Ai to Ken no Camelot: Mangaka Marina Time Slip Jiken

Synopsis:

Characters:

• Ikeda, Marina (Main) - Voice Actors: Hayashibara, Megumi

Staff:

• Kobayashi, Osamu (Director, Planning)
• Kaiya, Toshihisa (Key Animation)
• Kimura, Shinji (Background Art)
• Koyama, Masahiro (Animation Director, Character Design)
• Nakahara, Eitou (Background Art)
• Negishi, Hiroki (Production Manager)
• Okamura, Masahiro (Production Manager)
• Saitou, Akio (Director of Photography)
• Sakamoto, Masaki (Editing)
• Wada, Izumi (Background Art)

Reviews:

• User Hina901 (Score: 6/10):
  It's been awhile since I actually reviewed something so... while looking for an old 90s anime to watch (I've already watched the more well known 90s animes like Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Dragon Ball Z), I stumbled upon a one episode OVA called Ai to Ken no Camelot: Mangaka Marina Time Slip Jiken, but from here on out, we'll refer to it as Camelot because the title is a mouthful. So, what drew me to watch Camelot? Well, from the title cover that's shown on MAL, it kinda reminded me of the Fushigi Yuugi manga, or in the least mangas like it andI thought that the premise sounded a bit interesting, especially since I'm a big fan of the Arthurian Legends. But I kinda dreaded watching this because while the premise is interesting, I don't think the adventures of a girl and her group of 5 guy friends (I think one of the guy friends is actually a girl?) can be told and completed in an hour long episode, at least not without rushing the plot. nnStory: 6/10nWhat's the story about? An aspiring manga artist, Marina is invited to a friend's birthday, along with four of her guy friends. When the whole gang arrives a freak storm happens that transports Marina and her guy friends all to the anime's version of Camelot, and with it, Marina is chosen by the very dragon that transports her and her friends to Camelot to save it. To be honest, while I liked the story well enough, but I was right when I thought that it'd be bad to try and cram a whole fantasy plot like this into just 50 minutes. Everything was rushed and I was kinda confused as to what the heck was going on and how the characters all know each other, and I kinda wanted to see and know more about the anime's version of Camelot. But alas I couldn't because of the time constraint and the plot being rushed. It's too bad because I'm sure if this anime were to be given a lot more episodes (maybe roughly about the same amount of episodes in modern animes--10-26 episodes) it would've been a good one. Because I enjoyed the story enough I'm gonna be lenient on it and give it a 6.nnArt: 7/10nWhile I watched the anime on a site that looks like someone uploaded a VHS rip (that they managed to clean up some), I will say that the art and animation were probably it's best quality. I mean as far as that 80s style transitioning into the 90s style goes, it's pretty good. Everything was smooth and detailed despite the weird vhs quality of the video I watched.nnSound: 5/10nWhile this anime did have some good voice acting and music, the fact that you can hear the buzzing sound of whatever device was used to record and rip the video from a vhs tape kinda messes with the audio quality, which is why I knocked off…
• User Kamezuki (Score: 4/10):
  “Ai to Ken no Camelot: Mangaka Marina Time Slip Jiken” is a shoujo fantasy movie (it seems that it’s not an OVA) based on one of the books in the “Mangaka Marina” series of novels. While its art, animation and music are passable, the story is rushed and full of confusing narrative decisions, and the dialogue is hackneyed. In addition, the characters suffer from a lack of background information that would help the viewer empathize with them and differentiate them from one another, making this a forgettable watch. “Mangaka Marina” is a series of novels that were published from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s. The serieshas never been translated into English as far as I know, and the books are currently out of print. The book the story comes from was published just a few months before the movie’s release, so I presume the goal of this movie was to increase book sales and give fans of the series a chance to see and hear their favorite characters on screen.nnThe movie starts out assuming that you already know about the characters and their relations with each other. Since this is based on such an obscure novel (and not even the first one in the series, at that), the majority of viewers will be confused. Who are these people? Why are they friends? How do they know each other? nnThe main characters are the titular Marina, a third-rate mangaka who looks and acts like a 10-year-old but is apparently an adult; Kazuya, a half-Japanese guy whom Marina likes; Charles, a super-intelligent French guy; Kaoru, a crossdressing woman; Bijomaru, your typical traditional Japanese guy; and some guy named Kirk.nnThe gist of the plot is this: Kaoru invites them all to a birthday party at her mansion, and tells them to bring their “present” of “what the meaning of love is.” The party is interrupted by a dragon that crashes through the window and grabs Marina. The others grab onto the dragon and are whisked away to medieval England, where Marina has been tasked with helping Arthur pull out Excalibur to become the rightful King of England. Why Marina? Who knows. She even has a hard time remembering what the dragon asked her to do as its dying wish. After lots of mishaps, the gang figures out the necessary conditions for obtaining the sword, but some of the most stereotypical and one-dimensional villains ever plan to get in their way.nnThe movie stuffs too much plot into its 48-minute runtime. It goes from beat to beat quickly, without giving much explanation as to what is going on or why. Also, some of the scenes don’t make much sense. For instance, when Marina chokes on her dinner, she’s immediately offered medicine to swallow. How can she swallow if she’s choking? And later, she uses a cloth as a makeshift balloon to glide through the air, and walks through a desert in England. Some romantic subtext, with overused dialogue, is shoved in between Marina and a…

Forum Topics:

• Ai to Ken no Camelot: Mangaka Marina Time Slip Jiken Episode 1 Discussion

External Links:

• AniDB
• ANN
• Wikipedia