Audience reviews
11 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Slowdown87
I certainly like the novelty of this one. It's essentially if somebody took an American movie and adapted it straight. I wouldn't have rated it as high if it were a real live-action American, as the plot isn't very intriguing.
The anime is about a man who gets dragged along to go to Death Valley, California, by a girl after they both saw a vision of the location from touching a mysterious spherical object.
The characters weren't particularly interesting; they didn't have much depth at all, and they reached a similar quality in terms of writing in line with the rest of the story.
The ending wasn't particularly satisfying, but it wasn't disappointing either, right in the zone of "oh, that happened, I guess". If I'm being honest, if you haven't seen the anime and just read this, you wouldn…
Read at the sourceHeadon
I enjoy watching this and If you like 80's movies or Vaporwave aesthetics you'll 'like this one too. California Crisis is the best "American dream" propaganda made by Japan. Story: Basically a boy and a girl discovered an Alien orb held by the russians and after the a car accident they plan to bring it to Death valley while the American goverment are trying to recover it. The plot is not very important here, the more important is the characters. Unfortunately there is no an HD version available, as far as i know. The only version is from a VHS, if know a better quality version let me know in the comments.
Read at the sourceCentralUnplan
Incredible "vibes" OVA - California Crisis commits fully capturing the summer haze and glitzy shine of 80's Los Angeles as seen in fashion magazines & music videos. Which is a great thing to capture, but combining it with a military/spycraft chase for a lost alien artifact is a zany enough premise to elevate this work above being simply good YoutTube playlist background art. The OVA's bright spot is the Patrick Nagel-esque animation style, where everything is heavily solarized; it does not always work - most particularly for the female lead Mashrea - but when it does it creates a unique aesthetic for anime, and one that really "sells" the LA vibe it is so invested in. Additionally, since I saw some comments on it, I think the ending is great. This is not a complicated story, and characteri…
Read at the sourceKamuiX1999
Ever wondered what a '70s Corman chase film might look like as an anime? Give this a look. The entire plot of some kids stumbling into something crazy which leads to tons of wacky, over the top chase scenes reminded me a lot of the Corman films of the 70s. The alien sub-plot is pretty second rate though, I'm not sure why they even went with it. Hell, I don't think those involved knew what to do with it, as the ending is incredibly flat and ultimately hurts an otherwise fun flick. I should also mention the animation style, which oozes cool. I honestly have never seen anything else like it. It's hard to describe, but at times it looks almost silhouetted, but with super high contrast colors. It genuinely looks like a moving comic book. If not for that awful ending, this would have scored high…
Read at the sourceSapphireloid
If you're a fan of all the American 80s action movie cheese that checked every box on the stereotypes of those movies at the time, this is the anime for you.
Or if you just came around for the art and its aesthetic.
Everything about this anime made me feel like I was watching some b-movie from my dad's collection, albeit not in English without all the slang. Aliens, car chases, Coca Cola, California, hot rods, the fashion, it checks all the boxes for me.
The story and characters are very flat and lacking. There isn't really anything spectacular about this anime outside of it being a love letter to the cheesy action movies in somebody's dad's cabinet, but it might be nice if you're bored or looking for a certain artistic vibe. A lot of aesthetic kids have slowly been looking into this…
Read at the sourceRiilu
A weak story with a good presentation.
California Crisis has a striking style which looks like someone took an Eizin Suzuki painting and animated it, and to go with that striking visual style it has a strong "city pop" score that really ties well with the visual presentation. but in terms of the actual plot, it's short, underdeveloped, and ends abruptly. It feels like it's the first half of something bigger, however there is no sequel.
It's a pretty time capsule of the Japanese perception of America in the 1980's, but should be regarded more as a beautiful painting in a museum rather than a compelling story you can sit down and read.
Read at the sourcePurePureHeart
Aside from the character designs and music, this anime has little to offer.
The animation is minimal and badly directed, with many scenes confusingly edited together and at times barely comprehensible. Most of this OVA consists of an uninteresting chase scene that leads up to a very unsatisfying conclusion. The plot is practically non existent, with the mystery presented halfway through the OVA having zero payoff in the end and what few characters are introduced are uninteresting and pointless. I've seen many describe this OVA as "underrated" but it's better described as something that's obscure and boring.
Overall, I'd say the only enjoyable way to experience this anime is to listen to the OST or watch vaporwave/city pop/future funk videos that use clips from this OVA. Viewing this an…
Read at the sourcejohnbradshaw
This 45 minute OVA right here is the most American thing I've ever seen in anime. It's so inconceivably silly. It's like watching a 80s Hollywood action movie with no plot but it's one thing it did right and boy I have an entertaining time watching this one.
So some Alien's object has been stolen by the Russian. It happens to be held by 2 civilian after a trailer's accident. Now the US government has to sent troops out to retrieve the object. That leads to some hilarious and exciting action sequences that fill the runtime of this OVA.
There's really not much I can say about this. See it for yourself, the 80s is really something else in term of entertainment.
Read at the sourcebitchassdarius
We finally learn the girl's name after 18 minutes, more than a third of the way in. Not that the main characters' names matter anyway, nor does the plot nor the characters' backgrounds nor really any of the specifics. In this way, California Crisis reminds me of Monte Hellman's sun-baked road movie classic, Two-Lane Blacktop; that is, there is a story, one about a road trip, but that story also happens to be the aspect of least interest. Forget the story, and the focus is now what is being presented on screen. You've got the really striking art style reminscent of Patrick Nagel, with its bold colour palette on clean yet detailed line art and two-tone shading that gives a strong sense of directional lighting; the wonderfully '80s boogie soundtrack delivered by city pop singer Miho Fujiwara;…
Read at the sourcematthigh
The very first thing you are going to notice is the distinctive art style. Either you are going to like it, or hate it. Just so happens, I like it. Very heavy on the line work, stark shadows, flat colors, which are all things that are rarely seen in anime.
Too bad, however, that the animation can't match up. While the art is interesting to look at, the animation is very stilted and janky, poorly storyboarded, and that just lessens the experience.
Getting away from the art, and you are left with the story. Well, what passes for a story at least - which is to say, not much. Slacker Boy runs into Irrepressible Spirit Girl (a la "Who's That Girl"), they get their hands on some mysterious orb that the government goons are trying to recover, and they end up on a chase across Southern Califor…
Read at the sourceArmitage87
There's not much to say about this OVA. It's an anime that tries to recreate a 70s-80s american action movie (a bad one), and for the most part it does a pretty good job.
Story: Well, there's just enough story to justify the action scenes. Basically a boy and a girl discover some UFO fragment and they're chased by government agents who try to recover it.
Characters: There's no character development. After watching it I can't even remember the names of the main characters. There's not a single moment where you might actually feel something for them.
Art: For the most part it's okay (keep in mind that it's an anime made in the 80s). The only problem that I had was with the shading style witch was horribly done.
Sound: The whole movie has just 3 or 4 tracks. They're the same type of songs…
Read at the source