Judge

One of these days, I will begin to understand the purpose of standalone OVAs. Unfortunately, Judge helps confirm to me that most OVAs that exist unto themselves and last less than an hour are comparable to your average straight-to-video movie in the U.S.

Judge tells the story of a couple of corporate embezzlers who turn to murder to accomplish their ends. However, they never expected on Hoichiro Oma, a normal enough guy who also turns out to be a judge of moral character for the underworld, taking them out by supernatural means. Kawamata, the smarter of the two, gets himself a lawyer of the most unusual kind--one who, for a large fee, can argue his case at the gates of Hell itself.

There's more to it, of course, but there's really no point in explaining it. Oma is supposed to be the hero, but he doesn't get much screen time; the lawyer, who doesn't even really get a name, is actually a more interesting character. In less than an hour, none of the characters are all that appealing. Since there aren't any more episodes, it's not going to get any better.

It was a vaguely entertaining diversion, but by the end, it felt like a waste of time. If it's the only anime left on the shelves on a Friday night at Blockbuster, well...it's your cash.

Judge -- violence, brief nudity, adult language/situations -- C-