And so we come to the last Project A-ko film, and honestly, it's sort of a mixed bag. The plot is as zany as ever: A-ko and B-ko are still bickering over Kei, and then suddenly Miss Ayumi gets pulled into the mix with a marriage of convenience. On top of that, a huge alien invasion force decides to arrive at the worst time possible, of course. It's ridiculous, it's disorganized, and it's so A-ko. The thing is that while all the ingredients for a grand finale are present, the actual story never quite feels that strong. It just kind of jumps from joke tojoke without really making much of a conclusion, and that left me a little underwhelmed.

The girls are just doing what they've always done, the good and bad of it. A-ko is still the super-powered, lovesick doofus heroine, B-ko is still the snobbish rich girl who overdoes things, and C-ko is still at the center of all the chaos. The new wedding plot gives them a reason to go crazy once more, and this is good for comedy, but not for adding anything in the way of depth. The rivalry between A-ko and B-ko, though, is still amusing, especially when their fights devolve into complete craziness. My personal favorite gag was when B-ko's bodyguards combined into mecha A-ko. That scene cracked me up, and it's precisely the kind of goofy parody that initially got me addicted to this show.

Technically, I just can't complain. The animation is still fun to watch, with garish, over-the-top fight scenes that capture the tone of the series perfectly. The music continues the pace, and the voice acting is just as fine as it has been throughout all the installments. Although the story never really grabbed my interest, the production quality did hold up, which made the OVA even more bearable. Overall, I gave Project A-ko 4: Final a 6 out of 10. The comedy remains effective, the characters are as ridiculously silly as ever, and there are some great gags, but as a finale, it's really not very satisfying. It's a bit improved over the third entry, and I did enjoy it, but I can't help but regret that the series didn't conclude with a better finale.