1000 years later he is found by wandering scavenger Ikuru and they become partners, getting the gig to protect a desert city-state from post-apocalyptic marauders and the aggressively expansionist Empire of Brazil.
Then Shaian's arch-nemesis shows up with the Brazilian forces looking for some revenge.
Once you get past the odd live-action opening sequence, he first thing you notice about this anime is the visual style, which is unusual. If anything, it looks like something from the "Heavy Metal" comic - or movie, if you prefer.
Everything - mechs, landscape, buildings - has this gritty, weatherbeaten look to it that I don't think I've ever seen any other anime use. This makes Dragon's Heaven a novel experience.
Of course the one exception to this is female lead Ikuru who is your standard 80s anime cutie. She's quite perky considering the desert hellscape she's living in but whatever.
The story itself is faitly simple. Girl meets robot, they become pals and then there's some stuff exploding at the end., all wrapped up in half-an-hour.
Like a lot of OVA's this is basically a taster for the manga so you get a brief snippet and the rest? Buy the damn book. That can get frustrating if you want more and this is definitely one of those anime where you want more than just 30 minutes.
To sum up: Interesting visuals, fun characters and some impressive action bits. Worth checking out.
Here's a little trailer if you're interested:
