Relic Armor Legaciam

I started watching this ova without expectations. Mostly because i don't enjoy mecha anime.

Surprisingly enough, i found a piece of art with excellent characters and a decent and cohesive story. The voice actors surely contribute to give an organic reaction every time needed-the thrilling of the young girls sound like they are actually surprised- and the face expressions in the animation. Everything is working together quite seamless. In a short span of 48 minutes you get to understand the dynamics between the main group and also the world they live in. It is not the Earth and you don't need a lengthy introduction such ... as Star Wars to understand it's post-apocalyptic and founded on quite mark social hierarchy.

The story is quite linear but all this development makes it quite enjoyable and you empathize with the characters quite well. I highly recommend you to give it a chance -unless you are one of those weirdos that only want male main leads. Alcia is a teenage girl.

A kinda fun 80s mech anime OVA. Style over substance, but only sorta.

STORY

The story, as you can tell from the synopsis of the plot, takes place on a fairly interesting world where radiation from the sun is a constant threat, giving the whole movie a bit of a Mad Max vibe.
As the plot continues we learn more and more about the world, along with backstories of quite a few character. By the end I found myself actually caring about a few of them and, though most remain fairly one dimensional (the main brother and sister in particular have nothing interesting going for them) some ... have surprising depth that I didn't expect.
I was quite surprised to find myself actually interested in the concept of the mysterious "tower" as the movie went on. In fact, by the end of the movie I actually found myself rather frustrated by the cliffhanger.

ART/SOUND
The art style is very of it's era. Going into this no one should expect stunning visuals or jaw dropping vistas, but for what it is it's presented quite well, easily on par with shows like Macross and Gundam.
The mechs themselves (whilst few in number) are quite well designed. The main mech, the Legaciam, in particular had a really cool designed that looked like a combination of Onslaught (the Marvel villain) and Shredder from the Ninja Turtles (but, obviously, as a mech).
As for sound there was nothing that particularly stood out to me, though there were one or two songs (the credits song being a great example) that absolutely nailed the 80s feel, with synth-driven pop numbers with occasional wailing guitars. That may not be to everyone's taste but I personally loved it.
Side Note: There's also one scene there the first few bars of the instrumental track playing sounds like the start of Anakin's theme from Star Wars. It has no relation, of course, but I thought it was funny.

CHARACTER
As stated in the Story section, the characters within Relic Armor Legaciam are certainly not going to be on anyone's list for Top Ten Mech Anime Heroes, but they certainly become fleshed out enough for the audience to care about at least three of them. The pilot of the Legaciam, Alicia, was quite an interesting character. While the whole "mentally unstable mech pilot" trope isn't exactly new, it still added a nice addition to making Alicia more than just a boring teenage mech pilot.
The overall feel of the movie is one of slight tension. The threat of the sun's radiation always feels like it's present throughout, whilst not taking too much attention that the threat seems obvious. The same can be said of the Tower. Whilst mentioned throughout the movie it does genuinely take on an air of mystery, with only snippets seen or heard here and there.
Overall the movie does a fairly good job of having a plot and world that feel fairly well developed, especially given the OVA's 50 minute run time.

ENJOYMENT
This is where the movie shines for me. It's certainly not perfect, and there are one or two scenes that seem either unnecessary or just there to pad a little, but overall it's a fun OVA that moves pretty fast. Your enjoyment will obviously depends on how much you enjoy a). anime from the 80s and b). mech related things, but even if neither of those are your thing you may still find enjoyment in this OVA.

OVERALL
Overall I'm gonna give Relic Armor Legaciam a 7.
I certainly recommend it to fans of 80s anime and those looking for a maybe more obscure mech anime to watch. At only 50 minutes there really is no reason not to at least give it a watch for the first 10 minutes if anything I've mentioned in this review interests you.
It's definitely not perfect, and it's unlikely to ever be remembered as a classic, but if you just wanna see a bunch of cool mechs fight and experience a story that can surprise you with subtlety at points, then this is the OVA you're looking for.

Relic Armor Legaciam is built on a compelling concept that should have made for an engaging and memorable experience. Unfortunately, its 50-minute OVA format forces severe compromises that ultimately work against the viewer. The world, the Relic Armors themselves, and even the characters are introduced with intriguing hints, but never meaningfully explored. The audience is left wanting context and depth, aware that nothing beyond what is briefly shown will ever be revealed.

Even what is presented proves uneven. While the biomechanical mechs receive a reasonable level of care in their animation, other aspects fall noticeably short. The backgrounds, which should expand the sense of scale and ... stimulate the imagination, are poorly utilized, fleetingly displayed, lacking detail, and quickly forgotten. Rather than enriching the setting, they undermine it.

Direction duties fall to Hiroyuki Kitazume, a respected character designer and animation director with strong credentials across notable OVAs and television series. However, Relic Armor Legaciam (his first and only work as an original creator) fails to showcase a confident or cohesive directorial vision. While the OVA is not inherently bad, it feels distinctly underwhelming when measured against the standards of 1987 productions.

Despite its shortcomings, Relic Armor Legaciam may still be worth a viewing, but it is best approached after experiencing stronger contemporaries. For comparison, titles such as Bubblegum Crisis (even just the first episode suffices), Youjuu Toshi, Black Magic M-66, Metal Skin Panic Madox, or Good Morning Althea demonstrate far more effective use of the OVA format and provide clearer examples of what the era was capable of achieving.

Story: 1/2
Direction: 0.5/2
Animation: 0.5/2
Characters: 1/2
Music: 1/2
Bonus points: 1/2

Final score: 5/10