This action-horror OVA, which has been a hit in Japan, receives its U.S. premiere at the New York Anime Festival today. But does Strait Jacket really justify anyone’s high expectations…?

Well, the answer is both “yes” and “no.”

Created by popular light novelist Ichiro Sakaki (Scrapped Princess), Strait Jacket posits a techno-magical world with a few simple rules and an intriguing anti-hero. This movie version, with a slight, 70-something minute run time, strikes one as the typical multi-episode rollout of a franchise rather than a completely satisfying film story in its own right. But in those terms it succeeds, ending on a much stronger note than it begins and crowning its leisurely-paced world-building with a dark and nasty denouement that bodes well for future adventures.

At first, though, there’s no indication that we’re dealing with anything special, let alone groundbreaking or worthy of a following. Fullmetal Alchemist’s blend of heavy hardware and mystical shenanigans comes to mind immediately, perhaps even as early as just checking out the trailer and promo materials. We also get anime stock characters situated somewhere between comforting archetype and old-news stereotype: the hair-in-his-eyes lone wolf iconoclast, the “nice” glasses-wearing girl-woman who butts heads with him, his tyke sidekick, etc. And the setting, of course, is the cobblestoned streets of an alt-Europe that should be familiar from countless steampunk outings.

Quick synopsis: The wonderfully named Leiot Steinberg is one of many awkwardly named “tactical sorcerists” whom are called into action whenever hideous and homicidal demons show up. Since demon-generation is a byproduct of society’s harnessing of magic, this happens with dismaying frequency, especially after it becomes a preferred tactic of terrorists.

Shouting neat slogan-like incantations while firing massive armaments, the sorcerists attempt to blast these monsters into blood and jelly, and they generally succeed without too much trouble. The one thing to watch out for in a Nietzschean, be-careful-about-staring-into-the-abyss kind of way is that those who fight these demons are prone to becoming them as well.

With such potentially rich visuals to play with, I was a bit disappointed by the unevenness of the animation. Some of the techno-battle moments are spectacular, yes. But there are too many “I’ve seen it before” images in Strait Jacket’s long middle section, and overall the look-and-feel of the art is not up to the level of the direction by Shinji Ushiro, who does solid work. As for character designs, the demons are interesting if not wholly original, but before any individual demon’s creepiness can really resonate in a horror-genre sense, it’s belly-up and we’re on to the next one. One senses that with the vast number of demons this property should produce, the designers and animators almost can’t afford to blow too much ingenuity on what are essentially disposable creatures.

But why watch future installments anyway? Without spoiling the story, I can say that much to my pleasure several unexpected things happen to a couple of the milquetoast characters introduced early on. That these shocks take place in the last fifteen minutes or so may be too late in the game for some audiences, but those who stick around will be rewarded with a harsh and dramatic turn of events in the final act. So in the end my one lasting gripe may be that this OVA “movie” concludes a bit too abruptly—or maybe that’s just my whining because by the time I really connected with Strait Jacket and started to enjoy it immensely, it was already on its way out the door.