Ranked #3415

Sengoku Otome: Momoiro Paradox

For years Japan has blessed us with many version of their "Warring States Period" a.k.a Sengoku Era and their historical figures, directed to specific audiences. There's Sengoku Basara for all those manly types (and some girls), Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Girls for those who love the harem genre and last but not least, my personal favorite, Sengoku Rance, for all those closet perverts.. Not that I am one, I just like Alicesoft's gameplay style. Keeps your hand on the mouse instead of in your pants.

The story revolves around an alternate world where our main protagonist, Hideyoshino, is thrown into the "seemingly" Sengoku Era. But here's the twist. There are no guys. Yes you heard me right, nil. Oh by the way, Hideyoshino is a girl so yeah, NO GIGANTIC HAREM FOR HER!

"But how do there breed??"
-Storks and Bamboo shoots..
"But where does all those sandwiches go to?"
-They make it.... and eat it themselves.
"But if men aren't around, why are there still wars??"
-PMS
"Why are you so sexist?"
-Because my mother never hugged me..

Anyways, Hideyoshi decides to help her newfound lord, Nobunaga Oda (Amazon girl version!) and Mitsuhide Akechi (Meh, who cares about her) collect all fragments of the "Crimson Armor" from the different warlords so that she could conquer the land. Cliche story? Yes but execution is what you least expected...

Do not expect a lot of full scale army battles. Do not expect any tactical brilliance. Do not expect good set of skills and swordsmanship. Do not expcet historical accuracy, at best it's just parodies. Heck, do not even expect fanservice! There's insignificant amounts of it compared to what we've seen in 2010. So what can you expect? A different perspective of the "Sengoku Era"
Yep, that's about it. Oh and a talking dog. How often do you see that?

All the characters are based on parodies of their historical counterparts. They possess distinctive features that are culturally famous for among those "Sengoku Era" fans.
Hideyoshino as the main lead isn't that memorable and interesting. The enjoyment would probably be deriving from her active and carefree spirit dealing with any situation thrown at her.
Nobunaga is potrayed as a brutish female with her strong sense of ideals and her lack of amazement when she first saw a cellphone. I mean, the historical Nobunga had a peculiar interest in technology. C'mon, what would get her to show a little bit of enthusiasm in technology? Show her an Ipad while streaming on Youtube, playing "Two Girls One Cup"
Yes I know what you're thinking and you're right.
That isn't a cup, that's a glass.. Ok fine...
Talking dog! Best character in the series! Cause he's a dog and he talks.. And he wears a cool helmet! That and he actually gets turn on by looking at naked human girls... Sigh.. can you believe that? Getting turned on by looking at another female species... I mean, do you get turn on by looking at a female dog?

So should you watch another this anime? The execution of the story is just childish and unappealing to a more intelligent audience. Humor is light and only based on the bumbling actions of our main female lead. Basically, it's one of those anime that you should not think about it too hard and just go along with the flow. It isn't that bad, once in a while, to just watch something that doesn't require any thinking or logic or sense or male characters. Yes, I know that most of you like to portray yourself as the male lead, yes I know you do.

Haremu Kingu,
Signing off.
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I am of the opinion that as the director for the first fanservice anime was making the final inspections on the product, someone from the studio made a phone call and assumed he was talking to his girlfriend without actually confirming who was on the other end--it turned out to be a cult of reviewers and critics. Needless to say it left them with a scowl on their face, but the crime of association left this fictional genre with more than a strange look. Because ever since their conception, ecchi series have generally found it hard to measure up with their characteristics while some rather flawed executions in other categories got by with a slap on the wrist. Battle Girls: Time Paradox (the official English name for Sengoku Otome: Momoiro Paradox) doesn't exactly distinguish itself from the pack, but it does have a tall profile.

The tale begins when Yoshino Hide passes by a local shrine to pray in hopes of passing an upcomming exam, notices a strange light enemating from inside, checks to see what it is happening, sees a mysterious person performing magic, trips on a small bell to send her crashing inside causing the other person to catch her, all just in time for the spell to activate sending her into an all-female version of the Sengoku Era, meets Oda Nobunaga and Akechi Mitsuhide, and decides to help the former find the pieces of the Crimson Armor whose legend says that its bearer shall have the power to conquer Japan. Yeah. The story itself leaves a lot to be desired, but the execution is surprisingly good.

When Yoshino met Nobunaga and Mitsuhide for the first time, it was during a battle with bandits at a village that had been set ablaze. Returning to the scene shortly thereafter, Hide sees the villagers struggling to rebuild, so she pulls out her cell phone which doubles as an mp3 player to play a tune and raise the spirits of the weary people. And succeeds. It's a rather unconventional means of planting out-of-place tracks into the series, but unfortunately such a convenience is destroyed before long and the show is left with some rather generic music. It serves its role depending on the mood of the scene adequately enough, but does not amount to anything spectacular. Of course, if the BGM were the point of an anime called Battle Girls, one can guess that the director was doing something terribly wrong.

So in keeping with its namesake, the show has a lot of fights, but the quality of them tends to be a mixed bag. Often times it is merely some variation of a beam attack from a sword and weapons colliding with each other, while at others the coreography is nothing short of very pleasing to behold. It is almost as if TMS Entertainment had the capacity to create some high-quality eye-candy but never got around to stop sitting on their hands. On the flipside, the backdrops are fairly realistic and compensate for the outlandish character designs.

Speaking of characters, they're somehow rather easy to identify, partly because there isn't much to keep track of but mostly due to how the show focuses on their personalities instead of playing up the (yuri) fanservice. However, only Yoshino, Nobunaga, Mitsuhide and Ieyasu would qualify for being cast members relevant to the story, as the rest are nothing if not uninspiring. Mitsuhide is Oda's trusted aide who only wishes to "make Nobunaga happy," but shows an increasing sense of jealousy to her Lord's interaction with Yoshino, while Ieyasu plots to steal the Crimson Armor for herself after Nobunaga has finished obtaining it. That psuedo-love triangle between Hide, Akechi and Oda isn't played strictly to titillate the viewer, by the way: the tension serves as the turning point for when the anime goes from a pure fluff series to something more dramatic, which never stops being serious and never fails to be coherent all the same. And when the dust finally settles, the show reaches its journey's end with a heartfelt and bittersweet conclusion.

While the other aspects of this series are not much to go on about, the narrative is certainly engaging once it actually gets going and is the high point of the entire anime. This degree of solemness is something that isn't found within most of its kin, and it is perhaps that very element which will leave its viewers with more than just sexual aesthetics. While Battle Girls has its problems, the story is enough to keep anyone in, even if only once, but it is for that reason alone which makes the show more than what it advertises; a flawed yet enjoyable experience. read more