As a person, hate is a strong feeling, and given that I’m still unlearning a tradition of repressing emotionional responses,… hate is a hard emotion for me to summon. As a result, there are very few times I can say that I have truly hated much of anything.
Especially Anime.
But I can firmly say that this anime is one of the few things that did it for me.
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero.
I knew it was an OP MC, ecchi, isekai anime going in. That entails many panty shots and close-ups of boobs and the occasional questionable situations on top of the main character that’s likely too strong for his own good. A certain amount of sexploitation is…par for the course but I was hoping for more in the lines of plot development.
I shouldn’t have.
This was more than just some flipped skirts, shower scenes, and beach trips. This was…softcore porn with poorly used moments of urination at an attempt at humor. The plot was tossed around when needed but rarely ever used effectively.
First, let me give you a bit of background as to what this story is *supposed* to be about. Akatsuki Ousawa was transported to another world to become its hero. Which he has already done and decides to leave and to return to our world. They weren’t keen on that but Akatsuki is so OP that they couldn’t stop him. Apparently, he took with him the daughter of the Dark Lord he defeated, Miu so that she can have a new life. He has her pose as his long lost sister with amnesia and they are taken to a special school called BABEL due to having gone to another world. Because people who come back from other worlds now have powers and the world thought it wise to make a neutral country where these people can live and as children be taught to use their powers for the greater good. But things aren’t always what they seem and sometimes the worlds you left aren’t done with you.
This is actually a decent premise! Which is the only reason I decided to watch it despite its age (2012 I’m late I know) and only being 1 season. I also don’t trust reviews because many people can’t identify a good story and when it’s applied well. Please note I am referring to the anime. I have not had the dubious pleasure of reading the light novels this was based on. For all, I know the light novels could have handled all of this much more tastefully than the anime did.
Studio Arms did this 12 episode run so the animation isn’t bad. But the pacing and horrible use of women for sexual ‘comedy” was horribly done and rarely (if ever) funny. I think during the entire series I may have giggled ONCE. Most of the time was a look of irritation, cringing, and eye-rolling at the way everything was handled.
Let me list but a few:
*Fan service lesbian make-out session that really is only used to set up a scenario for the next on my list.
*Akatsuki using pornomancy skills to force three girls (one of which is an elementary-aged girl) to urinate on themselves (so they’ll become friends it’s later theorized)
*Threatens to rape a elemetary aged girl to make a point about how *she* acts.
*Lesbian character is only as such used in a joking manner or to cause issues.
*Repeated molestations (and threatened ones against the child). They even joke about it knowingly at the beach essentially saying effectively: “We could get taken off air for you doing things to a minor! Hur, hur, hur!”)
*The characters‘ pornomancy’ is actually his application of “energy manipulation” which could be OP but he uses it almost exclusively to force women to enjoy his touches. He does use it to heal on occasion.
*Fake sleeping and obligatory nude grinding.
*Real sleeping and instinct of MC is to attempt to grope and have sex with a nearby female who gets too close.
*The main character’s usual ploy to make people leave him alone (it’s always women, conveniently) is to strip them of their underwear causing them to immediately stop moving and drop to the ground because of course, the women are fighting in school uniforms or maid outfits.
*Groping as a means of getting a woman to stop worrying about a legitimate problem.
*The predictable “she wants attention because subconsciously that’s what she desires. Which we proved via technology everyone wears every day at school! If she tries to deny it she wears even more risque outfits.” OVA
*Obligatory Lingerie episode and OVA with Waterworks that are made in an attempt to look like women in the throws of a…wet orgasm.
I know I’ve missed something. Probably several things. But what made this *really* sad was there were actually several GREAT plots that nothing was ever done with because they wasted (and I mean wasted) time on the cringy stuff. He’s an OP hero with a unique skill set, seeing him overcome obstacles was interesting and engaging. The pros that where frustratingly all but ignored:
*The secret relationship and anger he harbors towards his dad and how it’s related to the fact that even though he cannot use magic but almost all magical creatures love and respect him. Who exactly was his dad?
*Who was his sister and why has he given her as dead? Is there proof of this or has he just given up hope?
*The secret global organization that’s watching him and his progress and their plans for him.
*The terrorist organization Crimson twilight watching him and their plans for him.
*The main female sex object character and her promise that she made her father about killing the man that killed him if he ever proves to be unworthy and the conflict she feels with that and the love she’s (supposedly) developing for him.
*The fact that the world has completely changed due to worlds transporting young people away and they come back with powers and the necessary adaptations the world has had to do as a result and lay people’s response to that.
*The unresolved (in any capacity) fight between Akatsuki and the student council president.
*Decent fight scenes and world building.
*School life with all these characters that have powers navigating social problems etc.
Even Akatsuki himself could be seen as a decent character wasted in this ordeal. He’s charming (not charming enough to really make people forget about his perversion as the anime plays him) intelligent, capable, and flawed enough to be interesting without over the top softcore. I for one have seen the OP character done very well so I cannot chalk the failure up to this.
I think I might not have minded too much if it was literally advertised as such and had much better pacing and story layout. To me, there is a difference between softcore porn and just saying something is MA. The thing that would’ve kept this going probably would’ve been to fully engage in one of those far more interesting storylines and stop spending as much money and animation time of the sexy stuff.
“Hook someone with the need to know more about your world then add the flavor in story-driven anime. The other way around works well on hentai because the focus is sex.”
This animes focus gets scattered after the first episode.
But I digress.
Several people actually love the anime and want a season two. To them I say:
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Really, we’re all entitled to our tastes and what you may savor I may hate. However, the likelihood of another season, when they didn’t do a very good job of laying out the first season, isn’t likely for the mainstream. Maybe poke around the hentai sites? Or read the light novels?
If you are looking to waste some time or spend some (personal) quality time you can obtain the blu-ray from Amazon or stream it on Funimation and Hulu.
ModKlass 