“Tobira wo Akete” (“Open the Door”) is an 80-minute, one-volume OVA from 1986. Keiko Takemiya (Creator of "Toward the Terra") was its Planning Advisor, and it was directed by Keizo Shimizu (Director of the “Legend of the Galactic Heroes” Gaiden OVAs, and Character Designer on “They Were 11”), with art direction by Torao Arai (“Fire Tripper”, “Laughing Target”, “Cosmo Police Justy”, “Guyver: Out Of Control”).

In a world of monarchs and feudal kingdoms, three countries live peacefully. Five Hundred years earlier, the area was convulsed by world war. The Kingdom of the West attacked the central region and took it by force. During this time of strife and turmoil, people advanced politically and technologically. However, with centuries of peace under the accepted authority and control of the Western Kingdom, the people of all three countries have become complacent, and any movement toward a new future has stagnated.

In our world, Negishi Miyako, “Neko” (cat) to her friends, is a first year literature major with a secret. Energized by the power of moonlight, she’s a psychic with the power of telekinesis. With the coming of a full moon, she decides to get together with her longtime “Comrade of the Full Moon”, teleporter, Saiki Haruka, and invites her newly found psychic friend, the transforming lion-man, Yamagishi Keiichiro. But before the three have even finished their introductory pleasantries, the trio is warped out of Modern day Tokyo and into the above alternate feudal realm. There, the mysterious priest, Ladin, tells Miyako that she’s the resurrected queen of legend, Neryula; and that she will lead the enslaved people of the middle kingdom out from under the control of the Western King, Doran III, to open the “Door of Tomorrow”.

“History has begun to move.”

It’s not every anime that decides to show what a wonderful thing War can be (ultra-nationalists, rejoice). There is some lip service given to how it’s wrong to manipulate sides into attacking each other. But, in the end, “Tobrira wo Akete” determines that conflict, fighting, and killing are just the kick-start people need; to come together, understand one another, and move on, to a bright, shiny tomorrow.

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