A 1991 OVA that commits hard to the bit: a planetary defense unit fights cosmic horror with the conviction of soldiers who actually believe they're going to die, and the show respects that commitment enough to let them. There's no winking at the audience, no irony cushion. Each episode tightens the knot instead of loosening it. The action is lean and purposeful because there's no time for flourish when the stakes are extinction. By the final episode, you understand why this one got remembered by the people who saw it.

Five soldiers make up Platoon #801, a defense unit tasked with guarding their homeworld in the Inferious galaxy against invasion from beyond the stars. Keith, George, Edward, Yang and Shaw answer to the callsign Condition Green, and their world grows smaller by the day as the tyrant emperor Vince of Gazaria crushes the neighboring planets Kal and Granad underfoot. With Emerald Earth next in his sights, this small squad becomes the last line standing against an empire built on conquest.