Ogy Anime Reviews: Dream Hunter Rem

Ogy Anime Reviews: Dream Hunter Rem

Date Released: 06/10/85, 12/15/85, & 02/25/87
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Suspense, Magical Girl, Sci-fi, and Yuri.
Age Range: 15+
Total Episodes: All OVAs, 3 parts, 4 episodes, & 1 pilot that originally was a hentai version of the first part of part one
Runtime: Pilot 20 min, Episode 1 Part A 20 min, Episode 1 Part B (Includes intermission) 25 min, Episode 2 55 min, Episode 3 55 min
Chief Director & Original Story by Seiji Okuda
– Other works from Seiji Okuda:
** Original Works:
• Chōjikū Romanesque Samy – Missing 99 (OAV)
• Crystal Triangle (OAV)
• Twinkle Heart – Gingakei made Todokanai (OAV)

Directors:
Episode 1 by Satoru Kumazaki (Only Work)
Episode 2 by Shuku Nagao
– Other works from Shuku Nagao:
**Episode Directed
• Legend of the Galactic Heroes (OAV)
Episode 3 by Yasunori Kamii (Only Work)

Production: Orange House, Sai Enterprise, & Zain (I’m iffy on this.)
Other Media Chronology:
• Sequel OVA: New Dream Hunter Rem (I & II), By Seiji Okuda (This is his daughter), Studio: Studio Zain, Date Created: 12/16/90 & 08/12/92. 2 Episodes.
• Video Game: Super Heroine Chronicle Release 02/06/2014, Genre: J-RPG, Platform: Playstation 3 & PSP Vita.

**Manga and novels exist but sadly I can’t properly cite them. :(

Licensed by … well no one. I hope this gets picked up or inspire interest to get people wanting this.

-Story Insight:

Rem is a Dream Hunter who will accept any case. With her she has kitty, Alpha, and puppy, Beta, who will help her in her intense battles. Her arsenal is a colt .35 pistol with special silver bullets, a Geo Metro 1985 Convertible (I think) equipped with missiles and rockets, and in the dream realm she can change into a scantily clad warrior equipped with a translucent white energy sword and heater shaped buckler on her free wrist. As Rem transforms Alpha and Beta can transform in to bigger beasts to aid her. Each job is an intense adventure with action to please and suspense to tease the audience what Rem’s faith will be.

Along her adventures she does get some side help with a traveling monk named Enkou and Inspector Sakaki. Enkou helps her more with her battles al-la Tuxedo Mask. Sakaki generally gets her more information about the job and tries to help in combat if he can.

- OVA overview:

Dream Hunter Rem: Rem Appears

In this beginning we see Rem shoot the screen as a title card appears.
After that we see a skinny man exit out of a taxi and enter a narrow alley way. At the end of his rout, he finds a shabby apartment shadowed around the tall buildings. He enters the shack and offers Rem a job from his boss. He praises her that she is the best in her field and they set off to the mansion where his boss is.

Enkou spots her coming to the mansion and flees to it by foot.

Rem finds the mansion and it looks like a place that Scooby and the gang would investigate. She calls it a dump and enters. She is greeted by the boss and his wife they brief her about their daughter while giving each other the “I-know-you’ve-been-sleeping-with-someone-else” glare. It turns out his daughter is lost in a nightmare induced “coma.”

She enters the girl’s room with the father. He explains that the situation has resorted to using a Doctor to solve his daughter’s problem.  He seems like a nutty man. Because this silly nut job can’t figure this out he has no choice to turn to Rem. Delighted to know that her time is not wasted asks everyone to leave her, Alpha and Beta in the room with the girl.

Rem goes to sleep and explores this dream realm which has a lot of monsters that looks like The Real Ghost Busters smaller monsters inspired by design. Soon finds the dream demon made of tentacles and fights. Noticing what struggle she has to deal with, Rem transforms along with Alpha and Beta to face the demonic threat. She struggles and fights through until he transforms to later reveal that he holds the girl captive. Rem and her furry friends allow there selves to be bound. Before his final blow was struck, Rem’s wrist watch wakes them up. This causes the green dream devil man to flee outside of the house.

Once outside it’s revealed that his true form is a viscous blue dragon!!! Oh the Humanity will Rem be the victor?!?!?! (<– I covered this more to reference later to compare the pilot.)

Dream Hunter Rem: Dr. Death Resurrected

In this one, we are greeted with the Inspector as he needs Rem’s help to stop the twisted murderer Dr. Shinigami. Freddy Krueger has nothing on this guy because of how villainous and cunning he is.

Dream Hunter Rem II: Dream Demon at Seibishinjo High School

We begin seeing a girl sleep walk to a clock tower and her head decapitated by a Love Craft like demon. The detective gets Rem on this case and puts her in school like the rest of the girls her age. At this all girl school the principal is obsess with beauty and hates animals, the male P.E. teacher is a pervert, the local Sukeban run the student body with fear (It’s like these cretins are a gang of bullies that go too far), and a death rate of dream demon problems. Rem befriends a fellow peer named Kyōko. The powder keg of events is set and this mystery has more to offer.

Dream Hunter Rem III: Hidden Dream: Legend of the Headless Warrior

Rem sets off to a small hidden village that has very snooty neighbors that want their heads intact. She goes to her appointment’s house and gather’s the details of her job and gets involve with a family secrete. Will Rem solve her past life drama?

Rem’s Study/Intermission/Classroom

These happen in between the OVA. What this segment dose is teach the viewer how a dream is made while motivating them to go study hard.

A.)

Name: Rem Ayanokōji
Gender: Female
Personality: Brave, cunning, and diligent.
Role: Main character, descendent of the Dream Guardians , and hero.
VA:
Naoko Matsui (Japanese)
Other Roles:
• Compiler 1 & 2 (OAV) as Compiler
• Martian Successor Nadesico Series as Inez Fressange
• Mobile Fighter G Gundam (T.V. Series) as Announcer
• Silent Möbius Series as Katsumi Liqueur

B.)

Name: Alpha the kitten & Beta the puppy
Personality: Happy pets that will protect/aid Rem.
Role: Main characters and support for hero.

C.)

Name: Enkō
Gender: Male
Personality: Silent, Serious, and suffers Texedo Mask syndrome.
Role: Sub main character, understands the dream demons, and has a crush on Rem.
VA: Sho Hayami
Sho Hayami (Japanese)
Other Roles:
• Bleach (T.V. Series) as Aizen Sousuke
• Dragon Ball Z Series as Zarbon, Cooler’s Revenge (the 5th movie) as Sauzer & Thousar
• Peach Girl (T.V. Series) as Ryo Okayasu

D.)

Name: Inspector Junichirō Sakaki
Gender: Male
Personality: Common Man
Role: Sub main character, supports Rem, and gives
VA:
Kenji Utsumi (Japanese)
Other Roles:
• Berserk (T.V. Series) as Nosferatu Zodd & Zodd the Immortal
• Dr. Slump Series as Senbei Norimaki
• Dragon Ball & Z Series as ShenLong and many more

-Animation:
For the most part this is pretty good animation from the mid 1980’s. In part two of Episode 1 for about five minutes the face animations are awkward and just terrible. Other than the If you like 1980’s animation you’ll enjoy it.
Animation Rating: 3.45/5 I Great in the 1980’s.

-Sound:
I enjoyed the pop star music motivation. Episode 3 barely has any music.
Sound Rating: 3.5/5(B) Fun and pop star-ish.

Overall Production Rating = 3.5/5 (B)

-Pros:
• Griping
• Exciting
• Knows how to hint and hook the viewer

-Cons:
• Not available in the U.S.
• Needs more back story
• Hints an Alice in Wonder Land and sequel to Dr. Shimigami but it might be in the ‘New’ series

-Other Thoughts:
On episode 1 part A it is a decent introduction to who Rem is and What she does or can do.

With episode 1 part B Rem faces a foe that is at Lupin the 3rd proportions and even more. Dr. Shimigami’s vampire appearance and cunning makes the tale of cat and mouse more exciting. The ending has that chilling atmosphere that fits perfectly for Halloween and demands a squeal which might be part of this ‘New’ series I havn’t gotten to yet. My only complaint, the doctor’s scythe blade is way too small.

Episode 2 is amazing. This is the first time in a long time where I just kept puzzling and asking myself how is she going to do it? Womanhood does happen and does have a crucial plot point. The side characters like the Sukeban leader and Kyōko are fun to watch as they develop, but their situation do turn grim. The ending did manage to make me shed a tear and I did not shed any during Grave of the Fire Flies or the Ano Hana series. One plot hole is left unresolved to the audience, but that clock tower.

Episode 3 feels weak to me but that is the live of an OVA; however, it’s not unbearable like Mad Bull 34’s episode 4 (they knew how to write romance). Anyway at the start of this episode the pace is slow and the setting feels out of place at first, but this is done in a flashback. It’s a straight forward episode you see the Geo Metro do a Mario jump off of a police car and it has tanks. The family she encounters is just out of place and the events that their involved with are just jumbled about as the viewer encounters them. The youngest sister could be cut and have no effect on the plot. The middle sibling is love sick. The oldest brother and grandmother are properly done. The mother has problems. Subtle hints are given at the beginning so the audience could piece the situation, but it does feel rushed. The ending isn’t as powerful as episode 2, but it’s pretty good.

I enjoy these intermissions. I learned something new and feel motivated. It does its purpose and /I’m happy.

I have not touched on the yet but the gore is used well and it’s gives us buckets of blood. When it happens in the violent scene it made me say ‘ooo man’ phrase. Also there exist many scenes where the flesh will melt off of the a person’s skeleton.

Rem herself is still a mysterious character. Episode 1 part A we can see what she can do. Episode 1 part B shows how she can deal with a challenge. Episode 2 we see her memory of her mother and know what her goal is. Episode 3 we see her past life an get to know more about the psychic clan of the

*Pro’s, Con’s, and Other Thoughts Rating: 3.5/5 (B)

See this is your brain.
You go through Alpha wave then Beta waves
then non-Rem sleep and then Rem sleep
which is where you dream.
I wounder if dreams have a skin effect coefficient as well?

• Plot: 4/5 (B) This OVA knows how to tell a story.
• Performance: 4/5 (B) I felt that the characters were in a struggle when presented and the V.A.s made the characters feel more natural.
• Pace: 3/5 (C) Episode 2 & 3 dose drag at the beginning.
• Characters: 3.5/5 (B) The main character is the show and the enemies are vile & crule making the scenes more intense.
• Production Quality: 3.5/5 (B) Animation: Idiots & Tests & Summons. Sound: Fun
• Pro’s, Con’s, and other thoughts: 3.5/5 (B).
• Overall total: 3.58/5 (B) Go watch this.

Note: Due to my own belief and further defining anime as a pop art, no rating will ever receive a 0, 1, or 5 (a Z, F, or A in my book). For this reason is that times will change as opinions. Anything can be far greater or worse than before. That’s just human triumph and error.

• A release in the U.S. market
• More episodes, but I have not seen the second series
• I rather see a T.V. series than an OVA of Rem

+15
It has some graphic situations and gore.

• The Real Ghost Busters
• Ghost Sweeper Mikami
• Project A-KO
• Prefectural Earth Defense Force
• Mujigen Hunter Fandora (The Go Nagi Rival)

Compare the Pilot to Episode 1 part 1:
I will post at another time my apologies.

Please let me know what you think in the comments below.