Aotsuki Ushio just wants his father, who happens to be a priest, to leave him alone. Instead he is treated to lecture after lecture about how, over 500 years ago, their ancestor trapped a hideous monster on the site where their house and temple is. But Ushio doesn't care about that he cares about his schoolwork and his friends and that cute girl who he borrowed chemistry notes from.
So imagine his surprise when he falls down a secret trapdoor and comes face-to-face with the monster his ancestor pinned to the rock with a sacred spear all those centuries ago! Tora, the monster, tries threatening and then coercing Ushio into releasing him, but Ushio is too smart to be deceived. But when Tora's presence starts to act as a beacon for other monsters, Ushio has no choice but to release his ancestral enemy and trust him to keep his word.
Thus, the two set out on an uneasy partnership. Tora constantly swears that he is going to catch Ushio off guard and eat him, but as long as Ushio has the sacred spear of his ancestor close at hand, he can use it to battle Tora to a standstill.
The fun of this series stems entirely from the uneasy relationship with Ushio and Tora one minute Tora is blustering about eating Ushio, and when Ushio whacks him over the head with the spear, pouts "Ow, what did you do that for?" Ohtsuka Chikao, the voice of Tora, is exceptional and his voice changes like quicksilver from frightening to hurt and offended in the blink of an eye. He can relate the fury of a beast in battle or the bemused confusion of a child as he struggles to come to terms with the fact that there really isn't a samurai inside the television. This gives an exceptional amount of complexity to Tora's character, and provides the show with an interesting mix of humor and action.
With all the tricks and teasing they engage in, Ushio and Tora remind me of a grown-up, supernaturally powered Calvin and Hobbes. And especially so when things look grim, because their friendship shows through and they wind up working together to fight the common foe (with Tora all the while mumbling, "Why the Hell am I helping this kid?")
As this is an OVA, the animation quality is relatively high. The battle sequences are well-choreographed and executed, and the other scenes have been carefully planned as well. And while the fights are intense and entertaining, some of the best moments in this series are the quiet laughs that come from the giant Tora perched atop Ushio's shoulders, unseen and unheard by everyone but him.
The first volume contains two episodes, and by the end of episode 2, Ushio and Tora have cemented their uneasy alliance into a bizarre friendship between man and monster.

USHIO AND TORA
A.D.Vision
© 1992 Kazuhiro Fujita/ Sogakukan * TOHO * Toshiba EMI * OB Kikaku
English Language Versions © 1996 A.D. Vision
Subtitled
VHSUT/001S $29.95
60 minutes
Available: TBA