Original title: 超越世界 (Chouetsu sekai)
Release date: 1991
Director: Unknown; produced by Studio MAT
Review information
Original publication date: 11/03/24 Link to original post
Verdict: 3.5 stars (of 5)
This review contains spoilers.
超越世界 is an OVA series produced in-house by the cult Aum Shinrikyo. They were the perpetrators of the Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1994, alongside a slew of other crimes (most notably, murdering opposition and former cult members). This OVA was made as a recruiting tool, trying to appeal to otaku.
Predictably, the OVA portrays the cult in a positive light. The cult claims to follow Buddhist principles, though it's pretty obvious to today's viewer that it's almost entirely—if not just—a façade. As Buddhists, they do what they can to sever their ties to the material world, including all wearing the same clothes and not having any romantic encounters with the opposite sex. Despite being a pretty woo society, the OVA does claim they have medical staff on hand (which I do believe—Asahara Shoko, their leader, had multiple health issues). The only real issue with that is that there are multiple instances in the show where only spiritual intervention is provided.
The cruelest episodes in the OVA concerned these issues. Part 7, called 'Exceeding modern medicine with spirit force', advertises 'secret yoga lessons' that act more as personal meetings with Shoko himself, and are available to anyone. Shoko manages to detect lung cancer in an older man before medical intervention could, and the older man later joins the cult as it both is treating his cancer and giving him hope (which theoretically will give him a higher chance of survival).
Part 10, 'The miracle surgery', features a real-life child no older than 5 named Noriko, who has personally travelled with Shoko and family to India for more advanced training. The episode covers their flight to India, where she kept crying due to neck pain. Her mother asks their leader for help, and the child switches places with the passenger sitting next to him (who is a slightly older child). Shoko then performs 'astral surgery' on the girl, where they both meditate and he removes the pain in the spiritual realm, causing her to not feel it in real life anymore. The 'medical' content of this episode is less important—anyone watching it now would be repulsed to know they used children to lure others in.
Despite so much of it being grossly exaggerated or outright false, I was surprised at the amount of truth present. Shoko claims in the OVA to have met Kalu Rinpoche, a Buddhist lama. While he almost certainly did not meet him in the spiritual realm, Shoko did in fact have connections to both Rinpoche and the Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso, Gyalwa Rinpoche) himself. He had met at least the Dalai Lama in person (photo evidence exists), and made multiple donations to Kalu Rinpoche (that were later refused after the terrorist attacks).
All in all, it's pretty bad. The atmosphere of the entire OVA is very serene and calming, and I would think a lot higher of it if it were just a fictional work and not tied to an actual cult. The production value is quite impressive, considering it was probably pretty low-budget and produced with on-hand talent. The voice acting leaves a lot to be desired, but again, they don't really have much to work with. There's not much value to it now, unless you're interested in the cult itself or want to laugh with your friends about the adventures of Fat Jesus.
If you are interested in media surrounding the cult, I would recommend looking into the PC-98 game Story of Kamikuishiki Village (in Japanese, 上九一色村物語), a satire city simulator where you play as Mr. Asahara himself. It was released by HappySoft, most known for Hong Kong '97, and developed by the guy's friends. It was released shortly after the sarin attacks, so you don't have to worry about it being pro-cult at all. It's also really technologically impressive, but that's another topic I'm not gonna go into on a review about the OVA. [21/12/25 note: You can read about it here!]