Ranked #3206

AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission

Aika R-16: Virgin Mission really has so little to do with its predecessor that why they even bothered to name it such and put it into the Aika franchise is a mystery. About all it shares with the original are a few of the character names and a lot of exposed panties. We get to see younger versions of characters that we really didn’t care about to begin with. Overall though it manages to be better than its original pretty much across the board.

Story wise, Aika tries at least tries to have a basic plot silly as it is. What it does have is not terribly original. What we end up with is the young Aika going to a private high school and learning how to be a submarine pilot so she can be a salvager. This is important back story because salvaging was oh-so importing in the original. (Yes, I am being sarcastic) She gets involved with another girl at the school who runs a treasure seeking club and since Aika can pilot a submarine she is invited along. Hilarity, boobs, and pantsu follow.

Lots of martial arts action accompanies the story as Aika and friends are constantly attacked for unknown reasons by their huge breasted teacher. We never are told why this happens, besides the obvious plot device that this allows for panty shots, nudity, and sexual "humor". The panties are dialed down a little bit, we don’t see a pair in "every" shot that contains females. But there is plenty of gratuitous nudity to make up for it.

Overall the main problem I had with the plot is that it doesn’t explain anything from the original and it makes you wonder why they even bothered to make this an Aika story. They could have easily just made it an original story and left it out of the Aika world. There are none of the superpowers Aika had in the first series. But if you were expecting virgin mission to be about how she got those powers then you’re going to be sorely disappointed. In fact the plot really isn’t about Aika at all; it’s about some new character that wasn’t in the original show either.

Character wise Virgin Mission fails almost as much as the original. Some of the characters have a bit more personality than the original but this is mainly due to the exceptional voice acting which I will get to later. Aika is nothing personality wise like her original and while she is very cutely drawn she isn’t interesting at all. The two new main characters are Karen and Eri. Eri is basically a clone of Haruhi Suzumiya and has the same personality and quirkiness except without the whole being interesting and fun part. Karen is a vanilla emotionless type whom the story is really about. She probably gets the most development and the plot revolves around her past. It’s pretty inexplicable why the writers chose to focus on her and not the title character. All of the supporting characters are basically just background scenery. They have no depth at all and are completely meaningless and useless to the story except in the girls’ cases to show us their panties and boobs.

The art much like the first show is strength, and obviously where the director put most of his effort into. We have very cute girls with great bodies and perfectly formed breasts. The action is well animated and it appears that some computer effects were mixed in which are pretty seamless and match the rest of the animation.

The voice acting is really what saves this series for me. Mamiko Noto who plays Karen and Ami Koshimizu who plays Aika are great. I love what they do and it is thanks to them that this show has any humor or personality at all. Music wise, Koshimizu sings both OP and EN songs and they are ok but nothing spectacular. I was disappointed that Noto didn’t sing one of them as I think she is a far superior singing talent.

Overall this series has more going for it than the original. If you have seen neither one don’t bother with the first and just watch this one. It’s difficult for me to recommend anyone watch unless you just really want to see echii and nudity. It’s a short series so you won’t waste too much of your life.
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AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission is ironically not the sort of anime you'd associate with the word 'virgin' given its content. However, it is virgin in the sense that it is the prequel to the anime OAV starring the very busty agent Aika.

The story is simply a fanservice-filled precursor to Aika's later history as an agent. We see doofy yet uber-competent Aika working her way through a very elitist private school, where she is commissioned by other busty young teenagers to go on a treasure hunt of some sort. And on this trip, the "story" unfolds. To say that AIKa R-16's storyline was a brilliant masterpiece would be the same as saying the Mona Lisa was painted with chalk dust and cheese crackers: a ridiculous lie. This is not high art. In any capacity. It's stupid. The plot pretty much is assaulted by deus ex machina. At points, it even forgets the story its telling to engage the viewer in a nice session of action and panty-flashing.

Art was decent. It was all colourful, and they certainly had a bright, clean look to the character art and backgrounds, though none of it was detailed, it certainly wasn't an eyesore. And, I should comment, that the panties were also well-done (I say this as the girls' underwear seemed to be just as important to the anime as the girls themselves or the ocean and boats or guns).

The sound was instantly forgettable. I honestly can't remember a thing about it, so it goes to show you that it's neither good nor bad--just a non-entity to the anime.

Characters, characters. There sure were some characters in this, but were they any good? Given that this is OAV was ecchi animated, the characters were just mostly stagnant and tools for fanservice. Aika at some times will make you crack a smile, and she is an interesting lead, but it never goes further than her running around, fighting and shouting loudly. The side characters were all stereotypes. From the snotty rich girl to the quiet, mysterious girl, they all seemed terribly recyclable. Deep characters were absent, even mediocre characterisations was also absent. You have here a group of one-dimensional characters who may do little more than entertain you.

And entertain it will. I can't say for everyone, but even with AIKa R-16's poor standings critically, it does its job in making the viewer enjoy what they see. I have to warn away all those who are put off by fanservice: don't watch it. You will spend the entire time gnawing away at your tongue which you'll be biting on to cease the string of obscenities you will definitely want to scream. If rampant, pointless ecchi is not your thing, just don't watch this. If you don't mind it, then AIKa R-16 will prove to be fun to watch. I don't like fanservice myself, but I watched this anime purely because it was just so much fun.

AIKa R-16: Virgin Mission is not a good anime. It is bad. But it does something that not even some critical wonders of anime can do, and that's entertain its audience. For that alone, it was certainly worth a glimpse. read more