This one comes at you literally. DEAD HEAT is a single 1987 OVA built as a delivery system for the VHD-3D gimmick, billed as Japan's first 3D anime, which means every FX machine screaming past the camera was staged to poke you in the eye. The FX are pure late-80s design logic nobody commits to anymore, motorcycles crossbred with mecha, ridden by 21st-century kids who treat a race circuit like a war. Makoto is washed before the story even starts, a failed driver with one foot out the door, until Hayami Go dangles a hyper-engine in front of him and you already know how that goes. No arc, no sequel, no franchise, just one episode of a studio betting stereoscopic depth was the future of the medium. It wasn't. That's exactly why you dig it up.

Makoto's racing career is going nowhere, and he is close to giving it up. He drives FX machines, two-legged motorcycles fitted with arms, whose races have become a craze because they turn so violent. His D-ranked team is buried in debt but still wants to win, and the prestigious Open Cup offers a big cash prize. Their homemade FX lacks the power to compete. Then a mysterious man named Hayami Go offers them an advanced new motor, and they accept without guessing that it may cost them far more than money. This single-episode OVA from 1987 mixes action, sports and mecha in a 21st-century setting, and it billed itself as the first 3D anime made in Japan.