\\Relic Armor Legaciam
As the 80s wore on, the decade saw no lack of mecha anime. People were hungry for as many giant robots as they could get their hands on and studios were all too happy to accommodate them (in hopes of profitting from them). However, while a number of classics emerged from this time, there were also plenty of shows that were utterly forgettable cash grabs that most today have no idea existed. One such example of this was Relic Armor Legaciam. The show wasn’t necessarily bad, but it was so cliched and uninspired that it couldn’t hope to stand out from the crowd.Taking place on a planet in a harsh star system, it’s original colonists struggled to survive until a series of large orbital mirrors were created to reflect some of the sun’s rays. For much of the OVA, this isn’t hugely important as it focuses on a girl named Alcia whose grandfather is working on a mecha that only she can pilot. Before long, gramps is kidnapped by a group that he used to work for because they want that mecha for themselves. With that, Alcia and her friends must rescue him, discovering that their planet is still susceptible to their sun’s unforgiving heat. Also, there’s apparently a mysterious tower deep in the desert that doesn’t really get explained, and not long after that the video just ends. With that viewers get a two-for-one in terms of cash grabby 80s OVA rentals: a very plain story that has been told many times over, and an attempt at a cliffhanger hook that never gets followed up because the show didn’t do well enough to warrant a sequel.
The artwork isn’t anything special either. Character design and environments are typical of what one would expect from the genre in during the 80s, although granted there is more detail here than other throwaway OVAs of the time. Mecha designs are very straightforward, and it looks like the artists must have been at least a little bit inspired by Aura Battler Durbine when creating the villains’ mechas given how insectoid-like they look.
About the only thing that really stood out in the OVA was how unusually good the soundtrack was. Much of the score is orchestral music and it’s actually reasonably well done. The pieces have a bit of presence and add some gravity to what would otherwise have been much duller scenes.
Ultimately, Relic Armor Legaciam is something for absolute completionists or would be anime historians to check out if only to understand that the show existed and have an idea what it was about. There’s really nothing special here. It's not even that the show is bad. If that were the case, at least it might have had a chance at being memorable. Sadly, it's simply very plain with the simple, formulaic plot, undeveloped characters, and uninspired character design. The show is simply a forgotten relic that had nothing to make it stand out and is now largely lost to the sands of time.
- IroIro
August 5, 2019
Studio: AIC
Released: 1
Episodes: 1987
