Ask John: What Anime Stars a Wrestling Fairy?

Question:
With your knowledge of anime, maybe you can help me identifiy an 80’s ova/movie that I’ve forgoten the name of. First of the two main charaters is a girl. She’s a fairy I think, all dressing in pink (kind of a wrestling outfit) and has wings of energy that appear when she wants to fly. The second character is male. He has short dark hair, uses gadgets and wears mecha armor. Not sure how the story starts, but the second half is the two main characters on a different planet taking part in some intergalactic wrestling match. The male character is wearing an all white mecha suit with a letter printed on his helmet. “M,” I think. I believe it was about 50 min. long and was a one-shot ova with an art style similar to Outlanders. I saw it via VHS in ’88, so it was released sometime before then.

Answer:

I don’t recognize every anime by description, but sometimes certain obscure titles are familiar. Your recollection is remarkably accurate, which makes identifying the 1987 sci-fi/action/comedy OVA Elf 17 much easier. The wrestling match actually occurs at the beginning of the OVA, and K.K’s white battle suit has the letter “K” on its chest rather than an “M” on the helmet, but otherwise your details are quite precise. This largely forgotten but very fun OVA was based on a story by Atsuji Yamamoto, whose better known 1988 sci-fi/action/comedy OVA Ultimate Teacher (Kyofun no Bio-Ningen) was one of Central Park Media’s earliest domestic releases. The Elf 17 OVA, however, has never been officially released in America, nor, in fact, was it ever even fansubbed back in the VHS era. This is certainly an OVA in the stylistic vein of Outlanders, Prefectural Earth Defense Force, and Cosmos Pink Shock, and one that deserves to be resurrected from obscurity. Elf 17 epitomizes the sort of irreverent, charmingly goofy action-adventure anime that doesn’t really get produced anymore.