Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica

How refreshing. After slapping the Demon King's shit around and stealing his daughter, our beloved hero Akatsuki returns from fantasy-land as an overpowered motherfucker. He rides lightning-charged motorcycles, gets bitches, makes em' piss, and crushes others using only his testosterone. A refreshing character and premise indeed, but does refreshing exempt the rest of the show from being mediocre?

Story

'Tis a rare thing, my Pappy once said, to find a show with enough courage to stray from your average cut and paste framework. So the protagonist goes in and comes out with the belligerent demon armies dry humping the ground he walks on... then what? We see ... that protagonist use his new found badassery to engage in shennanigans like putting assholes in their place, or stealing girls underwear? Sign me the fuck up. And while this is surely present in Hagure, behind the scenes there stirs a new disturbance just begging the hero to be brought back into the whole "We are the secret organization. You don't even meet our standards. Wahahaha." trope. "But Selsica!" You argue "It didn't reach that point in the anime, and we'll probably never get a second season!" Ahhh how right you are, but that brings up another point. Good stories have an ending, a conclusion that ties together the relationships, plot, and ultimately, the world of the series, leaving you with a feeling of bubbling warmth. Not the kind of bubbling warmth you find after eating a week old bean burrito either. In conclusion, interesting premise, bad execution.

Art

Good character designs make shows more enjoyable. Beautiful animation makes shows more enjoyable. This is a fact. Akatsuki looks buff, powerful, and ready to rip a dinosaur in half and piss on its face. But then, so do the girls (minus a loli). I loved the damn show, but it could have been much nicer to watch. Anime is a visual medium, so love should be put into making the visuals decent. Oh, and this show has ecchi up the ass. I can see the studio in their planning stage: "How much of this shit can we put in before it's considered a hentai?" "Well son, we'll cross that bridge when it comes."

Sound

Fitting, yet unmemorable.

Characters

First, the obvious reason to watch the show. Akatsuki. A good protagonist drives the plot, he is not swept along by it. And Akatsuki drives the plot through motherfucking 6-inch walls of steel. However, good protagonists are also developed, which is a tad hard to do when the development stage of the story is confined to past-tense conversations between the fantasy worlds denizens. That aside, Akatsuki has been one of the better protagonists this season. In fact he's SO powerful you can't help but feel the enemies aren't really much of a challenge, or in his friends case, much help. He overshadows the others by a large margin, adding some predictability to the show.

TL;DR... Uhhh, I mean Overall

Despite my criticisms, I enjoyed Hagure Yuusha immensely. You like a good ol' fashioned shonen? Pick this up. Your hand feelin' a little antsy after that break up? Pick this up. You tired of pussy MC's? Pick this show right the hell up, because alphas are a rare commodity nowadays. The show is decent for what it is, but it isn't going to go breaking any records any time soon.

Have you gotten pissed at those wimpy leads that always hesitate before doing anything?
Have you gotten annoyed at the fricken insane power ups and power of friendship crap?
If the answer is yes, this anime is the perfect break for you.
Story-9
There hasn't been much of a storyline yet except there is foreshadowing for great things to come.
Art-8
It's ok. Pretty nice but not my favorite.
Character-9
The main character stands out like a star. The chosen hero, who gained powers in another demension. Sounds cheesy. He's way overpowered but instead of being scared of it, he uses it. He is a pervert but it does not change the ... fact that he is kind to those around him and is not a complete clueless idiot.
Enjoyment-9
For me, each episode was packed of fun and excitement awaiting for what would happen next. Doubt everyone is like me but I'm sure some of you will appreciate it.
This anime is for those shounen lovers who enjoy watching kick ass and stupid ecchi comedy. As long as you don't expect too much, you'll probably enjoy it.

Story: Action with huge tits? 10/10

Animation & sound: Awesome boob physics and moans? 10/10

Characters: Hunk that grabs tits and steals underwear for no reason, huge busty chicks, and even a loli! What more can you ask for? 10/10

Enjoyment: had some good faps, saw some tits and lesbian scenes, OBVIOUSLY I ENJOYED!!10/10

Overall: Good appetizer before i go watch some real porn/hentai. 10/10
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Well, I think it was quite obvious that everything I wrote above were just jokes, or is it? Hagure Yuusha no Estetica seemed like a very promising anime when I first saw it. Now that i’ve watched it though, i’ll have to say that judging ... a book by its cover is a very fitting saying as to what this anime is. I was utterly disappointed as to what is has become, as it had a great concept and could’ve been a good anime. But what exactly went wrong?

Story: This is the biggest fault of the anime. I remember when I first read the description of this anime from a website. It says that “Hero defeats bad guy. Good triumphs over evil. The end. Or, at least that's how it usually goes. But what happens after the hero goes home? Our hero, Ohtorizawa Akatsuki, is about to find out that sometimes the greatest adventure starts once happily ever after ends.”. Now, with a description like that, I couldn’t help but be curious. At first, I thought that this could probably be the setting of a good comedy, or maybe he hasn’t really defeated the demon king and that this would become a good shounen anime. After I watched the first few episodes though, I realised that I was completely wrong. While I was watching the first episode, the first thing that hit me was “what in the world is this guy doing, stealing panties and stuff?”. Of course, I was ok with that, as i’ve seen a lot of anime with those kind of stuff. Then somewhere in the middle of that episode, some girl with huge, uncensored tits suddenly appears out of nowhere. Of course, I also wasn’t fazed by this, as I thought that “ok, i’ve seen this somewhere before. Ranma ½ did some titty flashes too but it turned out as a good anime.”. But as i got deeper into this anime, I realized one thing. THIS IS NEITHER A COMEDY NOR A SHOUNEN ANIME, IT’S A DAMN ECCHI ANIME! Ok, so it is an ecchi anime, i’ve watched some ecchi animes, but this one is just terrible. It has an absolutely terrible plot, or it doesn’t have an actual plot, for that matter. It seems that whoever made this anime just makes a couple of scenarios that will lead into either the main character grabbing and flashing some tits and stealing underwear. Action, which was supposed to be its main theme, was just used as an excuse to make the female characters wear skimpy outfits and FUCKING BIKINI ARMOR. In other words, instead of using its potential to become a great anime, it just resorted to fanservice and tits to hook its viewers. Although it does have an actual plot, which is that some secret organization is planning to do nasty stuff with the main character right in the middle of it, it just becomes second priority for the people who made this crap, as it seems that they try to add ecchi even in the most serious scenes. I mean seriously, so the lead main character got poisoned and is losing body heat. Sounds like a serious situation? Well, what does female lead character do? SHE STRIPS AND HUGS THE MAIN LEAD CHARACTERS, THAT’S WHAT! So yeah, in conclusion, I would give this anime a 3/10 for the story for reasons that I should have explained clearly above.

Animation and sound: The only good thing about this anime. The animation was smooth and clean, the mouth syncs properly with the voice and the OP and the background music was good enough, although nothing special. This is the only criteria that I could give a 7/10, as it is neither fantastic nor mediocre.

Characters: I don’t think that there is a need to even discuss this. The characters are just about as interesting as a potato, or a rock as not make it sound so degrading for the potatoes. They are just pathetic excuses for the makers of this anime to make ecchi scenes. I mean, every girl in this series have like F-cup boobs, with the exception of one Loli. Heck, they even made a background story for the main character, that he was trained in things like finding and fitting the right size of bras for concubines. Since there really isn’t much to discuss about this criteria anymore than what is mentioned above, I would just give it a 2/10 and get it over with.

Enjoyment: Unlike my joke review, no, I didn’t enjoy this anime. There is no story to enjoy, characters are very boring, and it is an utter waste of time. I give it a 1/10.

Overall: Very rarely do I give a score below 6 to any anime, but this anime doesn’t deserve anything higher than a 3, so I would give it a 2/10 for being a complete waste of my time.

If you have read the entire review and are not mentally retarded, then please don’t watch this anime as it is a complete waste of time unless you have some other plans. :ifyouknowwhatimean: DAMMIT, I WANT 240 MINUTES OF MY LIFE BACK!

Thank you very, very much for reading this review. If it has helped you in any way, please leave a comment on my page. Now, if you are one of those people who think that this anime is great, then do post a comment on my page so I can save you from your own stupidity. Anyway, thanks for bearing with me and reading my entire review :))

Hagure Yuusha no Estetica, or The Aesthetics of Gary Stu as it's pronounced in English is anything but good.

We are introduced to a main character that for once, isn't your stereotypical shy guy and has the balls to back up what ever is thrown at him. That may start off as promising, but it loses its charm by the 2nd episode. When a character is overpowered at introduction, there's not much direction you can lead the story. So where does the series head to? Tits. I'm starting to think the anime industry's answer to budget restraints is always going to lead straight to female breasts, ... as it sure ain't going to the script writers.

Hagure starts off where most stories end. Hero beats demon king, goes home and everyone lives happily ever after. Well it's supposed to. What the series entails is of what happens after all that's been done with supposed hero. To be honest with you, my first impressions episode 1 was a sign of promise as it's rarely told through anime or any forms of medium that I know of(bar sequels), yet unfortunately it fails miserably as each episode goes by.

We are derailed from the minimal plot the series offers and instead are provided with 75% of the anime showing how awesome the main character is supposed to be(and I say this derogatively), and the remainder of each and every episode on how the heroine is shy about her breast(whilst having little clothing on). They 'try' to show some character development with the supporting cast, but it never comes to fruition due to the MC upstaging each and every one of them whenever he gets a chance to.

The art and animation for the series is mediocre and the music feels like something from a cheap JRPG.

All in all, Hagure is a time waster and is best viewed when you really are left with nothing better to watch or plainly just bored. It does not need you to put your thinking caps on and if anything, would be best served as fodder for AMV enthusiasts.

I never had much of an affinity for big breasts. I find myself to be more of an ass man. Hagure Yuusha no Estetica had both however.

I can't say I had high expectations for Hagure Yuusha no Estetica, it really falls flat on its face plot wise like most other series' in the ecchi genre. It was plagued by an abundance of fast selling nudity fan service.

I have to admit the exposition got off to a fast start. The concept of people crossing different dimensions and learning skills from other worlds isn't a new one. The cast centers around a school specifically made for ... them to flex their abilities from the other worlds, essentially they are further trained to be soldiers for different governments. The school has a caste system based solely on their different abilities and they are placed accordingly, A-class being the highest. The plot was pretty much what you would expect from a school setting: character interaction, a beach episode and a little this and that. Rushing an opening like throwing a couple of kids into this type of school probably wasn't the best move. Opening the audience up to additional information about their alternate dimensions would have been insightful. However, I feel with no real conflict resolution this opened up for more seasons.

I found the plot itself to be boring after the first couple episodes. It wasn't that it was bad it was just predictable.

A majority of the characters had a fast introduction and the plot got off with a fast start. Miu and Akatsuki are immediately placed into B-class, with a promise of advancement to A-class. But bone heads will be bone heads and Akatsuki tried to pick fights with everyone in sight. He manages to offend almost every person he comes in contact with. He sets his sights on beating the student council and everything builds up around this concept. In the other world they plot on killing Miu to suppress her people and that takes up the last few episodes. In the end good guy wins and bad guy losses. Like I said before, it was just too typical and it ended up being boring. More focus could have been given on a Akatsuki and student council relationship rather than miix in cross world plots.

To me a majority of the characters were duds, most of the episodes were centered around Akatsuki the macho main who isn't afraid of copping a feel.

I didn't find myself liking any of the characters, the only notable one would most likely be Akatsuki. I would categorize this under harems and like most harems the female leads have an array of different personalities. Its a simple character formula so it doesn't stand out. You have a macho lead surrounded by bishoujo or pretty girls and he slowly wins over their hearts one by one. Aside from his unique talents and over the top mental and physical prowess he is a standard lead, so its fair but not exciting. Simply put, too much attention was given to him.

I felt the studio tried to animate the battles but they seemed to focus more on the fan-service and this derailed the series for the most part. The sound effects for some of the spells being cast and battles didn't feel like they fit either. You probably found yourself drooling over Miu or some other chunky breasted girl. The studio did a fair job at character animations and scene settings. I don't really have much to say about much of either the scores or animation.

This killed some time but ultimately it just wasn't good enough.

"Anime was a mistake"
-Hayao Miyazaki

Have you ever wanted to know exactly what happens after the hero slays the enemy and saves the day? Well, Studio Arms (Elfen Lied) attempted to tackle this very question with their 2012 adaptation of the light novel, Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero. With a rather unique premise as a backbone, I was very curious to see what this series was about. Unfortunately, what followed was a lewd, generic insult to anime fans everywhere, with more breast development than character development. Join me as I chart the fanservice waters and explore one of the worst anime I’ve seen to date.

The story ... sounds promising from the start. It begins with our conceited, overpowered protagonist Akatsuki leaving a foreign land to which he was summoned to defeat an evil Dark Lord. Instead of taking home a trinket as a souvenir for his efforts, he decides to go a few steps further and kidnap the vanquished Lord’s daughter as his own personal “consolation prize” (first indicator that this dude’s probably an arrogant prick). Once they return to Earth, he and Miu are “forced” to join BABEL, a school focused on extracting and enhancing the skills Akatsuki and others learned during their time in the foreign land of Alayzard.

Now I’ve never really delved into the ecchi genre, so I figured Aesthetica would be a decent place to start, given the cocky nature of the main character. The main problem is that the writers spend an unnecessary amount of time justifying Akatsuki’s lecherous actions, that it amplifies the perverted nature of the show. If he grabs a girl’s breasts, he’s just trying to show her how to make use of cleavage. If he steals a girl’s panties, he’s just trying to prove a point. These moments are so prolific early on that you end up not taking the show seriously. The amount of ecchi moments are plentiful too, with a unique mix of lesbians, random crotch-grabbing and heinous nudity to go around. And some of the scenes I was downright ashamed to watch, including an excerpt involving Akatsuki using his divine powers to cause three girls to pee themselves to prevent one from being embarrassed. I can’t even make this stuff up. I can see why the light novel is so popular around Japan…

Most of the show’s 12 episodes are eaten up exploring the generic cast, and by the time the real story comes into play near the end, Aesthetica has already lost its steam. Any inkling of hope I had for the serious elements to play out were eradicated by the copious amounts of fanservice plaguing the anime’s beginning. The overpowering nature of Akatsuki also eliminates any feeling of drama throughout the series. Much like Sora and Shiro from No Game No Life, the battles are over before they begin, leaving much less opportunity for suspense from a viewer’s perspective. Most efforts at backstories are waived off to promote more ecchi scenes or are truncated due to the series’ short run. Considering it’s been five years since Aesthetica’s release, I don’t see a sequel in the works either, so the five of you out there that actually enjoyed the show can wait with bated breath.

When I first saw Akatsuki, I was delighted. Finally we get a protagonist who isn’t shy around women and doesn’t get caught up in melodramatic inner monologues! But, it only took an episode for him to show his true colors, and before long I despised his presumptuous personality. Egotistical doesn’t even begin to describe him, and you could even go as far as to call him sexually sadistic. Akatsuki is so much better than everyone else in the show that they seem almost irrelevant. Generic iterations of various tropes are scattered throughout Aesthetica, leading the viewers to feel cheapened by the lazy writing. Miu has her fair share of, um well, “development” (aka, tits) but again this is overshadowed by the extraneous amount of time spent on Akatsuki’s perverted acts. The whole show is like some kind of messed up harem where instead of having girls fawning over him, they’re forced onto him against their will. But instead of hating him for what he does, he always finds a loophole excuse or convenience to make it okay. It’s almost as though the writers are saying to their viewers, “It’s okay to grope women as long as you make up a good reason!” Truly disgusting.

The animation is a constant reminder of what Studio ARMS is not known for. It’s one of the same reasons I didn’t care for Elfen Lied. Everyone that’s not a main character is a pain to look at, as the models are a generic wreck. Even the protagonists leave a lot to be desired in the art department. The action scene’s animation was lackluster at best, and had some framing issues. Honestly, the most accurate part of the entire anime is the nudity. Depravity at its finest. The animation in the OP reminded me a bit of the old Dead or Alive Extreme Volleyball games with all of the breast bouncing. I should’ve known then to run for the hills.

The music in Aesthetica is reminiscent of something I’d hear in a cheesy DDR ripoff. It’s BAD. It’s almost as though the creators went down a sorted list of cheapest to most expensive when it came to purchasing the musical rights of the tracks here. At least the ecchi-ness helps drown some of it out. The ED is better, but still misses the mark for me. All of these begin to blur together after awhile. On a positive note, the English dub is actually pretty good. It incorporates some better known actors and is casted well. Some of the translations were altered to make them a bit more Westernized, but nothing really detracted from the scenes.

To make a long story short, Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero is NOT a good show. It’s inexcusably perverted, lacks any character development and has a story that fizzles out faster than a middle school relationship. I guess if you were really bored or just looking for a terrible series to put things into perspective, then this could be a potential option for you. Just make sure you come in without any other expectations than tits. Lots and lots of tits. As always, thanks for reading!

Story-3
Art-3
Sound-2
Characters-2
Enjoyment-2
Overall-2.3

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a anime where the main character isn't a cry baby, or a weak punk who doesnt know how to use his power. The main character is a boss, he is already strong, he knows he is strong and he pretty much kicks every ones ass. He is not shy of girls so you will see him act more manly instead of having gallons of blood squirt out his nose. This is pretty much a dream anime come true, need more like this.

When entering the ecchi genre, you generally know just what you’re going to get: a heavy reliance on fanservice and a ton of slapstick and sexual humor. Obviously, it doesn’t usually make for a compelling and intelligent show. But that’s not to say that all ecchi anime are bad. In fact, some ecchi anime can end up being pretty funny and charming; with at least a few characters that don’t make you want to shove knives in your ears every time they open their mouths. And then there’s the other kind of ecchi anime. It’s the kind that is self-aware if its suckiness and tries ... to compensate with over the top, sometimes fetishy, fanservice that straddles the line between ecchi and hentai. In the end, you won’t remember its story, characters, or humor. Instead, you’ll only remember its shockingly inappropriate fanservice that practically screams “trying too hard!”

Can you guess which type Hagure Yuusha no Aestetica is?

Hagure Yuusha is a tale of silliness, fanservice, and magic. Its conception was handled by studio Arms, perhaps most (in)famous nowadays for their other sexually charged series Ikkitousen and Queen’s Blade. Hagure Yuusha shares many similarities with both of these series.

The story begins where the typical fantasy tale usually ends: at the end of an intense battle with the demon king. After our hero Akatsuki Ousawa’s triumphant victory, he takes the demon king’s daughter, Miu, and heads back home to his own dimension. Now fully equipped with magical powers, he and Miu are sent to a special high school for magic users named Babel. Dramatic duels with mysterious opponents out for Ousawa’s blood, magical mayhem, and high school hilarity ensue.

To be honest, Hagure Yuusha had an excellent setup. Its story had a vast amount of potential with a world whose lore and politics are completely pushed to the side in favor of panty shots and tits. The creators had a lot of room to work with the world but they refused to. For example, we don’t learn much about the differences between the dimensions. Apparently Babel is a special school where kids returning from another dimension are stuffed so they can be monitored. Therefore, we can assume that Akatsuki’s world is one where magic users are the exception, not the rule. Yet we never hear about the other dimensions that the other characters come from, or how their worlds influence their personalities or mannerisms. And what of Akatsuki’s relationship with Queen Risty? None of this is ever expanded upon. Even if the creators had half-assed some backstories and explanations on the lore and world, it still would have been a much better show than what it is now. But instead we get tits. It’s one thing to give bare bones explanations when it’s an ecchi comedy, because then you expect mostly humor and not much else. But Hagure Yuusha sporadically jumps between wanting to make us laugh, wanting to turn us on, and wanting us to take it seriously. But the plot resembles something from a really bad JRPG, so when it wants to be taken seriously, its pretty hard for the viewer to do that.

The characters don’t fare much better either. They are all extremely bland and boring, making it very hard to care about them or this show for that matter. Akatsuki Ousawa is indeed the one who steals the show here, though that’s not really hard when you have such a pathetic cast. He is lauded as a “badass” and “refreshing” simply because he’s not some wimpy male lead and can actually back up all the smack he talks. True, he isn’t your typical “super skinny or super fat loser who plays video games well, then has girls throwing their panties at him” archetype. But that doesn’t mean he’s a good character. He is one dimensional, obnoxious, and showcases throughout the anime that he may even be intellectually inept.

Take the second episode for example. He and the other female protagonists get locked in a gym closet. Kuzuha has to pee quite badly. They say out loud that she could use earth magic to make a toilet. Instead, Ousawa uses his magic mumbo jumbo to make the other two girls feel what Kuzuha is feeling and really have to pee too, because…because. After biting Kuzuha’s ear, all three girls pee themselves. They then proceed to beat him up. Honestly, this is probably one of the most memorable scenes in the anime, but for all the wrong reasons. Why the hell couldn’t they just make a toilet like they said literally a few seconds ago? Oh right, omorashi fanservice.

Then the justification used for his actions (“he made himself the bad guy so I could make friends!”) is almost insulting to the viewer’s intelligence. Remember kids, if you want to make friends, pee yourselves in unison!

Face it; he’s only a small step above your usual wish fulfillment protagonists. The only thing that puts him slightly above the typical wish fulfillment protagonist is, once again, that he’s not some frail looking little flower that is overpowered for some inexplicable reason that defies logic.

The female characters aren’t much better. Miu is a girl who is very shy about her body, but somehow always ends up groped or exposed. It would have been interesting to learn about her backstory. Something worth noting is that she’s a demon but looks human. Could her mother have been a human? Clearly the creators thought, “Who cares about that! Let’s get her naked!”

Kuzuha is the loli class chairman and Chikage Izumi is the raging tomboy lesbian. Her actual introduction in the show is her molesting another female student in a gym closet. We learn little to nothing about these characters. The rest of the supporting cast are unimportant and hardly worth mentioning. Their only real purpose is to be curbstomped by Akatsuki and nothing more.

In addition to being one dimensional and boring, the character’s motivations and actions aren’t really given reason. Nor do they make any sense. One example: Akatsuki kills Miu’s father. Why in the world does she not hate him? Why does she end up falling in love with him? It’s also hard to pinpoint a character’s motivation when we get little to no backstory on them or when they have such boring and flat personalities. The characters don’t seem like much more than dolls.

With all this disappointment, we should at least be able to turn to the action and violence for comfort right? Wrong. The animation is pretty bad, looking quite dated for its time. The character’s heads look far too small for their bodies. And they all look like pallet swaps of each other with different hairstyles and varying breast sizes. The coloring looks incredibly flat and unreasonably bright. The fight scenes are lazily animated and unexciting. Couple that with the fact that Akatsuki dominates every opponent fairly quickly and you’ve got yourself some boring fight scenes. The music is also nothing spectacular, ranging from mediocre to bad.

Overall, this show is pretty terrible on all counts. It had so much potential to be something excellent. Or at least decent, if they had just tried a little. Or it could have been one of those ecchi shows that you know isn’t all that good, but it ends up being humorous and charming nonetheless. Unfortunately, Hagure Yuusha isn’t funny, it isn’t endearing, and it’s just not enjoyable. It’s like a bad JRPG in anime form that tries to pull off a laughable plot with a straight face. Or a bad hentai without the sex. The only thing you’ll remember when you’re done are the inappropriate fanservice scenes, because those definitely push the envelope.

There are better ecchi anime out there. There are far better action anime out there. There is also porn, which has sex, which Hagure Yuusha acts likes it’s going to show you but never does.

Go find those splendid titles and leave tripe like this where it belongs.

Here are my initial impressions of this anime Please note that my score could go up/ down as the series progresses.

The story could become something interesting. After defeating the 'bad guy' of this medieval type world of magic, Akatsuki goes back home to a more modern scenery, taking a girl Miu- the daughter of the demon king with him. Another mystery set up is the organisation Babel, which is supposedly set up to protect the young returning from another world and a prophecy which concerns Akatsuki.

The characters are also interesting, especially the protagonist Akatsuki. It's refreshing to see the main guy taking charge of ... things. Miu is also an interesting character, it reamins to be seen why Akatsuki took her with him and what role she will have. She doesn't seem to be the typical passive character that needs to be saved constantly, but we'll see.

I have no problems with the art, it's decent, but i wouldn't say it particularly stands out for me. The voice work is above average and it's a great cast i would say. The music is okay, the opening & ending tunes not really to my taste, but it sets the tone quite well.

One of the main issues with this, is the amount of fanservice, it may not suit some people. From just the first episode we already see Akatsuki taking the bras of several maids and a lot of shots of Miu's body and chest. I have a feeling it'll only increase. I am only worried because this story could be something worth watching, but sometimes i feel fanservice can lower the impact and quality.

Will i keep watching? Most likely. The first episode has definitely shown a lot of potential in introducing the characters and the story. The question is will this become an awesome anime or will it be let down by the fanservice factor?

Story 7/10: This starts out with a another main protagonist (which all harem anime has), and he is fighting stuff, so then finds a girl or to be exact offered a girl so guidance, because he felt sorry for her (won't tell you why), then he travels back to his own world and this is based again where they recruit "teenaged" soldiers and put them in "high school" quite frankly i like this idea of a set up, story's nothing new and there a flashbacks to cover when happened before the first episode.

Art 8/10: The art i found pretty good or so, but here and ... so, i don't know if this is in art, but you have a big chested pretend little sister, the eyes look like the anime tokimeki memorial but the rest is art is fairly basic for 2012

Sound 8/10: The sound effects are quite good considering this is a anime with magic, action and swords and stuff, but the op and ed are not really quite catchy

Character 9/10: You got some heroines listed right here: You got a pink haired girl who is like a little sister to the main protagonist and she has big melons (lol melons), you got a girl younger than her grade but thank god not too young and she's duh flat chested, you got a girl who's a lesbian, and you got a student council member who swears to get revenge on the main protagonist, Now the main protagonist is actually in my top 10 characters, he's loveable, he's a cool character and he's a bit of a perv but not the ugly ones but the cool ones example Usui, Takumi from kaichou wa maid-sama!, he is probably the most strongest character and he can be a ladies man or a man who gets scolded by girls.

Enjoyment 9/10: This anime has some laughs, ecchi scenes (actually a lot) and some action, if you find females getting embarrass as a laugh or something perverted than that counts as comedy (it does for me), fan service heck you find a lot of that in there, action yep

Overall 9/10: I gave it a 10 in my list but for you guys you probably want to give it a 9/10, it's funny, enjoyable and has fan service so i recommend this to harem, ecchi, comedy and action lovers, you won't say GOD THIS ANIME IS THE BEST but you remember it in your year of 2012

I decided to watch this anime on a whim.
I liked the picture I thought it was pretty bad ass so I started watching it.
I still don't know what made me watch all 12 episodes.
First episode was actually quite promising; We had flashbacks, very busty young girl, quite good looking hero, and somewhat promising story.
Second episode was fair enough too.
Afterwards.. I think that my stubborn nature made me watch it until the very end, but it was very painful. Nothing in this anime made me say that it was at least decent to watch.
We have once again hero who defeats everything,not to forget ... very powerful. We have big breasted women in entire anime,I mean everything I see is breast breast and some more breast. Oh and panties.
I mean, I don't have anything against that, but not in that amount.
I am not even thinking about watching side story they made.
Majority of the things from the beginning that made the story interesting was left forgotten and never returned to.
That was mainly the reason why I didn't like it at all. It could be very promising by my opinion.

When this anime first came out, I read the synopsis for it and thought this is probably only going to be a meh anime. I wasn't going to watch it at first but 3 month after I first heard of it I decided to check it out on one boring school day with nothing to do but to play with my phone. I fell in love with this anime the first episode.

The thing that caught my eye about this anime is the main character and the concepts of the story. The main character is just....awesome. He is strong, smart, understanding, confident, relaxed, funny, fun, perverted, ... open minded, serious, honorable and most important of all selfless. Analyzing him makes it pretty epic. He is like the title suggests a rogue hero, and a true hero like the anime suggests. All he wants to do is to make people happy and protect innocence (which i feel is represented by girls in here) from everything that dare make it unhappy. He doesn't need gratitude. He gladly shoulders this burden to protect innocence knowing he will have to make great sacrifices (suffering others pain to help them, taking on all the problems by himself, physical injuries etc.) and the only reward he will get is happiness of others. His goal is realistic understanding that he is only a man doing only as much as he can physically do but still always testing his limits to improve himself so he can do more. Rules or laws do not stop him. He knows what is more important and must be done. He is my hero now. He is everything that I always try to be so I guess that is why he appeals to me so much when I watched this show.

The setting is pretty awesome. Its society has both magic and technology. The structure of government is uniquely built with a feeling that babel is has all the power. It also includes other dimensions which are medieval by appearance and has their own government. The dimensions seem to know of each other's existence which I thought is interesting to see how they would interact. The concept leaves much to wonder on and therefore a lot of mystery and potential. This is still only season 1 and I can't wait for season 2.

The story itself is quite entertaining. The story has a lot of little everyday events that you can relate too. I found them funny yet surprisingly on topic. The story topic is suppose to be about the aesthetics of a rogue hero, or the appreciation of the concept of a "rogue hero" and from the 12 episodes I feel I had great appreciation of what a rogue hero is. The only thing that could be better is if they move the main plot along a little faster but it is too hard to tell at this point to know if they are or not. Need to know how relevant the information they are showing in season 1 are to the plot to know for sure.

The most important thing to mention to people before they begin watching this anime is that there is no season 2 and that the anime stops very abruptly at episode 12. (At the time my thoughts were "OMFG did the anime really just drop dead somewhere in the middle/beginning of the story?") Luckily there is some of the translated light novel on baka-tsuki if you like reading.

The second most important thing is that it is certainly an ecchi anime. There were so many bras, panties and breasts that I'm amazed it's not hentai.

Story
I initially thought that it was solely a parody show making fun ... stories that start with a hero being summoned to another world (it also included the stereotypical Demon Lord too). Beyond that parody the premise seemed interesting and the story might have been able to develop further, but everything was thrown to hell after the anime's untimely demise at episode 12. I'm still bitter and in a partial state of shock having had the anime end in the middle of nowhere.

Art 7/10
The art can be divided into three different types.
Scene 1: Underwear, Girls trying to hide their naked bodies, Akatsuki(MC) doing lewd sh*t
Scene 2: Glowing magic circles for casting spells
Scene 3: Akatsuki punching things or whacking things with his hefty Demonlordsword

Sound
After listening to the soundtrack the music was pretty well done. The quality was consistent throughout the entire show. My favourite song was Kichiku Panic from the beach episode. I recommend listening to a few songs from the soundtrack on youtube. Usually, anime beach episodes are a sin against all people with functioning brains, but it was probably the best beach episode I have seen.

Characters
The characters are rather mediocre except for Ousawa Akatsuki (Protagonist) who managed to dazzle me with his outrageous testosterone infused muscles, friendliness, kindness, and diabolical ecchiness. If Akatsuki wasn't such a nice guy at heart and rippling with composed bold style I would condemn him to hell for his crimes against defenseless girls. He isn't the retarded silly type of pervert that is the norm for ecchi shows. He's some kind of frightening, diabolical, ecchi, domination machine that girls can't escape from.

The females are just typical weakly manufactured harem girls that didn't get enough development because the anime ended so suddenly.

The males all received less character development and are very shallow/static.

Enjoyment
Enjoyment is the ultimatum I suppose. The enjoyment that I take away with me after having completed 12 episodes are the following few things
(1) An interesting premise to think about
(2) A few decent small battles and action scenes
(3) A new perspective on ecchi protagonists and some laughs

The anime did leave me wanting more, but there is no more. There probably never will be. RIP Hagure Anime

Though the series is still airing this anime is extremely well done, it is one of the few ongoing series that I've actually bothered to look forward to and remember to watch as it comes out.
The main character finally is a strong lead who does as he pleases instead of a weak, clueless guy, who in almost every episode (assuming your watching a show where you don't have to wait till the last three episodes for the story to progress) is to scared to do anything though it is obvious he has the chance (I dont know about you but hesitation when the moment ... is right has never happened to at least 99% of guys and takes me out of the story)
in short (besides that the main character getting away with almost no punishments and the obvious fictitious parts) this anime can seem realistic and doesnt leave you thinking "I could have done that better"
A+

I could go into a lot about this series, but I wont. It's not worth it.

Voice acting was fair, Music was ok, had good Opening song. Art and animation was find. Now let get to the point, skip this anime. There are ton of anime out there, that can give better enjoyment then this anime could dream to. To sum it up what this anime has to offer is basic borderline hentai and some RPG elements. The fan serves is horrible , I usually don't mine it at all but in this one it take way from what little story this anime has to offer. ... Characters, I'll give that the main was some what interesting but rest of the cast has been seen and done, nothing special or interesting about them. I really had hard time watch this one all the way through, it's was pretty boring. But worst part of this anime is plot. The person who wrote must of been going for dual story with fantasy world plot and real world plot. Which would been fine they choice focus one at time. When I watch the first episode I felt throw into story, which would be fine if they had give some explanation later into story but that never happen. When you get to the part about the reason these kids end up into other worlds and how when they come back they are draft as student become soldiers. It this part of plot that is totally fuck up. It make no sense and seem to make less sense as go through the anime. Next major issue is that anime can't seem to stick to the two major plot at all and seem to go through form one side plot that has no important what so every to story, to next meaningless plot. You have episode where he get motorcycle, that that point, so he can look cool not that actually important to plot. The series in last 3rd jump back into one of the major stories but at this point I could care less because they didn't build the character or the conflict for me to get behind it. So sum up the story was is basically role up piece of garage. Only reason I watch series all way through, so I could used the element I did like for re-wright in my head. From the original there was not much to go on. So over all this series has element that been done, useless fan serve, and can't seem make up mind about which plot it want you to fellow. In other words, this skip this anime. It doesn't deserve a second season. Total Bomb.

I will say it right now, simple and clear. This show is fine but its main character is not. I suspect the main character is the reason this show has garnered popularity but please listen to my points when I get to him.


Story:

Well as of right now there isn't too much to talk about here. The setting is decently original with people disappearing into fantasy worlds only to reappear with their powers intact. This part of the story is glanced over so I doubt we'll be going any deeper into this element of the show, which is a shame because it's really the only original ... plot point the show has. The plot point itself is probably no less than an excuse to have people gain powers in the real world.

Sadly nothing else about the story has remotely piqued my interest, which is not good for a series that's 6 episodes in. Generally a show should have some kind of hook on the first or even the second episode. Hagure Yuusha no Estetica is failed to deliver much plot substance at all and the hints it does drop are both uninteresting and half-assed.


Art:

The art is of course, great. Many shows today have really done a fantastic job with keeping all the different anime very appealing to look at. I can watch a few episodes and not notice any kind of glitches or hiccups which is nice.

The spells are pretty generic, using the same spell circles you see very where now-a-days but it's not necessarily a bad thing. The effects that accompanies the spells are also very well done which at this point is to be expected.


Sound:

Sound is a very similar story to art. The standard for it is very high and most anime reaches it with Hagure Yuusha no Estetica being no exception. The sounds and music fits the scene nicely however I have yet to notice any particular tracks that I like.


Characters:

Now this is where it gets really frustrating. I know everyone loves the main character because he's the exact opposite of those wimpy characters we frequently get. I understand that completely, wimpy characters are unappealing and annoying. However this is NOT and excuse to do what Hagure Yuusha no Estetica has done.

Akatsuki: To put it bluntly, he's a Gary Stu (if you're unfamiliar with the term, please reference Google). He's like an OC (original character) straight out of a bad fanfic. He is much too over powered for his environment which can sometimes be entertaining if handled correctly. It is not handled at all well in this anime. Akatsuki flaunts his power many times over the past 6 episodes, with every successive feat becoming more predictable than the last. Sadly this makes his antics boring and stale. He's a one-trick-pony that just mows through challenges which is boring to watch. Hopefully the fights will be less one sided when some stronger enemies come forth but this also brings up my next point.

The show itself is a god damn love letter to Ousawa. The show basically just runs on scenes that make Ousawa out to be the mega bad-ass. A good example of this is
*SPOILER*
in episode 6 where he inexplicably appears out of no where on the roof top to save the little girl from the bad guy.
*END SPOILER*
We get nearly no exposition or any real form of explanation as to why he was there. The show just wants us to believe he either appeared from thin air or was somehow in the vehicle when it got on the roof. Like I said, no exposition. It was just an excuse to give Akatsuki another "I'm a good guy" scene.

The final point I have is that he lacks a strong personality. Sure, he can crush everything under his pinky, but other than that it's really boring. The only interesting parts of his personality are extremely rushed and very poorly placed. Examples of this would be
*SPOILER*
when he become the "reverse" bully to the red haired character (I'm sorry, I can't seem to remember his name). The whole thing about him being this self imposed judicator would be a great character trait were it developed a little more. We know nothing of why he feels that bullies should be punished, which in turn makes it come off as a poorly chosen trait with the sole purpose of "making him look cool".

Another example I will bring up is his anger towards the mentioning of his father. It comes out of no where, is only brought up for a second and does little to get me interested in the story of his father. Again this could be an interesting character trait if handled differently, like in a time where he really couldn't get something done. It would let us have at least a little bit of insight into why he needs to surpass his father and why we should care. But no, like everything else he just skips right through any sign of challenge. Which is another thing, we don't know why Akatsuki can ride the bike now or what changed except that he got slightly angrier. There was virtually 4 minutes of build-up and *boom* suddenly the thing that floored him 2 minutes ago was suddenly obeying his every command.
*END SPOILER*

In closing, Ousawa is much like what you'd find a grade school student day dreaming about with his friends. Remember those conversations you had when you were a kid and trying to think of a "cool" character? "He should have like these razor sharp teethe that can rip through anything!" "YEAH and he needs flames on his back that burn everything a mile around him!" "And then he needs these big spikes on his legs that are indestructible." "Then he needs red eyes that shoot lasers." "He should ride around on this hover board too which goes like faster than light." That's generally how I assume the creation of Ousawa went, of course without the grade school ideas but with the same mindset.


Kuzuha: By far my favorite character in the show. She's not only flawed in that she has emotional issues she needs to deal with, but her resentment of her situation is entirely understandable. These flaws make characters deeper the more a show wants to go into these ideas. In turn the character becomes much more interesting.

Miu: She's your basic female protagonist, not that that's a bad thing. There's not much to talk about other than her troubles with her father and Akatsuki but I assume we will delve further into the topic as the series goes.

Chikage: She's interesting mostly because of a certain scene (you'll know it when you see it). She's basically just there to promote the echiness of the series which is fine.


Enjoyment:

I really want to enjoy the series because it has potential but that main character annoys me so greatly. If he was handled at all better I'd easily put this show as a favorite for the season, but otherwise my enjoyment of the show is greatly hampered.


Overall:

I can only give it a 6 because I do actually enjoy it but I notice myself clenching my teethe from time to time which is not a good sign. If you do in fact like the main character then that is up to you. Personally I just can't stand him.

I've got to say that I really enjoyed watching the series, my only problem with it was that there were a few occasions that I found that the dialogue was a bit boring.
The fight scenes were great! The main character is a real badass, and knows it!
I'd really recommend others to watch it!

Hi. Welcome to another round of Robert's Too Late Reviews! Today as usual we are working the dub version. I recently reviewed Chivalry of a Failed Knight, and bemoaned repeatedly the whole 'overpowered meek and humble hero', well there is NONE of that to be had here! That and we are thrown some twists at the ending which I found appealing as well. Let's throw down this show and see what we've got going!

Story:7
The story isn't anything to write home about. Little boy gets zaps into another world, lives there his whole childhood, gains superpowers and then returns. Not all that unusual there. His kicker, ... as the synopsis mentions is that instead of a magic sword or treasure, he brings back the daughter of a Demon Lord he destroyed (with the Demon Lord's blessing oddly enough) and on returning to earth, passes her off (well to some people as his long forgotten sister. So we have him horndogging on her as much as possible, all while adjusting to a special school where these 'returned' children use their magic or new found abilities for the benefit of our would.

Of course our main cat hits everyone wrong, for the most part, but the sad thing is, he comes PACKING. He is overpowered on ALL levels and damn proud of it too. He's cocky, he's arrogant, and he immediately catches the eye of the sinister student council president and pisses the vice prez off to no end. He did not study magic but an energy manipulation technique that keeps all of his foes off guard, even the final big nasty doesn't get that much of a jump on him. He does what he thinks is right because he thinks it so. He's true to his moral center, even if that center skews in directions the rest of us wouldn't go.

He pretends the woman he's meat to be with, the Demon Lord daughter is his sister for her sake, and also because he's not about to force her to care for him. He doesn't roll like that. Is he often that perfectly toned handsome smart powerful guy all guys want to beat to a pulp? Yeah, he is. But he's also cool, loyal, and never give in. This is not a story of the 'worst one' who turns out to the best this is the story of the beset one who says 'hell yeah, who's your daddy?"

Ton of action, comedy moments when the tho girls that friend 'sister' realize he's more than that to her. Hilarity as the student council vice is bested by him at every turn and cannot believe it. Add to the that the menacing pres, a shadowy origination that is not explained hardly at all, and hits the big baddy was just a warm up, and things seem like they might be on track for a bit season two.o! But yes, ecchi tropes to be had, often.

Art: 9
Looked good, the fights were pretty awesome, the different power projected were varied and interesting. Detail was nice, though I didn't like the school uniform for princess girl, too much cleavage. Never thought I'd say that before! Otherwise, everything looked right on place.

Sound:8
The battle music worked well, nice clanks and weighty weapons sounds. The voice actors carried it but didn't oversell too much. The themes are nice, rock beat to them, but nothing too special. Voice casting was very well done. The asshole lead sounds like a self confident jerk (even if he has the right to be) the girls all held their own, and the student vice pres is a trip to listen to, loving that for sure.

Character:8
The characters can be a bit one sided in that OP guy is good hearted, but really has to wait till the chips are down to act. The girds that befriend little sister are honest and sincere enough, while the VP seems to have nothing on her mind than ways to destroy the main character. Some of it works, some of it is eye rolling.

Enjoyment: 9. It was a nice change of pace to see a protagonist that says 'I'm gonna bust you up, then you up, and then your granny too!' even if he didn't actually mean it. He's full of bluster, but ultrapowerful so perhaps he's allowed? Not only that, but the end fight of the serious is STRONGLY hinted to be a taste of things to come. They set up season 2 hard and strong, hope they make it now. Was a damn fun show!. If you like Characters with swagger and the ability to back it up, this sis for you!

Best Girl: Kuhuza! God I lover voice actor and love just about every work she's in!

If you light it fast and furious, but WITHOUT a side of idiocy (Fairy Tail) give this one a go, it's a short sesious anyway, not going to waste much time of it does't grab ya! Two Thumbs up!

Looking for a totally mediocre but enjoyable fantasy and action anime? well I think Hagure Yuusha No Estetica is for you!

I went into this anime during the summer 2012 season with the normal expectation of a totally floppy and cliche harem and action anime...well it wasnt. In a way you had the makings of such an anime but in the end the main male protagonist and action scenes followed by a well thought out pacing for the storyline.

The main attraction for this anime is the main male protagonist, Ousawa Akatsuki who is a badass , strong, pervert and invincible. basically he is a main lead ... with a harem with enough backbone and ability to defend himself as well. He stands out from the normal wimpy and weak MCs with a harem.
Throughout the anime , his heroics and basic ethics is something to be admired and enjoyed as he cruises through fights and challenges with a calm demeanor.
His other quality would be his pervy side...where he can strip women of their underwear without them even realizing it. which makes him a totally pervert and entertain male audiences with all the ecchi element.

The circles of girls in his *Harem* , though i would say the romantic hints in this anime is pretty few with only certain girls showing obvious affection for him, the most obvious of which is his little sister, Ousawa Miu( not blood-related) and the tsundere vice president, Haruka.

The storyline is nothing really impressive...( you can read synopsis on MAL and you can guess the basic storyline once you start the anime). Like I said, the most interesting aspect of this anime is the Main star lead, Akatsuki and the pacing of the story. Every episode does just enough to let the story progress , though the occasional side episodes comes up, the progession doesnt really slows down to zero. The fight scenes were solid and well paced as well and most of all its BELIEVABLE and does not end off abruptly.

Towards the end of the anime, you will see this anime is a genuine fantasy and action anime with a strong MC and would have found it totally enjoyable like me ;D though it would depend on your personal taste as well.

Overview:
"Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero" should really be called "Aesthetics of a Rogue Hero", because that's exactly what the series values above all else- aesthetics. It does a fine job at using style to make various things about it seem very impressive, but when you look deeper, you realise that these things are nowhere near as great as they appear at first glance, and other than a fairly unorthodox protagonist (which isn't necessarily for the better), there isn't all that much that separates it from other anime of its kind.

Story (6/10):
The series is set in an alternate version of Earth that runs parallel to a ... fantasy world called Alayzard, where people are frequently spirited away to and those who survive are granted magical powers. One such person is Akatsuki Ousawa, a young man who has recently slain the demon lord Garius, becoming the titular "rogue hero" as a result. The twist is that right before he died, Garius trusted Akatsuki with his only daughter Miu, who he brings back with him to his own world to ensure her safety and allow her to live a safe life. Assuming the identity of his little sister, Miu and Akatsuki begin to attend a private school own by the international organization Babel, where those who have returned from Alayzard successfully are enrolled as students and taught to control their powers. From there, this unlikely duo meet new friends, train in combat and deal with various threats to their new lives.

Does this premise sound like anything you've heard before? Well, it should, because while the idea of a "reverse isekai" where the protagonist takes someone from a fantasy world to his world seems novel enough at first, that novelty quickly wears off when they get thrust into magic school, which as far as anime is concerned is an even more clichéd setting than any fantasy world. Sure, being clichéd doesn't automatically make something bad, but, as I mentioned above, "Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero" does barely anything to distinguish itself from other anime of its kind, which admittedly works in its favour sometimes, but not often. What's worse is that despite Alayzard being pretty much the catalyst for the entire plot, it never manages to be anything more than a background, as it's never focused on for more than one scene at a time. Instead, the story is pretty much entirely centred around Babel School and the various activities they get up to, some alright, others downright cringeworthy.

Even so, the story isn't a complete failure altogether. In the final arc, we get some decent worldbuilding both for Alayzard (despite its lack of on-screen presence) and Aktasuki's version of Earth. Namely, we learn that being a hero like Akatsuki isn't quite as amazing as it's initially made out to be, and Miu merely moving to Earth doesn't mean that her problems are just going to go away, since there are plenty of people who want her dead simply for being related to the late Demon Lord and will do anything to ensure as much. This results in a number of surprisingly touching moments, some decent relationship building between the major characters, and a satisfying final conflict. All of that being said, while the story does have its high points, there isn't really anything that you couldn't get from a number of other, better shows, and the series ultimately ends just when things start to get really interesting.

Art & Animation (8/10):
On the surface, "Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero" seems to look well above average. The characters are very well-drawn, the art style is right up my alley and the animations and special effects are generally very smooth and believable. However, when you look closer, you realise that the series doesn't look quite as good as it does at first glance. For example, the female character models all have the same shape to them, with the only real differences between them being their hair, their heights and their faces, which often delves into uncanny valley territory. And, as it tends to be the case with ecchi shows, the fanservice is often in your face to the point that it completely kills the mood of a scene. Don't get me wrong, though, the visuals are still good. They're just not quite as great as first impressions would have you believe.

Sound & Dialogue (8/10):
There isn't all that much to say about the soundtrack, as I barely even noticed it a lot of the time due to most of the music being rather generic and forgettable. The only real exception I can think of is the opening, and even that wasn't fantastic. The voice acting is generally very good- Eric Vale and Felecia Angelle do a respectable job as Akatsuki and Miu respectively, and the series boasts a fine cast which includes Todd Haberkorn, Monica Rial and Alexis Tipton. That said, none of them gave what I would call their best performances and it's a real shame that Colleen Clinkenbeard and Christopher Sabat, arguably the two best voice actors in the cast, are relegated to characters that do pretty much nothing of significance. Overall, the sound design is nothing spectacular, but it does what it's supposed to do if nothing else.

Characters (7/10):
It’s obvious from the very first episode that Akatsuki is far from your typical harem protagonist. However, much like Kinji Tohyama in “Aria the Scarlet Ammo”, that’s a point that tends to work against him rather than for him. To put it mildly, Akatsuki is not a nice person. He may be the hero of the story, but he’s still perfectly willing to kick the ass of anyone who so much as annoys him and often takes full advantage of his super speed to snatch women’s underwear. I know a lot of people are tired of the “girl attacks boy for being perverted” trope, but Akatsuki frequently pushes the point where a good smack or two would be more than justified, especially since, unlike most protagonists, his perversions are almost always entirely on purpose. And yet he almost never gets punished for his frequent harassment, since nobody can do anything about him because he’s just too powerful, despite being one of the few Babel students who can’t use magic, instead relying on something called energy manipulation. But while he can be very hard to like at times, he’s certainly not without redeeming qualities, and the final arc in particular shows that for all his vices he could be a hell of a lot worse, though how much comfort that is will likely vary from person to person.

The other half of the main duo is Miu, called Miu Ousawa in school due to her posing as Akatsuki’s younger sister. Even though Akatsuki was entrusted by Miu’s father to keep her safe, Miu starts off not liking him very much, which is understandable considering his rather unpleasant personality as well as the fact that he was the one who killed her father in the first place. Personality-wise, she’s generally kind but also very modest and shy, as well as often lacking in self-worth, particularly when it comes to how people treat her due to who she is related to. She’s also surprisingly intelligent and perceptive, having a consistently good grasp of battle strategies and being easily able to deduce people’s motives regardless of whether they try to pretend otherwise. Her fighting style is also more-or-less the opposite of Akatsuki’s- unlike Akatsuki, who will take energy manipulation over magic any day of the week, Miu has a natural affinity for all types of magic and can cast several types in quick succession, making her a formidable opponent, if not to the same level as Akatsuki (then again, that’s a really high bar to clear). Overall, while she doesn’t get too many chances to shine, I would definitely say she stood out as my favourite character, as she’s not only the nicest character in the series by a good amount, but also the only one who goes through any meaningful character development.

Of course, Akatsuki and Miu aren’t the only two main characters in the series, and they meet several other notable characters during their time at Babel. Two such characters are fellow heroes and students Chikage Izumi and Kuzuha Doumoto, who quickly become good friends with each other and Miu. Initially, it’s out of their shared disdain for Akatsuki but overtime they become genuine friends who are always looking out for each other and will have each other’s backs no matter what. For their individual characters, Izumi is a tomboyish lesbian who enjoys getting intimate with other girls (though this is overall treated as a very small part of her character and is in no way offensive) and Kuzuha is a prodigy who skipped multiple grades, which is why she’s in high school despite being only 11. Both of them are also capable badasses in their own rights, with Izumi being a water magic-using archer and Kuzuha being an earth magic user who wields a hammer as big as she is. There’s also Haruka Nanase, the vice-president of the Babel student council who quickly grows to hate Akatsuki (noticing a pattern here?) due to his perversions and chaotic attitude and makes it her personal mission to keep him in line, often roping in the rest of the student council (besides the president) to help her. However, while her attitude towards Akatsuki is justified at first, she’ll often get on his case even when it isn’t warranted, like if all he did was step in to help with something, implying an unhealthy obsession with order. Overall, I didn’t dislike her, but she’s definitely the weakest of the main characters. Other than these five, there aren’t really many characters I consider worth noting. I can say, however, that the villain of the final arc is a surprisingly good one, being a credible threat to the main cast and having a comprehensible, if completely unjustifiable, motivation.

Enjoyment (7/10):
“Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero” is an entertaining series to be sure, with well-animated fight scenes and some genuinely funny comedic moments. Unfortunately, it does fall into the rather frequent trap of being ecchi for ecchi’s sake, and Akatsuki’s frequent perverted antics get old and annoying fairly quickly. The show can also be unexpectedly dark at times, particularly towards the end where we get the implication that neither world is as glamourous as it initially appears. Even so, the show never overdoes it and carries a hopeful tone even at its darkest, especially since that’s when Akatsuki’s noble qualities shine through the most.

Overall:
“Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero” is a textbook example of an anime that is neither a triumph nor a disaster. The story is rather underdeveloped, the visuals aren’t quite as good as they seem at first glance and the characters with the exception of Miu, can be quite unlikable at times. Nevertheless, the series does have its good points as well, and so long as you don’t go in expecting anything original, this is an anime that you may very well end up enjoying in spite of yourself.

Score:
6+8+8+7+7=36/50=7.2/10