Naïve 16-year-old Mamori Tokonome is accustomed to being teased at school for having an unfortunate surname that can also be read as "virgin." However, young Mamori will soon have to get used to being teased in other ways...
Kidnapped during gym class, Mamori wakes up only to find herself stranded and under attack on the exotic island of Mermaid. Luckily, enigmatic fellow castaway Mirei Shikishima knows exactly how to take the lead—through a passionate kiss, Mirei unleashes Mamori's Exter transformation abilities, turning the innocent red-head into a battle-ready cutlass through the power of arousal.
The duo will need to tap into that power as Mermaid Island is full of potential friends and foes: Charlotte, the sadistic Liberator of an Exter harem; the gluttonous and crafty Meifon; the mysterious but charismatic Akira Hiiragi; and the erotic biker duo Lady Lady. Mamori and Mirei's powerful and intimate embrace is the only way for the pair to ensure their survival on this scandalous island.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Comentários
busterbeam
This is, putting it simply, a softcore lesbian porn anime. It exists primarily to arouse the viewer; nothing more, nothing less. The story is simply an excuse for seeing sexy girls interact, fanservicey fight-scenes and borderline hentai scenes. The truth is, actual hentai anime tends to be stuck with very small budgets; meanwhile "softcore" anime can more often afford significantly better production values, as this anime shows, and I much rather enjoy a softcore show with decent production values over chicken-scratch "hardcore" OVAs. The story of a bunch of girls being trapped on an island, the "Soul Eater, but with orgasms" premise of the action scenes...all of this, as I said above, pretty much an excuse for boobs and yuri, and the characters primarily exist to fit specific fetishes. In that regard, both the "plot" and characterization do a pretty good job.
The visuals are pretty nice; sometimes the amount of polish obviously falters, but the lewd scenes tend to look quite good and the character designs are obviously the best and most appealing out of all the Valkyrie Drive projects. They lack the typical VN-esque cheapness often found in such anime, instead managing to be quite stylish and charming and, while not particularly unique, nonetheless have their own look and feel. The animation is pretty competently done when it matters and the series succeeds at having many genuinely sexy scenes.
Sound-wise there's nothing to complain about; the VA cast is fine, as is the music, and the obligatory moans do their job quite well.
As a fan of competently done lewd yuri, I quite enjoyed this series in the basest way imaginable; and really, given what its intentions are, that's just about all that I needed.
Juarez
This is lewd show for sure, everyone can read the description right? though I must admit, this one is not your average ecchi show, I think it is not exaggerated to label it borderline hen***. Is it bad then? that's up to the viewer to decide. personally I'll say this show is enjoyable, not because the perverted things, it has few good points too. Story: 7/10 call me inexperienced, but I won't complain that much about this anime originality. the concept about human transform into weapon might have used in some anime. But combine it with other elements this anime has, I think this one ispretty unique. Okay let's move to real plot. The story itself is pretty decent in my opinion. It might have awkward and slow introduction, but trust me, you'll eventually understand almost everything about the chicks circumstance or even how their world is working. There are a lot of flashback as well, which is presented well and smooth. Also, there is good portion of battle in this show.Although, I'll call the battle itself a joke. No.. uhm, I don't mean the "intro", but the actual battle itself. It just went bam..bam! or maybe few flash, beam.. then its over, as simple as that. Some character might give a good show though, for example the four-eyes commander or duo lady.
Art: 8/10
There are a lot of oversized things here, if you know what I mean. I think they should made it moderate, not that I totally dislike it. Joke aside, I think the animation is good and fluid, the characters design are nice if you ignore particular part. I especially like the duo lady figures, it give "wild but cool" image matching perfectly with their personalities. And the last episode animation was amazing.
Sound: 8/10
character voices are not half bad, and I like the OP and ED.
Character: 9/10
I like most character.The blonde one have some development, everyone else are static though, just being what they are until the end. Some of them might even surprise you. I like how everyone participated in the last battle, that was some cool action there, the best part in this anime in my opinion.
Enjoyment and Overall: 9/10
Honestly, I'll even give this show full score in term of enjoyment. But I'll hold back since I don't want to be labelled as hen***. Still, this show keep me entertained until last episode, it has nice characters, decent story with good pacing. It's not show for some kid with weak heart as there are some intense scene, also not good for any good man who dislike anything lewd and irrational. But, if you think you like this kind of show, you'll realized this anime is not bad at all.. and you might want to double check your room door to ensure it's locked properly.
HaXXspetten
Studio Arms has a rather—shall we say—less than impressive reputation in the anime community. Although they have done numerous different types of shows in the past, the most prevalent one is action/ecchi... and I mean the very worst kind of it. If there is one company who seemingly has a full monopoly on bad ecchi anime, then it's Arms. I still consider Queen's Blade to be the single worst full-length anime TV-series I have ever seen, and my faith in the studio since then has been rather limited to say the least. And thus it is hardly a surprise that I wasn't exactly expecting muchout of Valkyrie Drive either, but to my amazement... it wasn't actually that bad. Certainly not more than average at best mind you, but a hell of a lot better than what I've come to expect from Arms at this point.
The story is about as nonsensical as you'd imagine it to be. It takes place on a set of artificial islands with an all-female population. The girls are divided into pairs of Liberators and Exters. If a Liberator sexually stimulates her partner, the Exter will transform into a physical weapon which the Liberator can then wield in combat. Sounds weird I'm sure but it's pretty straightforward, and that's the way this world works. There is an established society on the islands with different internal factions and individuals pursuing their own goals. And that leads us to what I'd probably consider the anime's greatest weakness, namely the lack of any real long-term purpose for the majority of the story. For about two thirds of the show, there's no one bad guy on the islands to defeat, nor is there a personal ambition for the main duo to reach or anything like that. They just... go with the flow of events and one thing leads to another which gets them tangled up in various incidents, and eventually it converges on to a single goal. It's a bit awkward, but then again you have to consider this a secondary notion since you'll certainly not be watching Valkyrie Drive for the story anyway.
And that is where this anime exceeded my expectations: the ecchi. Historically speaking, Arms has pretty much the worst ecchi on the market, basically having the "big breasts solve everything" approach with absolutely no creativity put into it at all (and when I say big breasts I mean REALLY big). In Valkyrie Drive however, this is not really the case. Well okay, it certainly does have a lot of needlessly busty girls in it, but it's got a lot more than that. Since the series revolves around girls sexually stimulating each other in order to draw out their partners' powers, it obviously can't just get away with shoving tits into the camera every 5 seconds. It needs actual physical stimulation. And as a result, Valkyrie Drive has a plethora of uncensored yuri sex in it. That's not something you see every day. Now of course that doesn't mean it's at hentai level, but it comes pretty close sometimes (especially the BD specials, hot damn). For example there's one scene where two of the girls are blatantly 69'ing and licking each other out; we may not actually be shown their genitals on screen but... you know exactly what's going on as a viewer. Case in point, Valkyrie Drive is actually pretty hot. Not all the time of course, but often enough. For an Arms anime, that's a tremendous achievement to me. And let's be honest here, how many borderline hentai anime does there exist out there that's girl-on-girl? Yuri is normally stereotyped as something cute and romantic like in Yuru Yuri or Sakura Trick for example, not something as lustful and perverted as this. That alone gives it a lot of points for originality when you think about it.
And really that is pretty much all that needs to be said about this anime. The art and sound is about what you'd expect it to be, nothing remarkable but not bad either (I like the OP song though). The plotline is incredibly dumb but I don't think anyone believed it to be otherwise before watching it either. And the characters are for the most part not anything more than plot mechanics for the sake of ecchi, though I'll at least have to give some credit to Meifon for being somewhat of an unexpected wildcat who kept things interesting with her deceitful antics. But in the end, all that really matters in Valkyrie Drive is of course the ecchi, and although it still suffers from having a lot of oversized breasts and clothes ripping during action scenes for no apparent reason, the yuri scenes more than make up for it. There's something magical about seeing a pair of horny anime chicks passionately tongue wrestling and greedily indulging in each other's nipples, and Valkyrie Drive tries its very hardest to showcase exactly why. It may be considered crude, but so be it; at least it's crude in a damn arousing way.
AldenEmroch
Look i'mma be honest about this anime I started watching this cause someome told me it was awful and they bet me to complete it And it's fine i guess, i don't mind ecchi i don't mind bad stories like this, it was in a ''Is that bad is funny'' category, the animation music and character design is good even if most of the girls show her boobs 90% of the time. But then the new plot hit, and i hated all of it so fucking much. Is not just the fact that this was really sudden i didn't mind at the start, but when that blue haired girlstarted to appear everything fell appart.
The plot started to make less and less sense even for the poor world building they already had, the second main character broke character...how is that even possible.
They completely ruined the governeur character development.
The ending is the worst deux ex machina i've seen since darling in the franxx or hunter x hunter.
i really hate it , and i don't even have the energy to explain why the second half is so damn awful because i already wasted it all just watching it
Please don't watch this, (unless you just wanna watch hardcore ecchi) is just bad, is really bad, don't listen to the people saying is good, is not.
BanjoTheBear
(This review has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!) Picture a mermaid. Most people imagine a beautiful woman whose lower body is that of a scaled, green fish. Maybe she can sing real swell and maybe she is longing for love. But regardless, she is two halves that make up an entire whole. Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid is the same. Mermaid is one half sex and one half tale, making it one not-as-bad-as-you-may-imagine anime. STORYAnime has its fair share of strange premises; Mermaid’s premise gets added to this list.
A virus, the “Armed Virus,” infects women, granting them special abilities. Society deems these women dangerous, so they get sent to isolated islands to fend for themselves. The kicker is that these special abilities remain latent unless the women classified as “Liberators” make the women classified as “Extars” achieve orgasm. (Intriguing, no?)
Understandably, then, Mermaid is rampant with sexual content. Girls are constantly kissing and fondling and canoodling. But they are not swapping spit because the audience wants to see it (although that is one reason for doing so), they are tongue twirling because it is an essential part of the plot. In other words, the sex is not just pleasurable but also purposeful.
The season, with sex in tow, takes a standard approach. The first few episodes mostly establish the setting and the characters. The next few after move into slice-of-life territory with more character-oriented material. And the final few episodes are where the major conflict occurs.
Throughout the season, Mermaid is prone to repetition. The fights are usually one-sided triumphs rather than full-fledged duels. But even worse is the repetition in the sexual asides. Surprisingly, the anime does not get very creative, using the same means to sexually arouse the girls’ partners with each iteration. Admittedly there are not a whole lot of ways that making out and touching can be depicted, but the actions almost never come off as unique for the individuals involved.
In order to combat this repetition, Mermaid dabbles into other areas besides sex. One episode follows a girl who grows gigantically. (The size of her breasts have to have broken an anime world record of some kind.) Another episode has the women participating in a beauty pageant. And all the while, the anime injects bits of comedy, like Mamori getting called a “virgin” or Meifon having a “Foreclosure” sign censoring her crotch.
Repetition is further fought when the anime continually includes more and different details. Liberators and Extars that can switch roles. Artificial Extars. New abilities and powers. The introduction of enhanced “Soldiers.” And massive robots. The anime does a decent job of constantly introducing new material even if said material is only around for a brief period of time.
The general amount of fun that Mermaid takes part in mistakenly pushes away the relevancy of the major conflict until the end of the season. The Soldiers and their organization are very briefly mentioned in flashbacks or in passing, and it is only near the end of the season where they finally reveal themselves. Since the show did not buildup to this conflict, when it finally appears, it almost feels out of place.
The ending has tonal issues, too. Before, the anime could get dire, but it was never grim or overly dramatic. The major conflict, however, does away with this notion: rape, underhandedness, and lots of losing become the norm. On the one hand, the tonal shift is welcoming because Mermaid did not seem to have a coherent narrative in mind. On the other hand, the tonal shift is rather jarring when it gets as dark as it does.
The ending also has two more problems.
One, it is too contrived. Not just that the virus essentially cures itself, but also there is no precedence for it. Momoka brings up the idea at the end in passing only. And nothing really changes between Mamori and Mirei over the course of the season to constitute them achieving “Valkyrie Drive” at the end as opposed to the countless other times.
And two, it goes against the plot of the anime. The entire time, the girls on the island were trying to prove that they could be reinstated into normal society by exemplifying order and stability. But the solution given instantly saves everyone, meaning that the events leading up to the ending were mostly for naught.
When all is said and done, there are about two ways to view Mermaid. The first view is the simpler one: A grander message does not exist. This anime is all about action and boobs and girls and not much more. This interpretation is fine; a show does not have to be deep to be worthwhile.
The second view, however, gives the anime a bit more credit: Always have hope. Placed on an island far and away from normal civilization, the girls still hold out hope that they will someday make their way back home. Until that time, they rely on each other. They do so more intimately than one may think, but, as they prove, hope is made stronger when it is held by many rather than when it is held by few.
Or one can believe in the third, hidden, and arguably best view: Yuri is a blessing. What saved the girls and cured the virus was not some newfound piece of technology or a breakthrough in medicine. What brought peace and comfort was the beautiful love that two girls shared between each other.
If that is not a wonderful message, then no message is.
ANIMATION
Mermaid is best watched (perhaps obviously) while uncensored. The uncensored version does away with nearly every single light beam that shines throughout the censored version. “Nearly every” because the one in episode six, where Mirei performs a rather lewd exercise, exists.
Given that Mermaid is watched while uncensored, it focuses its art and its animation where it counts the most: the girls, the boobs, and the near-fornication.
Downtime in the anime hardly sees extensive animation such as with hair or limb movements. However, the anime almost always makes sure to have the breasts jiggling. Battles, in contrast, do try their best to keep up in animation. Flying fire birds, colorful laser beams, and difficult-to-pull-off acrobatics, while lacking in tight choreography, create a lot of movement on the screen. Mermaid knows it cannot always keep up, so, to compensate, the cinematography hones in on risqué shots of the characters’ butts and bosoms wherever necessary (or unnecessary).
Where Mermaid diverts most of its animation is into the sexual content, and, more specifically, the scenes where the Liberators have to use their Extars. Extra frames for turgid nipples, dancing tongues, and locked legs are more than welcome, creating steamy scenarios that even the people in the anime cannot help but blush at.
The rest of the art is similar to the usual amount of actual animation in that it is not that impressive. Island terrain makes up the vast majority of the art – jungles, hot springs, and ocean fronts – but the castle, a hidden abode, and an underground factory attempt to shake up, however slightly, the usual offerings.
And to be fair to the anime, the characters are on an island. Meaning, it may be silly to expect anything else besides a lot of trees and the sea.
As for the character designs, while the characters rarely change outfits, they are diverse and detailed enough to be considered interesting. Furthermore, each character wears lipstick or has their lips colored, accentuating their beauty that much more.
For example, Mirei’s long, blonde hair, too-short skirt, and ample figure maximize her attractiveness. Meifon’s signature pink cowboy hat symbolizes her fun and carefree nature. And Akira’s different designs contrasted well: While disguised as a male, she wears a professional, commander suit with cropped hair, and, as her regular self, she wears a summer gown with long, red hair that undeniably proves she is female.
Also, a special shout out goes to Charlotte’s design. Her styled, pink hair, purple, regal outfit, and exposed, ample bust turns her into quite the sexy minx.
CHARACTERS
The cast of Mermaid could go either way.
The characters do not have a discernable theme that connects them all. An argument exists for the characters protecting or fighting for a partner, but, since many of them do not have partners or do not uphold this sentiment, the theme is not that strong.
Looking more closely at the cast, Mamori, the oft called “virgin,” appears to be the main protagonist of the anime. But she quickly makes it clear that she is not entirely fit for the role. She is wimpy, scared, and unable to fend for herself. However, what makes her a tried and true protagonist is that she is perhaps the strongest Extar on the island. This detail is only made known when her Liberator finally appears.
Said Liberator is none other than Mirei, the actual main protagonist of Mermaid. Mirei does not speak much: for her, “actions speak louder than words.” She also contrasts with Mamori (and not just in size). Mirei is strong. She is confident. She is able. (“Opposites attract.”) On top of sharing a dislike for violence (this trait of Mirei’s is revealed later) with Mamori, Mirei is the perfect match for the tiny, redheaded girl.
Thus, the two become a team. They work together to protect each other and to help the other denizens of the island. Although not everything is serene. Mamori longs to go home; she misses her parents. And Mirei has a past that remains mysterious to the audience for quite some time.
It is not until a very harrowing situation that Mirei reveals her secret: She was part of an “Enhanced” project that altered her body. As further flashbacks reveal, Mirei used to be with another partner, Momoka (codenamed “A3”). When Mirei refused to fight, she was deemed “useless” (the anime’s words), and she was nearly terminated. But the doctor (in a slightly contrived manner) wanted to make amends for his sins, so he did not kill Mirei. He sent her away.
Having abandoned and been abandoned, Mirei was lonely. She was lost in a world that did not want her. She was eventually caught as an Armed Virus holder, and she was once again whisked away. Only this time, she met the person who would save her: Mamori.
Mamori was there for her and kind to her. But, most importantly, she became her friend, her lover in arms. It is Mamori that drives Mirei to go the distance. Mirei defeats Momoka, saves the girls of the island, and leaves with Mamori to be together forever.
The negative side effects of Mirei’s enhanced form are brought up, but Mermaid mistakenly does not use this detail for any purpose except to conveniently force Mirei to retreat. Still, it is apparent that Mirei is the strongest character of the show. She gets a lot of focus, and, more specifically, she gets a lot of focus in the final few episodes of the season. This development is nice for her, but Mermaid almost seems to forget about its other characters.
For example, Mamori hardly has a presence. After she reveals how much she wishes to go home, her character receives very little attention. Literally right at the end, however, she demonstrates her newfound courage. When presented with the chance to finally go home, she decides not to, opting to help the other girls affected by the virus all around the world.
Lady Lady are characters that likewise lack presence. They believe that people should be allowed to do what they want, and they repeatedly show this by acting of their own volition. It is an interesting trait, but since Lady Lady never have their characters elaborated on, they are more like convenient plot devices than actual characters. They are arguably heavy side characters, meaning them not receiving a lot of attention is understandable. But having at least a background would have been nice.
And then there is Shigure who is yet another example of a character lacking presence. Her character acts as a mediator between Akira and Charlotte as well as a stern yet forgiving leader for the other girls on the island. She has a subplot involving Hibiki, a girl whose initial arrival on the island causes her severe mental trauma. This detail is minimally referenced throughout the season; the audience is only made aware of the full background near the end. Still, Hibiki gets inspired by Mirei to finally help and thereby giving the audience its first look at Shigure’s Armed state and bringing this meager subplot to completion.
The rest of the characters follow the trend of not completing their character arcs. The most glaring example is Akira. Her character represented hope. She was instilled with hope, she provided hope, and she believed in hope. When she was exposed to be a woman and not a man, her defeat is symbolic of hope being lost. And as the events show, hope is lost.
Yet the anime does not revisit her character, i.e., her arc does not complete. She shows up at the end, but very little time is given to her and her message of hope. The same happens with Charlotte. Charlotte was not much of a character; she was relegated to being a thorn in the sides of everyone. Later on, she takes over as Gouverneur, gets smacked around by Momoka, and loses thoroughly to Mirei and Lady Lady. Yet, like Akira, her character does not have a complete arc. The last line she speaks is “Now we can go home,” but that does not demonstrate if she changed or if she will change.
As for Momoka, besides not showing up until the end of the season, she was setup as a nice antagonist. Indirectly betrayed by Mirei, she was forced to undergo further experimentation, turning her into a “monster” (her own words). She is conniving, cruel, and crazy, but it is her unfathomable need for revenge against Mirei that made her seriously sinister.
What results is her taking over the island, kidnapping Momoka, and nearly wiping out Mirei and the others. The final fight against her involves most of the cast – as well as a combined, “Valkyrie Drive” Momoka and Mirei – and it seems she is defeated. She is even the first one to get cured with a kiss from Mirei that also symbolizes the apology to her and the reformation of their relationship.
But, again, what happens to her afterwards is not shown. It is alluded that she is taken into custody, but whether or not she lives a happier life, tries to be nicer, or simply matures is not shown or known.
Thus the cast could go either way. However, since the anime was juggling many characters (and boobs) at once, and taking into consideration what the anime set out to do, they turned out rather okay.
SOUND
One of Mermaid’s top strengths is the effects and music that it uses.
Starting with the effects, two in particular stand out. The first is the breasts. The anime likes to have the breasts moving, and, to let the audience know that said breasts are jostling, the anime adds a breast-jiggling effect. No matter if Mirei is doing sit-ups, Torino is running to Meifon, or Charlotte is simply shifting her body sideways, the breasts are not just seen but also heard.
The second effect is heard most commonly when Mamori goes into her Extar form: a metallic moan. Including this effect is not necessary, but doing so made the transformation that much cooler.
Moving away from the effects and towards the music, the opening track for Mermaid is rather nice. The vocalist is on point, the hard guitar is rockin’, and the background choir is in harmony. The OP, while not the best part of Mermaid, is still pretty strong.
The ending track contrasts completely with the OP, and that is only part of what makes it so awesome. The lyrics move at lightning speed. The onomatopoeia enhances the song. And the repetition makes it easy and fun to follow. Combined with the various vocalists and the catchy beat, it is clear just how “super-ultra-hyper-miracle-fantastic-romantic” this ED is.
The rest of the original soundtrack offers a nice array of tunes. Trumpets and violins for the silly times. Guitars and fiddles for the tense ones. And chimes and flutes for the sexual yet gentle moments. The other effects and music are stronger than the OST, even making up for some of the OST’s weaknesses, but the OST does what it has to.
And because why not, the voice acting performances within Mermaid are generally above average. Yuka Iguchi as Mirei uses a husky and attractive voice for the mature girl. Mikako Izawa as Mamori uses an adorable voice for the small and shy girl; a nice performance for one of her first major roles. And Yuna Yoshino as Akira uses low- and high-pitched voices for her male disguise and female self respectively, demonstrating her vocal range.
Also, a very special shout out is more than deserved for Yurika Kubo who gives a fantastic performance as Meifon. The voice she provides can only be described as perfect for the carefree cowboy. Her line in episode six – “Hip raising training!” – in particular is spectacular.
ENJOYMENT
Yuri is my jam.
Ergo, I had a lot of fun with this one. The repetition did not phase me because that meant I got to see more naughty moments between Momoka and Mirei as well as the other pairings throughout the show. The bountiful bare breasts were likewise welcomed whenever they appeared on screen (which was practically every other minute).
This anime is pretty much designed for someone like me: a fan of yuri and bosoms. Disregarding these factors, I was honestly impressed with the show’s ability at attempting to be meaningful. It did not do anything groundbreaking, but I appreciated the anime spending time on the characters, the world, and the action.
Charlotte was easily the most attractive to me, but the character that I found to be the most fun was Meifon. She was not around a whole lot, but, when she was, she brought the laughs. Trying to whistle unsuccessfully, getting scared by Mirei, and screaming while raising her butt in the air as Lady Lady used their massive gun were just a few of her hilarious antics.
Mamori gets a nod, too, for being so darn cute. But she (indirectly) also has my two gripes with the anime. Firstly, I was disappointed that the anime dropped the “virgin” joke with her name. I found it to be a simple yet silly running gag, so when it disappeared I was bummed.
Secondly, I was not a fan of how she developed feelings for Akira and how she got forcefully used by Momoka. The first one had nothing occur between them. The second one was not her fault. And Mirei never lost her status as the girl with the highest compatibility with Mamori. Regardless, both instances came off as betrayals, betrayals that made me sad to see.
Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid has enough girls, boobs, and yuri to last a lifetime. But, surprisingly, it has some substance. The story, while finishing poorly, is interesting. The characters are competent. And the visuals and music do exactly what they have to. Mermaids may not be real, but, thankfully, this one is.
SUMMARY
Story: Bad, repetition of the sexual content and a contrived ending do too much harm for the narrative to overcome
Animation: Good, the art and animation remains high where it counts the most but not much elsewhere, with nice character designs
Characters: Fine, while the characters lack a consistent theme, their mixture of both positive and negative qualities make them at least competent
Sound: Great, nice effects, good OP, great ED, nice OST, above average VA performances
Enjoyment: Good, lots of yuri, branching out, and many laughs made for an almost entirely fun time
Final Score: 6/10
GonzyChan
Ecchi has never had a big presence in the wide niche genre Yuri, or Shoujo Ai as it’s more accurately called. Yuri has always been a genre that I’ve always leaned toward the “erotic” side than the actual “romance” one, only because most anime tend to be too sugarcoated with soap opera quality stories. That doesn’t mean that there can’t be any good ones. I think yuri fans deserve better than Valkyrie Drive Mermaid if they want their “dumb ecchi anime.” If I had to describe the quality of Valkyrie Drive Mermaid in a very short statement, it would be, “Not even trying.” What does itnot bother to try? It is an entertaining ecchi anime. The boobs, butts, curves, kissing and tripping all amount to pure nothingness. None pack any charm or sensibility that generally makes ecchi anime exciting escapism. Whether it be from really poor comedic timing or the characters being incredibly stale and formulaic, upon further examination, the latter seems to be the biggest culprit than the former.
It’s not even that none of the characters have any profound characterization that makes them stale. It’s the fact that their personalities, created by their dialogue and actions, are completely devoid of any humanity to them. A few of them even top my list of the worst characters of 2015. These characters are Mamori Tokonome and Mirei Shikishima. Mamori being the biggest crux of them all, is by far one of the most annoying characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing and listening to. It isn’t just the bad, shrill voice performance by Mikako Izawa that makes her insufferable, but also how completely one-note her character is. All of the characters suffer from being one-note, but she takes the cake from her just being a character. Mirei kisses to gain power and be mocked because her name is the same as “virgin.” When something isn’t that clever the first time does not mean it will be funnier five more times.
Mirei Shikishima does do more than our damsel Mamori. However, her development is predictable when she is introduced as a silent character. You could replace her with a cardboard cutout of her, and it wouldn’t make much of a difference; that is how wooden her archetype is. The other characters, besides our two main ones, fall into similar territory. Our only male character in the anime, without spoiling anything (but you can probably guess anyway.), has one twist that comes off as so laughably random. Nothing can distinguish that character other than that noticeable moment before or afterward. The only character that was only semi-intriguing was Meifon Sakura because (1) she is voiced by Yurika Kubo, so I could imagine Kayochin from Love Live doing the things Meifon is doing and (2) she has some charisma that feels genuine.
Setting aside the other characters that are too forgettable even to bother reminiscing, the art is somewhat interesting to look at. On the one hand, the animation feels as though Studio Arms was going on a lower budget than what they usually work with. As much as the girls' gorgeous art designs are nice to look at, I don’t think there was enough material to go around to make these designs blossom. The first episode alone had way more dumb ecchi service than all of the episodes combined. Instead, we are forced to sit through the most contrived story that one can get from an ecchi anime; hell Ikkitosen at least had interesting lore to it that made it intriguing. Valkyrie Drive Mermaid has little to no meat to its story that garners any praise.
Indeed, I don’t watch many yuri anime that come out once or twice a year. I have not seen the great classics like Oniisama e…, Maria-sama ga Miteru, or even Yuru Yuri to appreciate the genre fully. Valkyrie Drive Mermaid seems like one that openly insults the genre. It comes across as, “Well, let’s just put a Shoujo-Ai element to this so that we can attract this niche audience to make money off of.” No, not even putting an ecchi spin on it will somehow make it somewhat different or unique when there is nothing to it. It is lazy implementation as one can get when watching this rubbish. As much as that one episode with the colossal naked girl at least gave me a single ray of sunshine in the mix, that was still not enough after it was over.
You know you've done goofed when you can’t entice me, the self-proclaimed ecchi connoisseur, with boobs and butts. Describing Valkyrie Drive Mermaid in one word is “soulless.” Soulless in every sense of the word. Boobs and butts that have no soul in them might as well not be boobs and butts at all.
Grade: D-
Yuri-Crusader
"""""" spoiler warning"""""" The first time I watch this I dropped it before the first episode was over,I called it ugly fucking rape anime with no soul heart or noting just breast and sex,,,,,Then when I picked it up again I realised that I have never been more wrong in my life.This is my review on an anime I first hated but then it became one of my most loved anime ever!! Mamori wakes up on an island afraid and all alone with only the crabs at company ,Sen early age Mamori have known she is not a normal girl she is different!! The Island is runby a male but he's right hand is a female that do most of the work. And soon some other females meets up with Mamori and goes for the attack. When all seems to be lost, a rescuer shows up. But it's not a prince on a white horse. It's a strong lesbian warrior princess and she are keen to protect Mamori. With her by her side their journey on this mysterious Island begins!!!
Story 7/10
I find the main story pretty,, Well stupid,,Girls kiss girls and give them orgasm and that turns them into deadly weapons,, But this anime is full of side stories that are really good and some of them are so heartwarming. And full of females that care for each other. Which is the most important aspect for me
Sound 8/10
I really like the fighting music . And all the female high moaning orgasm isn't the bad either =P Tip be ready to jump on the volume here because they really go wild sometime
Art 9/10
I think its looks really good ,,Crispy vibrant colours that pops really good. But not too much so they sting my poor old eyes.And the animation is flowing nicely in the battles, Explosion and everything else works.But to be honest im here fore the pretty girls.And when it come to the females this anime really shine in my meaning!
Character 10/10
Here is the strongest card in this anime. I first saw them as only giant walking boobs. With no heart or soul only cable of hurting and rape other females. I have never been more wrong in my life!! Even if many of them may have huge breasts they also have giant hearts. They are warm females and care so much for their sisters, lesbian partners, and lovers. We have the lady that runs the in,She protect her sisters look after them,making sure they have food cloth and a safe harbour! We have the high ranked strong female who have a friend that suffer from a mental illness and because of that she can't fight.So the stronger female fight for both. She raise in the ranks so she can protect her beloved.The love between the females are really strong and that is what I like the most in this anime
Enjoyment/Yuri 10/10
I love Yuri noting is warmer in my meaning than females that love other females. And because of all kissing lesbian couples and everything else I really enjoys this anime so much. And it makes me feel invested i cheer for my girls and having a fun time.And the drama segment are also good in my book.It makes you feel for strongly them! And isn't that what we are after? For me it's very important
Overall 10/10
For a Yuri lover life isn't always easy. If you are lucky they release one real Yuri a year and if you are lucky again you get a kiss,, sometime a peck on the cheek or something is blocking the kiss,,This anime really delivers. Lesbian kissing lesbian having sex lesbian couple and more. it's so much fun.Nice warm loving characters with big hearts and boobs,, To drop this anime was a big mistake i'm very glad I gave it a second shoot and if you are a Yuri lover then it is something here for you.But there are a lot of over the top sex scenes ecchi and other similar stuff.If you can see past that as I did, I can recommend this! Otherwise maybe its better if you stay away!!!! Give it a chance i'm glad I did!!!!!!
Volticar
For my anime reviews I am going to review the anime on the order of which you would experience while watching an episode of the anime that is being reviewed. 1.Art - The art for this anime was not very impressive. Wow that's a really negative thing to start of with, sorry. I'm just say that the art was super average as well as the character models. Now, that being said, there were some moments where the animation became strangely good.... like actually outstanding. I couldn't help myself when I saw some amazing CGI in this show. It was kinda weird.Anyway I give art a 7.
2.Sound - At first I didn't find this soundtrack attractive at all but after a while I started to like it. By like it I mean I only enjoyed the opening and ending songs. Those were awesome and might I add a perfect display of the characters boo..... designs. The other songs in the soundtrack kinda suck. They pretty much felt like background music to the show. But I can't ignore the opening and ending I give sound an 8.
3.Character - This is where this anime really stood out and hung over to me. The plots on each of the characters were enormous, with a few exceptions. It was nice to see the relationships between the characters' plots, they were all mushing together and rubbing against each other. On an honest note, all of the characters were interesting. Surprisingly they all had pretty explained backstory and of coarse I'm not saying that there was a lot of backstory, I'm just saying that for a harem/yuri anime there was a surprising amount of it...... I enjoyed it. 10/10 for dose plots doe..... !
4.Story - Well here's the thing.... I'm gonna rate the story keeping in mind of the other Valkyrie Drive islands and stuff so the story didn't feel unfinished to me. I knew there would be more story adding on to Valkyrie Drive Mermaid so I had nothing to complain about but if you watch this anime while secluding it as it's own story, WHICH IT IS NOT, you will feel like it lacked. By the way how could you hate a show the has awesome boo..... character designs and a pretty interesting story. I know, you can't. I can't give it a perfect score because of the story that can be added to this overall Valkyrie Drive thingy mcbob but I loved it enough to give it a 9.
5.Enjoyment - This show was very enjoyable. Of coarse it has a lot of hilarious fan service in it but if you like story it does have some of that to. Honestly it was a very fun and relaxed show to watch. I totally recommend it to you guys. I enjoyed it at 10/10.
This anime is an overall 8.
*I will also recommend that this anime is only watched by a matured audience.
Caution:
!Keep in mind this anime has nudity.
DannieOne
This anime is something that woke me up!!! This is an anime I really like, not because its "Yuri" but because the whole series is about protecting one of the mcs, and not only that, then the series is nice, because of the ecchi, romance, action. The action is really, really, really, something that can facinate you, and the ecchi, is kind of fun, but its hard to explain, the romance is something that is really strong, between the main charaters. This is an anime that really is fun, but in a weird way. You will like this anime if you like Action, romance, ecchi and weird yuri,but when i wathced it, then my whole mind set was being changed, cuz this anime is really great, but not the best, but really great.
I hope you found this useful.
Cya!!!
Nazo-The-Weeb
Here is my review on the anime Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid This anime is a rather unique and exciting one, mixing multiple genre elements into something new. New characters are introduced in just about every episode with clear introductions in various types, ranging from slow and explaining to quick and brief. The artwork of the anime looks great with pale and vibrant colors, plenty of detail, and lots of deep lighting effects. The audio is also great, being deep and clear with absolutely to disturbance between voice and sound effect The anime comes with lots of epic, high-paced, combat which shows the weapons, abilities, and skills ofall characters engaged in it which is always loads of fun to watch. As for being ecchi (and a yuri). This anime clearly doesn’t shy away from anything and that actually makes it hentai-like showing lots of sexual activity between exter and liberator, or more freely between any other character. The intro and outro of the anime are amazing, having the intro being far better than the outro. As the outro honestly feels a bit misleading compared to whats shown in the anime itself. But the songs used in them are fun to listen to and are actually kinda addicting to listen to.
Overall, this anime is loads of fun to watch. It has a mix of multiple genres, amazing artwork and animation, and bold sound. It’s loaded with action and adventure, the yuri in the series seemed confusing at first glance, but the way everything has been cleverly put together just made it all make sense. This anime is recommended for those who like anime with action, adventure, and fantasy of sorts. It can be for people who like shoujo and/or yuri.
tenori_ojousama
Does Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid have elements of yuri? Yes, it indeed does. Is it an amazing romance anime? No, I wouldn't say so. The romance element is diluted by the lot of drama. Is it a really well constructed show with a meaningful message? No, there really isn't. There is just lots of commotion, and the plot isn't really organized. Fanservice is overused in this show, but I guess that is the purpose of fanservice (I don't know). If you enjoy fanservice, this is the anime for you. There is a bunch. If you look forward to a good yuri anime, go look for better yuris.
Sawt0othGrin
It’s a masterpiece! I do mean that, in a sense. Of COURSE this anime is lackluster in the grand scheme of things but that isn’t what’s important here. What matters is that I went into this series expecting to drop it after the first episode(I try to give everything I watch 3 episodes unless it’s just horrible, I was expecting Valkyrie Drive to be horrible) but what I got was a strangely drinkable sexy-action anime with plenty of light hearted moments and humor to boot. I’m not really even that interested in these kinds of action series either but Valkyrie Drive is uniquely charming. The 5 outof 10 score may as well be a perfect 10 considering what we are talking about and my predisposition I had for this anime. If you were curious about this one you should definitely give it a go, you might be surprised!
KimmyBunny
I guess to start off saying... if there was a season 2 I would watch. That's how much I enjoyed this show. Despite everything that it is. Story: 8/10 There's a virus that only concerns with girls, for in which if she is found with the virus she is sent to an island to fight as a weapon or the one that uses the weapon. The story mainly follows two characters Mamori and Mirei. They are partnered on first meeting. And use each other to fight off or for emergency uses. However to turn into a weapon one must get turned on, meaning her partner must helpget her aroused to turn into a weapon. Which is a weird idea, but gives the boys their yuri ecchi scenes.
Art: 9/10
The art is beautiful! Studio Arms did a great job at animating this show. The fight scenes are fun and epic. However, one I thing I will say is that don't be fooled by the appearance Mirei and Mamori. Although Mirei looks like she 25 or something she's only 15, so watch out pedos! And it might come to surprise that Mamori is older than Mirei by one year. Other than that the art is fantastic!
Sound: 10/10
The opening is absolutely beautiful. The song amazing, and it's one of my favorite openings at the moment. The ending song is really cute. The chibi version of all the characters were so cute! Especially, Mirei!
Characters: 9/10
I personally really like the characters. I can understand how Mamori would feel in this situation confused and naive. And I feel that's something people tend to forget. Mirei was such a great character showing the her unusually care for Mamori's safety. Lady Lady and J were such a great duo I think. Mei Fong was absolutely hilarious. Overall loved them.
Enjoyment: 9/10
So I watched a while ago. But I wanted to rewatch to see if I still believe in the score I gave it the first time. And I still do. I really enjoyed this show and I for a season 2 at some point.
Overall: 9/10
Boobs and Yuri make a dreamwork ;)
Hellhelper
If you are looking for funny yuri with lots of ecchi, I mean what is there not to love? I had a blast watching this, maybe cause I took it for what it was. I never expected a GREAT plot or the emotional aspect to the whole yuri aspect, and I really enjoyed it. After watching stuff like Strawberry panic, I dont know if I want to put them in the same category, as their purpose and style is totally different. Tho, if you want action, cool battles, ecchi yuri girls on the edge of hentai I dont think you'll be bored with this one
LesbianCornet
Started for the yuri, stayed for the plot. Story: 7 Premise is interesting enough. I started watching this for the guilty pleasure, but the immersion took me in, and at the least, it provides literary enjoyment as well. Some characters I have sympathized in the beginning turns out to be antagonists, and in the end I sympathized with antagonists I never thought I would. Ending has a madoka-feeling too.Art: 8
If you're looking for lots of yuri kisses, here you have more than enough.
Sound: 8
The only complaint I have is the awkward breast sounds, but the voice actresses and the ending theme are a blast to listen to.
Character: 7
The idea of an innocent maiden and a strong and determined partner isn't too unique, but it does the job for the setting.
Enjoyment: 8
Lots of suspense following rising action and during climax.
Overall: 8
Of course, this anime isn't to everyone's tastes. If you want sort of like a softcore hentai that has a better story than the one-shot hardcores, then give this a go.
BecomingWeeb
This is a 24 min, 12 episode show that has one of the best concepts of all time, what else do you want. Honestly, If you watch the first 5 minutes of episode 1 you can clearly realize what this show will be about so just enjoy this literal gift from God since there no many other shows out there like this one. Kaneko, Hiraku is a god amongst man and people need to stop taking this so seriously, but I'm not saying people should not have standards but come on this show was created to show a ton of fanservice and not asa serious show. In the end, this is was an amazing yuri and ecchi show that I hope more people will enjoy in the future.
LegendAqua
Soul Eater: ECCHI EDITION Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid's first impressions and what LA got out of the first couple of minutes was a softcore ecchi yuri anime, after watching the entirety of the anime, it's a softcore yuri ecchi anime that happens to have interesting characters. Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid "plot" structure for the most part has a pretty in your face introduction as to what is in store for this kind of anime, a calm before the storm of a rather laxxed bulk middle and finally a major plot takes centre stage for the finale. As for character developments within this plot well...let's get into it and asto why Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid has interesting characters...but "typical" on the surface.
Our main characters are Mamori Tokonome voiced by Mikako Izawa, an extremely shy and often shameful fanservice girl who your usual timid character, she also your usual pacifist character but in tandem with her couple Mirei Shikishima voiced by Yuka Iguchi who's pretty much the exact opposite of being the stoic badass character "down to earth" and gives Mirei a purpose. form our main characters LA will say that their base personalities stick throughout the anime and never "really" changes and both of them wants to protect not only themselves in the situation they have been placed in but the rest of the residence of Mermaid Island...even those who oppose them.
Onto the rest of the main cast and we have LA's favourite character of Kasumi Shigure voiced by Masumi Tazawa a stickler for the rules but she means well at the same time having the same goal of Mamori and Mirei just using different methods, we have Akira Hiiragi voiced by Yuna Yoshino the "Lord" of the Island and much like Kasumi keeps the island in line and wants what is best for the residence of the island so that they might get off the island. On the other hand we have Charlotte Scherzen voiced by Asami Seto, a ruthless enforcer of the law and pretty much is the chaos factor early on for pretty much everyone on the island with the way she does things. We also have mercenaries and lone wolves duo Lady J voiced by Azumi Asakura and Rayne Hasumi voiced by Saori Oonishi who's mysteriousness is their charm and pretty badass in their own way with being a special "Liberator/Extar" pair. Finally we have Torino Kazami voiced by Kikuko Inoue the caretaker for those outside of Veste Castle handling an "orphanage" as it were for those who got kicked out of Veste Castle and the money hungry Meifon Sakura voiced by Yurika Kubo and she along with Kasumi were LA's favourites from the anime. Like Mirei and Mamori, they too mostly stay the same personality given to them with the exception of Akira who gets development from the laxxed middle before Akira takes a plot changing role to the build up for the finale.
For the most part the first half of the anime was rather basic with some hints to something major which DOES bring itself latter and even some of it's isolated episodes concerning one off characters gets the small limelight near the finale showing some sort of setup as "basic" as it was, well it's not until Momoka Sagara voiced by Hitomi Harada, is when things REALLY GETS CRAZY and to the point LA got soo invested and that's because with the order the setting of Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid had, Momoka gave SOO MUCH CHAOS, so much more than CHARLOTTE GAVE (that's saying something) that it made the plot actually interesting and yes, obviously we are given a "tragic" backstory to Momoka and why she is doing this (which also has ties to Mirei so affecting our main duo is a given, thus brings them into it and gives them the development they also need to shed away from their bland surface level personalities) and it was ACTUALLY GOOD.
Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid does however has some gaps in it's world building namely the entire thing of the Virus affecting girls and HOW it came to be let alone how it functions proper due to the virus allowing certain girls to be BOTH Liberators and Extars in the case of Lady Lady to the anomalies of Mirei and Momoka (though at least this gets touched upon a bit) let alone the organization that is affiliated with Momoka and what their entire deal with Valkyrie Drive is which COULD be touched upon in a sequel if anything but with that we got it was still plausible to ignore it and still have a decent plot, this flaw was more or less something LA wanted them to go into a "little bit more" detail into.
The animation done by Arms was decent for the most part we do have the "usual" Arms at times with the character designs but it's actually one of their better works and LA doesn't praise Arms' work but this one is worth praising even a little. The character designs again were decent and distinct with a bit of shine to the characters though it has RARE derps from time to time, backgrounding is probably the most basic, as they do atmosphere decently, but the battles especially during the final arc was ACTUALLY well done, sure beam spams and the like but Arms went ALL OUT for that final battle animation wise all things considered. Overall, decent to almost great work from Arms, unexpectedly...-sigh- but uhh if your into yuri ecchi, track down an uncensored version, the censors weren't that bad as you could tell what was going on but if you want all all bare assed, find the uncensored version.
As for the voice cast, oh the VOICE CAST, well what can LA say, there were ALOT of "playing against the type" roles in this anime, form Yuka Iguchi voicing the stoic Mirei when she usually voices the hyperactive genki types to HITOMI HARADA voicing the psychotically hammy Momoka and MAN did Hitomi go ALL OUT HAMMY as Momoka to the point LA pretty much gives Yuka Iguchi and Hitomi Harada MVP's in this anime especially Hitomi Harada as LA ACTUALLY SEES Hitomi's range and dang she has RANGE. Now on speaking of Hitomi Harada, LA actually thought Hitomi was voicing Mamori (which fun fact Hitomi did try to audition for Mamori but she thought it didn't fit her thus she picked Momoka instead) and when Momoka came into the scene, LA thought she was voiced by Rie Kugimiya at first (C'mon, LA knows some of you would've looking in), nonetheless Mikako Izawa did....the typical almost squeaky cadence as Mamori which was "ok" and was LA's weakest link in terms of voice cast for LA, on the upside Yurika Kubo as Meifon gave comedic life to this anime and made it much more fun with her in it and seeing Asami Seto in a psuedo-villain role as Charlotte was interesting as well. GREAT VOICE CAST, Arms knows their voice actress' and they delivered!
LA came into Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid looking at a smutty yuri anime, what LA got was a GOOD smutty yuri anime with a decent enough plot, decent to GREAT production value and with one wickedly good ending, sure the anime has it's flaws, bland characterization but offset by some good development and plot shifts that MAKES THEM GOOD, decent world building with some holes that could be filled with the mysteries of the Virus, a clandestine organization after the Valkyrie Drive and for what reason and some rare derps in animation, but don't go looking at Valkyrie Drive: mermaid as nothing but smut, it's has much more than that.
Yes much LA how LA's takes on Highschool DxD Hero, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid has more to it's PLOT than you think in LA's eyes. Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid has potential and let's just say it brought a bit of it out near it's finale and maybe with a second season it can bring even more out if it could, it has potential and LA wants to see it kicking itself into overdrive *Pfft* if it ever gets a second season.
Nonetheless Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid is one of LA's surprisingly good animes from Arms, it has it's flaws, it has it's strengths and weighing in, it was a good yuri ecchi ride with some bright lights whenever the girls go commando...
10kg J's...10kg?!?!?!
virus_mal
Here is my honest opinion. The reason I'm watching this is for the soft-core borderline hentai Yuri where girls orgasm to the point of transforming into weapon kinda stuff, throughout all the episode, all I can think about is ass and tits. Then after episode 8 things started to get kind a a bit interesting, especially about the story plot. Here is where the story told you a little about the secret of the island and the organization behind this, and also Shikishima Mirei's past history. After that, the battle went a bit intense and the story keeps me a bit interested about what is going to be unfolded. Theending was okay, I guess. It reminds me like that last scene from Madoka Magica of some sort, where everyone was saved and the MC became godlike (not to the point of becoming god themselves however).
Almost forgot, I like the opening song though, for a story this mediocre it's kinda catchy.
captjoe213
Welcome to another of Robert's Too Late Reviews! I really gotta work on making sure they're actually late, instead of being half-way recent. Anyways, this time we're going to be talking about the dubbed version of Valkyrie Drive Mermaid. Be sure to check the synopsis, because I'm to be working directly off those details without repeating them. To make the short of it, this show is a good looking mess, with all kinds of convenient things thrown in and blended with some of the most unrealistic representation of the female form I've ever seen. Right now, the character Meifon would be taking bets on ifthis show made the wall of RTLR boobage, and the smart money is going to be on no. Let's kick this thing, and see what comes out.
Story: 4
The story can somewhat summed up in three words: echhi Soul Eater. To expound on this, we have girls who have a virus only females can get that causes them to either have the power to wield strong weapons, or become said weapons on being sexually stimulated. Basically the Liberator (wielder) makes the Extar (weapons girl) orgasm and then she turns into a machine gun, or a sword, and one even turns into a motorcycle. This is similar to Soul Eater (which I really enjoyed) only with the kink factor. I don't see how they ever get around to fighting anything, because before the battle they have to make out and get all hot and bothered before the weapon girl can transform. The show uses convenient 'out of time' moments to achieve this, but logistically it would just not work. There's a tacked on bit at the very end about this so-called 'Valkyrie effect' but we're never really told why it happens, what it does (besides a VERY basic 'it causes evolution' statement) or why one girl possesses it when the others don't.
The story moves from villain to villain, which in itself is not unusual, but the transitions are awkward. First it's the dominant group on the island that causes the issue, then they become a non-factor once a secret is discovered. In light of this new threat, the Liberator of the primary character develops sudden and convenient 'augmentations'. I will credit that they do slip in a flashback or two that kind of sets up the 'army' angle, but not at any level that explains what we see happen on screen. And once again we have a military soldier that refuses to kill an enemy out to kill her, but has not problem beating the ever loving shit out of strange girls she's just met.
The Liberator is your usual quiet, reserved girl, who is of course stacked like a brick house. This girl would make porn stars self conscious. The main girl, who is an Extar, is a year older, but very much your sweet, kind-hearted cliche. She seems like she would have a hard time passing for 14, let alone the 16 that is stated in the dubbed version. Of course she has to be brought to the height of sexual arousal and/or climax to transform into an awesome sword the Liberator girl uses to cut down everything in their path. Never once are we left to wonder why these girls are all attracted to other girls. I have no problem with homosexuality, but I do have a problem when it is a state of nature forced on all the characters for nothing more that titillation. If they explained that the virus causes same sex attraction, fine, but otherwise, why is every last girl at least bisexual or lesbian, except for the fact this is made for male fanservice? We even get a girl that dreams of a love that does not have the virus and is back in the 'real' world and that's a girl too.
The story seems to be made up as they went. First fight the original people who have formed a society. Then when that got boring, let's twist it up and introduce a secret that causes the former enemies to come to each other's aid. That got old so then they forced an outside source to come in and mop up the last of the story. It was a trudge to watch, and that's saying something when the art and action were pretty well done. Soul Eater was repetitious, and I actually like Fairy Tail, another show with endless recycling, but Valkyrie Overdrive Mermaid made me yawn and check my watch often. And that's with tits bouncing everywhere, and girls getting all hot and bothered with each other. We'll cover more of that later.
The story was a total yawn, even though it opened fairly competently for perhaps 2 episodes. After that it seemed like they were just throwing things against the wall and writing anything that even sort of stuck. Final complaint about the story, there's a character that preaches that the girls on the island are being watched for signs they can reintegrate into society at large. While this seems like nothing more than a convenient lie for that character to hold power, they throw in that the character was right, and there were watchers among them. What could have been a shocking moment turned groan inducing at best.
Also beware and this is a bit of a *SPOILER* but there is basically tentacle porn at one point in the end. If you're not looking to see things like that, steer clear. /SPOILER
Art: 7
The girls look good, and have unique looks. The art is nicely done, flows well, and for the characters that aren't over-designed look really good. The main girl and her Liberator are especially well done, the Liberator is stacked, but not ridiculously so (which is a HUGE problem in this anime) and the main character is cute as a button. Some of the other girls look really well, I was a fan of Meifon's character, but she was an A-cup chest wise and wasn't drawn with ungodly proportions. She seems so much more believable without breasts that likely generate their own gravity well.
That's the biggest knock on the art. For example I actually had to watch the first episode twice because I could not believe the super exaggerated breasts were actually part of the series. Until they started showing some of the other island inhabitants, I thought the girl on the beach with the beachball sized breasts was an anomaly. She isn't. Whoever directed art in this series doesn't seem too familiar with actual real breasts, or has some kind of HUGE fetish for large knockers. Seriously there is a character, and to an extent her partner, that I really think are three people standing huddled together with skin covering them. I swear Lady J's breasts actually outweighed the rest of her body. Her partner Lady Rain is just about as bad.
*SPOILER* there is a character posing as the only male on the island who is actually female. She binds her breasts for her public appearances, but when she takes her binds off, her tits are probably in the running for largest in the entire series save for the Ladies. /SPOILER.
Otherwise the fights are cool, the effects are awesome, and the colors pop nicely, if only if you can get past breasts bigger than their owners head.
Sound: 7
The sound is nice, I particularly like the themes, opening and closing. they have a nice driving rock sound to them. The end song, after it gets past the cutesy opening seems to take a page from Metallica's One song. No comparison of course, but a nice heavy beat. It fits the show about girls battling quite nicely. The background music and sound effects are all within parameters and never stick out as odd. Sound is one of those things it can be kind of hard to mess up, outside of the themes and certain background tracks. The show also features two of my favorite VA's in the industry, Britteny Karbowski and Jamie Marchi. As an aside, I am only peripherally aware of some 'Vic' drama, and I have no interest in learning more about it. Many more important issues to me close to home, so I just like those girls because I admire their work. I could care less about the politics or whatever scandal is raging behind the scenes. If I want to take on that kind of thing, I'll watch the news. I come to anime to enjoy myself.
Brittney does an excellent job with Meifon though Jami Marchi is kind of underutilized as Lady J. The rest of the voice work is well done. The extremely mature main Liberator, sounds appropriately grown up (even if she's supposed to be 15) and the main character is cute, and doesn't really move too close to annoying at any point. She sounds appropriately innocent and scared a lot of the time. The ding comes from the fact that there's one character who isn't who they say they are (earlier spoiler related) and the instant they open their mouths, it's more than obvious.
I also recommend watching this alone or while wearing headphones. I mean the premise of the show is girls transforming when aroused or orgasming, so there's a LOT of moaning at times. Not something you might want to broadcast to everyone around you.
Character: 5
This is a weak link. The main Liberator is hinted in a couple of flashbacks as being a soldier, but that thread to me is weak, and seems shoehorned into to bring about the appearance of yet another villain later in the series. The Liberator is also the quiet type, to the point I thought that first she couldn't even talk. She never says much or contributes to the plot in any meaningful way via her speech. The main girl is innocent, but the act does get a little old. When we're 3 episodes from the end and she's transformed many times via sexual arousal, it seems odd that she's still shy about it.
The main Liberator's past is kind of skewed as well. At some point someone mentions that her type were not supposed to be given the training she had, yet she get its, along with one of the villains. Then we find out that Lady J and Lady Rain also have training. Yet they send the main girl and the main Liberator to the island at 16 and 15 respectively. Did the Ladies get sent later? Why was there a delay? There's a scene where the parents of the main girl learn that she has the virus, and the kid can't be more than 7 or 8 years old. Why wait a handful more years to ship her out to the island with the rest of the infected girls? Never explained.
Another character complaint is the lack of consistency in their Extars. For most girls, one is a user (Liberator) and one is the weapon (Extar). For some reason, the Governor has an artificial Extar, breaking the 'norm' of the island. The duo of Ladies also are able to to be both Liberator and Extar at the same time, and as far as I saw, was the only duo who were able to pull off that trick. Meifon, though I like her, doesn't have a human Extar, instead she's so obsessed with cash that she's able to use it to be her Extar, staying powered up as long as she has the funds. The rules on what/who can be an Extar is all over the place with no logical reasoning. In fact, one of the early villains is able to use several girls as Extars all at once without any mention if she had special training or why she can do something others don't seem capable of.
Then we have the commander of the society's forces who starts as an enemy of our main pair but later becomes an ally yet cannot break free from her duty to do as she's told. They prop this up by holding her lover captive, but she's such a badass she could easily take out those that stand in her way and easily rescue of her love. Yet she doesn't do it, just follows orders that she knows are wrong. The characters are just a total mess.
Enjoyment: 6
I got a fair amount of enjoyment, not from the nudity or anything like that but because Meifon cracked me up, and I kept rooting for the commander to overcome her circumstances. I also enjoy *good* ecchi, and while this is not that, it has it's own trashy appeal. The battles were also pretty cool at times, also I do have to complain about one thing: these girls often end up with melee weapons, and they all tend to use said melee weapons to shoot energy beams. If I see two people with swords, I want a sword fight, not them randomly trying to blast each other over and over with energy. The battles were still kind of fun irregardless.
Best girl: Kasumi. The commander who's love is held hostage because she kicks nine kinds of ass without an Extar, and when she gets one, after suffering the initial setback all heroes face, she rocks the house. Love the hair cut too.
This show is trashy ecchi, and if you're looking for that, then this is the one for you. If you have watched Soul Eater and thought 'this needs more tits' then this is the show for you. If you're looking for something with a bit more substance over style, move on. So for this one, no entry on the RTLR of hotties. All thumbs horizontal at best.
