Gall Force 3: Stardust War

Two alien races have been trying to wipe each other out for so long that neither side remembers what peace looks like anymore — it has become the only existence they know. The Solnoids are an all-female species, the Paranoids are their ancient enemy, and the war between them has ground both civilizations down to almost nothing. Gall Force 3: Stardust War picks up with a small group of Solnoid survivors — Shildy, the steady-handed leader; Lufy, the pilot; and a few others — getting pulled out of danger by Catty, a high-ranking intelligence officer with a secret plan that could either end the war or doom everyone involved. The final battle is converging on a dying star system, and the clock is running out. What makes this one interesting isn't just the space combat — it's that the characters are wrestling with whether ending a war through species merger is salvation or something closer to surrender. That moral tension runs quietly under all the action. The 1980s hand-drawn aesthetic gives everything a dense, textured look that holds up in a way a lot of older anime doesn't. If you liked Vandread's premise of warring gendered factions being forced to cooperate, or the urgent military atmosphere of Gunbuster, this sits comfortably in that same space. It's a single OVA, so it doesn't overstay its welcome — one sitting, late 80s sci-fi, and a story that's genuinely trying to say something about what wars actually cost.