Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re checking out a new production, as we explore the first episode of late-90s OVA Agent Aika. The show falls in a venerable tradition of fanservice-laden action-adventure projects that flourished following the widespread adoption of home VHS players, which allowed artists to bypass the strict standards of TV broadcasting, and create explicitly adult-aimed entertainment for the broadening anime market. Agent Aika director Katsuhiko Nishijima was basically a legend of this era, having directed the similarly horny Megami Paradise and Najica Blitz Tactics, alongside the monumental Project A-ko (from which I suspect Agent Aika derives its name).
Nishijima wrote, boarded, and directed this first episode, so we’ll clearly be seeing about as unfiltered an example of his aesthetic philosophy as possible. He is here complemented by frequent collaborator Noriyasu Yamauchi, who would work as character designer and animation director on a number of Nishijima projects, and still occasionally lends his AD talents to modern productions like Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon (dear lord modern titling conventions are obnoxious). They are both essential figures of an oft-overlooked era in anime history, so I’m eager to get better acquainted, and Agent Aika’s tale of post-apocalyptic ruin exploration sounds like a lovely place to start. Let’s get to it!