Landlock is a short, well-animated OVA with a strong identity and a passion for the world it wants to portray, even if the story itself isn't necessarily groundbreaking. Beginning with the story, Landlock's meets the basic standards of quality for the time, presenting the viewer with a classic yet somewhat predictable tale that hits all the classic tropes of your typical techno-fantasy 90s OVA. You've got an ancient prophecy, mysterious powers, a militaristic empire subduing countries all over the place, and of course people using guns, swords, planes, tanks, and magic all in the same setting. There's not much more to say about the storyother than it does what it was meant to do, and that is to give all the badass visuals a reason to exist.

Moving on to the art, which is the strongest aspect of this anime, it's got that classic 90s charm, with a vibrantly colorful palate, a gritty yet detailed illustration style, and an art direction that fills the world with a visual intrigue and overall uniqueness that is so characteristic of titles from the era. The strongest aspect has to be this anime's firm grasp on movement and scale, as fight scenes feel weighty and consequential, while larger-than-life scenes have an appropriate sense of grandiosity, complete with points of reference for the sheer scale of things. One notable example is when the ship called the Longinus moves in and hovers over a town, and we're given a sense of scale by showing just how many orders of magnitude larger it is when compared to the buildings and people below, and the shadow it casts over the landscape. We're even given a view of how it looks from the ground, from the point of view of the people in the town itself. This sense of space and scale rears its head again and again, and is one of the defining aspects that makes this anime so notable, apart from the ocean of similar titles released during this era.

The sound is good, meeting the basic standards of quality for the time, with a fun soundtrack and emotive voice work, and even an interestingly comprehensive approach to the sounds of life, ranging from the ethereal sounds of magic to the calming patter of rain.

As for the characters, they feel competent and independently interesting for the most part, feeling as though they have some sense of agency within the bounds of what is an otherwise predictable story. Of them, the main character Ruda just felt like a kind of whiny crybaby, so I didn't like him, but even so, he wasn't totally unbearable. My favorites are definitely Bork and Agahari. I like Bork because he feels like more of a genuine person than Ruda does at any given point in the story, with well-written dialogue, a sense of charisma, and a heroic selflessness that doesn't crumple to despair in the sense of adversity, striking a good balance between comedy and badassery. Meanwhile, I like Agahari because she feels interesting and competent- outside of her admirable character growth, it is genuinely interesting to watch her fight, since she seems to have a unique, somewhat unpredictable style when compared to other characters in the show, and even more, she's not some invincible mary sue either, so her character also strikes a good balance in the end. Overall, Landlock is a cool, satisfying watch, and while the intricacies of its compelling world aren't really explained all that much, it's still one hell of a time watching it come to life in the context of a metaphysical battle between good and evil, defined by high octane action and an art direction that really knows what it's doing.