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Twin Signal (3 OAVs)

In theory, Twin Signal should be hilarious. Dumb, inane, cheesy, and unoriginal, but at least very funny. Unfortunately, thanks to poor direction, weak writing, and being yet another series trying to distill a comic into a couple of OAVs, hilarious only a theory. Future reference to help spot manga-based series that make almost no effort to accommodate non-fans: a bunch of characters in the intro sequence that never make an appearance is not a good sign, and establishing the wild premise in a single opening scene lasting about 30 seconds is a worse one.
The basic idea behind Twin Signal is far from original--superhero with a random and embarrassing problem surrounded by a variety of people a shade or two shy of competent--but at least it's got the potential for dumb fun. And indeed, to its credit, the variety of personality quirks have lots of potential--the villains in particular had some darn funny issues, from severe nearsightedness to an unmasking of what those shadowy lairs look like when you turn the lights on.
That's the good part. The whole, sadly, was barely watchable for me, and certainly a lot more dumb and less fun than it deserved to be.
My main beef with the whole thing was that it didn't take full advantage of all its good ideas. For example, there was way too much cheesy plot (not cheesy-funny, but cheesy in a weak attempt to be dramatic or emotional). Had the characters been at all likable (which they weren't--not annoying, just bland), or at least established enough that I cared even slightly about them, I might have found the "drama" watchable, but it fell somewhere between boring and annoying.
The fact that I didn't feel anything for the characters was hardly a surprise, considering that it's based on a comic series with a lot more to it. Still, from a "so what if I'm supposed to know these characters already, I don't" standpoint, getting things to a point that would've had me caring enough to stomach the lame drama would've taken way too much work, so the whole thing would've been significantly better (or at least more fun) if it'd just forsaken the attempt at drama entirely in lieu of humor.
More fundamentally, I was a bit surprised at how poorly Twin Signal was put together. I hardly expect quality storytelling from a series like this, but it's disappointing when so many of the really funny superhero-related jokes aren't taken anywhere near as far as they had the potential to go, and others are beaten with such a blunt object that they loose half their impact in the execution. The lurching story (random, I'll accept, but there isn't an excuse for outright choppy) and several long sections with too many independent things going on simultaneously didn't help things at all. Basically, a sloppy attempt at working with good ideas--made me want to give the comic a chance, at least.
Finally, as if the random plot, characters I couldn't have cared less about, and weak execution weren't enough, the world had all the solidity of a milkshake on a hot day. Not that it necessarily matters, but I tend to like a world that makes some degree of sense, which this one most definitely didn't. In fact, considering that it was theoretically supposed to have a plot (and could've made sense), I'd say that utterly random comedies like Dragon Half had more coherent settings.
At least it looked ok--colorful, but nicely drawn and on average a little more expensive-looking than I'd have expected. The character designs were generic, but nice looking enough, and the supervillain was fairly sharp looking (pun somewhat intended--he had nifty scythe-like weapons). The action scenes, which were drawn out to make up more of the plot than I'd have liked, were decent, with a handful of nice touches and relatively smooth animation (albeit with some budget-minded concessions). The music, however was unremarkable--the background music didn't stick in my mind, and the opening was cheesy. At least the closing theme was amusing, if not very good.
I've only heard the dub so far, which stood out for the variety of voices; they all had an American cartoon-style exaggerated air, but at least in the case of two bumbling henchmen were pretty funny for it. Since the writing wasn't too bad, and the acting was broad but decent, it came across well enough overall.
Basically, on the whole, Twin Signal really wasn't any more distinctive than the variety of other superhero comedy/parody OAV series; its notable features boil down to some good ideas, a particularly random plot and setting, and poor enough construction to push it toward the bottom of the pile of its kin. If silly superhero stories are your thing and you're not picky about plots, you'll probably at least get some good chuckles out of it. Personally, I found myself liking the ideas, but being downright bored at the execution.

-Akemi's Anime World