Honestly, this is my very first review. I specifically made an account so I could write a more informed, professional review after reading the divided reception it's already received. So I'll get right to the meat of it.
If you're a big fan of the Paul Verhoeven franchise and are looking for that, you're not going to enjoy this treatment of the source material.
As previously stated in other reviews, this Anime follows the BOOK and not Paul Verhoeven's "artistic re-envisioning" of the source material. Paul Verhoeven, as also stated already, read 2 chapters of the book before getting bored, throwing it in the shredder and writing his own movie.
Furthermore, "American Cinematographer" reports that Paul Verhoeven's film had a working title of "Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine" while in pre-production. That means the film and it's script, as Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine" had ALREADY been green lit. THAT means, Paul Verhoeven's adaption was not even originally envisioned as Starship Troopers. And it shows. Verhoeven's live-action film was originally an entirely different, original franchise altogether. However, when similiarity's between "Bughunt" and "Starship" were mentioned, they bought the film rights to the book, and retroactively repurposed "bughunt" into "Starship Troopers".
Hence why the connections to the book were superficial. A previously existing work was retooled and renamed after an already established Scifi Classic in order to garner viewership and attention from those who were fans of the Book.
NOW THAT WE HAVE THOSE SEMANTICS OUT OF THE WAY
This Anime mini series was the most faithful adaption to the books. From the characters, to the Power Armor. I must admit, this series is very difficult to track down and find. I only managed to find a handful of episodes and never got to watch the entire series.
But this was released before Verhoeven's Film. It IS the original Starship Troopers, and still the most faithful. No other adaption of the work can claim this, and this gives it much artistic credence in my opinion. Verhoeven's series with Caspar Van Dien is pretty much an alternate universe altogether. Attempts were made to reconcile the existing series with the books in "Marauder" and "Starship Troopers Invasion" which were both fantastic IMO, and I'm a huge fan of Verhoeven's film, as I saw it in theaters when I was only 7 years old.
The animation, as stated before, is fairly on par with what was standard and considered "Good" back in it's era. This is an 80's anime we're talking about here.
Aside from that, I must admit it's been a very long time since I watched this OVA, and it IS very hard to find a good copy of it.
But from what I remember, it was good. I only recommend watching it if you're a hardcore Scifi or Heinlein fan however because of the sheer difficulty of finding this series gives it a very low effort to reward ratio. The animation is dated, the Audio is in Japanese. But if this were to be released on say, DVD at Walmart, I would pick it up in a heartbeat.
8/10 from me, as there are better ways to spend your time than rewatching this old dinosaur of an OVA. However, it has my respect for reasons I've already stated ad nauseum.
On the bounce, soldier. \M/
