What made DNA² so enjoyable for me were the funny characters and the incredibly inventive story (c'mon, how many anime out there star a DNA officer from the future who travels back in time to prevent a man from impregnating one hundred women?). For shame that the DNA² OVA eschews the laughs for action, the one genre a Masakazu Katsura-inspired anime should never be.

The conclusion of DNA² was ripe for a sequel, having characters seemingly depart only to reunite at the very end. In comes this anime, which does an admirable job picking up the pieces without committing the usual sequel blunders: unraveling loose ends and opening plot holes a truck can drive through. Instead, this anime is so tightly integrated with its predecessor that it actually helps to explain past events; on several occasions I found myself saying, "Ah ha! So that's why that happened". The same excellent voice work from the returning seiyuu cast helps to maintain that much-appreciated continuity.

But instead of carrying over the same physical humor, DNA² OVA foregoes what made the characters so lovable for a never-ending stream of poorly-animated action scenes. The crew in charge of animation is obviously ill-suited to the task of making the action either beautiful or intense; the fine directing and pacing can only do so much as a crutch. Several conveniently placed and laughable events in the plot (like brainwashed characters suddenly freeing themselves from their mental bonds after other characters make sappy, one-sentence pleas) don't help ease the pain from the animation.

This anime is only for fans of DNA² for two reasons: 1) it relies heavily on foreknowledge of previous events, and 2) it just isn't worth watching as a stand-alone show.