAL, but I'm actually pretty glad I bothered to watch it and I'm sorta surprised that it doesn't seem like many other people have. I've not read the manga myself but I have actually heard of it, as well as the live action movie adaptations. Whatever, back to this OVA. Story - 7 The story's pretty simple, and follows Bouya Harumichi as he starts at a new school, Suruzan Institute. It's known as the "school of crows" because the community hates the students---they're all thugs and delinquents thatdo little but fight and brawl. He quickly strikes up a deal with a pretty scrawny kid called Yasuda Yasuo to protect him from a gang that are beating on him and soon becomes more and more involved in the hierarchy and feuds of the different gangs in the school. Honestly, that's pretty much your lot. If you came to this anime expecting plot twists and thrilling reveals then you're not gonna find any. It's just good old fashioned delinquent fighting and slag offs in school yards. Which, if you're like me and enjoy watching burly guys punch each other in the face, is pretty enjoyable to watch. The only real problem is that the story feels incomplete. OVA 2 ends on something of a cliffhanger, like another episode is needed to finish the saga. I'm not sure if maybe they run out of funding or the project was cancelled, but there isn't really any sort of definitive ending to see here. Art - 8 This anime's even older than me, and the animation shows. It's nice to look at despite the age though, and I personally didn't see any problems with it. I love the art style of 90s animes and other vintage animes anyway, so I'm probably sorta biased. I really enjoy the way the characters look and move however, and it's pretty easy to see what's going on in every scene. Sound - 6 I actually really like the voice acting here, and the OVAs use some cool rock music throughout. There's no English dub (and the only subs I found were pretty fishy) but the vast array of deep manly voices here pretty much hits the spot just right. Characters - 8 Speaking of manly voices, it's time to get onto my favourite part - the characters. It should be no secret that delinquents and manly muscly guys like this are my favourite sorts of anime characters. They're tough, they punch things, they don't know their times tables, and some of them even ride motorbikes. The interactions they have are really the only thing driving this anime, and whilst character development seriously isn't really a thing here, watching these guys shout and swear at each other is great. The character designs are fabulous too, with those stereotypical Japanese delinquent hairstyles at every turn and a vast abundance of cool jackets. Enjoyment - 7 Personally, I enjoyed this OVA. Some parts of it dragged on a little, to the extent I was glad that I was eating dinner whilst I watched it and had something to preoccupy myself, but I could honestly never say that I didn't enjoy watching bad boys do what bad boys do best - beat on each other and then talk about it afterwards. I laughed more than a few times, and kept a smile on my face for most of the anime - I definitely had fun with this. Overall - 7 I honestly wouldn't recommend this anime to some people. It really depends on whether this sort of thing is your cup of tea. Overall though, for people that are into delinquent anime, this is a good find and a worthwhile watch. It definitely made eating a meal a million times more fun, I can tell you straight. I'm sure this'd probably be fun for people that have read the manga too, and probably actually know how this story ends, but alas I can't speak from experience when it comes to that. 7/10, good decent 90s OVA.