This is the one that invented the format, and it plays like a director sneaking a political thriller past the toy department. Dallos was the first OVA ever put on a shelf, and Mamoru Oshii used that freedom to make lunar mining colonists into a labor uprising, not a hero's journey. Shun Nonomura is a third-generation kid who never chose the Moon, caught between Dog McCoy's insurgency and Alex Leiger, an Earth commander written with enough self-awareness to make you uncomfortable about who you're rooting for. And then there's Dallos itself, the ancient thing the settlers half-worship, less a mecha than a question nobody answers cleanly. Four episodes, riot control and resource politics, an ending that refuses to hand you the win. People skip it because 1983 looks rough. They're skipping the blueprint.

The Moon promised humanity salvation. As Earth's population exploded and resources dwindled, lunar colonization seemed the answer, and the Moon's mineral wealth brought Earth new prosperity. But that prosperity came at a cost paid by the colonists who did the dangerous mining work. Shun Nonomura, a third-generation colonist, lives under the oppressive Monopolice. When extremists kidnap Melinda Hearst, the girlfriend of a government official, tensions on the Moon reach a breaking point, and Shun must choose between keeping his head down and joining the rebellion. He is also about to come across a weapon that could topple the Monopolice and free the colonists. The growing resistance takes in both the weapon and its creator as it gathers around Dallos, a mysterious alien monument. This four-episode mecha drama from 1983 is often cited as the first OVA series.