They are few, brief and far between, but those moments of Sora x Layla love in Kaleido Star make watching this often indifferent, frequently irritating anime worthwhile.
This OVA…well, frankly I have no idea who this OVA was targeted to or what they were thinking when they made it. It’s done entirely in CG, with super-deformed art that makes all the characters look like DDR icons or something. It’s 2 parts disturbing to 1 part cute. (On second thought, what “they” were thinking was probably “How can we do a KS brand extension without spending too much money?”)
In any case, this OVA is split into three parts. The first is a “cooking lesson” by May with students Layla and Sora. The second part is Ken being a nebbish as he tries to learn the Diablo from Rosa and the third is an absolutely excruciating gag as Marion and Jonathan the Seal attemtpt to teach Sora to speak seal.
Only the first of these is of interest to Yuri fans.
To be more precise, only the first of these was of interest to *this* Yuri fan.
There are several cute moments as May teaches enthusiastic Sora and pampered Layla how to cook a particularly spicy tofu dish. I actually took a screencap of the lava-like end product, because it was a particularly amusing bit of animation.
But much more importantly, Sora and Layla have a brief moment of Yuri wooja-wooja which, if May hadn’t interrupted it…
Anyway, the OVA as a whole was okay, but the first segment was amusing. Not the logical sequel to the magnificent Legend of Phoenix: Layla Hamilton Monogatari OVA, but if you’re already a fan of the series, its not the worst waste of your time. Not like, say, episodes 27-40 were.
One thing I did very much like, the OP is the original theme from the first season of the TV series, sung by the voice actresses as their characters. And, although they have pretty much no lines in the OVA itself, that included Anna and Mia.
Ratings:
Art – CG/SD. Meh. 4
Characters – 6
Story – 6/4/2 for each section respectively
Yuri – for one brief flash, 7.
Service – surprisingly for this series, no Fool, and no noticeable service. 1, on principal.
Overall – The first segment 6, the second a 4, and the third a 2, for an average of 4.
