Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko Review

Genmu Senki Leda (Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko)
Genre: romance, fantasy, action
Format: OVA 70 minutes

Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko is an OVA about a high school girl (Yohko Asagiri) who composes a love song to convey her feelings to the one she loves. This song ends up opening a gateway to another world. Yohko falls down the rabbit hole and enters a bizarre and fantastical dimension. It turns out that Yohko's song holds magical power which the ruler of this world (Zell) seeks to use for evil. Yohko turns into a magical warrior and must fight to stop him.

Some of the companions who aid Yohko.

It's a classic good versus evil story which will be familiar to anyone who watched anime from this era. Sure, it's not the most original work but I couldn't help but love the art, animation and music. There's something charming about old school, hand drawn art and the soundtrack compliments this perfectly. It's a short, sweet nostalgic trip and well worth watching.

Yohko wearing bikini armour. It reminds me a bit of Valis.

I watched a fansubbed version which must of been based on a high quality, Japanese DVD release. It was  released in English on VHS way back but has yet to be re-released in high quality. It's amazing how crisp and vibrant the visuals are and the sound is also great. I'd buy this in a heartbeat if it ever gets localised.