REVIEW FREE OF SPOILERS!
-STORY: 7-
To set this show as just a typical adventure/fantasy anime would be a shortsighted description of it; after all, this show has more potential than just that. “MAOYUU…” grasps into things –more complex- such as politics and economics –although they are observed from a very basic and simplistic point of view and nothing more complicated, probably for the sake of the aimed viewers -. But let’s not get carried away, this show isn’t a masterpiece either, although it has potential to be bigger, by this I mean that the show doesn’t reach its fullest potential but let’s not forget it’s made into a 12 episode format show.
Even though being an original show –mostly by the focus shown- the show falls sometimes into the typical dull and repetitive routine shown in many other shows. Although, the characters make you forget this stalemate and those repetitive moments don’t last long.
-ART: 8-
So to tell the truth, besides the fact that this is a fantasy anime something else caught my attention/interest too, and that “something” was the art. The art is neither the “state-of-the-art” nor something antiquated; it was pleasing to put it bluntly.
Now, the fact that the art in the show is pleasing it doesn’t mean that it’s one of those arts that immerse into the show after all; the art in the show is a mixture of the old –shown mostly on the scenery- and the new –shown mostly on the character.
The palette is amazing ranging from dark oriented colors to bright and beautiful.
The ART team did a remarkable job.
-SOUND: 7-
One of the main goals of voice acting is to stimulate and transmit feelings through voice and sounds, sadly the voice acting in this show didn’t achieve such a thin., The voice acting isn’t bad, but it isn’t great, it isn’t transcending and thus it isn’t memorable.
There is a quote by William Shakespeare that says: “If music be the food of love, play on”. The context in which the character –Duke Orsino- says this words is because he’s infatuated with Olivia, and she’s not interested in him, so he asks his musicians to play some music, so he can surpass -or “overdose”- his appetite and let such feeling –love- die.
My point here is that there’s a reason within a soundtrack or the ambient shown in a show, and it isn’t having music for the sake of JUST having music within a show, it is because you want your audience/viewers to experience the feelings of the characters in an “enhanced” way, through music. Regretfully that’s a potential that they couldn’t fulfill, a potential that they couldn’t squeeze right.
-CHARACTER: 6-
There’s a thing that I dislike and find boring about short anime shows and it’s the fact that most of them lack something essential in a story –every story- and it’s the character development. Blame it on the lack of time; blame it on the writers or whatever… If you want a character to be memorable you need to make him or her transcend, and not just by giving him a cool sword or bad-ass armor, I mean by making him/her relate to us the viewers whether by making him mature through the show or change or have some new goals and most importantly by making them have a believe as their foundation, those are the character that are remembered in the hearts of people.
Sadly this is the aspect in which the show fails –tremendously if I may add-.
The characters are well done –yes- and some are cute but nothing else was achieved.
-ENJOYMENT: 8 & OVERALL: 7-
So to put things shortly. The show is enjoyable? Yes. It IS original and it has an appealing and easy on the eye art, and it has a sweet –but not amazing nor memorable- soundtrack.
There’s some “fan-service” focus shown on this show –for those interested in such things-.
Thanks for reading!
