Z-Mind

Z-mind opens with an action sequence that the director of a James Bond movie could only dream of – when a women is kidnapped by MIBs, they carry her off in a small speedboat. This leads to a presuit by her family on a motorcycle, in a tourist boat, and in a truck. A mysterious stranger rescues her and disappears. One thing leads to another, and soon, she’s in the Z-mind, a most mechly mech indeed, albeit one that resembles a transformer just a bit too much for comfort.

The style of this anime is just a bit tacky. In a fit of self-reference, a character exclaims “This isn’t an anime!” when she hears about Ayume’s adventures piloting the giant robot; other similar fourth-wall breaking statements appear throughout. Although there’s a single alien race that’s supposedly out to destroy all of humanity, this is basically a monster-of-the-week action show, only as an OVA instead of a TV series.