Zettai Bouei Leviathan

When an anime serves as a prequel for an Android-based RPG you've never heard of, chances are good that one shouldn't go into this series expecting much more than a four-hour commercial for the game it's advertising. Throughout the entire run of Zettai Bouei Leviathan, the show never really tries to be more than it is, which is a mediocre piece of fluff that just happens to have a fantastic voice cast.

Zettai Bouei Leviathan tells the story of a trio of dragon-girls on a planet named Aquafall that is occupied by dragon-people. At least, some of them are dragon-people, as we see non-dragon denizens milling ... about over the course of the show. One day, Aquafall starts getting pelted with meteorites that contain insects known as Lucasites who start invading the planet for an unspecified reason. In order to put up some resistance, the fairy Syrop goes on a journey to establish a team to defend Aquafall from these insect invaders, but, instead, she just ends up relaxing for a while with the first three girls she comes across and calls it a day. Once she infroms the girls that their planet is in grave danger, they all rebuke her, so she decides to stick around and convince them to join her team. That's right. The world is in grave danger and in her quest to form a team to save it, she asks the first three people she finds to assist her. Strangely enough. nstead of going and finding teammates who are actually interested in saving the world or who even have the skills required to do so, she decides that these three are her only options and spends an inordinate amount of time pestering them.

Granted, the story is mostly non-existent, but to be fair, If you decide to watch this, you're probably not here for the story. For the majority of the show's run-time, the characters just sort of hang around and do nothing, with the occasional cgi bug battle thrown in. However, for the most part they just go to the beach, eat, or visit a hot springs. Additionally, this anime acts as a prequel to the game, so the plot doesn't even really kick in during the show. In other words, if you want a story, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.

As far as the characters go, they unfortunately don't fare much better. The cast mostly consists of the four main characters; Leviathan, a timid water-user, Bahamut, a selfish fire-user, Jormungandr, an adventure-loving warrior girl with an ax, and Syrop, a useless fairy that isn't good for anything other than food jokes. There's very little depth to the characters, who are best described as vague, color-coded archetypes. Although there is a bit of character development here and there, there isn't enough of it to make the audience care about any of them.

That isn't to say that the characters are particularly unlikeable, but their mannerisms and interactions can certainly be quite grating at times. Leviathan is obsessed with finding her brother, Bahamut has daddy-issues, and Jormungandr comes from a loving two-father family (which is something I've never seen in an anime before.) Syrop on the other hand is just annoying. We never learn anything about her and her comic relief moments are all so interchangeable that it's a wonder they exist at all. Bahamut is also extremely whiny and selfish, so she tends to grate on the nerves as well. On the other hand, Leviathan and Jormungandr are mostly non-offensive, so at least the major cast members aren't all annoyances.

Interestingly enough, Zettai Bouei Leviathan comes courtesy of Gonzo; the once powerful studio that famously imploded, only to slowly start building itself back up without any of its real talent on board. The lack of vision in the staff is visible throughout many aspects of the production. That is to say, Zettai Bouei Leviathan is extremely bland and generic to look at. The character designs are bland and extremely basic and the background art is the same type of typical fantasy fare that you can find anywhere else. There was absolutely no creativity expended on the characters, nor the world that they inhabit. That's not to say that they're badly drawn or anything, but everything is simply as cookie cutter as can be. Significant portions of the show take place in such interesting settings as Generic Fantasy Town and Generic Desert. All in all, the art isn't interesting to look at, which extends to action sequences and enemies. All of the Lucasites and dragons are rendered in CGI and while they don't look terrible, their appearance shares the same weaknesses as the rest of the art. They're completely non-threatening looking and, once again, extremely generic. The animation is much the same; it gets the job done while doing the bare minimum.

The girls also have transformation sequences, but these are boring as well. Each one just shows the characters wearing scale underwear (because they're dragons, or something) at which point they put on magic outfits and grow wings on their sides and heads. The fights are also very uninteresting to look at. When it comes to attack variety, the characters leave much to desire. Leviathan conjures water-tentacles to grab her foes, or throws water projectiles while Bahamut either throws fireballs or uses a stream of flame, while all Jormungandr does is hit stuff with one heavy swing of her ax. The battle scenes are few and far between, so they're not THAT redundant, but they do come across as rather lazy.

Then we have the voices. Despite how mediocre every other aspect of the show is, Zettai Bouei Leviathan has a fantastic voice cast made up of Saori Hayama (Ayase in OreImo), Eri Kitamura (Saya in Blood+), Ayana Taketatsu (Kirino in OreImo), and Kana Hanazawa (everything ever.) These talented actresses all do the best they can with the material, which, although it isn't much, helps to muster at least some enthusiasm for the series. They do sound a little bored, though, especially Saori, which is hard to fault her for, considering the monotone nature of her character. Still, the voice acting is the sole bright spot in the series. Why they got a star-studded voice cast and left them to languish with such mediocre material is beyond me, but if there's any reason to watch the show, it's them. On the other hand, the music is completely forgettable and not even worth mentioning.

All things considered, Zettai Bouei Leviathan isn't terrible. There's nothing particularly offensive about the show, but it is extremely boring most of the time. It mostly plays like an extremely long advertisement for the game and it feels like it only exists to spread the word and fill air time. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this show to anyone, but I wouldn't moan and groan about it either. There isn't much to like, but at the same time, there's not much to hate either. If you just want a bland, fantasy show with a great voice cast and cute characters, you could certainly do worse than Zettai Bouei Leviathan, but there are much better shows to spend your time on.

(Notice: I rate based off the MAL system, not the grading system-type rule ex: 7 [C] = Average. Sorry about the length of the review)

If I were to describe this anime in one word it would be this: Harmless.

This is it, Harmless. I'm not even going to send the editor the revised edition. This is too harmless to award the "Mostly". Anyways, on to the review.

Story: BUGS INVADE THE PLANET OF DRAGON-PEOPLE...err...Aqualfall.What is the situation? Mostly Harmless. Really, pretty much...yeah. No, I'm serious. The invaders are pretty much "Mostly Harmless" and really don't play that much of as an invading species. Maybe an invasive species. ... Sure they are the whole point of the main plot but the things. But...a lot of stuff goes on without the Evil Alien Bugs, sometimes they are in the episode but really only in name. Not much to go on but...what else can you really say about an anime adaptation of a Freemiun Phone game? In the end, the story is a little adventure with what seems to be a big personal and I stress personal goal. 5/10

Sound: Let me tell you one thing about the OP of this anime, it is pretty rocking. Does it fit in with the anime? Hell no. Really Hell no. Does it matter? Hell no! I have to change my last statement. It isn't just pretty rockin' it is very rockin'. The ED, "Truly" fits better with the anime. Albeit...it doesn't really fit that much for an Adventure-lite Fantasy in comparison to other fantasy animes (Shukufuku and Shiawase no Pan for example) but it is a nice song nonetheless. The OST is a mix of symphonic work and some accoustic guitar that is fitting for a fantasy anime. Peppered throughout are some electric guitars reminiscent of the OP. Also, the VAs. They have some big name Voice Actresses on this anime. Saori Hayami (Ayase of Oreimo, Ikaros of SnO, Sachi of SAO), Kitamura Emi ( Mahiro of Nyarlko-san, Araragi Karen of the Monogatari series, Sayaka Miki of Madoka) and HanaKana (Do I really even have to? You can name more than three easily). Along with them comes Taketatsu Ayana (Azu-nyan of K-ON!, Kirino of OreImo and Suguha of SAO), who is steadily making a name for herself over this new decade. All of these VAs are really good. I'm just guessing they needed some extra pocket money.

7/10

Characters: There are four main characters in the anime. Leviathan is the hardworking girl with a goal. Bahamut is spoiled rich girl and Jormungandr is the hardworking tomboy. Each of the three girls deal with one specific element. Respectively they are Water, Fire and Earth. (Fun fact: All three beings, Leviathan, Bahamut, and Jormundandr are all related to the element water. Two are Sea Serpents, and one is a Giant Fish with an elephant head.) Finally we have a fairy named Syrup She eats a lot and generally isn't THAT much of help (she is sometimes). The girls work well, but are your basic stock tropes with sort of cliché backgrounds. The only exception is Jormungandr, her background is pretty unique in comparison and one I would have liked to see expanded. Syrup and Bahamut can get on your nerves, just at times and not enough to rage. 5-ish/10

Art: This is where I might be a little nit-picky

(If you don't want to read me nitpicking, putting a counter argument against the nitpicking skip the below paragraph)

Let me put out that the background art is fine. Perfectly fine. Now onto the part to nitpick: the character designs. So these girls are essentially a humanoid/reptilian breed. They have pointed ears, and can get wings and a tail in a transformation scene reminiscent of Mahou Shoujo anime. My biggest problem isn't really that, it is the use of scales. Essentially for these girls, scales act as underwear, they don't take them off, since they are scales but they still cover up everything that needs to be covered on a girl. The tails don't have scales. If so, what are the tails covered with? [Counter Arguement: really small scales, reptiles have a variety of scale sizes]

Anyways, the girls' hair is colored based on their element. For the most part, Leviathan and Bahamut don't have anything unique about their daily looks (excluding the wings and tails they get from the transformation). Jormungandr is a pleasent surprise, sporting a different skin tone in comparison to everyone else. As you might be able to see right now, I favor her.

There are some parts of the show where there is some CGI. In some parts it fits, and in some parts it doesn't really fit and sticks out like...well, CGI in anime

6/10


Overall + Enjoyment: Overall, again, I'd like to describe the anime in one word: Harmless. It doesn't tackle any big problem, but it tries to make it what it is. You have to give them some credit, this is an anime based off a phone game. But still, there is something missing from this anime that makes it really capture your attention. Is it the plot, is it the characters? Most likely. This anime is definitely is overshadowed by a majority of fantasy anime. Watch it while you are doing something else. You know, like split screen or something. It won't really harm you at all.

Enjoyment: 5.5/10
Overall: 5/10

If you have any comments or anything, please let them come, I"m always ready to trying to fine-tune my reviewing.
(P.S. While I do use references of the original Bahamut of Arabic mythology. I do know of the Dragon names Bahamut from the D&D franchise. I used Arabic Bahamut to keep in with my themes references for mythology.)

Zettai Bouei Leviathan is an anime series released virtually concurrently with the mobile game it was based on. The series was written by Zappa Go and Ide Yasunori and was created by Gonzo, which has been behind some really good stuff like Bakuretsu Tenshi and the Lunar games. It's also been behind some real rubbish like the Brave Story film and Gantz. The only way to find out where this one falls is to check it out.

Our story opens with a fairy named Syrup looking for strong people to join her Aquafall Defense force to protect the world from invading alien bug creatures. Naturally, ... she seeks out the silliest trio of girls she can find, Leviathan, Bahamut and Jormungandr. Okay, she doesn't try to recruit them because they're silly people, that's just a happy coincidence. The problem is that neither Bahamut nor Leviathan is interested in the position. The series mainly revolves around the misadventures of the three girls while Syrup tries to get them to join her in protecting the world. The series mainly revolves around two things comedic moments and action sequences. So, how well does the comedy work? Well, the series certainly has some really funny moments. In general the comedy is quite effective, actually, but there are also some jokes that fall flat and some that are just predictable and not all that amusing as a result. Putting the humourous elements aside, the story is rather mediocre and predictable and, unfortunately, the series does try for some serious story moments.

The characters aren't very well developed. The four main characters do have somewhat fleshed out personalities, but they aren't particularly deep ones. That being said, they are functional for comedic purposes. They interact well with one another which does lead to some good moments where one plays off of another. The familial relationships are decently handled, for what little you get of them.

The art is pretty mixed. On the positive side, the character designs are really nice, in spite of Bahamut's cap of +10 tomfoolery. The action sequences are also put together pretty well, for the most part, and have good intensity. Onto the negatives. The transformation sequences are fan-servicey, which you should never be able to say about a series that features characters who are designed to look roughly twelve. The series also makes use of fan-service in several other scenes because... the art design team was obsessed with Nowi. The backgrounds are also kind of lazy and the side character designs vary quite a bit. Jormungandr's family suffers from recycled designs with minor differences, for example. They also incorporate more traditionally CG designs for Fire Drake and Yurlungur, which are interesting but also look completely off when contrasted with the rest of the art in the series. It would be like taking Vincent as he appears in Advent Children and randomly throwing him into an episode of A-Channel. The styles simply don't work together.

The voice acting is pretty good. The main cast consists of Kitamura Eri, Taketatsu Ayana, Hayami Saori,and Hanazawa Kana, all of whom are good voice actresses who occasionally end up cast in something really terrible that requires them to pretend they aren't. While this isn't a series that requires them to be at their best, it is a series that allows them to show their skills. The music is okay.

The ho-yay factor is a 3/10. There are moments where you can envision them going that route, but nothing substantial.

So, how is Zettai Bouei Leviathan when taken as a whole? Well, the comedic elements are mostly effective and the characters are fun, the voice acting is good and there are some real positive aspects to the art. However, the fan-service is pretty bad, there are some other assorted art issues and the attempts at being more serious outright fail. That being said, if you're looking for a light-hearted fantasy story with some good action sequences you'll probably like it. My final rating is going to be a 6/10. It's decent, but nothing spectacular. Next week I'll look at the Bubblegum Crisis OVA, because why not?

It has some fox/wolf girls in it so it makes the overall enjoyment A-OK for me lol. But besides that, a few of the English dub voices seem to always do the most annoying characters, I really like the the VA so don't get me wrong, but you will start to notice how some of them always appear in the same shows and either ruin a character or the character just becomes super annoying with high pitch yelling or almost monotone lines.

The sound was good, the story was ok and I giggled a few times. It isn't one that I would ... re-watch tho but not like disappointed that I watched it. If you want a show with a mid evil setting, some adventure and a fairy you really wish would have never showed up after the first episode, some cute animal girls and an out of place thermos then this is a good one for you.

The show is honestly not very good. Someone linked it on an rpg forum, with a humorous text that it is a show about a D&D campaign gone wrong. And that is exactly what it is, the three girls stumble about, completely disregard the plot and instead go camping and socialise with random NPCs, while the DM pulls Deus ex Machina after Deus ex Machina to bring the show back on the rails.
If you enjoy role playing games, and you want to see three cute anime girls flailing around in one with utmost incompetence, then this is the show for you!

I tagged it as a ... 7 in my own MAL as I love roleplaying games and their tropes, but this show has no value beyond its RPG like nature. You can have fun with this show, but do not expect it to be good. It has heart however, and it had me smiling from ear to ear at certain parts with how cheesy it was.