Nobody remembers this one because it came out in 1988 and lasted one episode, but it carries the weight of a complete vision anyway. A post-nuclear world hunting for a mythical whale that might not exist, might not help, might just be what you tell yourself to keep moving through the ashes. The OVA format lets it swing for something stranger than TV could ever hold: a story about hope that doesn't pretend hope is real, told in the language of mecha and myth crashing into each other. You watch it once and it sticks in a way most complete series never manage.

Long ago a nuclear war destroyed the world, and legends now tell of Watt Poe, a mysterious whale believed to bring happiness. Jam lives in a small seaside village that depends on the fish its men haul in each day. His grandfather tells him the catches have been poor in recent years, because the steel hawks on the nearby mountain have seized Watt Poe, a narwhal revered as the great guardian of the sea, cutting the fishermen off from its blessing. Jam resolves to climb the mountain and return Watt Poe to the sea. This one-episode OVA mixes adventure, fantasy and science fiction with mecha elements.