OVA – Electromagnetic Girlfriend – 電波的な彼女 (Denpa Teki Na Kanojo)
For a show that’s named “Electromagnetic Girlfriend”, you wouldn’t quite expect it to have been a psychological thriller series. However, if you delve further into the meaning behind the title, “Denpa” (which translates to “radio waves”) also has a slang usage, which would be the equivalent to someone who can see things sane people can not. In other words, while the literal translation is “Electromagnetic Girlfriend”, it can actually be thought of as “Psychotic Girlfriend”, which makes much more sense in context with the actual content of the OVA series. Unfortunately Denpa Teki is a very short, 2 episode OVA series, so proper character development is a little lacking (due to time constraints), and there are a few gaping flaws in the series. Overall, though, I’d say that the merits to this series outweighs the negatives.
Denpa Teki pretty much chronicles the interactions between our main protagonists, the relatively normal Juuzawa Juu and his girl companion Ochibana Ame, with various other “Denpa” girls. The tricky thing about short OVA series is developing the characters, and while Denpa Teki does stumble a bit with regards to some of the characters, in the end they are all rather interesting watch. Our main protagonist, Juuzawa Juu, would happen to be one of those that isn’t quite well developed. He is definitely lacking in character, having a very stereotypical personality right from the beginning, which doesn’t change much by the end of the series. He does get a few subtle moments of development, but otherwise, I personally thought he was the “weak link” amongst the cast of characters.
Now, the more interesting characters are definitely Ochibana Ame, and the other “denpa” (psychotic) girls in this show. The girls are “denpa” in the sense that they perceive things that we consider normal (such as happiness) in a completely twisted, insane, and awkward way. Ochibana is the most normal of all the “denpa” girls, and considering she is the main heroine and all, her odd characterization did make watching her interactions with Juuzawa more interesting. However, the other girls were psychotic in every sense of the word. The fact that they were 100% psychotic didn’t really add much depth to their characterization,but the creators probably did it that way to emphasize a point; the fact that common concepts such as happiness, and their definitions, can be twisted completely to fit the perspective of the person in question. Who in their right mind would equate happiness with a point system, saying that by taking away other people’s happiness, they receive the happiness they destroyed as “happiness points”? Therefore, by pulling cruel pranks, or even killing others, you receive “happiness points” that they had. Sound absurd? That’s the point this OVA seems to be trying to make.
While the strength of this series would be the very unique (although a bit one-sided) characters, the story does a decent job with keeping everything together. For a psychological thriller, the story is very straightforward and mostly predictable, with a few unexpected twists here and there. But when those unexpected twists hit, oh boy, do they leave a strong impression. There are some gaping plot holes and details, but mostly everything is reasonably paced and sensible. The setting, which is a generic city, does add a more dark atmosphere to the show, but it’s nothing terribly special.
Production quality wise, the animation is a bit lacking for OVA standards. However the few musical pieces there are does hit a nice balance between subtlety and emotion, and makes good use of silence during some dark, perhaps even emotional, scenes. I appreciate the fact that the ones in charge of production realized that there are moments where “silence” is the best music, and it was used to good effect in Denpa Teki.
For what it’s worth, Denpa Teki has a relatively good balance of nitty-gritty realism and over the top abnormal psychosis. There are some horrifyingly captivating moments, mixed in with a few sweet and bittersweet moments, that make this show a shot all the worthwhile to watch.
Production Quality: 7.5/10
Characters: 8.0/10
Story: 8.5/10
Setting: 8.0/10
Overall: 8.0/10
Distant Paradise 