Ranked #1452

Rune Soldier

I thought the first half of the series was quite enjoyable. In the tradition of "George of the Jungle", "Beverly Hills Ninja" etc, it's the story of a guy who's strong on heart but weak on execution. The twist of having the standard adventure types of warrior, thief and holyperson portrayed by competent women works well and the series never descends into a harem comedy although it hovers close every once in awhile. The situations are strong and the humor fast paced. Unfortunately after the about the 11th episode it falls apart rather quickly - like the creative team wanted to move on to other things and just kinda wrote some stuff to fulfill the 24 episode obligation. The stories are pretty cliche - the humor is weak - it becomes disappointing. The first ten or so episodes are definitely worth watching though. read more

I would rate this a 7.5 if I could. It has a message, it has entertainment value, and it isn't as ecchi as one might think from a casual glance.

The female characters are surprisingly deep and I found that I knew real-life women who could be compared to each of them. On the one hand, one can watch this show as merely being a bit of fan service, counterbalanced by a male buffoon, thus making a compromise show suitable for viewing in mixed male-female company. I take the show more seriously; I think the writers are making a point about how an old-fashioned masculine man can get along with aggressive, independent female co-workers who are *not* romantically attracted to him in the slightest. I think it's trying to make a point about modern gender roles. I could be reading way too much into it.

At the same time, it's very intertextual, which is a fancy way of saying it rips off cliches from all kinds of sources that have come before it. IMHO the writers do a great job of ripping off a diverse selection of sources -- not just swords-and-sorcery, but also murder mysteries, martial arts stories, etc. read more