It is very rare to see a well-established steampunk/fantasy hybrid setting in anime, and one should at least appreciate the effort made in this OVA to tackle this. The resulting effect is a mixed bag. The steampunk aspect of everyday life is captured well, down to the people’s fashion and means of transportation. The magical element used by the various cults and sorcerers is also suitably flairboyant and destructive. What the setting fails to show for the most part is the integration of magic into the various daily activities of people’s lives. There are various hints that magic is a major driving force in the world of Strait Jacket, to the point that the Magic Administration Bureau is the most powerful governmental sector; but we are not shown how magic helps or hinders the average layman, and what the majority of people think of its usage.
This lack of cohesion also has a negative effect on the plot of the OVA. Although the premise is that a unit of tactical sorcerers is needed in order to deal with demons who are created by accident during practices of magic, in reality all the incidents shown are of people using magic for greed or downright evil. They are therefore de facto responsible for the taint they bring upon themselves, and none of the sorcerers seem to have any qualms about destroying them. Had the usage of magic been shown as more pervasive, then its practicioners would also include innocent laypeople, and so the work of dispatching the resutling monsters would be much more complex, psychologically and morally speaking. As they stand, the episodes are more of less formulaic, with a magic malpractice creating the monster du jour, and the regular armoured sorcerers trying and failing to contain it, only for the protagonist to arrive and save the day. There is little to no variation in this formula, and even the battles themselves follow a very set pattern; personally I think that there was room for variation in the demons’ intelligence and battle tactics, but perhaps it wasn’t worth it since they would be invariably dead by the end of each episode.
The only differentiating factor across the series is meant to be the protagonist’s plight, which is shown to escalate with time. Steinberg’s mysterious secret that sets him apart from other tactical sorcerers is the only interesting point in the whole plot of the OVA. In fact, it seems that the rest of the characters only display some depth when they interact with Steinberg, otherwise being very one-dimensional. Steinberg himself, although typecast as a brooding mercenary, at least has some modicum of depth.
While the graphics never manage to become exceptional, they vary between average and very good, depending on the scene. Some sections are very well drawn, particularly as far as the demonic monsters and their site of outbreak are concerned. The day-to-day life is much more subdued and mundanely drawn. There is also some CG animation, mostly where the Strait Jackets are in the battlefield and use their magic weaponry. That is also nicely constructed and coloured, but it doesn’t blend that well with the handdrawn designs. In fact, it seems that the artists didn’t want to bother to represent both CG and conventional animation on screen at the same time, so there is some time juggling during the battles; although the fights are close-quarter, and the monsters constantly exchange blows with the Strait Jackets, the camera cuts from the one to the other without showing both. This effect is not immediately noticeable (I only noticed because I rewatched the OVA in order to take some screenshots, and couldn’t get a good screen displaying both the monster and the tactical sorcerer), but it makes the battles seem a little unrealistic and off-key.
As far as the sound is concerned, the voice acting is pretty average, with no events taking place to tax or challenge the actors. The music score is quite suitable for a quasi-victorian fantasy setting. What drew my attention the most was the various sound effects used, particularly as far as the monsters and battles were concerned; their quality was above average and they complemented the action nicely.
Strait Jacket borrows elements from various other, much more successful anime and tries to gather them around an interesting premise. It is a nice try and makes for a good pastime, but the result is sadly forgettable.
