Trava: Fist Planet is an anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 OVA

Original video animation

, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...

 released by Grasshopa! and directed by Katsuhito Ishii

Katsuhito Ishii

-Work:Katsuhito Ishii began directing commercials in 1992, receiving numerous awards in this field. His first short film The Promise of August, shot in 1995, went on to receive the Japanese Film Grand Prix in the Fantastic Video Section of the 1995 Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival Ishii...

 and Takeshi Koike

Takeshi Koike

is a Japanese studio animator, illustrator and film director. Something of a protégée of Yoshiaki Kawajiri, he went straight from a high school education to beginning his career at Madhouse as an in-betweener on works directed by Kawajiri after being interviewed by him...

.

Trava: Fist Planet tells the story of Trava and Shinkai, as they travel to finish surveying an unknown and possibly dangerous planet. Trava is an ex-military Power user, which is a form of mech-ship that enhances the pilot's abilities. Shinkai the engineer, maintains both the survey ship and Trava's Power. Together they hope to earn enough cash to enter Fist Planet, a Power fighting tournament with a grand prize of credits measured in billions. Before they can even get to that, they must first deal with an amnesiac girl, a giant, and a horde of insectoid killer-robots.

Reception

Daryl Surat praised Travas "snappy dialogue" and "wild and crazy camera angles". Mike Toole considered it "colorful and weird - Koike is at his kaleidoscopic, kinetic best".