The Kawaii Menace

Private investigator Rem Ayanokouji can enter into other people’s dreams, where she battles demons who cause nightmares and steal dreamers’ life force. Her activities were chronicled in several Dream Hunter Rem OVAs dating from 1985 to 1992. According to the Wikipedia article, the first episode was originally hentai, but it was so popular that the makers skipped the pornography in subsequent episodes to appeal to wider audiences. The first episode was re-released in a cleaned-up “special version.”

Only the later version of the first episode has been fansubbed, and it may just be the first half of an hour-long episode.¹ It’s not exactly a masterpiece, but it does have a certain creaky charm.

Someone seeks Rem’s help.

Rem accepts the case, and equips herself accordingly.

While she drives to the job, a monk notices her passing by.

There’s a young woman in bad shape.

Doctors are no help

and the situation is desperate enough to cross your eyes.

Rem and her assistants, Alpha and Beta, enter the young woman’s dream world

where the inhabitants are a bit odd.

Naturally, there are tentacles.

Word of Rem has gotten around.

Rem has a magical blouse: sometimes it’s ripped, sometimes it isn’t. She soon changes into something more appropriate for dream battles, top. She’s not universally beloved.

Watch out for the skeletons.

The battle moves to the waking world.

With a little help from the monk she passed earlier, evil is defeated, the young woman wakes up, and it’s time for a lecture on the science of dreams.

1. I did come across a listing of another episode, but it was labeled “hentai,” and I’m not that curious. [↩]