Gestalt is one of those myriad OVAs released in the 90s, titles which often get forgotten despite a certain level of creativity and passion which deserves some recognition, even for all the problems which often beset them. Gestalt embodies this phenomenon, pairing an interesting premise with a nostalgic, if flawed, execution. Beginning with the story, it's a simple fantasy adventure setup, with a distant mystical destination, a mystery, and populated by dragons, dark elves, and sorcerers. I like the story for its creative worldbuilding, which has its own sense of identity, while also drawing on many of the tropes whichgive many 90s anime that sense of warmth and adventure. However, it does feel as though the viewer is dropped in right at the middle of the story, missing serious context. As a result, the wider story is generally lacking the weight needed to make the viewer really care about it.

The art, meanwhile, is simultaneously the strongest and weakest aspect of this anime. The art direction, creature design, and architectural detailing, altogether lends itself to the construction of a fascinating world which feels eminently explorable, driven by the passion and creativity often on display in titles of this era. It is this aspect that really carries the rest of the anime for me. However, the character design is uninspired, the animation is often pretty stifled, and the frequent reuse of animations is both obvious and clumsy. Characters also sometimes suffer from what I term the 'dreaded mask', where facial animation is sorely lacking and dramatic moments fail to play out in facial expressions. This can take the wind right out of a scene that would otherwise be quite engaging.

The sound is fine, though it falls behind in a few areas, namely the obnoxious stock sound effects and occasionally awkward line delivery.

The characters also meet all standards of quality, managing to develop just enough to feel more than empty puppets for the story to move around. Of them, my favorites are the main duo, Olivier and Ohri, namely for the way in which they fill the gaps in the others' character, keeping each of their glaring flaws from getting in the way of the story. However, I did not like how they developed Ohri later on, towards the very tail end of the 2nd episode. In my opinion, it was a very odd direction to go in. Overall, Gestalt is an intriguing little OVA with a fun world that bleeds 90s fantasy vibes, but fails to stick the landing overall. Give it a watch if you just want to enjoy some light viewing and fun, nostalgic visuals, especially if you're not too bothered about the wider tale being told.