Odder Couples Part 2: Gestalt

Another week, another strange anime pairing.  This time we'll visit a fantasy land or swords and sorcery.  An outcast priest and a mysterious magician make up our pair in:

Background:
Released By: Anime Works
Length: 60 minutes
Year of Production: 1997
Language: Sub and Dub both included, Dub reviewed
Available on Netflix: Yes
Let me start of with a quick explanation of the title.  Unlike the German word gestalt which means "something that is greater than the sum of its parts," Gestalt in this series refers to the name of an evil destroyer god.
I didn't have a good recollection of this title when I chose it.  The one aspect of this OVA I did remember, and the reason I chose to present this one to you, is a neat little gimmick used in the first part of the OVA.  One of the characters, suffering from the effects of a Silence spell is only able to communicate by way of RPG text blocks.  Now on to the show

Odd Couple - Father Olivier and Ohri
Father Olivier is a priest in the Vasaria order who has committed the grave sin of thinking for himself.  He is a modest man who wants to help the common man by performing miracles.  The good Father is on a quest to explore the origins of his religion by visiting the forbidden Island of G, allegedly the home of the destroyer god of legend.  At one point he trained to be a sage, which in this series is a priest who can also use black magic.  Too bad he flunked out.

Olivier performing a miracle

Ohri is a mysterious girl from a recently freed island, presumably the Island of G.  A local innkeeper bought her from a slave trader and gifts her to Olivier in thanks for a miracle.  She is a powerful sorceress but starts off the series "Silenced."  She is powerful, confident, and devious.  A fun side-note, Ohri is voiced by the prolific Wendee Lee, the voice behind Faye Valentine among many. many others.  Her voice here is very similar to the one she used to voice Haruhi Suzumiya, as the characters have similar, cocky personalities. 

I love the "grand entrance from the roof" cliche

Our happy couple, rendered in crayon

Story:
Gestalt opens with the history of the world's religion.  There were 8 gods, a main god (not clear if he was among the 8 or separate) and the destroyer god Gestalt. Gestalt tried to overthrow the others and was banished to the Island of G where his power was sealed.  In the present day, Father Olivier abandons his church to seek out the truth about these events.  His superiors are none to happy about this and hire the least expensive dark elf they can find to drag him back home by force.

Suzu negotiating her fee

Olivier meanwhile is holed up at a little country inn.  He is getting free room and board because the innkeeper thinks he is still a member of the Vasaria Order.  Father O feels guilty about this, but he is also broke.  To earn his keep he performs a "miracle" and makes the inn's dead tree bloom once more.  The proprietress offers him a scantily clad slave girl in thanks.

I'm sure you are

Olivier is against slavery and politely declines.  The Innkeeper understands and decides to sell the girl to a brothel to get her money back.  Swayed by the textual whines and begging of the slave girl, Oliver decides to reconsider his stance on owning another person and leaves with the girl.

That's a very polite way of putting it.

Father O takes his new slave and continues his journey south toward the Island of G.  Slave girl tells him her name is Ohri and implies she is from the island but won't give a definite answer.  Just outside the city limits they are attacked by the dark elf Suzu.  Olivier tries his best to protect them with defensive miracles but and barely stands his ground.  Ohri claims to be a sorceress and says the silence spell can be broken by one of the father's miracles.  Said miracle is performed, and Ohri steals a quick kiss to charge her magic.

Burned by their own fiery passion....or was it the dark elf's spell?

 Suzu and Ohri work out their problems using their words.  Specifically, their magic words which result in flames, lightning, and other assorted pain-dealing elements of nature.  Suzu loses very badly, and our odder couple continue their journey.  Shortly thereafter they arrive in the town of Dangai where they are greeted by the sight of a crucified man.

A welcome sign might work better if you're trying to get some tourism

The crowd of onlookers informs the priest that this man is the former captain of the King's guard.  He apparently led a revolt against the king that did not end well.  A tournament is being held the following day to choose the new captain of the guard.  The losers will be fed to giant, carnivorous worms known as "Carrion Crawlers."  The immediate problem facing our duo is their lack of funds for food and an inn.  Ohri has a simple solution; she'll whore herself out to people on the street.  The man she chooses decides he would rather enlist the help of Olivier and Ohri for a secret mission.  He wants them to gain an audience with the king.  The king has not been seen outside since his marriage to the queen.  We cut to a scene with said queen is having an affair with her personal magician, Soushi. 

Queen and her lover

Our rebel allaince, consistig of Olivier, Ohri, Fortune Teller Shazan, and Raja, the brother of the deceased captain of the guard, decide the best way to meet the king would be to attend the tournament.  The king loves tournaments, never misses them.  At the tournament Olivier is horrified when he sees the losing warriors sacrificed to the giant worms.

More cost effective than burials

The queen is enraged by the priest's arrogance but agrees to stop the tournament if he can slay the Carrion Crawler.  Olivier agrees, but Ohri sucker punches him and takes his place.  She has trouble fighting off the worm, claiming she needs another kiss from the good father to charge her magic.  The kiss supercharges Ohri and she disintegrates the worm immediately.

Ohri needs a new styling gel

At this point all hell breaks loose in the arena.  Suzu the dark elf shows up and she and Ohri attack the Queen's magical boy-toy in a pokemon-esque battle of summons.  During all the confusion of battle, the Queen is revealed to be a dark elf who murdered the king on their wedding night and has been controlling his corpse like a puppet.  This is why she killed the captain of the guards, he found out the truth.  The Queen fights off Raja and Shazan, and bests them easily.  After, Soushi is defeated by the magical powers of Suzu, Ohri and Shazan the Queen summons a giant fire-breathing dragon to avenge the pride of her lover.  Ohri responds by summoning a tiny little frost dragon which freezes the much larger foe.

It's not the size of the monster in the fight, it's the elemental match-ups

Not to be outdone, the Queen kidnaps Olivier and makes her escape to the castle.  Once there she lowers the good priest into a pit of the Carrion Crawlers  she seems to like so much.  As he is descending to his doom, the unconscious priest has a vision.  A glowing green man, presumably Gestalt, presents him with magical, golden wheat and explains it will boost the power of prayer and miracles when used.  Ohri appears in the Queen's chambers while Olivier is having this dream trip, and she kicks the queen out of a window.

Well that was easier than expected.

Ohri then proceeds to climb down the worm pit to rescue Olivier, but gets attacked in the process.  Father O wakes up and uses the power of his magical wheat to annihilate all of the worms at once.

Don't listen to Atkins, carbs are great!

Ohri has one more quick battle with Soushi upon escaping the pit in which it looks like she and Olivier have fused together.  This is never explained in anyway, so I'm not sure exactly what happened.  The Queen, who somehow survived a 20 story fall, tries to escape but is stopped by a peasant army with Raja and Shazan in the lead.

Where are the torches and pitchforks?

The Queen is chased to a chasm which she plummets into. The peasants rejoice.  Soushi is also defeated and the land is at peace again.  Olivier and Ohri continue on their journey to the Island of G and Ohri trades her exotic dancer outfit for a nun's robes.  Suzu declares she will bring Olivier back to the Vasaria Order eventually, but wants to help rebuild this city first.  Roll Credits.

To be continued?

Why Watch?
1. Videogame Flavor - As I mentioned before, the only reason I selected this title was for the RPG text blocks.  That portion of the OVA is a lot of fun.  There is also a bit at the beginning of the second part where the word "Continue" flashes onscreen before the story resumes.  I only wish they played up these videogame aspects more.

I hope your DVD player has a coin slot

I really love the text blocks.

Why not to watch?
1. Same Old, Same Old - Gestalt is one of those 90's animes that looks and feels like almost every other 90's anime out there.  The colors, character designs, magic etc.  from this time period all look alike.  If you're a fan of this style, this could be considered a selling point.  I don't hate it, but I'm not a huge fan either.

This generic style isn't my favorite

2. Plot - The story in this has potential.  I'm curious about the Island of G, the war of the gods, Ohri's people, etc.  Some of it follows the J-RPG cliches of false religions but it still seems decently interesting.  However, since only two episodes were ever produced there was not a lot of room for plot development.  If you want a complete story, look elsewhere. 

Oh Gestalt, we'll never know your secrets

Should you be watching?
This is one you can skip.  While it does have some amusing moments, it is a fairly standard title.  The abrupt story ending coupled with the overused 90's designs.  There is no huge reason not to watch it, but by the same token there isn't a really good reason to watch it either.  Your choice on this one.