Absolute Duo

Have you ever had trouble spotting a bottom-of-the-barrel title? Finding the product of studio algorithm, where the intent is solely that of a product and nothing more? Shows with as much integrity as a used car salesman with a tacky poker-dot tie, or as much validity as McDonald's promoting "health" through thinly cut apple slices and a bottle of processed milk? Hogwash that pretends to have artistic merit? And if so, would you like to sift through bottom-tier anime before so much as letting it occupy time on your media device? If you've answered yes to this, here are some quick tips to help you ... out:

▸Is there a typical school setting? ☑
▸Is the protagonist a pussy magnet? ☑
▸Is there a beach or hot spring episode? ☑
▸Is there a love interest story that goes nowhere? ☑
▸Is there unnecessary fanservice in the cover photo? ☑
▸Is the lead easily flustered by anything involving females? ☑
▸Does it go from tensionless fights to school rom-com at the drop of a hat? ☑
▸Is there some kind of a pussy beta-male protagonist with a "unique"/hax superpower? ☑
▸Is there a lot of instances where your lead is viewed as a pervert due to stupid misunderstandings? ☑
▸Is there at least one obligatory scene where this meta-male either walks in on a girl changing or accidentally gropes them? ☑

If you answered "yes" to most, if not, all of those, then congrats! You've just found yourself a mouth-breather tier anime title. Either that or you've accidentally watched this piece of garbage, Absolute Duo. Absolute Duo does absolutely nothing new. It's the same cookie-cutter assembly-line product regurgitated yearly from the anime industry. With a few slight tweaks here and there, and a fresh coat of paint to mask the stench of unoriginality, these titles are excreted out by the dozen on constant demand. Absolute Duo is just another statistic.

Why bother writing a compelling narrative when excessive info-dumps and monologuing could do the trick? Why bother to make something with a modicum of artistic expression when you would just flash a few pantsu to win over mouth-breathers? Why bother trying when the audience being pandered to don't even demand anything more? It's hard not to be sardonic about titles like these, especially when the problem stems far deeper than simply "the studio's fault." And in the case of Duo, what we have here is a symptom of audience complacency. Here's a world that exists byways of audience participation to do all the legwork for it. The show doesn't try because it's effectively harvested a viewership that doesn't expect it to.

The world of Absolute Duo is that of a dystopian future. A detail that's rendered entirely pointless given that it all takes place in a high school setting, with the purpose of even addressing the nature of the world's construct only coming to play to allow these teens the ability to wield supernatural weaponry—no, that's not a joke, the show is really that lazy. And as is the tradition for these kinds of stories, we're given hints of a manipulative government faction. We're given hints at a budding school romance. We're given hints that the powers in the show have something more behind its mechanics than what's being told. We're given hints at a troubled backstory for our protagonist. We're given A LOT of hints but that's all, as this is yet another "read the manga" kind of title, where its entire purpose of existing hints towards being an advertisement for the source material. An ugly-looking, drably produced advertisement at that.

The color placement is flat. Its environment evenly lit, like the backlight of a computer monitor or the glow of a tracing table. This is an anime that can't be bothered with the trivial task of having a personality. It would much rather slouch about. Cardboard cutout characters designed with no discernable feature from its usual counterparts. Personalities equally as stock-piled, their behavior as lackluster as the color choices used to bring them to life. Not a single characteristic that expresses passion. Just a heartless product pumped out by the iron presses of a studio machine looking to make a quick profit with as little effort as possible.

It's hard to find anything here worth mentioning, as the only thing interesting about Duo is just how much it manages to fail. All you simply have to do is look at all the genres it's supposedly made up of and see it misses the mark with all of them:

▸It doesn't work as a school title since the school is just a backdrop and was never truly utilized.
▸It doesn't work as a romance since nothing ever happens between the main love interest and the protagonist.
▸It doesn't work as an action title since the fight sequences were barely animated with any sort of energy or dynamics.
▸It doesn't work as a supernatural show since none of the power mechanics or lore gets fleshed out beyond face value.
▸It doesn't work as a harem since the protagonist is a typical beta-male that freezes up at the thought of a woman's touch.
▸It doesn't work as an ecchi title since it's not titillating, made worse when titles like Queen's Blade exists with amazing "plot."

This is a title that quite literally fails at everything it attempts to cover, and as such, I can't see how this could be anything less than a waste of 4 hours of your life.

Overall: Duo/10

Absolute Duo is Absolute Garbage. It's a cheaply made cash-grab that serves no other purpose than selling the source material it's adapted from. A quick glimpse into the ugly side of the entertainment industry, showing just how far a studio is willing to compromise its principals to make a quick buck.

The writers might as well take out the "duo" and slap in "harem" instead cuz duo just isn't cutting it.

A bland anime with some generic harem characters. Absolute duo may seem like your average action/harem anime, because it is.

Story: 2/10
First off let me remind you that the plot is set in a world far, far away where girls possess all the cup sizes from A to Z cups. So don't be suprised if they turn out to be the only thing worth watching in the whole show.

Absolute Duo is about your average male protagonist who gains a special power and wants to seek ... revenge for his deceased family. Tooru Kokonoe is a teenager who has the ability to materialize “Blazes” out of his soul. But he has no ordinary Blaze his blaze is an irregular, while other people generate Weapons Tooru can generate a shield. (Big deal right?) He then uses his special ability and enrolls himself into a school that teaches him to become stronger (even though he’s a bit overpowered already). At this school he is forced to kick some booty, which then leads the female protagonist, Julie, to realize his existence. She takes interest in him, and by some random chance they are forced into the dorm room, and as the series goes on they become an “absolute duo” which also forges an intimate relationship with each other. The anime throws you a couple curve balls later on, which keeps the story somewhat interesting.

Sound: 7/10

- Great Choice of voice actors, Matsuoka who voiced Sora and Kirito from NGNL and Sao voiced Tooru.
- The OP’s and ED’s so far are pretty great, in my opinion.
- Great soundtracks for most scenes especially the romantic scenes.
- Did a good job of using music for suspense and such.
- They need better soundtracks for action scenes.(not really many action scenes so far tbh)


Characters: 3/10
Most of the characters are a bit bland and unoriginal.
- Tooru- Your average male lead who has a harem, he cares for his peers, and has overpowered combat abilities.
- Julie- Your average shy airheaded dandere who’s a few slices short of a fruit cake, also has good combat abilities
- Miyabi- Your average shy useless character who’s afraid of males and her only job is to piss the audience off. (At least for me)
- Tomoe- Your average female protagonist who doesn’t know what love is, but then realizes she falls in love with the male protagonist. (So let the awkwardness ensue)
- Lilith- A bratty rich girl, who is apparently from England, and also an irregular, she has mastered the fine arts of Engrish.
- Usa Sensei- Their homeroom teacher who has two personalities. (Probably the most interesting character in the show)
Needless to say if all of these females had the brains the size of their bust it would make the show a whole lot more interesting.

Art: 8/10
The only thing that was good in this anime.
- Characters have big boobs.
- Great use of vibrant colors.
- Good contrast between light and dark.
- Nicely animated action scenes.
I’d say 8-bit studios did a pretty great job.

Enjoyment: 3/10
The anime definitely wasn't worth my time. The anime was pretty horrid from it's stupidly broad plot to it's equally broad characters. It's sad to see the anime end up so horribly because it actually had a lot of potential, but the directors or whoever does the screenplay ruined the whole show by making the show 99% fanservice with no plot.

Overall: 4/10
I gave the anime an overall score of 4. Taking all things into consideration I had high hopes for this anime and I'd hoped it wont let me down. But several episodes in, I'd realized that even Jesus couldn't save this anime. The genre and tone seemed to be right up my alley, which is action, harem, and a slight dab of comedy. But after watching this many episodes I think my opinions were most likely clouded. I gave it a chance, but it's a pretty big let down.

Recommended For- People who have watched all the good action/harem/romance anime's and have a lot of spare time. Or if you just love action/harems so much you want to watch it.

Not Recommended For- People who want a action/harem with a good plot, and interesting characters, because I assure you this isn't something worth your time.

Yeah! This is my first review of Winter 2015. Oh yeah. Before I get on with the review just let me put some more nails in the coffin which now lies the ecchi jokes. Excuse me for a second.

Ok. I'm done.

STORY (2):

Absolute Duo or Absolute Hatred follows these two bland characters by the name of Tor Kokonoe & Julie Sigtuna who attend Koryo Academy where they are trained in combat skills using Blaze. Blaze are supernatural weapons that suit different combat skills.

Let me tell you that I have 0 expectations when going into this anime. The concept is boring and it is an ... ecchi genre. In fact, after that horrendous atrocity known as Rail Wars, I wasn't looking forward to watching this anime. So you know what, why not I review this anime.

You might say "Why are you viewing an ecchi anime with expectations?" My answer is "I'm sorry. My butt cannot stand being violated by Winter Season Anime especially when it comes to ecchi jokes."

This anime has some of the most horrendous dialogue and horrendous jokes I have ever seen since Rail Wars. There is one scene which is the worst scene I have ever seen in this anime. It is when Tomoe meets Tor for the first time, she keeps apologizing and jumps onto Tor and her head lands on Tor's crotch. Then some pauses and "I'm Sorry!" again and then Tomoe does another flip and Tomoe's butt landed on Tor, and pauses again. Rail Wars did that kind of joke like when Takayama accidentally gropes Haruka's boobs, there was a pause and then "I'm sorry". Seriously, how many times must an anime follow that kind of rule? I'm sorry, whenever I think of that scene, I always cringe inside.

There is also this girl get embarrassed when guy looks at the boobs. Bouncing of boobs. Beach episode. I can't take it.

Oh yeah, there was the fight scene between Miyabi & Tomoe. How they end the fight scene was so ridiculous. It ends with Miaybi saying "I've been foiled by the power of love".

At the very end, they tried to tie everything together and it was a fail. The fight scenes were rushed.

ART (4):

The animation is nothing impressive. When it is dark, it is very dull. The action scenes are all dull and boring. These action scenes are all the "Been there, done that" action scenes. I never pay attention to the action scenes because I don't care anymore.

SOUND (4):

The opening and ending are not memorable.

CHARACTER (2):

Where do I begin?

Tor & Julie might be like the new Sora & Shiro. However, Tor is more generic than compared to Shiro. His personality is as interesting as Edward Cullen. Especially, Julie, she is just another Bella Swan, who clings onto Tor with no personality.

Tomoe Tachibana - Her voice actress is Ayaka Suwa who voiced Tokaku Azuma from the atrocity known as Akuma no Riddle. She had the potential to become an interesting character like Mikazuki Yozora from Haganai. However, her character is annoying by apologizing to Tor a lot of times and she get into comedic misunderstandings with Tor.

Miyabi Hotaka - What can I say? She is the most generic character I have ever seen.

Lilith Bristol: I also have nothing to say about her. She is just an generic tsundere.

The teacher bunny by the name of Rito Tsumiki was so annoying. She tried to sound cute but she sounded more like nails scratching on chalkboard. The voice actress Yukari Tamura, her voice is no longer funny or cute, her voice was just annoying. Your cute voice is no longer relevant anymore, you just sound like a broken record player trying to work.

K is a generic villain. He looks like Gilgamesh from Fate/Stay Night. However, his personality is as interesting as a cardboard box. K only appears on the later half of the show.

CONCLUSION (2):

I am so tired of these clichéd ecchi jokes. They are not funny or entertaining anymore. I didn't get a boner in any of the episodes. They are just cringe inducing. Saekano at least tried not to use these ecchi jokes but instead focus on good character development and serve its purpose well. This anime on the other hand tries to use all those "been there, done that" jokes and try to pass it off as entertaining. NO! You don't do that!

Ecchi jokes don't work anymore. Anyone who is planning to make an anime, DO NOT use ecchi jokes. Ecchi jokes are dead. They are not funny. All the ecchi jokes are just cash-grabbing, like to take people's time. I value my time and money and you should too. If you want to make a good comedy anime, do not use ecchi jokes. Make a good story with effort. There is no bigger crime than an anime that is meant to make people laugh or have a boner failed to do that.

This anime might not be a complete atrocity unlike "Pupa". But just like "Pupa", this anime is a prime example of the continuing bad practices of anime companies producing terrible anime in Winter Seasons. Especially when it comes to Ecchi genres.

I don't have any expectations. The reason why I give this anime a 2 out of 10 is because the voice acting was decent except for Yukari Tamura, decent fight scenes and the animation at least wasn't bad compared to Pupa. Way to start my first review for Winter 2015, well done "Absolute Duo"!

I now need to rest my head because there are more reviews to come for Winter 2015.

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread)

Wanting to be stronger is something that a lot of people strive for. And that isn't just in the sense of lifting weights to tone one's muscles. There is strength of mind in the form of intelligence or strength of spirit in having the courage to do what's right. But no matter its form, strength isn't something that is easily obtained. Hardship and difficulties are what give shape to such strength, and subsequently determine what strength is ultimately earned. This is what Absolute Duo tries to convey, but without much strength to support even itself.

STORY

Absolute Duo follows young ... Tor Kokonoe as he enrolls in Kouyou Academy to take part in the "Duo" program. There, he meets Julie Sigtuna, a mysterious girl who eventually becomes his fighting partner.

Absolute Duo is an ecchi series, therefore making much of the content focus on showing the girls in promiscuous situations. In other words, there are many scenes involving bouncing breasts, unfit clothing, and risqué positions that attempt to entice the viewer. No girl is left unscathed: Julie often wears a single button-up shirt, Miyabi always has the camera aimed at her enormous bosom, and Lilith revels in her sexuality which gives her the confidence to perform more daring ventures. The ecchi itself isn't too classy or original, usually falling back on easy tropes like lost panties or chest-hugging, but there is a nice amount of it throughout its entire run.

And that's as far as Absolute Duo gets in terms of positivity. When it isn't sexualizing its characters or going through with a comedic moment, the show doesn't know what to do with itself. The story it attempts to tell is entirely contrived, filled with disjointed segments and an apparent lack of cohesion. The students are fighting in a mall one episode, only to be whisked away to a secluded island the next. The motivation behind many of these events is spurred on by the so-called principal's desire of obtaining "Absolute Duo," but what that really is isn't explained. And that goes for a large portion of the show: What was "Equipment Smith" trying to do? Who killed Tor's loved one? How does one become an "Exception?" There are other questions that are raised similar to these that are never answered, or even when they are, they are done in a slipshod manner. For example, Julie's actual status and powers are hastily shoved in minutes before the end of the series. Another is the "Reign Conference" that brought many different leaders together, but the meeting's purpose wasn't explained properly nor did it affect the outcome that followed. Again, these are just a few, but suffice it to say that the majority of whatever is presented is largely given the bare minimum of attention. All of this says nothing of the fight scenes, the powers everyone uses in them, and how lame most end up being. Tor's hammer-fist exists without explanation, bad guys let people live for no reason, and the battles usually give the side-cast the short end of the stick. It's all just a mess that it never recovers from, from start to finish.

Hearkening back to the anime's theme, the show plays with the idea of strength, what it is, and how one obtains it. Many of the characters have separate drives when it comes to finding said strength: for revenge, for love, and for protection, to name a few. In order to make the idea more meaningful, the anime also tackles how some kinds of strength are evil: "taking the easy route" to get it is bad, as is simply wanting to have it without a purpose. The problem, though, is that such a theme is muddied by the fan-service, the lame narrative, and the pointless battles. Beyond that, the classification of strength in such a way is strange. Because it isn't so much how you get such strength, but what you do with it that matters. "With great power comes great responsibility," as they say. In other words, Absolute Duo's segmentation of strength is not only difficult to see but also difficult to accept.

ANIMATION

The art for Absolute Duo is somewhat boring. It usually consists of the same-looking schools and buildings, with some variation in location. Some forests, a beach, and an amusement park here and there, but nothing that catches the eye or causes wonderment for the audience. Perhaps this is simply a product of the setting of the anime itself, with it not lending to such interesting environments. Regardless, what is presented is generally devoid of high detail, making it look general and same-y.

The character designs are strangely hit-or-miss. Julie's white hair and magenta-filled eyes are nice, yet Tor's, Tomoe's, and Miyabi's lack of detail is not. Their school uniforms have many layers, with blues, whites, and blacks making up most of their composition. On top of this, the Blazes (the weapons the cast wield) are jagged and black in color, giving them an ominous feeling that reflects the weapons' very nature.

Actual animation is not wishy-washy. Bluntly put, it's bad. And that's something that is sorely unneeded for a show that spends a lot of time on the fighting scenes it constantly throws the audience's way. During these scenarios, there are way too many close-ups and simple movements to reduce the amount of animation required. There is also the very jarring use of 3D used for particular situations and characters that is nothing more than distracting.

CHARACTERS

The characters of Absolute Duo do not fair too much better than their story brethren.

Tor is the star of the show, so his "importance" is the highest. Yet he's arguably the worst of the bunch. Average, kind, and compassionate, he's probably the perfect protector for Julie. This is further reinforced by his lone character trait: screaming "Julie!" whenever he has the chance. Obviously, he cares about her, which is fine. But there isn't anything else to him than that. That is, his past is mired in failed protection, so he makes it his life's duty to do what he previously could not. And he doesn't budge from such a stance; he doesn't experience other tribulations nor does he see such protecting as much of a challenge. He's the same super-nice, super-friendly, super-bad character for the whole show.

Sadly, Julie isn't much of an improvement, either. She's very quiet, sticking to Tor at all times due to some strange attachment. Furthermore, she isn't accustomed to her new surroundings, meaning she constantly does things incorrectly -- a gag rather than a meaningful characterization. Regardless, she, too, has a past that is controlled by death. But where Tor wanted to protect, Julie wanted to eviscerate. This development isn't revealed until much later into the show's run, meaning, once again, she is similar to Tor in that her growth over the course of the anime is nonexistent. She "likes Tor" and "wants to be his Duo," but there is nothing more to her character outside of her quasi-girlfriend relationship with the main hero.

The rest of the cast is wholly uninspiring as well. Rito is the professor who is also a bunny with a good and evil personality. Ryuutarou likes to flex his muscles. Aoi is quite annoying. Tomoe is quick to misunderstand and Miyabi is very shy. Both of these girls, though, are slightly better off than the others, receiving some focus later on in the series. But the problems they face are resolved too quickly to prove worthwhile to their overall characters. If anything, Lilith, the "Exception," really is the only exception. She begins rather abrasive towards others, acting wholly arrogant given her special status. But after dealing with Tor's unwavering attitude and competing against the people she deemed worthless, she opens up, becoming both approachable and a good friend to the rest of the gang.

As a further look into everyone's character, and as becomes somewhat known over the course of the anime, the Blazes of the students are designed in such a way as to reflect the soul that wields it. Tor's is a shield due to his absolute need to protect the people around him. Julie wields two swords, demonstrating her need to punish first and ask questions later. Lilith uses a rifle to not only align with the "Exception" status but also due to her rather aimed personality. Tomoe's is a whip due to her cracking back-and-forth from being judgmental to apologetic, whereas Miyabi's is a massive jousting spear due to her already large amount of untapped potential. This technique can be applied to each of the named members of the show. And while not a fascinating detail, it is at least an okay concept that is employed to aid in characterization.

SOUND

The OP for the show is rather fast, with the vocalist doing a lot of work. She shows a large amount of range, with both high and low notes, as well as extended note-holding. The beat and instruments are surprisingly modern, sounding more techno than instrumental. It's an okay song overall, but largely forgettable.

The first ED is very aquatic in nature. It's slow, with the drums and violin working during the first half. Around the middle, the sound somewhat cuts away, having the singer sort of "skipping" with the lyrics. Afterwards, the beat picks back up, with the vocalist continuing with the softer way of singing. Again, an okay piece that isn't highly memorable.

The second ED is rather lackluster, with its easy beat and simple singing. The only mentionable part of the track is the ending "Happy, happy!" speaking, which is both cute and fun.

Lastly, the third ED is more melancholic than the rest. The first third is interspersed with harp-like sounds and high violin playing. The second third becomes more hopeful, with the singer and instruments slowing down just a bit, with the final third picking back up the tempo. But like the second ED, this song just isn't that good to listen to, either on its own or within the show.

The soundtrack has nothing worth remembering, either. There are "soldier"-esque tracks with drums and violins during battle segments, piano tracks during sad moments, and elevator music during the laid-back ones. They're simple mood pieces that aren't special or significant in any way.

Voice-acting is about average across the board. Special shout-out to Nozomi Yamamoto as Julie for all of her "Ja's" and "Nej's."

ENJOYMENT

The show could be funny at times, especially in regard to Julie's ignorance of social cues and general cuteness. From her hair wiggle to her constant clinging to Tor, she could usually put a smile on my face. The other girls could, too; Tomoe's prostrations after mistaking the situation or Lilith's unabashed advances were enough to make me smile.

I can't say that I like any of the characters, though. Or any of the battles for that matter. Or any of the world's rules and what-not. All of it is just "there," with barely any semblance of "oomph." And it's not that it had a lot to work with, but more so the fact that it couldn't do anything with what it had.

Absolute Duo is an anime that focuses on pairings: relationships and boobs being the most prominent. But no amount of fan-service could save this one from its awful plot, lame characters, boring art, and forgetful music. It's simply a really bad experience the whole way through.

SUMMARY

Story: Bad, okay ecchi scenes, disjointed plot, lame motif

Animation: Bad, okay art style, okay character designs, below average actual animation

Characters: Bad, Tor and Julie are poor characters, the rest of the cast besides Lilith is just as poor, Blazes at least serve some purpose

Sound: Bad, okay OP, okay first ED, bad second ED, bad third ED, bad soundtrack, average VA work

Enjoyment: Bad, could be comical at times but not much else

Final Score: 2/10

Absolute Duo is like a raisin cookie, everyone thinks it's a chocolate chip cookie and it will be good, until you eat it and realize it's not what you expected, unless you actually like raisin cookies.

Story: 5/10

The story is somewhat unoriginal, mainly because it's those types of anime where you are embedded a certain type of weapon that you carry on for the rest of your life, having the ability to summon it anytime you want. The only twist is, you're in a duo. Now, every time you're in a duo it's likely that your partner is someone of the same sex, right? Well in ... this anime the partner is a girl, and they both have to live in the same room. That calls for a shit-load of accidental boob-grabbing in the middle of the night. Not only is that there, but it's a harem. It's not needed for this kind of action anime, mainly because it's set on a duo, not a triplet or a quadruplet. For the action part of it, it's actually somewhat decent mainly because I enjoy those types of anime where the main character is a 'special/chosen/OP AS FUCK' type of character.

Art: 9/10

The art is very smooth and nice, just by looking at the cover photo. The colors are very bright and easily catch your eyes and the animation is smooth. The details in the eye are quite new to me, but hey new stuff means good stuff right?

Sound: 7/10

The OST is very modern and fits each scene nicely. My favorite in the sound section is the OP. I first heard it while playing a rhythm game (osu! kek) and instantly to me, it was catchy and stuck to my brain. The ED was the same with the OP, (I also heard it on osu! wtf) but not as good. It's based on apple tea, which is pretty weird for an ED.

Character: 7/10

Kokonoe Tooru, is a high-school boy who has a dark past. Tooru may look very weak, but as the anime progresses, he does get much more powerful. He's a very kind person who has the resolve to protect Julie and his other friends. He is an irregular.

Julie Sigtuna (heh tuna), is a high-school girl who also has somewhat of a dark past. She is introduced as a very powerful character and as the anime progresses, she gets much more powerful. She's very attached to Tooru and possibly has feelings for him. She is a very quiet girl and likes apple tea.

Together, they both make a duo.

Bristol, Lillith is girl who graduated and came all the way to Japan to meet the irregular, who is Tooru. She was introduced as a small antagonist but as the anime progresses, she develops feelings to the point where she even mentions of being his future wife. She is a prideful girl who would not let anyone stand above her.

Hotaka Miyabi is a high-school girl who is introduced a very shy character. She is introduced as weak and a not-very-athletic character, but as the anime progresses, she starts to also develop feelings for Tooru. A very kind girl who wants to be with Tooru.

Tachibana Tomoe is a high-school girl who is introduced as a strong character and is skilled at martial arts. She is the type of character who has never thought of being in love.

Miyabi and Tomoe are both a duo.

Enjoyment: 8/10

Although the story wasn't original, I still enjoyed it mainly because it was made in 2015 and I thought it was going to be something new.

Overall: 6/10

The anime to me was very rushed, because other things have not been explained, like the history of Exceeds, why this or why that. I doubt that there will be a season 2, because of the low ratings it got. It didn't live up to my expectations though. Would I re-watch this anime? Maybe, because I might have missed a lot of stuff.

In the ocean of generic harems that we've been all been graced by the last few years, here we finally have a show that breaks free of all those bonds and- ...no sorry, Absolute Duo is just yet another one of them from start to finish. After the hilarious trainwreck that Studio 8bit presented with their adaptation of Grisaia no Kajitsu last season, you'd think that at least they couldn't make anything worse right afterwards but you may very well argue that they did. Admittedly I don't think anyone had very high expectations on Absolute Duo in comparison, but that still doesn't change the fact ... that the show did absolutely nothing to try and defy those expectations.

The story takes place in a typical magic high-school where the students learn to utilize what's referred to as their Blaze: a physical manifestation of their human soul which normally takes the form of a melee weapon. The school also has a so-called Duo partner system where all the students cooperate in pairs of two for the sake of combat training, which of course conveniently enough enables our protagonist Tooru to end up living with a beautiful silver-haired girl named Julie. It's a shocking plot twist for sure and a never-before-seen way to build up the setting for an action/fantasy/ecchi/harem light novel adaptation. Beyond that, there isn't really much to be said about the story other than it has some fanservice moments, some cliché ecchi jokes, some hack & slash fight scenes with generic villains and more along those lines throughout the anime. It really isn't any more interesting than that.

Pretty much all the characters are incredibly generic and follow standard character tropes like cardboard cutouts. They're the types which you pretty much can judge immediately after you've gotten your first impression of them, and they're all shallow enough for you to be able to sum them up in a single sentence. The only one that actually stands out in any way is Julie as she's more of an emotionless dandere moecchi loli, compared to the more standard overly-busty fanservice girl which would normally get the main heroine role in a show of this nature. She reminds me a lot of Est from Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance, albeit definitely not quite on that level of cuteness.

The animation is basically what you'd expect; it has a lot of vibrant colors and fancy character designs, but at the same time the limited budget shines through as there are plenty of moments where the overall quality drops, and a few of the episodes look very rushed as a result. On the other hand the voice acting is overall very good with several famous actors in the cast such as Matsuoka Yoshitsugu, Tamura Yukari and Horie Yui. The soundtrack makes good use of music to properly enhance the atmosphere of both the action-packed and the romantic scenes, and also both the OP and ED have some pretty great electronic tracks for them.

Overall, Absolute Duo is not a terrible show but it's more of a case of a concept which has more or less been done to death by now, and more often than not it's been done better before. Fortunately these kinds of generic harems are rarely boring per se though so it's still pretty easy to watch, but as far as actual quality goes then it has virtually none to speak of. The only reason I would recommend anyone to watch this show is because of how cute Julie is, unless of course you happen to be someone who never gets sick of seeing the same cardboard cutout storyline over and over again. I don't regret watching it, but I can't say it really provided me much to praise it for either.

If you've got nothing better to do, then Absolute Duo is a pretty simple way to spend an evening. However you will have to really run out of options before you're unable to find anything more worth your time than this.

"It was like a scene from a teen movie" -K (except it was four and a half hours long)

Preface:
Absolute Duo is what we call least common denominator entertainment. It takes _trite_ and true tropes from a hundred other anime that are equally as generic and cliché, slaps a fresh coat of paint on (and some nasty 90s looking 3D CGI), some new names, and the semblance of a plot, all nicely wrapped up in used toilet paper for your viewing (dis)pleasure. Inspid to the max, somebody dug up some long forgotten, rotting corpse of a moe-harem-action plot from underneath the dumpster outside and said ... “hey guys, wouldn’t it be funny if…” and Absolute Duo was born.

Animation and Artwork: 3

Don't let the OP fool you. The OP looks like it could be great for the 1:30 duration of the song, but the visuals in the meat of the show are average at absolute best. The most abhorrent thing is the 3D animated soldiers. If I could vomit fake, run over it with a dump truck, melt it down, eat it, and then crap it out again, it would look better than this hack fraud schlock.


Sound and Voice Acting: 6

Finally, something worth talking about. Absolute Duo does make good use of some talented VA.
Tooru's voice, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, is instantly recognizable as the voices of Kirito (SAO) and Arata (Trinity Seven).

Yukari Tamura (Kill La Kill, Higurashi) is FAN freaking TASTIC as always. She reprises her role as Nui Harime here and... *whispers* "wait wat?" I'm being told that she is actually not playing Nui Harime, and is instead Tsukimi, the teacher. Well, they're the same thing anyway.
Haruka Yamazaki (Inou Battle), a relative newcomer, also gives a good performance as Lilith.

OP and both ED's are fast paced electronica tunes. Good stuff.


Characters: 2

Tooru: typical MC, out for vengeance... meets all these girls, friendship never eeeeends! (I can’t groan enough here,) Due to {insert generic traumatic past} he must protect his friends at all costs, and given that his Blaze, the manifestation of his soul is a shield... let the self sacrifice begin.
-Julie: naïve, bland airhead, exists for loli fanservice.
-Miyabi: useless, luckless, and serves to be really annoying and drag everyone down (it's probably the weight of her boobs).
-Tomoe: average female protagonist, above average bust size.
-Lilith: I like the way reviewer Poorqs put it: "A bratty rich girl; she has mastered the fine arts of Engrish."
-Nui Harime: The teacher. She has two modes: one; obnoxiously cutesy, bubbly, and overbearing. Two: murderous, unhinged, and deadly. She's also the object of many a fantasy, being both in maid costume at all times with bunny ears and a tail, the aforementioned disproportionate breasts, and stupidly overpowered.

The character of Lilith was woefully underutilized, in my opinion. Though she says some real groaners, she's a more interesting character than the other females for the sole fact that she knows a lot of things they don't and doesn't act like a giant idiot at all times. She also has a particularly useful power of having a gun when everyone else has melee weapons, but it’s never effectively used, because everyone has to monologue long enough for it to be forgotten about. She does get a little more development other than showing off her unrealistically proportioned boobs.


Story: 2

Tooru Kokonoe, our "tragic hero" enters cookie cutter magical school in order to gain MORE POWER!!! with which he vows to get vengeance for his lost loved one. He and his airhead moron of a partner Julie solemnly swear that they’re up to no good and head off to go rip shit up, but mostly just get their butts handed to them repeatedly before the power of friendship takes over. The love stories go nowhere, the plot spins like a broken record, unnecessary side plot and terrible exposition, not to mention the just general trainwreck of tone.
There's a slew of other cookie cutter character boxes to check off, the x-dere this, y-dere that, and a really contrived love quadrangle that's forced in for plot convenience and to try and give some conflict to this utterly boring schlock. Cutting to the chase: the one driving the Bronco ends up not being the Machiavellian antagonist, but the --HOLY PLOT TWIST BATMAN-- unassuming spurned love interest.
The heart of the cards wins out in the end, everyone is saved, and a bunch of really crappily 3D animated soldiers get mowed down, crisis averted. Whew.

(they even ripped off Gurren Lagann with a "grit your teeth" slap, for shame!)



Enjoyment and Overall: 3
Junk. Rubbish. Refuse. Detritus. Someone with more money than sense had enough decimal points in the bank to send it this way, and here’s what we got. This isn't some enrapturing show unless you just love moe blobs and bouncing boobs everywhere. Again, this is no high brow, thought provoking show, but it 'is' a pretty boring one. Predictable progression, lack of characterization, and really contrived plot twists, it just screams "3".

+Good choice in VA, despite being a poor show
+Listenable OP and EDs
+/- typical action/magical school
- BAD 3D CGI (Ghost in the Shell SAC 1st's cars look great by comparison)
- Generic and uninspired

Recommend?
No, unless the ecchi/magic school/action with really bland characters and an inspid plot interest you.

Well.. It's Harem and Ecchi genres, whenever it involves both kind of categories together, i wouldn't expect too much about the story and character development, but a good fun, enjoyment and laughter. Mainly, as you know, it's more of a fan service type of anime.

I wouldn't recommend anyone who is looking for a fantastic story and a good character development for this anime. The story progression is quite how you would have guessed as the episodes progress, yet i think it is rather interesting of how the characters are able to use their unique ability.

For anyone who enjoys a fairly good artwork with ecchi and ... involves harem in it, i can say that you would enjoy it.

TL;DR An utterly bland, by the numbers fantasy harem romance that feels like it only exists because there was a hole in a schedule that needed plugging. Don't bother.

To my mind, there are three types of bad show. There's the ones that sincerely think they are good, but end up being terrible. There are those that would have been good if their initial ambition had only been matched by their ability to realise it. & then there are those that just don't care enough to make the effort. Absolute Duo, sadly, is the last of these.

After a brief prologue that foreshadows a possible conflict ... to come between the two main characters (that ends up looking nothing like it's depicted here *spoiler*), we begin by accompanying Tooru (or Tor or Thor or whatever the translator feels like using at a given point in time) on his first day at a new school for magic people. For reasons that don't matter & nobody seems to care, the school is made up primarily of random European landmarks such as Big Ben & the Colosseum, I guess because it looks cool. It is in said Colosseum that our main man suddenly finds himself in a battle royale to decide which entrants are actually worthy of attending the Kouryou Academy, announced by a loli goth who it turns out is the school principal.

It is during this fight that we discover Tooru to be a special snowflake, because unlike everyone else his Exceed power takes the form of a shield instead of a weapon, marking him out as an Exception. Not that this apparent handicap matters, because he also has a special falcon punch attack that is never really explained but sure is good for hitting girls in the belly. Anyways to the surprise of nobody he passes the battle royale & so begins his & our journey through quite possibly the worst show of the Winter 2015 season.

To sum up Absolute Duo's biggest flaws in a sentence, it is that the show is just going through the motions & really doesn't care if anything makes sense so long as it keeps the story moving in its desired direction. The most obvious example of this is the titular Duos themselves, specifically the one between Tooru & main loli Julie, a foreign exchange student from a made up place in Europe. It's established pretty quickly that forming a duo is a) a pretty unremarkable thing that every Exceed does & b) it is always between two members of the same sex. However, because no homo, when it comes to Tooru agreeing to form a Duo with token guy friend Aoi, suddenly it's a really big deal that they have to sign what amounts to a marriage certificate & our MC must do the right thing & form a Duo with Julie instead.

Naturally nobody else sees what the fuss is about & indeed Tooru & Julie are noted as odd for being a boy-girl duo, which makes it seem all the odder that Tooru had such a problem forming one with Aoi. Of course the answer to why is that the Duo is really just a contrivance to create a "romantic moment" where Tooru asks Julie & also to put Tooru & Julie in a binding relationship together, because writing friendships/romances that form naturally is hard work for a Light Novelist. This adds to the already forced fun that is when, to the surprise of nobody watching, Tooru finds himself sharing a room with Julie & shock horror she doesn't know how to look after herself. If you've seen Pet Girl of Sakurasou, you could sum up their relationship as Sorata & Mashiro with magic swords & I think you'd just about get the gist of it.

Beyond this trio (Aoi nonchalantly forms a Duo with another guy but he plays no role beyond kinda making their Duo look like a Uke - Seme pairing), we also have Tomoe & Miyabi, who form the girl Duo in our group. Because :anime: there are some yuri undertones to their bond, with stronger & more outwardly confident Tomoe forming a protective attachment to the more insecure & shy Miyabi. Of course, again because no homo, those undertones are really just there so the second end credit sequence can have them both naked in it, & in fact Miyabi soon forms feelings for Tooru because everyone else is doing it so why not her too? Don't be shocked if her feelings & desire to prove herself worthy of Tooru's non-existent affection end up causing trouble.

Our group, which you can call a harem although it's one of those where it's clear from the beginning that the MC only has eyes for one girl, is rounded off with the arrival of transfer student Lilith Bristol, another Exception who quickly decides she's going to form a duo (& marry) Tooru, but of course his manly man principles see him stick it out with Julie. Much hijinks, many boob grabs & hilarious misunderstandings ensue. It's really fresh & original stuff.

The story of Absolute Duo is one that's best not given too much thought, because it will only hurt your brain. Our first antagonist, for example, is revealed to be none other than the groups class teacher, bunny-sensei (she has a name, but you won't remember it. You'll remember her bunny maid outfit, though) who for reasons unknown decides to try & kill those Exceeds who are doing well during a class exam/battle royale. Of course, our heroes ultimately defeat her through the power of friendship, only for her to go right back to being their teacher because the loli-goth principal thinks she's good at her job. That's it. There's no real indication that she's working with the Rebels, who become the schools main antagonists after this point, nor is it suggested as it so easily could have been that she was doing it on the principals orders as part of her at all costs plan to find the titular "Absolute Duo" (which isn't really explained but one can assume means the most powerful Duo in Duodom). It just kinda happens.

Said Rebels themselves don't make all that much sense as antagonists. Their leader, Equipment Smith (only in anime would he be called that), seems to want to make an army of super soldiers to counter the academy's Exceeds or something but it's not quite clear why or, if that's the case, why him, loli-goth & others form a round table of leaders that meet to discuss...I don't know what in a later episode. But they fill the roll of bad guys, & Rebel member K the role of Tooru's nemesis specifically (something about Tooru & Julie's bond really rubs him up the wrong way, for :anime: reasons), so just go with it. Things happen, decisions are made, allegiances shift, & all simply because the plot requires it at that point in time regardless of whether it makes sense.

Tooru & Julie's relationship, like everything else, is also one of those that feels like it's just going through the motions. It starts out with Julie apparently being incapable of looking after herself, so naturally Tooru must, as it were, domesticate her. Then we progress to her feeling unconfident & insecure about her fighting abilities, which naturally Tooru is there to give her the reassurances & head rubs every girl needs to feel good about themselves. Then things take a turn which I wish anime didn't do so often (as if it wasn't patronizing & weird enough), wherein it becomes apparent that Julie is actually capable of being an incredibly powerful fighter (as the prologue foreshadows) but that power is dangerous & it is Tooru's manly duty to both tame it when in danger of going out of control & ultimately for him to get powerful enough that she never need fight herself. Because if there's one place safer for a girl than behind a sword, it's behind the back of the man wielding her sword for her.

It may come as no surprise that despite obviously being the couple, Absolute Duo pulls the usual anime schtick of never actually having Tooru & Julie express romantic feelings towards each other, instead having them develop a more familial, platonic relationship that's all about trust & protection (& not sex!) despite this being a romance series & theirs clearly being the romance. I don't know why anime does this, but it does get pretty boring hearing the MC shout "JULIE!" in that constipated action anime voice during climactic scenes & then the closest thing we get to a romantic moment is a head pat or words of encouragement (I don't count Julie doing something that in a normal relationship would be romantic but because this is anime makes Tooru freak out like she just whipped out a penis). Of course, this is pretty standard for anime, so I guess you just have to go with it.

It doesn't help Absolute Duo's case that beyond the at best generic characters & story, there's plenty about the shows production to criticize. There is quite heavy use of CGI in fight scenes, & it looks as bad as you'd expect. It's not like the fight scenes are particularly high octane or exciting to begin with, compounded by how the CGI has that weird effect of making everything look slower, which kinds takes the thrill out of some moments. The character designs, as I have alluded to already, seem in a few cases to be more about pillow cover/figurine sales than anything like reflecting the characters personalities. The characters eyes also have a really odd look to them, as rather than having black pupils they're the same colour as the iris, only with a black rim denoting where one ends & the other starts. It's a minor thing, but I found it really odd, as though they had coloured stones inlaid into the eye socket rather than actual eyes.

Beyond that the art & animation is pretty standard. There is also, as you'd expect, a whole lot of "titillating" fanservice, which tends to be like buses in that none comes for a while & then OMG they're all naked in a hot spring together. The OST is pretty bad, the fight music in particular suffering from both being underwhelming & clearly looped. I guess the OP is pretty good, with one of those thumping trance-rock hybrid songs over a pretty action heavy animation sequence. It's a shame that they seem to have shot it entirely on two's, resulting in the OP looking like it's constantly buffering. In short it seems the show was given enough of a budget to get the job done & nothing more; much like everything else about the series, really.

So then, here we are at the end of a journey we'd all have been better off not taking. It has to be said that as bad as Absolute Duo is, it's not offensively so. Indeed it's biggest sin is that it just doesn't seem to even try to be good, or at least interesting. The whole thing feels like everyone involved, from the author to the publisher to the animation studio, is just doing this project because it's there to be done. If Absolute Duo had been one of those shows that felt sincerely like it's trying to be good, or that it was a case of having more ambition than the capacity to realise it, I wouldn't have minded as much. But the whole thing reeks of being a by the numbers, who cares if it's good so long as it shifts some books & merchandise affair. Don't waste your time with it.

Anime cliches have been around for a good many years now. The characters troupes that we become accustomed to, certain kinds of scenes, as well as genres have all become rather well known in the anime community. It is with this that finding anything really out of the ordinary becomes a somewhat hard task. And then we have Absolute Duo, a show that touches on both sides of the argument.

Story (6.44/10): In the world of Absolute Duo, there is a kind of people known as Exceeds, people who are able to harness the power of their soul to form weapons ... known as blazes, ranging from all forms of pre-gun weapons from swords, to daggers, bows, lances, and even a snakeblade. It is here where we follow the story of Kokonoe Tor, a boy who goes to attend Koryo Academy, a place where they train Exceeds so that one day, they can reach the highest level of power, Absolute Duo.

From a story standpoint, Absolute Duo does show promising development. A lot of anime that involve a lot of sci-fi/fantasy elements do have that little spark that make them different from the others, thus expressing the uniqueness of a show that I feel is necessary to earn any viewers. With the idea of the Duo System (which is basically a battle partnership) that this series has, as well as the idea of weapons made from the soul, I felt like Absolute Duo did have quite a bit to promise in terms of story idea, and it did, to a certain degree.

What I felt was lacking a lot about the show is more or less the amount of detail that was being expressed at a given time. Throughout the show, the story hints at these past events that our main two protagonists have that drive them to becoming a soul weapon wielding badasses. Rather than fleshing that out, the show puts that in the backseat of the show and progresses along with a plot that really at times, wasn't all that exciting. A major gripe I have about the show in regards to the backstory, is just how forced it feels, thus creating the "vengeance" cliche, as I call it. Basically, this means that the ONLY reason our characters really bother in becoming an Exceed in the first place, is to hunt down and seek vengeance on the person who slaughtered someone near and dear to them without ANY indication over who that person is or what their purpose was. To me, it hurts the story more than anything because an idea like this is guaranteed to never be touched on again, and that really is a shame since a lot of anime share this cliche, and none of them follow through.

Another fault I find is the fact that the show really doesn't try to be different. While the story idea may be interesting enough, the actual scenes, aren't. What this means is that the show falls back on cliches whenever it's trying to tell a story. In any given bit of plot progression the show relies on a reused scene idea used hundreds of times in order to explain what is going on. Having a conversation during a battle is fine, but saying that your only reason to fight is to get more powerful and power is the only thing that matters is dumb. Having a girl make a full 180 on her character after the MC beats her? Seen it, used it, copyrighted it. The impact from this mostly equates to making the series just lackluster in presentation.

Overall though, Absolute Duo's story was more disappointing than anything. While I didn't expect very much from the people who made Infinite Stratos, I felt like Absolute Duo could've turned into something just a little bit more. The series simply just solves the problems that the series created during the spur of the moment, and not any of the underlying problems like the revenge that Tor is so sought after.

Overview:
+ Interesting story idea
- Lackluster presentation
- Original problems not solved
- Very cliched storytelling

Characters (6.42/10): Characters, similar to story, follow a similar path to the story, riddled with cliche anime troupes everywhere, and that one interesting character that sorta turns your head.

Up first, Kokonoe Tor. Or, as everyone else likes to say: Kokonoe-kun, Tor, KOKONOE TOR!, Danna-sama, Toru, etc. As expected by someone who is played by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Tor is the harem lead character of the series, being nice to everyone, spouting the "I will protect everyone" speech, and overall being the affection of several girls' desires. However, unlike the other characters of the series, Tor's Blaze is a shield. (Unlike a certain swordsman played by the same seiyuu.) Aside from that one difference, Tor doesn't really play off as any real unique character. Because he plays the chivalry card, there really isn't much you can say about him other than the fact that he wants to protect people, resulting in the fact that he barely changes in the series. But at the very least, you won't forget his name! Cause it's not like they mention his name every 3 minutes or anything like that, maybe consecutive times for the antagonist.

And then we have Sigtuna Julie, our main female protagonist. As the main female protagonist of the series, Julie is the Duo of Tor, aka his battle partner and roommate. (Try and imagine all the non-H things they did. Whatever you're thinking, the show probably did it.) Similar to Tor, Julie bears the vengeance ideal, seeking revenge on the person that killed her father using two swords that allow her to spin and slice through whatever the hell she wants. While Julie herself isn't a bad character, she does come off a little weak in any actual development, similar to Tor. There really isn't enough emphasis on either one of them, rather putting them both together to make them like a whole with each of them as a half for the other. Because of this, she, like her Duo, doesn't stand up by themselves as a proper character, and the way I see it, isn't smart to have characters that rely on each other on personality.

And then we have the other characters for the series, such as the rest of the harem girls, Miyabi, Tomoe, and my personal favorite, Lilith Bristol, who wields a freaking rifle. In addition, we also Tora, Tatsu, Imari, and a couple other characters making up the side cast. Aside from Lilith, the rest of the student characters that bear any importance suffer a similar problem to the mascot characters of the show, which is not being able to stand up on their own. A lot of the time, you see the characters fall back on their partner for support and conversation, which for a series that has this for its main plot point, does make a lot of sense. However, the way it's done makes it so that no one character can really make him/herself stand on their own two feet. They are restricted to getting their minimal amount of character growth from other characters and individually, they feel hollow and incomplete. (Also, I kinda hate the bunny teacher. I know that there's a fandom devoted to her, but I honestly can't take characters like her, what with that stupid bing-bong crap and the dual personality.)

Overall, the characters of Absolute Duo weren't really shining examples of what could've been. I didn't expect much actual character development from a show such as this, but I wanted something more than just troupes and character reliance. No one really stood out as unique, (except Usa-sensei, sadly.) and the series did fall in that regard. Antagonists in Absolute Duo are also lackluster as well, so don't expect anything deep or meaningful with their evil plots. (Like seriously, who the hell obsesses THAT much over a guy whose only real weapon is a goddamn shield?)

Overview:
+/- Anime character troupes. (Helps ease the characters into the character's heads, not so much in terms of significant development.)
- Character reliance for personality
- Stereotypical and overused villain troupe

Art and Sound (7.21/10): Absolute Duo was produced by 8-bit, the same studio that made La Fruit de Grisaia, Avengelion Ewol, and the show featuring out favorite harem MC, Infinite Stratos. (Fucking Ichika.) Likewise, Absolute Duo is done in a similar quality to those shows. The art for the series does look rather aesthetically pleasing with some pretty nice designs for the Blazes. The art for the series is standard for the current age of anime, so there's really not much to say beyond that.

There are however, some...bugs in the artwork. At times, the art quality both dips and raises up a little bit, making the show waver in appearances from one scene to the next. In addition to the lack of artistic regularity, 8-bit also pulled up its IS schematics and used a bit of the wonderful... wonderful CGI. More than anything, it just looks awkward, and glaringly so.

On the music side of things, Absolute Duo hosts a somewhat decent soundtrack. The most memorable of the bunch being its opening, Absolute Soul, which is a song that I have grown to love. The opening has a very unique sound and rhythm to it that makes it feel actually quite memorable. Aside from the kickass opening that you could probably listen to for hours on end, the rest of the soundtrack is kind of lacking as nothing else really stands out.

Overview:
+ Decent art
+ Kickass opening
- Art wavers in quality a lot
- rest of the soundtrack isn't as memorable

Personal Enjoyment (7.00/10): While I may have been hacking and slashing away at this show for all its worth throughout this entire review, I can't honestly say that this show isn't completely bad. While unwanted and tired cliches are prominent and plentiful throughout this series, the show itself isn't completely unwatchable. Of course, the show does literally shoot its characters down with guns of all sorts, but that's not what we're worried about at the moment.

Did I like this show?

From an entertainment standpoint, the show gets good marks. Absolute Duo isn't as far as I can see a show that should be taken with the thought of being wowed. I went into this show thinking that there were going to be some disappointing elements, and I turned out to be right. That being said, the idea of the soul weapons "Blazes" and some of the fights do actually make up slightly for the mountain full of troupes and cliches that make up a lot of the show's screentime.

What didn't I like about this show?

What I didn't like was simply just how cliched it was. (Yes, yes. I am aware that me writing cliched a bunch is turning into a cliche.) A lot of the show could've been handled in a way that would've made for a more interesting storyline and/or view. The show goes from one of its more higher points into one that comes from a troupe you've probably seen several times before, and it's this where I find the majority of the problems for the series, aside from, you know, giving us a read the manga ending cause neither one of the main characters have completed their self-appointed task.

Would I recommend it?

Absolute Duo in my opinion serves more like a bit of fluff entertainment more than anything. The show wasn't executed in a way that I felt was worth more than just a show you could watch in your downtime, as reused story points plague its entire 12 episode run with old, tired harem troupes. (In addition, 5 of the girls in this series basically have balloons sticking out of their chest. I'll leave the rest to you.) Absolute Duo could've potentially become more than it already was, it had a good bit of groundwork it could've used. Sadly though, it relied too much on established anime harem scenes, troupes, and characters that I think hurt the show in the long run. If you want a harem sci-fi show, Absolute Duo does fit the bill.

Overall Score: 6.45/10

Absolute Duo, based on a decently received light novel series. It enters the competition of generic battle harems of spring 2015 - and clearly doesnt make the cut. The absolute unoriginality of the characters, the linear and terribly explained story and terrible pacing and conversations make watching all the twelve episodes a clear waste of time.

Story: 3/10
High school setting; Powerful MC who cant love with mysterious past; all types of girls that fall in love with him for dumb reasons; a linear antagonist who breaks from his shell and gets defeated by MC with nakama power. Uhm, where have I seen this before? Well, everywhere. ... While the first few episodes definitely arent that bad and actually manage to make the usual harem tropes enjoyable, at latest after the 7th episode it gets just terrible. Even if the story and background sucked, we wouldn't know - there's barely even anything explained. I dont even know what the Absolute Duo is in the end...

Art: 8/10
Credit due where its due - the art style is good. While not as good as shows like Hyouka, it lives up to today's standards. Especially the animations of the rebel group and the AMAZING dance scene in the opening are worth being called good. Nothing special though.

Sound: 8/10
Same story as the art. Voices are well chosen - especially Tsukimi-sensei - and the background music is decent. I loved both OP and ED.

Character: 3/10
Normally I dont dislike the typical dere-characters, but this is going overboard. I havent hated, no, DESPISED a single character ever - until I met Miyabi. Listening to hear and seeing what she does made me cringe every single time and regret watching it. Julie had great potential but got smashed with her demon side. MC is decent, I've seen far worse.

Enjoyment: 5/10
I'm sure you'd expect a way lower rating here. Well, the first episodes definitely werent bad at all, noone could've predicted the following shitshow in the last episodes. Pointless conversations and repetitive subjects clearly destroy the positive aspects that were built up in the earlier part of the series.

Overall: 5/10
While not being completely terrible, if you pay a closer look and actually expected anything from the story, then this will be a waste of time. This show made everything wrong that could've been done wrong while writing the script and planning the plot. Dont watch this.

I hope that this doesnt get a second season and if it does, I hope it manages to develop a deeper plot and turn away from the extremely boring and even annoying characters.

So because my last Review was deleted due to 1: it being out too early and 2: too many (NEEDED) cure words, I'll try to put out another, because I've seen some positive reviews around and I will NOT ALLOW THIS TO STAND.

Beware of what is easily the absolute worst anime this year. Every "Absolute"-Pun from here on is unintended.

Imagine ANY generic harem Anime with super power.
Done?
Good. That's ALL you need to know about Absolute Duo. You just imagined EVERYTHING there is to it. It has a bland Protagonist with slapped on "tragic past" who's too cool for everything with a cast of big-boobed clones ... in his harem.

There is absolutely (sorry) nothing more to it. Every character looks EXACTLY the same, the only differences being eye color, boob size and amout of ribbons in their hair. Not like there's going to be much difference in clothing, it obviously plays in high school again, the copy/paste plotsetting to every generic harem.
This Anime just oozes chuunibiyo author / audiece in every second.

Every character can also be summarized in one sentence or with one distinguish characteristic:

The Protagonist
The Big-Boobed shy one
The Tsundere
The Foreign Tsundere
The Family-heir
The one abandoned by her parents
The Bunny Teacher
The "Badass"-Loli (barely ever shows up, so no need to care)

All of those seem like a product of someone's mind who never actually spoke to actual people.
Not to mention all they ever talk is how awesome the protagonist is.

The Art is just as pathetic. Even the OPENING is inconsistant and choppy.
I want to stress this out: THE OPENING! Like literally the part that you have to anime ONCE for twelve episodes! The part that's like advertisement! And they fuck that up!

Anyways: Don't watch it. There's absolutely no reason to do so, unless you're 12 and this is your very first anime ever and I wish I could physically prevent you from watching it.

This was the best anime I have watched yet so far. I'm sure you all who are searching for the perfect anime will find this one just outrageous and awesome. I really love how the story was set out and how at the end they found out perfectly. I recommend you watch this, but if you don't want to that's fine too. Watch this from the very beginning don't skip episodes, you'll not understand the story line then. This was an outstanding anime, and my first review yet was put on this one. :) Thanks for reading lol.

I suppose I am a terrible believer in the idea that, more often than not, a show will get better over time. Whether or not this is true is subjective based on personal values. In the case of Absolute Duo, the idea is untrue, and painful to uphold.
As an anime, Absolute Duo moved through each episode like a dough ball rolling down an gravelly hill, gradually deteriorating in something that seemed a bit like fanservice wrapped up in cheap Soul Eater cosplay. From title credits and summaries alone, all's fine, but once the thin facade is peeled back, Absolute Duo is an action anime turned ... disaster.

One can recognize the remnants of the story's original planning, and, as a warning, there are many, many remnants. The problem is that there are too many--ideas flood in unevenly, bits of back-story, battle and boobs all mixed together for a bitter anime trope martini.
From the first episode, everything is gathered together to follow Kokonoe Tor's journey utilizing his Blaze, a weapon drawn from the manifestation of his soul. However, his Blaze is not a weapon, but a shield. However-however, despite this hinting that he'd rather be the type to defend and protect, the idea is betrayed by the fact that he is an excellent combatant and can fight with the shield anyway. This may have been an attempt to rescue the action part of the story, which already was being slowly trampled by the sticky, gooey topping of school life harem, and even the harem portion of the anime is dissatisfying.
As always, there is the quiet one, the tomboy, the rich girl, but there is a distinct failure to handle any of them well. With all harems, there will always be a certain air of indecisiveness, but unfortunately the problem here is that Tor seems too decisive before derailing from that decision and heading down a different track. Rather than properly balancing screen time between each heroine, one is dealt with for quite some time before another comes out of nowhere, is accepted by Tor and then forgotten about for the first one. There is nothing endearing about the main character pledging his love and protection to everyone like a shameless people-pleaser.
Additionally, and as previously mentioned, the harem is not the only piece mishandled--the action side of the anime is often put on hold for fillers that are too obviously fillers, and these fillers end with a random plot point that had little too no previous foreshadowing. The main opposing force is even late to the party in that it doesn't make itself very known until plenty of awkward and useless school day scenarios have been expended. These scenarios also rear their ugly heads once again at inappropriate times, throwing in boob jiggles and pantie shots in the very midst of the emotional thick of a scene. It grows tiring, even to describe.

For an anime so determined to be compelling and sexy, the art was lazy. In trying to make the girls look cute and attractive, their faces had little expression and no matter the timing, no matter the cup size, no matter the outfit, the girls' chests were shaped like oranges in push up bras.
Even in the final, crucial moments, the main characters were poorly drawn and moved stiffly alongside badly placed 3-D. Like many of the behaviors of the characters themselves, one too many varying head sizes in one scene grew ridiculous, especially given how clean cut the opening could get.

And in saying the behavior of the characters was ridiculous, I am saying an incredible truth.
For heroines introduced as strong and unique fighters, they all had a way of crumbling and abandoning their character traits for the sake of catering to the useless showing off the main character exhibited. One moment, Julie could fight to the fullest, take down ten foes at once, and the next, Tor is vowing to protect her as she sits on the ground, confused. Everyone seemed to blend together to try and make Tor spectacular, when he was a protagonist who could not be saved. His tragic flashbacks received little to no explanation, and so I found I could care less about him. The fact that he was pushed to me as a sensitive and likable guy offended me.

But then again, much of the anime offended me. Everything was handled so haphazardly I couldn't enjoy myself in any other way than making complete fun of it all. 'Oh man they're all about to have a serious showdown, I wonder which girl is going to fall on her face with her ass in the air--I love that battle tactic.' I was offended at the thought that so little care went into managing the basic elements of the story. Should any of you out there chance Absolute Duo yourselves, I expect you shall share in my offense.

Absolute Duo is absolutely terrible. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched an anime series and gone an entire 12 episodes without being able to pinpoint at least one positive aspect. Not only does the plot suffer from being predictable and translucent, but the amount of money grabbing fanservice littering every ounce of substance is beyond upsetting. The premise on its own is promising, but the series ends up drowning in its own inadequacies left and right, leading to a dissapointment for the ages.

Unassuming teenage protagonist? -Check
Random beach episode? -Check
Barely post-pubescent characters with jiggly titties? -Check
Unnecessary lolli panty shots? -Check
A horribly cast English dub? ... -Check
An incoherent plot with as much depth as a kiddie pool? -Check

If Absolute Duo succeeds in one aspect, it would be to be as underwhelming as humanly possible. Nothing is fleshed out, the storyline never seems to go anywhere and the characters are essentially just cutouts without any amount of development beyond their breasts and oddly deepened voices. Things just seem to happen but most of it doesn’t make any sense, or even follow a cohesive formula for the audience to grab onto. It honestly felt as though the writers for the anime didn’t even care about their jobs.

The battle system sounds cool on paper, but when you don't spend the minimum necessary time explaining it and end up leaving a multitude of unanswered questions at the end, it becomes nothing more than "what could've been". The action scenes often opened up with a still image of the characters with their weapons, multiplying the corny factor, while the animation was inconsistent at best. Young girls with boobs that seem to bounce with the slightest of movement, and nervous blushing emblazoned on the face of basically everyone. Not to mention the sporadic humor and misunderstandings making me want to slam my head against the wall.

Characters are entirely too tropey for me to take seriously, as they seem to be more of checks in boxes rather than actual dynamic individuals. I thought I could find something good in the MC until he succumbed to the awkwardness of being in a perverted Japanese high school anime. The enemies were one-offs without purpose, and were almost completely useless in the scheme of things. Plus, literally every voice actor with the exception of our lolli friend was miscast with an older actor, a sign that the budget probably wasn't where it needed to be.

If you googled J pop, I'm sure you'd find something very similar to the opening and ending of Absolute Duo. Granted the animation in the OP was actually decent, possibly the only highlight of the show for me. The OST is absent or cringey, and I've already given my thoughts on the rest of the animation. Sigh, this show made me sad for the hopeful fans waiting for the manga adaptation…

In summary,

Positives: the OP isn't bad
Negatives: pretty much everything else

AVOID at all costs, I literally would t recommend this show to anyone… unless you’re some sort of sadistic masochist or stereotypical weeaboo pervert. So, with that being said there probably is a target audience for Absolute Duo… but I'm certainly not a part of it. Thanks for reading!

Story-1
Art-3
Sound-5
Character-1
Enjoyment-3
Overall-2.4

This is my opinion and some people might not agree.

I have to say, first of all, that I expected more from this anime. I think the show has a lot of potential, but it just didn't make it.

The story was nice, but the thing is, it's not really that interesting. The concept is original and the art is beautiful, but there is more to a great anime that just this. I liked a lot the plot, until it started to become more of a harem and ecchi show, than an adventure one. Some people maybe liked it, but I wanted some action, not a bunch ... of girls over one boy who has a special power( if this isn't a cliché, I don't know what is) I think those two factors are what dragged down this anime.

And another thing, is the lack of romance between the main protagonist and his duo. Because the anime makes a big deal about how important is for a duo to be together, but these two didn't share a kiss in the end, and there should't be a harem involved.

But overall, the anime is not THAT bad, but it could have been better.

Absolute duo is about students who have weapons of the soul called blazes. Blazes can only hurt the soul..... At this point you already wonder how bad the show is going to be with such childish characteristics.

Story:
The plot is average. It isn't very well developped and it doesn't feel smooth at all, rather it sometimes feels a bit far-fetched. We have a bunch of kids getting involved into dangerous scenarios with adults which are close to non-existant. Moreover, you get a sort of dramatic feel on the first episode since everyone has to sacrifice something but that gets shattered to pieces later on because why ... not make it worse? Of course, just as expected there is still a plot line left undevelopped even though you'd have a good idea concerning it at the end.
I haven't got much to say to defend the plot except from the fact that blazes can actually hurt people which is a very little consolation.
4/10

Art:
This is where this anime lacks the most. The characters are beatifully drawn but the action scenes feel like role battles where each character attacks one at a time. There are a billion errors in every fight and all of them are easily noticeable. If you pay attention you can even see some oddness in the drawings during the fights and the pictures feel off every so often. Overall, I think it doesn't really deserve its Action tag.
2/10

Sound:
The background music is well-made. It serves to add some tension when everything else fails at doing so. The ED is above average, and the OP is good.
7/10

Character:
This is where this show should have some worth. The character are well-made altough a tad generic and sometimes gullible and weak. The strength of this anime lies within the interactions in between the charactes. Dialogues that feel akward or out of place don't show themselves much unlike in most anime.
Then a character was introduced and we inherited the classical interactions that you would except for a very low tier anime. This anime's qualities weren't numerous but it still managed to destroy most of them.
Lastly, let's talk about the boobsy HAREM. As we all know, 90% of boobsy harems are completly crappy animes. Absolute Duo does a good job at hiding the harem aspect of it but it jumps in your face when the previously mentioned character appears.
3/10

Enjoyment:
This show is hard to watch. I think it could have been a good show if there was less drama. It feels out of place. Though the drama isn't the only thing that needs to be fixed I think it'd be a good start.
3/10

Overall: 3/10
This show isn't half bad but still lacks a lot in term of action and plot. I think most people would be able to watch it but it won't ever be considered good. Maybe if it was focused on them growing and ranking up in the academy with more character developpement it would have been much better. Also, if you are looking for an Action anime Absolute Duo doesn't fit the bill.
Overall, you should probably avoid this show and try to find another one that is not this bad. This has reach the point of non return. If a second season were to be aired which I highly doubt, I would Absolutely watch it just so I could spit some more on it with another review.

Okay, to start this review off. This anime could have been better if the plot actually made any sense at all. This story starts off with the main character, Tor. Hes the average main character in a harem. He is very similar to most harems that involve some sort of ability or super power out there. He meets girls, tries to protect them, then fails. Then throughout the anime(like most other stories) he magically(duh, this anime involves magic) gets stronger in less than a week, very awkward tbh. This first few episode got off to a goodish~ start(but in all honesty, I wanted Imari to ... be his duo throughout the story, as she seems more lively and overall a fun character to watch, whenever shes in any part of the anime). But ends up throwing in this "mysterious girl", who apparently suppose to be the "main" female protagonist. After watching the whole anime, I've come to realize that, she has the worst character development(as of Tor as well) I've ever seen for a long time now(been watching anime for 8-9 years now) and this disappoints me on who bad it is. Every character, except for bunny-sensei

I will start with the bottomline for this anime: I have lost the count of how many animes with this same plot I have seen. Even if the technical part is fine (not amazing but also not bad) the overused plot, the extremely plain characters and the abuse of overacted emotions make this anime deserve a 4/10.

Story (2/10)

As I said, the story is just painful to see. The typical high school of superpowers and the typical bad guy. The plot is extremely predictable, not surprises at all. Furthermore they tried to add some complexity, making it worse, because things aren't explained at all. Besides, the ... story is bad paced, with a lot of bad fanservice (I am not against fanservice, but in this case It was so bad that I wanted to die), and in some cases I had to go back to the previous chapter to see if I had skipped something. But no, I hadn't skipped anything, It's just that the narration is that bad.

Art & Sount (7/10)

Very little to say here. Both of them are good, not impressive, but not bad. In general the art is colourful, but the CG animations aren't very good.

Characters (2/10)

The very same as with the story. All of them are beyond plain. You can expect what somebody is going to say or do. Furthermore all of them overact (if you can overact in an animation) a lot, and made me feel embarrassed of watching this anime.

Enjoyment (4/10)

I had to push myself to end this anime and not to drop it. It was boring and difficult to see, with very bad jokes. I think I didn't laughed at all. I give a 4 here just because the female characters are cute, and I enjoyed that... But for the rest...

So we're diving into the whole Harem and Ecchi vibe here. Don't expect some epic story or deep character stuff, theres not really a huge development. Its more about chuckling a bit and a fan service party. Not the go-to if you're hunting for a mind-blowing plot or characters evolving into something super profound. There's a cool factor in how the characters throw around their unique talents. If you're all about "cool" visuals mixing it up with some spicy scenes and a bit of a harem twist, this could be something you can enjoy. It's like a slight visual treat with that extra side of ... fan service fun