Nobody's heard of this one, and that's because it's a 1987 OVA footnote to a series most people never finished. What makes it matter is that it does the work a real side story should do: it builds the cost of war through a single rescue mission, then makes you watch that cost compound when the rescue fails in ways the main series never allows. Daba's desperation isn't romantic or heroic here. It's just a man watching his rebellion fall apart one person at a time, unable to save anyone.

Set partway through Heavy Metal L-Gaim, before the story's second half and before Daba obtains the L-Gaim Mk-II, this one-episode side story turns on a rescue. Leccee, one of Daba's comrades, is taken prisoner by Poseidal's forces, and Daba leads his band of rebels in an attempt to get her back. Expect a compact dose of science fiction action built around mecha combat.