Forum - View topicREVIEW: Valkyrie Drive -Mermaid-
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relyat08 Posts: 841 Location: Washington, DC |
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Man, I was so disappointed in this show! Not only was the story pretty much trash, but I didn't even enjoy the fanservice. I wish they would have at least carried over the character designs from the PS Vita Game. Those were actually really attractive. These were just very bleh to me. I will give them credit for actually having a couple of slightly chubbier characters, which was nice, but for the most part, the character proportions were really weird, or in the case of Mirei, just looked like men with boobs. Not my thing. | ||||||
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DerekL1963 Posts: 33 |
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The review sums up why I dropped it halfway through the first ep - it was pretty obvious there was going to be nothing but fanservice, and even that wasn't well executed. | ||||||
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#814635 Posts: 16 |
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I really liked this show i only watched it as a softcore porn title though and didn't pay much attention to the plot. | ||||||
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Rederoin Posts: 1216 Location: Europa |
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That was obvious before the first ep even aired. |
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FilthyCasual Posts: 240 |
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I just assumed that when things were really serious the girls managed to be more aroused by kisses; the difference between rushing it and taking it slow, if you will. But yeah, this is a specialized show with a specialized purpose. It entertained me, that's for certain, and I cared about Mirei more than I thought I would. |
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maximilianjenus Posts: 610 |
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a D+ ? that's outrageous ! this show is the second coming of utena !
(sans bad pun , I was just kidding, though this is the first review I read of this series that does not mention utena ) well, you can't really be too hard to this series, it does well exactly what it tried to do; the only thing it's lacking is anatomically correct panties (which it's magna version has); considering that the franchise producer/director just said this:
this is "just" a fanservice series witha ok plot that is just there to keep things semi interesting and have some kinda progression. the armed virus might affect men too, but they might also not be putting them on the same island for obvious reasons (just liek senran kagura has male ninjas)
I suposse you mean kasumi's scenes; and yep those were great, as if they belonged to a different series at all. |
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Animegomaniac Posts: 2042 |
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Hey, I got to complain at that swipe; I like Queen's Blade for the villain trio and Nanael- oh, I can't forget Echidna- and I don't think there's any sort of equivalent here. VD-M characters look like they stopped at design though QB has the advantage of having a great voice cast fill out the characters' personalities.
To be honest, they completely dropped the ball for Queen's Blade Rebellion by having the entire new cast unlikable, unwatchable or both. I love Cross Ange; I loved that one from episode 1 but I've never thought to compare Sunrise to Arms. Are you confusing salaciousness for a point to salaciousness as the point? I do remember the discussion or rather complaints about CA's first episode but I loved it for depicting how far someone could fall in under 20 minutes. I'd liken CA more to My Hime except CA is about Ange's rise from her sudden fall while My Hime is about Mai's fall to a sudden rise at the end. But this review is not about those better franchises so I delayed long enough, I suppose. Would I watch VD-M? Probably if it got licensed for home release. Would I like it? Probably not. All those other series I mentioned are, at their core, creator versus character series where each show throws as much crap as they can against the lead to see how far until they break or in Ange's case, they start broken and climb back up. Starting the lead off as a pair completely ruins the whole thing as it becomes about creator supported "aren't they cute?" characters. That telltale thumbnail image is just depressing from a dramatic standpoint. |
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Chrno2 Posts: 4910 Location: USA |
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Hey I bribed you with a beautiful fruit basket. This show deserves A++++++++ (Some may get the reference, if you don't ask me)
Yeah that about summed it up. I already knew what I was getting into when I started watching it. But for some odd reason I couldn't stop. Despite the story (when you look back on it) being f**ked up. I guess the music at the right moments kept me going. But I'm usually pretty easy going on titles like this. I usually just turn my brain off. Then I go back and start thinking. It was okay. I enjoyed it, if anything I spent more time laughing at it. That's usually how I view anything of this nature including hentai. But yeah, it was what it was, it could have been better established in some parts. But it's gonna make good for doujin sales for already existing fanservice. So long Valkyrie Drive, you helped me go back to my writing. So long Governeur, you were cute in that dress. So long Meifong, one day you'll get rich enough to afford that boob job you always wanted. So long Lady Lady, you where you want and you do what you want to do. To bad the animators can't freaking figure out what size breasts Rain is supposed to have. Why cover up the good now? So long Kasumi, continue to kick as much a$$ whenever you can. So long Mirei, gotta work on those communication skills. So long Tokonome. Some fans won't miss you. Unless the English dub can save you then there's no hope. But we love your cat pin and Mr. Nekome. Now can I get a show devoted to "peen"? No? Guess I'll have to got to adult aisle for that. Cross Ange is on my list of things to watch as soon as I finish Akame ga Kill. Thanks for the review, I'm surprised someone did. |
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Hideki-Motosuwa Posts: 48 Location: You don't need to know this. |
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I'm kinda shocked and dumbfounded that some of you were actually hoping for some kind of story out of this. I mean, come on. This is from the mind behind "Senran Kagura", a guy who is all about boobs. Can you honestly say you was expecting much from this series?
Just enjoy it for what it is and forget everything else. I swear people look too deep into this stuff. |
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walw6pK4Alo Posts: 8993 |
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I didn't necessarily care what the writing was going to be in this anime as I was going in because it was promising extreme fanservice and directed by Kaneko. The end result in terms of plotting, pacing, and construction was subpar, but when they went for it in terms of tits and nipples, they excelled, with probably some of the most varied and unique designs for each character in any anime: normal or hentai. And that's why I like Kaneko when he's unrestrained, he clearly just wants blur that line between normal and pornographic by getting so close but leaving out the genitals. Somewhere along the line it just felt like someone had to force a story in when they really didn't need it, it really could have just been an ecchi lesbian lovefest on an island inhabited solely by women with no need for conflict or outside manipulations. The basic recommendation that can be offered by this show: do you like topless tits and lesbians? Without that, I think the anime would have been irredeemably boring.
Also, huge waste of the LadyLady pair. We're probably never going to see someone like them in anime ever again, hentai or otherwise. Mamori worst girl, Mirei deserved someone who actually liked her and didn't orgasm at every other girl on the island.
Shows like these typically don't get doujins, especially since it's all yuri with no real wiggle room to have faceless male rapist inserts. To Love-Ru, Ikki Tousen, and Queen's Blade are the exceptions. Seikon no Qwaser and Manyuu Hikenchou barely got any. |
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Chrno2 Posts: 4910 Location: USA |
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That's interesting. I wouldn't think that just because it's yuri that would have stopped someone from doing it. I guess the most you get is some fanart with the faceless "Mr. Richards" having a date with every orifice imaginable. As barely popular was Witchblade was they at least had a few. Both paper and digital. Then it was over. I remember one was titled 103 (Shiori) and another 98 (Masane). They aren't the exact titles but the numbers in the title represented their bust sizes. |
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SquadmemberRitsu Posts: 1000 |
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I might be wrong, but to me this show seems to be pretty much exactly the sort of thing that Yuri Kuma was criticising.
But that being said I like yuri and while I'd definitely prefer something much more meaningful and well written like Yuri Kuma I'm kind of interested in checking this series out at some point to see if it's at least enjoyable from a pure mindless fanservice standpoint. Kind of disappointed that Funimation didn't dub it honestly. Although I fear that it'll have the same problems that made me dislike other fanservice shows like High School DxD. That being the poorly written overarching story that takes itself way too seriously and the fanservice itself being so frequent and in your face it's annoying. Or maybe the same problem that Cross Ange had where it's just plain offensive. |
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Chrno2 Posts: 4910 Location: USA |
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Yep that summed it up. The ???? story that got shoehorned in at the last minute kind of feel. When a show is about the T&A, you know what you're getting. But at least they tried to make it interesting. And just when I thought that Go Nagai's studio was guilty of showing off their animation of Honey's transformation of her naked body, the creators or Kagura Saguran showed everyone what happens when you add nipples to music in a cold room. I never thought I'd see that.
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animechic420 Posts: 274 |
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Judging by what I've read from these comments, this anime was a complete train wreak from start to finish, huh??? | ||||||
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Key Moderator Posts: 13285 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Several other heavy fan service series in the past few years have proven that you can have actual story and/or character development and still have your fan service, too. Hence criticizing a fan service series for having only slapboard plot/development isn't unfair. |
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