OVA October: Blazing Transfer Student

I had wanted to check out Blazing Transfer Student ever since I watched the re-worked live action a couple years ago. I figured the manga would be more my speed, but I found it a little hard to come by. Enter the OVA. I knew that the OVA wasn’t going to cover everything, 46 minutes compared to 118 chapters you can see where this is going.

But… holy shit. Blazing Transfer Student the OVA is… something.

Transfer student Takisawa Noboru heads to Honjakuniku High, an hour after class per teacher’s instruction. At the gate, he encounters the hall monitor Jounoichi, who charges him with tardiness. The key thing Noboru doesn’t know is that you can solve any issue at this new school with sports or combat – so Yukari manages to step in and get Jounoichi on a technicality. Noboru fall head over heels for her, but she is the apple of many boys’ eyes including Jounochi and Ibuki, thus… he’s going to box for her??

This story is so far into parody that it genuinely made my head spin a bit. The plot, premise, logic that the story follows so plays into everyone is literally making shit up on the spot to squeeze out a victory. At the same time there are boundaries and limits that are universally agreed upon at any given time. It works so well because Blazing Transfer Student does deliver all of this earnestly. The action is over the top, nonstop, and played out completely un-ironically the entire duration. It was awesome.

The only problem is this OVA is intended to be seen by people already familiar with the story. The opening credits feature a bunch of characters that manga readers would know, but almost none make an appearance even in the background. The logic of the school and the character dynamics are clearly set, and just go from there. Aside from Noboru being the wild card, there’s very little explanation to anything – which does make it fun, but I could also see pissing people off.

Probably the biggest hit or miss depending on the viewer is the blink and you’ll miss it pacing. The ‘blaze’ of this series, isn’t just limited to Noboru as a character. I’m really not kidding that this OVA is non-stop action, there is almost no processing time allowed. Any time the viewer does get to catch up is in the repetition sequences (featuring reused animation) which is building into the gag that is paid out quickly, and then into the next one. While following the full sequence of events I don’t think is essential to enjoy the series, it’s parody after all, you will miss out on things if you drop your gaurd. It’s a LOT to keep up with.

What I did love the most about this series is how stylized the characters are. All characters have the bold outlines, that really bolsters the impact of their actions and focuses the attention on them. They still maintain their expressive nature, Noboru going through the full range of feelings that only early 90’s animation could capture. It’s great and still holds up fairly well even if the animation itself is a bit dated, and highly repetitive. OVA’s aren’t known for having big budgets ya’ know?

It’s a goofy OVA that feels like it was made as a final hurrah for fans of the series to enjoy. It captures most of what Blazing Transfer Student was about, and I feel did a pretty good job overall. It’s certainly not going to be for everyone, but it was a lot of fun to spend the time and see for myself.

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