OVA October: Hell Target

With this entry, I had a note that the anime youtuber Hazel mentioned this title at some point. I’m not sure in a good or bad way, but it intrigued me enough to jot it down and put it on the plan to watch list. It’s an OVA so it fits the theme!

…

I am starting to think that they probably mentioned Hell Target in a negative manner. Let me tell you about it though!

According to MAL, Hell Target is about a spaceship crew going to assist a lost previous ship on the planet called Inferno II. As the crew begins their investigation, the planet has more secrets then you’d think and they’re deadly! Now it’s up to the survivors to recall their transmission for assistance.

I want to be generous with this review of Hell Target. At the end of the day, it’s just a little Sci-Fi Horror OVA from the 80’s and it’s allowed to be cheesy. The thing is that Hell Target is just kinda bad. I do not genuinely recommend anyone to watch this.

The first thing I’d like to say, is if you have any light sensitive especially for flashing, glitching, strobe effects, do not watch this. These effects are used liberally throughout to cover a lack of animation. I’m not someone sensitive to light, but even I was a bit overwhelmed by it.

The second thing is that there’s nothing really impressive about Hell Target. There’s too many characters, with no development. They’re all introduced to be killed off so there’s no point. On top of it, the voice actors performances were stiff. The monster(s) didn’t really make sense, and their designs were boring. The plot was barely there. This next part sealed the deal with how bad this is and I have to laugh it off, otherwise I’d cry.

Nakamura Production manages to shove a sex scene into Hell Target. Not even a good one. Want to know what’s the context for it? The remaining female character, the only character whose managed to fight a monster off and survive is rightfully panicked because she KNOWS they are doomed. In the “they will both die here” kinda doomed. You know what the remaining guy does? Offer comforting words, or a game plan? No. Of course not, he kisses her and somehow they both just decide to fuck on a planet that is actively trying to kill them. The best part is when he asks after they fuck – “Are you calm now?”.

I actually paused, groaned aloud before continuing. Like no dude, you’re all still screwed and not in the sexy way.

I’ll give Hell Target the credit that the red/brown palette for most of the scenes was a unique choice. There’s a lot of good blood splatter and gore too if that’s your thing. Unfortunately it’s obscured due to the low quality video I watched it with, plus the lackluster everything else.

I really don’t have much to end on. Hell Target as an 80’s Sci-Fi Horror OVA, while on brand for October, was a dud. Hopefully my last pick for this month will end on a stronger note!