Hyper Speed GranDoll

In a faraway planet in another galaxy, a young child is placed by the parents into a special pod. Possibly the last surviving member of the race. Reaches Earth. Being taken care of by good people till the child grows up and learns the powers and responsibilities within. Well, sorry if that sounded like some origin story of Superman because nope, they did not turn it into anime. Instead, this is the basic premise of Hyper Speed GranDoll. Ah yes, not exactly Superwoman material and close to being a hero. In fact a big ditzy klutz. Of course, her past starts to catch up with her and her enemies are going to wreck her normal life to get what’s theirs. And as always, reluctant superhero must choose to take up the mantle to protect and continue living such a peaceful life.

Episode 1
Well, it couldn’t be cheesier for college mad scientist Kouichi to propose to Miki at the park. But yeah, she accepted his love. Then as he makes his oath on a star, is it them or is the star getting bigger? Oh sh*t! It crashes near them! Well, well. Looks like that star actually contains a pod with a little girl. Like any parents, they take her in and raise her like their own child. Many years now, Hikaru Amagi is a lively teen. Clumsy too. She tells us her favourite stuffs. And her 3 sizes too. Oh wait. That’s a secret. Damn. She goes to school with her best friend, Haruna Saotome and since they’re late, use this weird jet contraption to fly there! 100% attendance protected but they crash into Narasaki who is Hikaru’s senpai crush and in the tennis club. Not that he minds. He got distracted by the new tennis racquet. Meanwhile Peos has located the whereabouts of the royal armour. To retrieve it, he sends this mecha dude, Garbiggi (garbage b*tch WHAT?!). As Garbiggi stakes out Hikaru at the tennis club in stealth mode, he is going to fire on her. Of course Hikaru’s clumsiness activates her own self-defence mechanism that blocks the shot. This makes Garbiggi think she is on to him so he backs down for now. That night, Hikaru dreams of Gran Knight who tells her she must fight and apologizes she can’t continue to live the peaceful life he hopes for.

Next day, Hikaru meets Haruna at the amusement park. It’s a setup by Haruna since she lets her be alone with Narasaki. You bet they’re going to have a fine time together. Yeah, she is willing to miss her favourite anime for this ‘date’. When she gets lost in the mirror attraction, Garbiggi confronts her to hand over the armour. She thinks this is such a cool special effect so Garbiggi attacks. They land out on stage where a sentai play is going on. Garbiggi can’t believe this retard is the princess and takes her hostage to lure the real one out. Is this all part of the show? Because Garbiggi fires and causes damage! Sigil drops in to fight her comrade. There is no chivalry in taking hostage! As they duke it out, Hikaru sees Narasaki unconscious from the blast. She becomes mad and won’t forgive this. Gran Knight then tells her to call him. Doing so allows her to don the armour known as GranDoll. She returns to fight Garbiggi and obviously her arsenal is better than his. Eventually the wining blow is from a move called Shining Breast. I KID YOU NOT! So much about that garbage b*tch. Gran Knight then temporarily appears before Hikaru to tell her if she is ever threatened, just call his name and he’ll be there. Back on the ship, Sigil chastises Peos for not providing her with enough info. Because of that, the mission is ruined at the cost of Garbiggi’s life. If it was her, she would have already gotten it. We’ll see. As Hikaru writes in her diary and ponders what is happening to her life, all is well since she has a great day with Narasaki.

Episode 2
Sigil was once a slave of some religion but thanks to Friedshalf who freed her, she now serves him. She is now tasked to retrieve the royal armour. Hikaru and Haruna can’t stop running (late to school, what else?) because of their cursed shoes? Well, Sigil is fast enough to dodge and put a stop to this farce. Gee, Hikaru in love with her already? As it turns out, Sigil is a new transfer student in Hikaru’s class and all the boys are hounding her! Can’t stand the attention? Sigil contacts Peos as he reminds her to succeed this infiltration mission. Don’t want to make Friedshalf mad, do you? Soon, she calls Haruna to the rooftop to challenge her. If she wins, give the armour. Obviously Haruna doesn’t know what she is talking about as Sigil chases her all around. Until Hikaru opens the door and she slams into it! Ouch. She wakes up in the infirmary with Hikaru by her side. Seeing her warm touch, Sigil believes that Hikaru is the princess whom she is actually also looking for. Can’t believe this airhead is actually Princess Shaina of the royal Gran Naas family. But Sigil soon feels conflicted because in this place, she is not a prisoner and feels free. As Hikaru invites her to her house, Sigil sees a dragon toy which is actually the crest of the royal family. Then Sigil has this weird vision with Gran Knight who claims she seeks him because Friedshalf gave her freedom. However he points out Friedshalf is the evil one as he was the one who destroyed the royal family 10 years ago and is once again seeking his own ambitions. Sigil does not believe him and gets mad. Well, she destroys part of Hikaru’s room. So as Hikaru is sad about this, her parents come to tell the truth that she is not their real daughter. Well, she already knew! Anyway, 10 years ago they took her in and treated her like their own child even though she is a princess from another planet. So you bet they’ll do anything to protect this family.

Peos mocks Sigil for her failure and as much as she wants to kill him, she can’t. It’s her weakness. But Peos has come up with a sneaky way for Sigil to win the next time. Sigil is conflicted at first but she remembers she has a duty she must complete. And so Sigil takes Narasaki hostage (so now she’s resorting to this evil?). Hikaru doesn’t want to fight her but eventually is forced to as she transforms. But the sight of Hikaru bears so much like Shaina so Sigil gives up. Peos curses this waste so he takes everything into his own hands. Uhm, going to use his ship to blast all of the town?! Because Hikaru blocks the blast to protect the town she loves, Sigil too can’t let her bear the burden and joins forces. Gran Knight then advises Hikaru to power up as she transforms into a higher gear. Gran Aggress? She deflects the blast back at Peos. Oh sh*t. Better run! In the aftermath, Sigil isn’t happy because why the f*ck did she help her enemy? Hikaru doesn’t think so and notes down all of her good qualities and the way she helped others. She wants her to stay with her and be happy. Too bad Sigil plays hard to get and runs away. Hikaru patches up Narasaki and bids farewell. So I guess lesbian love > senpai love.

Episode 3
Peos turns into a chicken and tries to flee. Too bad here is Friedshalf and he looks mad. Peos begs for another chance so Friedshalf fires and destroys his ship! SERIOUSLY! But good riddance. Friedshalf is in despair that Sigil has not returned. Speaking of her, she is outside Hikaru’s house? Come in. She looks pretty confused and all. But you bet the girls bond over bath and now they’re like good friends. Wow. So easy. As they sleep together, time for Sigil to reveal she is in love with Friedshalf. She was all alone and had nothing until he saved her. Then she asks if Hikaru remembers anything about her planet. A flower garden. Some shiny rocks. Some star. And yes, a huge fire! Really? Suddenly Hikaru’s parents barge in because it’s all over the news right now. Friedshalf making his announcement for Shaina to hand over the armour or the whole Earth will burn in 12 hours! Hikaru is willing to do that to save her friends but Gran Knight advises her not to. Doing so not only puts Earth but the entire universe in danger. Sigil is in shock over Friedshalf’s actions. She escapes to return to him. Next day, looks like everywhere is an awful lot peaceful. Yeah, damn humans think that broadcast was a prank! As Hikaru is in a dilemma on what to do, here comes Narasaki to talk to her. Hikaru reveals she is an alien but he isn’t laughing. He thanks her for helping him and this gives her the encouragement to do what she needs to do. Looks like his confession will have to wait. So how will Hikaru get to Friedshalf’s ship? Don’t worry, dad conveniently created a rocket booster overnight for her! It destroyed the house during launch but it’s a small price to pay and better than a destroyed Earth, no!

Sigil confronts Friedshalf but he has her fight him via sword. Yeah, remember those days he taught her so? Sigil wants to believe in him but is willing to stop him if she needs to. Friedshalf dares her if she can kill him. Hikaru crashes in. The guards want to fight her but Friedshalf tells them to back off. They are no match for her armour. She questions why he wants to armour so badly. Well, all that freedom has caused the planet to be lax. Hence he feels the need of a dictator which is of course not surprising, himself. A new hero who bears the royal armour. Hikaru then recognizes the sword. It belongs to her royal family. And yes, he admits he was the one who started the revolution and killed her real parents with it! Yeah, so that fire memory… This is when Hikaru remembers fully what happened as Gran Knight apologizes for the fake memories implanted since she was too young to understand. Hikaru will not allow him to further destroy the things she love. As they fight, Sigil gets in the way and gets stabbed. Friedshalf in despair and blames Hikaru. Realizing he is no match for her, like a true villain if he cannot get the armour, he might as well die and take the whole Earth with him! He fuses with his ship. A barely alive Sigil reminds Hikaru to protect and with that, Hikaru levels up her armour and destroys the ship. She still wants to save Sigil. But it seems she would rather go and die with Friedshalf. Goodbye :’(. A great explosion but it is hinted the armour absorbed it. Hikaru wants to believe that Sigil is alive somewhere. Yeah. In heaven maybe! Strangely, Hikaru’s parents are here to pick her up. Don’t tell me they made these special suits too? And they brought Narasaki along?! WHY?! I guess he wants to confess to her. Well, sum up your courage. Because in space nobody can hear you confess. Sorry, bad pun… Oh well, going back to straight love since lesbo love didn’t work out…

The Princess Within: Discovering Your Royal Inheritance
Well, that was pretty okay. I don’t know it could have been better but with only 3 episodes, how much can they flesh out? After all, this OVA was created possibly to promote the game of the same name. That was way back in 1997. You feeling old now? I know I am. But yeah, with only 3 episodes, it feels like it needed not much nonsense or fooling around and everything gets straight to the point. From the first episode being introductory, the second episode being rival turned (almost) friend and the final episode to just settle everything once and for all. No need to beat around the bush with all the side distractions that would have lasted a typical cour. So while it leaves a lot to be desired, but at least it got to the point and everything ended in a happy note. Earth is saved. Hikaru’s original planet continues to revel in freedom now that the self-proclaimed heroic dictator of the future is gone. What more could we ask for? I suppose there is also no reason for Hikaru to return to her original planet since she won’t know anybody there. Earth is much more fun! Besides, her favourite anime doesn’t exist there!

So as the story is pretty basic and straightforward AKA nothing much or special, the same can be said about the characters too. Once again, it leaves a lot to be desired but I guess the whole series is just to feature Hikaru awakening to her role and duty. She needs to step up to it if she wants to protect her life on Earth. That is about it. We give her a free pass because she’s being cute and kawaii as a ditz. Don’t we just love anime dojikko? Furthermore, I believe it is the power of the armour that does the job for her and not Hikaru herself. All she needs to do is just call out the name or the special move and voila, nobody can beat this ultimate move. After all, it is said that the armour is indestructible because even in the event if Friedshalf destroyed Earth, the armour will still remain intact! Oh wow. Now I know why he wants it so bad. But I have got to say that despite its invincible tag, I’m not pretty convinced seeing it looks so flimsy when Hikaru dons it. I mean, really? More like sexy armour and it leaves certain parts exposed. You sure this thing is indestructible? Oh wait. Where have I seen this armour design before… Oh sh*t, is this not Saint Seiya or something?!

It could have been much better if things were fleshed out between Sigil and Friedshalf but I guess we don’t have enough episodes for that. So we’re just given a gist about their past and that’s about it. Just a reason to tell us why Sigil is so damn loyal to this conniving bastard. He’s not your white knight in shining armour to say the least and serves his own selfish interest. But damn, she still remains loyal to him right till the end. Oh well, don’t want to make that lesbo relationship come true! Anyway… Friedshalf being your typical one-dimensional villain all for the sake of plot convenience and typical clichés that we have seen countless times everywhere. Trying to make us feel sympathy since he still has some feelings for Sigil but oh well, at least they’re still lovers in death. Now they can be part of the stars of the universe! Sorry, bad joke.

As for the other characters, they just feel minimal and nothing much. Like Haruna who exists to be her best friend and to tell us Hikaru didn’t turn out to be a lonely outcast. Then there is the typical senpai love interest. Also to show that as a normal girl, she too has a guy her age she likes. Thanks to Hikaru protecting the world, this confession can now happen! Any time now, Narasaki… Point to ponder, if Hikaru and Narasaki get married and have kids, doesn’t this mean Hikaru’s royal bloodline continues? Hmm… Kouichi and Miki feel like comical characters since they’re so lively and sporting all the time. And you thought mad scientists are all mostly gloomy and doom-like persona, no? Yeah, being a super mad genius scientist also screams plot convenience because aren’t such talents coveted by the government or aliens? Oh well, don’t want to steal the limelight from Hikaru… Then there is Peos who is annoying because he is arrogant and always talks big. It’s a good thing he gets killed off and didn’t even see the light of the fight because I can’t imagine how easy it will be a victory for Hikaru. Yeah, speaking of Garbiggi, I feel he exists only as a test model to showcase Hikaru’s power when she awakened to GranDoll.

And who this Gran Knight dude? Dunno. Could be Hikaru’s real dad’s spirit or something. I don’t know, super confusing. Speaking of the confusion, I thought Peos was Gran Knight in disguise and perhaps he was playing the villain to hide his true identity. Why did I say that? They’re voiced by the same person (Akio Ootsuka)!!! So it confused the hell out of me as I started pondering why Gran Knight and Peos sounded so much alike. Are they the same person? Well, from what I’ve seen, it isn’t. But I can’t help that there is this small possibility that Peos isn’t dead and hence this theory of mine could be true. After all, we all think of him as dead but now he is freer to play his Gran Knight role. Yeah whatever.

Speaking of voice acting, is it me or do I find Hikaru’s voice to be just way to shrieky? Oh I don’t know, especially when she gets all excited, her pitch gets higher which feels a bit annoying. Not sure, she is voiced by Junko Iwao who is more recognizable as Tomoyo in Card Captor Sakura. But she also sings the ending theme, Sotto Chikau Shunkan Toki which isn’t all that bad. Doesn’t have all that shriekiness to it. Yeah, I love those retro vibes of the song too. Other casts are Yuko Miyamura as Sigil (Asuka in Evangelion), Hikaru Midorikawa as Friedshalf (Lancer in Fate/Zero), Toshiyuki Morikawa as Narasaki (Tousen in Bleach) and Haruna Ikezawa as Haruna (Mao in Kimikiss Pure Rouge).

As for the art and animation, what else more is there to say? Really dated animation style and design as you can right away tell that all the characters come straight out from that era with such typical looks. Though, I have to point out the uncanny resemblance of Kouichi to Evangelion’s Gendou. Sorry buddy, you look more like a joker version of that guy! While the overall quality is rather okay, but some scenes do look like it has reduction in quality especially those fast action scenes. But it doesn’t break the entire anime. Oh right, got to mention the fanservice bits. There are but rare. Only the early moments of the final episode did they spam some bare tits of the girls in the bath. I never expected that after 2 episodes of paltry transformation fanservice which feels like nothing in today’s standards. I thought Sigil’s sexy pose in the initial moments of the second episode was the best it could do. Oh well, now I know why Hikaru has her ultimate move that bested Friedshalf called Shining Breast! Just kidding. Maybe. This series was done by Zero-G Room who did Shadow Skill and the OVA version of Master Mosquiton.

Overall, this retro OVA is rather okay. It’s not that I liked it very much and at the same time I don’t really hate it. I wasn’t bored and at the same time not really impressed either. My fence sitting answer is getting too boring these days. It was entertaining in its own right to say the least. After all, there are way much more worse retro OVAs and even more so, obscure ones out there so this one at least has subs and I suppose it is not that all bad. I don’t know which one is better, coming across and watching more crappy garbage animes or somebody telling me I belonged to some ancient royalty and need to take up my role and responsibility for the sake of the world. Either way, I know I’ve been scammed.