El Hazard: The Magnificent World

Makoto Mizuhara’s discovery of an old monument at school changes everything when it awakens a beautiful woman. Soon Makoto, his teacher Fujisawa, his rival Jinnai, and Nanami—one of Makoto’s female friends—are carried to El Hazard. Their arrivals separate them across this unfamiliar world: Makoto and Fujisawa reach a jungle, Nanami finds herself in a desert, and Jinnai appears among the kingdom of large bugs. Each has gained a special power, while Makoto and Fujisawa must first rescue a princess from the bugs.

The divided group quickly falls into opposing roles. Jinnai becomes the bugs’ general and turns his hostility toward Makoto and the allies he has made, while repeated attacks fail to overcome them. His search for a decisive weapon leads to Ifurita, a demon whose power could shift the conflict. When Makoto discovers that Ifurita is also the woman who brought them to El Hazard, the struggle becomes personal—and Jinnai is the one who gains control of her.

Fantasy wonder, romantic tension, adventure and direct action give this OVA a lively blend of discovery and conflict. Its appeal comes from the contrast between separated travelers, an enemy building power inside the bug kingdom, and a mystery tied to the woman at the story’s beginning. The seven-episode structure keeps the focus on the transported group, their unusual abilities and the escalating search for Ifurita. As a finished 1995 OVA, it is best approached from episode 1, where the monument and the journey into El Hazard begin.

• A vivid world of separated arrivals
• A rivalry sharpened by unusual powers
• A memorable mystery around Ifurita
• A compact seven episode adventure

Fans of fantasy adventures, transported-world stories, rivalries, romance and compact OVA storytelling.