ANIME REVIEW: Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation OVAs

As a longtime fan of the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise, I was pretty excited when Idea Factory International said they were going to release the latest two anime OVAs on Steam. I loved the anime when it was released a few years ago, so any additions to the story I always welcome. Let’s dig into these and see how they stack up with the rest of this fantastic anime series.

The first episode, Nep-Nep Festival, has Neptune very much overworking herself. I was pretty shocked to see Nep working so hard and not being her lazy self, she decided to take her festival seriously. The very overworked goddess passes out and ends up in a dimension with other lazy versions of her friends. Meanwhile, Big Neptune arrives and is going to try and help Nepgear save the festival. Will their plan work? Will Neptune ever wake up, or will she continue to live in the world of lazy Goddesses?

In the second episode, Little Purple Sunshine, our favorite Goddesses are once again doing battle with the evil Arfoire. She has a new trick up her sleeve however, that gives her the ability the level down the Goddesses. The side effect of this is they all become little kids, and of course Arfoire gets caught up in the crossfire as well. While the little sisters are able to recover Noire, Vert and Blanc in their tiny forms, Neptune is still missing. She is actually with Arfoire on her famous Eggplant farm, and both of them have lost their memories. Nepgear is frantically searching for her sister and with the help of Big Nep, things might just work out.

The animation quality here is on par with all the of previously released episodes, and I always loved the look of it. I feel it captures the series’ style, and seeing all of my favorite characters like this always brings a smile to my face. I feel like all the animation here looks great! This is especially true of Neptune’s transformation scene in Little Purple Sunshine, it’s just amazing. But as you all know, I am very biased when it comes to Nep. The audio here is top notch as well. You will recognize many of the music tracks right off the bat, since they have been used since the anime series began years ago. The Japanese voice cast returns to reprise their roles as our favorite characters, and they do a fantastic job like always. There is no English dub for these episodes, but Idea Factory International did a great job making the subtitle text flow well with the dialogue.

I had been looking forward to watching these Hypedimension Neptunia: The Animation OVAs for a while, and they were worth the wait. I had a great time watching them. I think pricing is a bit steep at $14.99 for each episode, but you do get a discount for buying both of them in a bundle. The fact that this will only be up for sale til’ November is a bummer. I think Idea Factory International would be better off finding a different video hosting site for these, or hitting Crunchyroll or Sentai up for some help getting these out to market. Steam was never a good place for videos and them going out soon, makes this release on that platform a bit odd honestly. Outside of that, if you’re a big Neptunia fan picking these up will make you a very happy camper, and you should do so ASAP.