Dyogrammaton Volume 1 Review

Sorry for the boring title. I couldn’t think of anything that would make a pun with the word “Dyogrammaton.”

The second of the sample ero-anime DVDs provided by Adult Source Media that I selected to watch was the first episode of Dyogrammaton, another title that’s quite popular among AnimeNation customers. To be honest and fair, this OVA is difficult to critique because there’s not a lot to discuss. The OVA only runs 20 minutes, and it ends practically before it really gets started. In brief, the first episode of Dyogrammaton provides some mild entertainment for viewers willing to overlook its weak production values, but the episode’s biggest problem is not actually its poor animation, but rather the fact that it ends practically before it even begins to build any narrative momentum.

Dyogrammaton’s most obvious weakness is its amateur quality design and animation. Character designs are unremarkable. Backgrounds are minimal. The use of color does little to evoke atmosphere or set a tone. The animation quality is minimal and makes use of a lot of still frames, loops, and recycled animation. The extensive CG is undetailed and poorly implemented. In short, the entire production looks cheap and amateurish, but limited resources put into animation don’t necessarily make the anime bad. On the positive side, possibly because there’s so little story provided in the first episode, the episode isn’t as condescending or dumb as many other adult anime OVAs featuring better animation quality. But unfortunately, the amount of story that viewers are given is minimal, and reduced even further by the fact that the on-screen Japanese text during the opening animation sequence – text that explains the story setting and background – is not translated on the domestic DVD. What is translated throughout the primary OVA is dubtitled. There are minor variations between the subtitles and the spoken English dialogue, but the subtitles do adhere to the English dub more faithful than they translate the original Japanese script. This divergence is nowhere more apparant than during the sex scenes. The Hikari & Kyosuke sex scenes attempt to romantic in the original Japanese while the subtitles and English dubbing come across far more explicit and crude. Japanese phrases of demure embarassment such as “Hazukashii” and “Minaide!” are translated as “Take a good look!” – exactly the opposite of the original Japanese dialogue. The changes are even more egregious when “Sona! Hazukashii” (“Oh no! I’m embarassed!”) is translated as, “Stick your finger in. Lick my throbbing *****.” The changes in the translation are again quite obvious during a brief rape sequence in which the victim, in Japanese, is cleary under duress while the subtitles and her English dialogue make her sound like an eager masochist.

The episode’s sex consists primarily of a romantic coupling between Hikari and Kyosuke that begins in the bath then moves to the bedroom, and the very brief forementioned rape scene. While satisfactorily graphic, the sex is a bit boring due to a lacking variety and energy. The sex serves to push this sci-fi robot anime into the adults-only realm, but the sex alone just isn’t especially thrilling. The sex is uncensored, and this episode retains its original Japanese title screen, episode title, slates, and ending credits – making the entire episode uncut and uncensored. Regrettably the DVD includes no English translation for the production credits, nor any English localization credits. Adding some value to the short primary episode, the DVD includes a bonus short that’s best described as a narrated slide-show with occasional limited animation. Thankfully, unlike the case on some of ASM’s earlier DVD releases, the bonus feature included on the Dyogrammaton DVD includes accurate English subtitles.

In summation, Dyogrammaton volume 1 comes with a very qualified recommendation. The anime’s production quality is very amateurish, but that weakness can be excused as a regrettable necessity caused by a minimal production budget. Dyogrammaton may not have the means, but it does have the desire to be an entertaining anime. I’ve always considered entertainment value to be more important than running time, but unfortunately the short running time of the first episode limits its ability to be entertaining. Viewers that are hesitant about this title may find that it’s not really bad. However, viewers interested in Dyogrammaton may want to consider purchasing both episodes at once because the first episode alone is barely even an appetizer.