Justin Sevakis was right in his 2008 assesment of the film. It can come accross as boring and predictable, but I think that this OVA could have laid the groundwork for a fantastic greater work.
To be breif, this show details the misadventure of a girl who at every turn finds herself the victim of the worst misfortunes. She's from a planet of super strong people, and since this planet blew up for some unknown reason, her and her people have moved into the wider galaxy, and the wider space society is not used to their strength. All Thanatos refugees have to wear harnesses to ensure they don't destroy everything around them. Maris HATES wearing this, and destroys her harness by accident (or on purpose, she is very clumsy) and this destruction she wreaks frequently lands her in the debt of everyone she encounters. To add salt to injury, her alchoholic father is in a similar situation, and her mother often calls upon her to satisfy the debts her father incurs in his stupor. Theres's so many little things that Maris goes through that I didn't mention, it's kind of impressive they were able to squeeze it into this OVA format.
Anyone who understands poverty will feel for Maris in this film. I didn't really think about the ending until it came - and it was unsatisfactory. Maris loses the chance to woo a billionare - to her arch rival at that (Sue's a baddie tho), and blasts off again team rocket style. There was a lot of effort spent in building up her character as a ditsy but hard working heroine, and I think if Takahashi cared to expand the world a bit, there are a whole lot of questions that could be exciting to find answers to - Why did Thanatos blow up? How does the police cheif get all these crusty old ships for Maris? Will Maris win? What becomes of Char- er- the billionare? He'd make a great villain. IDK I think this is such a great prompt, Maris can legit become anything at this point. She's been given all the motivations of a supervillian, and all the power of a superhero... in good hands this could totally get remade into something even more fun than it already is!
Other fun stuff I liked about the film:
I suppose I'll have to locate the manga to see if there's more material there. Either way, this is gonna be a hard sell if you're not already into 80s anime and/or Takahashi's works.
Beneth all the goofy Rumikio Takahashi hijinks, tounge-in-cheek references, corny jokes, and flashy animation, lies a dystopia waiting, begging, to be smashed to bits Maris.