Genocyber

Another OVA that (allegedly) was cut short in production, loosly based on an equally cut short manga by noted mangaka Tony Takezaki; this time directed by the man behind M.D Geist. Of the alleged planned 9 episodes, what is here is another beautifully violent slice of animated fiction. Over the course of the five episodes, Genocyber racks up what could possibly be the highest prospected kill count of any Animated feature, i assure you the title is no exaggeration. I would of course be be-miss to not mention the soundtrack, which leads to probably one of the most jarring disconnects between visual and audio you ... will probably ever see; its really good however, put it on your workout mix. If you're unsure, just watch the first episode, its the longest of the series and works rather substantially as a one-off. The stories after are both Two-Parters and really do not connect outside of Genocyber itself and a theme of mass destruction. Overall i would however recommend it in full, especially if you love high detail violence.

I have seen there are a few reviews that have given this a 10/10 which quite frankly, is f**king wild. I am giving this a 5/10 and here is why.

Firstly the animation. Classing 90s animation that honestly, I could give 10/10 every damn time. Objectively though, it's pretty average for its time. There is a lot of body horror here that is done well. Other than that however there is not much more to say than it's average. Colour pallet is fine. Character movement is fine. Background animation is fine. It's just fine. I came to this show, like many people would, to see just ... how violent it really is. It is very violent, however, It feels like violence for the sake of violence most of the time. 6/10

Secondly the story is actually based on an incomplete manga. This may in turn explain when it's rather incoherent. Maybe I just couldn't see the wood for the trees, or rather, see the actual story for the gore. I just didn't think it really did many things with it's story and I lost interest rather quickly. I can't really say much more here to be perfectly honest. 5/10

Finally, and sadly, not much to report on the music and sound design either. It's again average. 5/10

In summary, I think I probably need to watch this again after writing this. For the time being though, it's getting a 5/10

Going into this, I expected a hyperviolent gore fest. The kind where you can turn your brain off and enjoy some good ol' '90s edginess. What I got instead was a confusing mess of utter nonsense. There is some of that touted gore and violence (which, if you don't like, you shouldn't be watching a series like this in the first place, getting offended is on you) but honestly, the rest of the show is just... boring. The ending leaves no satisfaction at all either, so you don't even feel like sticking it out for all five episodes is worth it. It fails on just ... about every selling point it was supposed to have (though MAYBE you could argue the first ep or two make some promises, the rest of the show completely fails to deliver). The violence and gore was surprisingly sparse despite the show's reputation though I do admit, its few scenes are somewhat shocking but that doesn't carry the show at all.

Honestly, I'd avoid this and go look for your gore and violence fix from something more competently put together. Supposedly, the OVA was cut short in development but I don't think more episodes would have saved it much, since the existing ones were so damn boring. I do not know why I bothered finishing it and I implore you to find something else that's actually worth watching.