How do you translate a 33-volume manga about girl gangs in Tokyo into a 48-minute OVA? Not that badly, actually. Hana no Asuka-gumi OVA is short, its silly, but it gets the point across in a way that quite true to the original.

Bad Points:

Right off the bat, the animation is *awful*. I mean, like, “what on earth is going on with her neck?” awful.

Good Points:

Everything else. Not only are we introduced to Asuka and her friends of the Omoteban; Hime, Miko, Mizu, et al.

But that’s not all – we meet Helolin, the local bully; The Kichuku Ladies, the local motorcycle gang and….

Hibari, leader of the Zenchuu Ura and her whipping girl Kazuga.

Along with about eight hundred other characters that are all lots of fun, but…I wonder if any of you watched this for the first time without assistance, would you be able to make heads or tails of the story? lol

The plot is simple – a girl is being bullied by Helolin and is saved by Asuka…only to find that her friends have abandoned her and are starting to bully her. She finds herself more and more involved with Asuka’s violent antics, ending up by joining Asuka as she confronts the Kichuku Ladies.

The moments of the OVA are classic – Asuka beats the crap out of the girl she’s saving; the Zenchuu Ura’s Punishment Group beats the crap out of the Omoteban; Asuka beats the crap out of Helolin’s group, and on and on and on… I love this series.

It’s a short OVA and feels like a bowl of mixed snacks – moments of interaction between Asuka and the zillion characters of the story, just enough to get the flavor of the thing.

If only the animation wasn’t so damn awful.

If you’re looking for a great but short retro moment, the Hana no Asuka-gumi OVA is perfect.

Ratings:
Art – 4
Character – 9
Story – 7
Yuri – 0

Overall – 7

Lots of nihilistic girl gang fun for the whole family.