Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru (Yuki Yuna is a Hero)

New anime series, manga written by Akame ga Kill's author, featuring moe magical girls taking down eldritch abominations for the good of mankind in crazy looking alternate dimensions and oh my god this sounds familiar.

So yeah, really obvious Madoka influence (they even use the same word for the crazy monster worlds ("kekkai") and it's got a big-breasted senpai w/ a yellow/flower motif) so we'll see where it goes. I like the art direction for the barrier. Fairly good stuff so far, but I really, really hope the author's painfully obvious love of video games doesn't shine through here like it did in Akame ga Kill.

edited 16th Oct '14 5:20:18 PM by majoraoftime

Shounen Madoka is enjoyable, yes

So, what are we expecting the big twist to be? My guess is Vertices are collections of dead souls, and that destroying them is screwing up the cycle of reincarnation

The real question is what happens in episode 3.

I'm worried for Yellow and Wheelchair.

Tougou is probably safe for a while. I'd expect Leader-girl to be the first to go. How many petals did she have left again?

Yes I was talking about Yellow, not Green.

Vertex are actually Heroes, the whole thing is a competition to see who gets to destroy the world.

I'd just like to point out that this is a generic and fairly popular word in fiction dealing with supernatural whatever

I mean there are only so many concise ways you can try to name the same thing differently so might as well get a point across

unless you start getting into different languages like people that want to sound pretentious when pointing out fallacies or patterns

edited 17th Oct '14 4:36:44 AM by YuukiAsuna

MMORPGs are serious business.

Whenever I look at Yellow, all I can think is Yukine Chris.

Also the character designs seem to be done by the same guy as Sword Art Online.

"kekkai" apparently means barrier, but can also refer to the space within a barrier.

, Yeah, it seems like that's how it's being used here (and Madoka).

Second episode: OKAY DUDE WE GET IT YOU LIKE VIDEO GAMES YOU DON'T HAVE TO PUT GAME MECHANICS IN EVERYTHING YOU WRITE FOR FUCKS SAKE

Ahem. Yup, you can definitely tell this came from Agame ga Writer. Same mix of bad humour and a bizarre amount of video game mechanics written into the plot. Still okay though. The music is nice, and the barrier opening sequence is lovely.

Also, all the magical girl costumes seem kind of overdesigned.

Wonder what they're gonna do with the whole national defence/state aspect of this.

edited 17th Oct '14 9:04:07 AM by majoraoftime

It is the same designer as SAO? Ha! I noticed the similarty and was wondering about that. I kinda get a Senki Zesshō Symphogear vibe from it also. Esp with Yuki punching everything.

I wonder if the whole "national defense" thing is just a translation artifact.

...We're only two episodes in and people are already speculating about who's going to die?

Sheesh. Is it too much to ask for a Magical Girl show that doesn't go around whacking its characters left right and centre?

And I say that as someone who liked Madoka.

edited 17th Oct '14 2:43:06 PM by Deadbeatloser22

"Yup. That tasted purple."

Myself, I'm seeing loads of parallels to Persona 3 and Persona 4 - the "in-between-time" space where they fight, the school club with a secret purpose, the tarot/major arcana allusions, the mini-persona critters that the girls have with them, the very Persona-ish designs and behaviors and fight mechanics of the boss creatures, etc. - and that was all stuff I was picking up BEFORE I found out that the director of this series (Seiji Kishi) also directed Persona 4 The Animation. So there you go. A couple of us over on MAL have already nicknamed this series "Persodoka." I like it, though - at the moment it's my second-favorite anime of the new season.

So rather than judging the show on its own merits and demerits we're just going to judge it on how it stacks up to other shows.

Right.

"Yup. That tasted purple."

Impressions!

- Super cute puppet show, despite the technical difficulties. Kids, we make friends by punching people!

- Oh, Togo is in a wheelchair. Diversity! And she's not even evil like the wheelchair girl in Black Rock Shooter.

- Finding homes for kittens! That's a super important mission!

- Four bowls of udon, that's a load of sodium...

- Somebody hit the pause button.

- Yes, because everybody knows earthquakes involve rainbow explosions.

- You have entered a world far cooler than your own.

- Cool transformation sequence. C'mon, Togo, you'll probably get super sweet mech legs or something! Don't you want that?

- And of course, the main protagonist is pink.

- Had to cease watching the ED in case of Togo spoilers!

---

Part II!

- Togo DO IIIIIIIT!!!! DO IT DO IT DO IT!

- SO TENSE!! >_<

- The fairies can appear in the human world?

- What kind of sicko even considers feeding a cow beef jerkey.

- Middle school children have the largest responsibilities because "aptitude." Anime.

- Comfort emo Togo, minimally animated head pet!

- Another one...

- I like how there's a "pow!" sound effect when Yuuna sticks her butt out.

- Togo stop being emo and transform to receive badass mech legs already.

- Why does Togo's transformation involve tentacle rape? Why is Togo's transformation so much more fanservicey? Why are there no mecha legs, DAMN.

- Is Togo the only one with like seven fairies? Okay, three.

So, this was cool. Somebody's likely to die at some point though.

Loves feel-good animation a whole lot.

There were no Togo spoilers in the ED for the first episode. They were clever there.

After Madoka, we can't look at cutsey magical girl shows the same way again.

Well, we've got a lot of ominous stuff going on in the background. And there are a lot of similarities to Madoka, even some of them out-of-universe (similar end-of episode preview sequences, similar ad campaigns)

Speaking of similarities to other shows, Green really reminds me of Genei Wo Kakeru Taiyou— does tarot card readings, her hero form looks like Luna, and she even fights kind of like her

Well Anime.Genei Wo Kakeru Taiyou also seemed to be pretty Madoka inspired, so that doesn't surprise me. This has the same kinda washed-out pastel palette thing going also.

Here's hoping this turns out better at least. If Togo dumps the emo junk and continues being awesome, I think that well help. I like her(other than her transformation sequence).

Here is your magical girl series... where they transform by pressing a button in their smartphones. I have a personal dislike towards this trope, but it shouldn't bother me too much.

I must point out that they alluded pretty strongly to the petals that went missing from their respective insignias when the characters perform a particularly flashy move. Dibs on what's going to happen when those run out.

Aside from the strong game mechanic vibes, obvious tarot motifs (12 enemies? You mean thirteen), sudden jump from reality to fantasy, and characters communicating through smartphones in battle (seriously, give them telepathy at least), it's shaping up to be pretty good.

Hm? This has a manga? And it's made by the person behind Akame ga Kill?

I'm watching yet another show that was made by someone who did a previous series that's well-known by all. And I didn't watch/read/pay attention to said well-known shows^note Highlights include watching Vividred Operation, but didn't watch Strike Witches, watching Byrnhldr in the Darkness, but didn't see Elfen Lied, watching Chaika, but didn't see Scrapped Princess or Outbreak Company, Seeing Inuyasha and RINNE, but not seeing Rumiko Takahashi's previous works and watching Magimoji Rurumo, but didn't see Yowamushi Pedal.

I'm getting quite good at this!

Anyway, this is another show with the premise of holding the line if you want the world to live. (Like Evangelion and Vividred Operation for example)

Speaking of VO, Yuna reminds me of Akane. And Itsuki reminds me of Luna from Daybreak Illusion. Oh, and Fu's Mami and Vivid Yellow, but she's bringing the pain up close and personal!

I was wondering how Togo was gonna help defend, but then her transformation gave her a means to move without magically making her legs better. Sweetness. And dual-wielding guns while holding them upside-down made me think she was channeling Death the Kid. More sweetness.

A cow familiar that loves beef jerky...? You...You fiend!

Oh, I love the rainbow forest-like battlefield. So artsy.

The souls of Vertex refuse to stand idly by and die. Gotta work for that extermination. Also, I love how they introduced the Sealing Ritual, only for it to get the boot (Here's this chant you have to do before battle. You don't have to recite exactly, just do it with SOUL! Ugh, you know what? Screw that noise.)

So yeah, I had quite the blast watching these two episodes. Bring on the next one!

edited 18th Oct '14 1:59:16 AM by Diamite

A bit of speculation on terminology, as the official site doesn't have a glossary:

Going by the title of the tie-in game, "Jukai" (which seems to be the official name of the barrier) is written 「樹海」 ("tree ocean")^note this is an established Japanese metaphor and probably doesn't need to be read into. Assuming "Shinju" is written with the same "ju" (not necessarily safe), it is probably written 「神樹」 ("god tree")

So yeah. Trees

edited 18th Oct '14 3:33:37 AM by Hylarn

...So does that make the Jukai Helheim?

"Yup. That tasted purple."

So yeah the madoka parallels are strong here, but this is a lot more fun so far.

Yuna is a straight up boss, falcon punches and just throwing enemies around. Fu's huge fucking sword is also awesome.

I had Fu pegged for the fanservice slot, until Togo's transformation sequence just took it several levels beyond. Levels we didn't really need.

I actually like the video game stuff, if you are going into a pocket dimension to fight monsters using smart phone powers you are pretty much in a video game anyway.

Episodes 1 and 2: For a while there I thought my laptop hung up.

I kinda wish they were more up front about the magical girl aspect of the show, because the fake-out slice of life segment was too transparent.

The otherworld looks gorgeous, and the action's decent. Togo has three cute critters, how's that fair.

I thought I was the only one

"If music be the food of love, PLAY ON" - William Shakespeare

I think the show itself is upfront about it, it's just that everyone thought it was going to be a SOL before it came out?

Loves feel-good animation a whole lot.