SPOILER-FREE
A-1 brings us the touching anime-original story of four shapely butts as they fight off aliens, or monsters, or something. Oh yeah, there are girls attached to these butts and they have characterization and stuff. And there’s a beach episode with boobs, but they give way back to butts. And then there’s a fifth butt, this one gets a close up within twenty seconds of the show starting, really setting the tone for the rest of the show.
Now seriously let’s have a review.
STORY 6/10
It isn’t entirely obvious, but you will notice pretty quickly that this is a mahou shoujo. Even though the characters get their powers from technology and friendship rather than magic, it is pretty clearly mahou shoujo, and a pretty unoriginal one at that. Honestly, most people will have predicted the end within a few episodes. The stakes are high, but the power of friendship comes through in the end. The story adheres strongly to clichés of the genre.
The story is frankly not too important in this anime. You watch this anime to have a good time, not to hear a riveting story. It holds together well, and arguably this unoriginality is actually a plus. The story may not bring anything new to the table, but it pulls it off with great skill. The way it delivers such conventional mahou shoujo story is actually very satisfying. This may not be the most intellectual anime ever, but the story is never opaque. I never once had to guess why a character did what they did or what the hell was going on, making this a great anime to watch if you aren’t very smart, or are drunk.
ANIMATION 8/10
Vividred operation is a very pretty anime. The sci-fi elements show excellent attention to detail. Characters and backgrounds are both attractively designed. There are very few parts that were lazily animated and although there were a couple of hiccups, the show was fairly consistent throughout. The action scenes are great and not padded with too much dialogue. The show in general does not shy away from difficult animation and provides plenty of excellent action.
There is a lot of fanservice. It doesn’t really detract from the show, but it will annoy some people.
SOUND 7/10
The music is upbeat and fits the mood of the show perfectly. The OP and EDs are good, but not stellar. Voice actors adequately fill their roles.
CHARACTER 4/10
The first thing you will notice about the characters (if you speak any Japanese) is that they are named after their hair color. Unfortunately, every single character is shamelessly copy/pasted from another anime. The worst offense is with not-Homura, I mean Rei. The characters do play off each other splendidly. Being an anime about the power of friendship, the friendships between the girls are well-developed, if a little too sunny. Like the story, there is nothing new to see here. Their personalities may not be nearly as molded as their glutes, but they manage not to be emotionless boards.
This brings me to the fanservice. If you are one of those people who can’t stand it, just skip this anime. There is a lot of fanservice, giving special attention to the posterior. A huge portion of Vividred is devoted to close-up shots of sweet, sweet booty.
ENJOYMENT 10/10
Vividred is a high-octane, feel-good anime that is perfect if you just want to have a good time watching. Generous action and glorious ass shots make this one of the most fun animes I’ve seen in 2013. This category is necessarily subjective, but I would recommend this to anyone who wants an exciting, fun but not very intellectual show.
CONCLUSION
Vividred Operation is like going to a concert of a really good cover band, like the Strolling Bones. Sure it may be completely unoriginal, but it’s executed almost perfectly. You may not have done much thinking, but you leave with a smile on your face.
