Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru

In an age where a single idea can be copied, transmuted, inverted, and manipulated in millions of possible ways, the phrase "That's just a rip-off of ______" has become increasingly more common. For example, I've heard many arguments that Nagi no Asukara is just a rip-off of From the New World, and while there certainly are similarities between the two, it's quiet a stretch to say that a romance drama is just a rip-off of a dystopian horror series. However, there are times where the degree to which something is copied is so severe that ... "rip-off" really is the only way to describe it. So, when a title gets to that point, is there still enough enjoyment to be gleamed from this newer series to justify its existence?

I supposed it'd be best to address the elephant in the room first: this is a magical girl series with an incredibly blatant attempt to cash in on the "little girls suffering" idea that Madoka Magica had popularized back in 2011 and is continuously called upon again and again within the anime industry because it continues to print money. While in the past I may have suggested that Selector Infected WIXOSS was also riding the Madoka Suffering Train, at least it also had a plethora of new ideas to bring to the table. Yūki Yūna is an absolutely shameless clone of Madoka, from the suffering girls to the horrifying world backdrop.

There's also the matter of someone getting the bright idea to insert multiple episodes of slice of life-style comedy that served more to pad out the run time than to get us acquainted with the characters, and by the time we had our third slice of life episode in a row, the pacing had slowed to such an unbelievable crawl that I had considered dropping the series and not even doing this review. Additionally, the tonal shift between cutesy fun and heavy action leaning towards horror creates an incredibly unstable and schizophrenic tone for the series overall. With Madoka, the tamer and more relaxed episodes were confined to the first few episodes, but once the rug was pulled out from under us, the pacing grew more and more intense until it threatened to swallow up everything by the end of the series. With Yūki Yūna, the pacing shifts far too much in the first two thirds of the series for us to get a grasp of the true stakes.

However, despite all that, the payoff that occurs when we hit the final third of the series was really solid; predictable, but solid. It also does take a very slight variance away from Madoka, mostly to avoid plagiarism, and ends up gaining its own level of disturbing horror in terms of the "little girls suffering" motif. There is also a very definite exploding point that happens, and once it does, the series really does pick up the pace from there and sprints towards the conclusion. It's just unfortunate that this doesn't happen until the show is almost 70% finished, and at least 40% of that is an annoying slice of life borefest. For that, I'm sure that we can once again thank our head of series composition, Makoto Uezu (Akame ga Kill!, School Days). There were also quite a few gag-worthy moments in the script that were so unbearably cutesy and friendship-loving that I almost wanted to take a break after each episode and switch to Black Lagoon for a few minutes. As for the ending, I won't spoil it, but it certainly didn't deserve the ending that it received, and you can take that for either good or bad.

The characters aren't really anything new either, yet it's still pretty satisfying to watch their world start to crumble around them. Yūki is our standard heart of gold "I can do no wrong as long as I believe in the power of friendship" lead character, aka Madoka Kaname without the indecision, and I was actually surprised by how little screen time she got compared to the others. Mimori is Yūki's best friend who is bound to a wheelchair due to an accident that cost her part of her memory, and her friendship with Yūki ends up being a rather interesting point of development for her. Fū is the slightly older, mentor character of the group who has to deal with the fact that she got everyone involved in this situation in the first place, while Itsuki is Fū's little sister who honestly just seems to be there to further Fū's development. Finally, we have Karin, who could not be more like Kyoko Sakura if she tried; an outsider who is initially put off by how well the group functions together but gradually grows to like them. On a more general note, aside from Fū and Mimori, it was rather disappointing to see that everyone else's character development was done in a rather direct and low effort way, whereas Fū and Mimori are the only ones that really seem to experience any true sense of psychological terror.

The animation was produced by Studio Gokumi (Kiniro Mosaic), and let's not beat about the bush on this one: the animation for this series was incredibly mediocre. While the idea of making the girls cute did get executed well, it was executed almost too well, and some of the girls' expression were so full of sunshine and rainbows that it make me rather uneasy. I do have to praise them for the other emotions that filled the character's faces though, as you really can feel the absolute terror pouring out of them during the final third of this series, especially with Fū. Aside from that, most of the animation was pretty bad. The Vertexes were rendered in almost eye-bleeding 3D, the fights scenes weren't that spectacular and the girls were often replaced with 3D models for said fight scenes, and while the set designs in the parallel world were very ominous and intricate, the backgrounds in the real world felt incredibly generic. On a quick side note, I really would like to know why the wheelchair chick got so much of the gratuitous fan service. It seemed horrifically out of place and started giving me Katawa Shoujo flashbacks.

There is currently no dub for this series yet, and I wouldn't imagine one coming out in the near future.

The soundtrack was composed by the group MONACA, and the soundtrack as a whole ends up being one part Yuki Kajiura imitation and one part generic slice of life background music. However, it's in those imitation Kajiura tracks that we find some really solid and meaty chunks that drove home the intensity of some of the more exhilarating scenes. The opening theme "Hoshi to Hana" was performed by the main voice cast and plays us in with a rather subdued pop track, while both ending themes "Aurora Days" and "Inori no Uta" were also performed by them and end each episode with a soft ballad.

Overall, in regards to a recommendation on Yūki Yūna is a Hero, I'm left asking myself a single question to determine my decision: is there something that this anime brings to the table other than what Madoka Magica has already done and done better? To be honest: no, it really doesn't. Any enjoyment that can be gleamed from this show can just as easily be achieved by rewatching a much better magical girl deconstruction.

Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru was another member of the new-age magical girl genre--a collective of teen girls with your basic set of personalities (smart one, shy one, large breasted one, etc.) receive superhuman powers and moe outfits to fight some villain, the new age aspect being that there is some horrible catch to it.
Unfortunately, since Madoka Magica, it has become a nightmare to build hype for any new shows falling into these guidelines. Understandably, it is very hard to compete with a show that got not only its twelve episodes, but its drama CDs and several movies. Yuuki Yuuna just seems something of ... a wannabe Madoka.

The story has faults in that the pacing is incredibly uneven; toward the middle of the anime, there are several filler episodes that are hardly worth watching, as it seems like Yuuki Yuuna tried to drop from the magical girl genre to the slice of life genre. I have little problem with slice of life, but I do have a problem with being ripped out of an action-ridden battle to hear about how helpful each girl is to the community.
The slow realization of the catch to the magical powers is a good cherry on top of the cake, as that is the moment where one gets the most out of the characters. It's almost satisfying to see each of the girls suffer a touch after having one too many episodes of ease.
Additionally, the realization of demise brings emotion out of the characters that you just don't see early on.

Yuuki Yuuna herself acts as a weak link in the cast. While this girl is the supposed main character, she hardly gets as much screen time as a main character should--nor just she get enough character development. Next to her friend Togo, who only gets more and more dynamic with each episode, Yuuna remains a flat, peppy girl who solves all of her problems with willpower and a strong belief in friendship.
That belief acts as a major cop-out during the series as well, solving every single one of the girls' problems in a very developed tragedy.

It may sound cruel, but I am almost disappointed these characters didn't suffer more--or rather, I am disappointed their suffering was disgustingly impermanent.
Yuuna, as a character, did not deserve to have all of her problems fixed by her one-note personality. She watches as her friends lose hearing, sight and the ability to speak everyone pities her because she can no longer taste snacks. Yuuna takes none of the blunt force of repercussions until the final moment, and even then, the satisfaction of watching something happen to her is pulled away in an instant with the 'friendship conquers all' cliche.

Other than the despicable treatment of the main character, the art and sound were not incredibly notable. The design for the areas where most of the action takes place are interesting, and the choice of watercolor and pastel is a unique juxtaposition coupled with the battle that is taking place in the foreground.
Let a quick warning be given, there is a bit of shameless fanservice involving Togo, the disabled girl in the wheel chair; ask yourselves, is it /really/ necessary to sexualize the girl in the wheel chair of all people?

Yuuki Yuuna did, however, do a good job of wrapping up the plot in a way that satisfied the anime's needs. The climax pulled through despite some difficulty managing the show's pacing. Someone less critical than me might enjoy the show more even--just don't look for Yuuki Yuuna to be anything other than the one-note courageous hero the title promises her to be.

How far will you push yourself for the sake of others even when you know every step you take may hurt you? Welcome to the world of Yuki Yuna is a Hero where hope is sometimes all that’s left to stand on, but it might just be enough to get you over the line. A story following a school hero club thrust into an unexpected fight, Yuki Yuna starts slow but finishes with a bang to make for a magical girl experience that ranged from frustrating to thrilling.

Story

This is probably the first show I’ve watched where the enjoyment I got out of it was hampered ... by comparing it to another show. I heard the talk before watching about how the anime was a ‘rip-off’ of the 2011’s massive hit which shook the magical girl genre, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. The answer? Yes and no. Character traits and roles in the Yuki Yuna team do feel somewhat familiar.

Can it still stand on its own accord? Absolutely. There’s an interesting complication plus some reveals that kept me interested. Many also like to claim that the ‘darker’ themes of the shows fall too close together but I think the two shows take them in different directions. To say how this is achieved is quite the spoiler. Just don’t go in expecting a blanket copy of the story – I can give it that much credit.

Enough comparing, let’s actually talk about Yuki Yuna as its own work.

Yuki Yuna Is A Hero is a story that follows the title character and her classmates during their fight with the mysterious enemy known as the ‘vertex’. Naturally things aren’t as smooth sailing as they would seem at first glance. The truth behind the enemy and the girls’ purpose for fighting slowly comes to the fore. The real meat of the story is watching how the team cope with the revelations thrown in front of them. It’s a story with nothing you haven’t seen before: ‘Hope being the strongest weapon’ – but the delivery is entertaining the later it goes on.

The opening portion of the show felt formulaic and everyone seemed too accepting of the role they’ve been thrown into. While there’s some great looking battles there’s nothing that made me say ‘wow’ or feel like something I hadn’t seen before. I did like the dynamic between the team members, and although they may fall into some ‘tropey’ behaviours, I was at least made to care about them from an early point.

Here’s my biggest gripe with the show by a country mile: The middle third.
This section had the problem that the content and the pace was too drastic of a change-up compared to what came before it. The trouble was that the shift in tone was so out of nowhere that it made it difficult for me to keep taking the show seriously. If an anime wants to spell out its themes, establish the mood it’s going for but then decide to take time out in favour of clear eye-candy moments - that serve almost no purpose to advancing those said themes - then I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth. I do understand that this brief slow-down in the story helps develop the characters a little but it certainly could have been done a different way. Don’t pull me in then in just the space of a few episodes make me start asking “when does it end?” You’ve clearly done something wrong.

Thankfully the final third of the show is a thrilling conclusion and although the ending didn’t rub me right way I was definitely hooked in the lead up to it. One big problem with the said ending was that I didn’t get any sense of closure and it all made me wonder whether the plight of our characters was worthwhile. The second half still saves the show and at least made my personal plight, as viewer sitting through this, feel worth the ride. Knowing there’s challenges and burdens to carry that go beyond just fighting the Vertex is excellent. There’s actually some complexity to the tale and it’s great to see characters having to seriously question what is right and what is wrong when it comes to fighting.

It’s just such a pity that story is so ‘fractured’ into these different segments. There’s practically no flow between them.

Characters

I mentioned earlier that some characters feel a bit too familiar from another magical girl show. I don’t, for instance, have to tell you who Fuu Inubouzaki reminds you of. Even though part of me wants to go on comparing shows, I’ll stop there because Fuu is one of the stronger characters in Yuki Yuna. As the team leader her role goes beyond just giving the orders but when things go wrong she’s the one that feels the brunt of the problems. And boy does she have to carry some big ones. Watching her trying to maintain her leader’s position and cope with those is one of the more interesting aspects of the show.

Her younger sister Itsuki is part of her personal motivation but Itsuki herself felt a bit forgettable when it comes to being part of the larger picture. She gets her own moment in the spotlight but it was perhaps a little cheesy. While I also found Karin Miyoshi’s character annoying, and also very predictable in her development, she was at least important for the team’s character development as a whole.

Mimori Tougou is easily the most interesting character. Bound to a wheelchair she’s instantly at a disadvantage from the get go. She makes up for her lack of physical presence by being resourceful and level-headed – whether in or out of a fight. She’s the anchor that keeps the group grounded. Her intelligence also sees her feel confident to make some huge decisions at critical times, decisions that have the potential for massive repercussions.

Finally there’s our main character. I do love that Yuna is the catalyst for helping everyone else find themselves and overcome their problems. She carries a sense of abundant optimism that no one else in the team shares. She’s the standard ‘if you believe you can overcome anything’ character but there’s no harm in that. It goes hand in hand with the theme that the show goes for: that hope can overcome despair no matter how great it may seem. Her individual contribution to moving the show’s story forward is actually quite minimal but she’s a decent lead character because you do feel like she’s having an effect on the other members.

I also appreciated that fact that all the characters’ motivation made perfect sense. Each of their reasons to be involved and look out for one other were spelt out clearly for the viewer. The troubles that inflict each of them make for some good complication and there’s always that lingering sense of fear that someone is going to push themselves over the edge. Consequences for actions, whether said actions be seemingly right or wrong, feel huge. Reveals about the enemies and their origin did a good job of making me wondering what would happen next.

Art & Sound

Fighting is the core of this show so plenty of work has clearly gone into making the environment unique. It’s a colourful, tangled universe that’s cool to look at. The CG features heavily and it ranges from hilariously out of place to solid. I think the abstract style of the world our characters fight in helps out the CG models a lot as they don’t look horrifyingly out of place.

The string-laden OST is nice though there’s nothing that stands out. It does its job. Sounds effects in battle give plenty of impact and also goes a long way to giving the Vertex that ‘otherworldly’ feel.

Summary

While copping a flak for being a little too similar to something before it I found Yuki Yuna worth the watch. There’s nothing revolutionary to be seen, and it’s a pity that it takes so long to get to the true complication of the story, but it’s worth it. There’s wonderful chemistry between the characters, the fights are usually entertaining and the problems the team become burdened with keep things engaging. Getting through the lulls in the story is a challenge. It may require you to push yourself through episodes at times but you’re bound to take away something from the show.

Yuna Yuki is a Hero is often referred to as a show like Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I went into this with an open mind and left disappointed.

It's a missed opportunity. I'd like to address that the ending is almost as bad and cliche as "but I woke up and it was all a dream." The audience is robbed of any pathos. There are consequences in this show, but they don't matter at all because at the end of the day they're all hand waved away. Moreover, I think it needed at least a 26 episode run to fully explore what it was. This would ... have helped the plot in a couple places with a "show don't tell" approach. Unfortunately, with the breakneck speed that the narrative has to take the audience is denied that as well.

There are also problems with the dialogue. There are several places where the characters refer to a "level up" for their magical girl powers. This is not one of those trapped in the virtual reality game shows either. That should have been edited to say a different thing as it's incredibly clumsy to say that in a magical girl show that has leanings towards slice of life.

There's also another caveat I have with magical girl shows. The battles aren't that interesting. The girls literally engage in curb stomping the poor things that want to destroy their world. I would take less battles in a show if they were better animated and the girls had to outwit their opponents or something of the sort. The stakes never seem high enough.

There are several plot twists in the show, and I think if it had a few changes and a longer run to really establish the setting, and characters, then this show would have been legendary.

YUKI YUNA IS A HERO is kind of a low-rent madoka magica. this isn't completely a bad thing, because there's a few things this show does better and even things that madoka straight up just doesn't do, but that inspiration echoes throughout the entirety of this show in a way that made it hard to take seriously.

YUKI YUNA is a similar "deconstruction" (using the term very. very. very loosely. VERY loose) of mahou shoujo wherein girls pay a steep price for their magical status. in this show, that exploration of genre is used as the center for larger themes of SACRIFICE and FATE, but ... it feels borderline.... exploitative. manipulative, even. don't get me wrong, i like plot twists, i love tone shifts, but here, it feels as if the theme wasn't thought through, wasn't properly threaded throughout the story. where madoka kicks itself into gear pretty quickly, leaving a lot more room to develop and extrapolate, yuki yuna seems to wander for a bit before KNEEJERKING into nihilism and "edgy territory" around episode 8.

this is where most of my problems come in, because. the first two episodes have a dark cloud looming over them, with some nice foreshadowing, but then i was really pleased to see it NOT go all the way overboard. instead it really slows down and stretches itself out. there aren't even vertex fights for a lot of the show's run, in fact a lot of it is bordering on slice of life. and, i REALLY like this cast. yuna is the glue that holds everything together and she's extremely likeable as the hyperoptimist, but togo and karin steal the show for me - karin as being (for a while) a fun take on a mami tomoe/kyouko sakura-type role (extremely athletic, health food nut) and togo as being really great disabled rep in a genre that more or less uses disability as a central character conflict and not just an attribute. but of COURSE when the show takes the nosedive it (not so subtley) wants to, it feels like character is hurled out the window. sure, yuna is still yuna, but everyone else just loses all their personality to become "crying girl". and not only this, but the show gets very bleak. EXTREMELY bleak. HEAVILY nihilistic. it's. very frustrating. sure, there's some more twists and things work themselves out by the last episode but it's hard to ignore or forget all the weird, almost unwarranted amounts of suffering this show pushes you through.

and for this reason it's really hard to recommend it. the show wants you to go in blind but i can't envision someone coming out the other end excited about what they just watched. to sit through 5 episodes of a pretty upbeat slice of life anime and suddenly watch characters be horribly injured, depressed, suicidal, and worse, to have the tone just SUDDENLY CHANGE LIKE A LIGHTSWITCH, it just. hmmm. i don't know. this probably won't be a madoka for a new generation.

that all being said, it isn't that bad. like i said, all the characters are likeable. the mythology of it all is interesting. the themes, even though they only rear their head in the LAST SECOND, they do a few pretty neat things with them. but, eeeeeeehhhhh. i think i'm tired of MAHOU SHOUJO BUT F*CKED UP. and i do really feel bad for anyone looking for just a cute magical girl show having to sift through piles and piles of "girls crying" shows. i don't know.

overall, all i gotta say is.... men ruined magical girl shows. thank you. no, you don't have to respond

What happens when you take Madoka and replace the story with SOL moe~? The creators of Yuuki Yuuna felt the need to let us know. Let me get one thing straight: This isn't really a bad show. If SOL and cute girls but weak plot is your thing, you might actually enjoy Yuuki Yuuna. Hell if you think shows like Non Non Biyori deserve a golden statue in the anime hall of fame, and you like magical girls, you might even absolutely love this show. If that kind of anime isn't your thing, then this review is here to warn you that you probably wont ... have fun here.

Yuuki Yuuna does actually have a story and some decent character interactions, the problem is a lot of it just honestly isn't very good. Just not quite enough to escape the "plotless moe" label. A lot of the lines are your typical "I will protect the ones important to me!" MAMORUUUUUUUU!!! The sort of contrived deal that has become more and more stale over the years. Some of the conversations the girls have with each other are also amazingly boring. The writing just doesn't give you enough to care. The suffering feels thrown in to be there for the sake of making the show appear to have more depth than it actually has.

A big problem that makes Yuuki Yuuna so meh-tier is for most of the story the bad guys appear as nothing more than evil monsters with zero personality out to destroy the world for the sake of being evil monsters. This part of the plot is eventually redeemed and the shows story does eventually become better. But by eventually I mean the very last couple of episodes. If I were to break this review down by episode, the initial episodes are a 2/10 and the last two are 8/10. I came very very close to dropping Yuuki Yuuna many times. I'm somewhat glad that I didn't, but the problem still lies there. A good anime should get its story rolling by the third episode, not the last minute.

So this then brings up the question: Does a decent end justify the other 80% of a show being a mediocre ripoff ? Not enough to justify giving it higher than an average rating. This has been repeated many times, but I will say it again because it's the simple reality: Yuuki Yuuna really is just a mediocre Madoka clone. It isn't good. It isn't bad. It just is.

I think what drags this show down the most is the lack of explanation in character's actions.

**Spoilers ahead**

1. Mimori attempts suicide 10 times. This is thrown out as some kind of fact, but actually nobody questions why she would try and kill herself. What's her personal motivation? If she was doing it solely as an experiment, does she value her life so little? Why do none of the other heroes who she informs of this seemingly not care, at all? Her suicide attempt is NEVER MENTIONED as an "Oh no, Mimori, why would you do that? Please don't do that, we care about you." WHY? ... This is a massive plot hole.

2. Mimori breaks the barrier. This in itself is fine, but the fact she does a complete 180 and nobody gives her a hard time for it? She essentially betrayed the entire world to save her friends, yet she so easily flicks back to wanting to protect it again? This is the same character that attempted suicide 10 different ways to test a thesis. Is she so feeble-minded that she would not try to convince her allies she is right, and not even really fight against their goal?

Those are the two huge issues I see with the plot of this show. Additionally, the Taichi and the Shinju-Sama are never really explained. There's a little bit of explanation thrown in about them right at the end of the show but the world-building is cruelly lacking, especially when you have a character there (Mimori) who is obsessed with history and was seemingly placed solely to give exposition.

I did enjoy this show but I didn't think it was particularly strong.

I've never felt compelled to write a review until now, because even though I didn't particularly enjoy this anime, I still want you to watch it. If you're like me, someone somewhere recommended this anime because you're a fan of Mahou Shojou Madoka Magica. As a huge fan of that franchise, I found this series to be the poor man's Madoka, and pretty underwhelmed with the recommendation. While I think they were trying for a balance of darker storylines and lighthearted character moments, I feel that they way overcompensated with too much of a slice of life element too often. The majority of the series ... felt like a boring chore I had to get through just to reach the last two episodes. And while those episodes were very well done IMO, the pay off didn't exactly add up. All of that being said, the prequel and sequel to this show are exceptional, and if you're looking for your Madoka fix, it's in those seasons, not this one. Enjoy this series for what it is, keep your expectations low, and immediately follow it up with the prequel/sequel.

Also Fu x Karin 4Ever.

What I took away as the ultimate message of this series: the god of this world is a jerk to middle school girls.

Story: 6
For the above reason.

Now don't get me wrong, it's a nice story and the main characters where enjoyable, but the entire premise of the plot is that these middle school girls are chosen to protect a god from some monsters. The reason why the god is a jerk will be discussed at the end for spoiler reasons.

Art: 7
World design, monster design and character design all good, nothing really went wrong or seemed out of place

... Sound: 7
Same story

Character: 8
Solid main characters, all of them have a purpose that was met by the end of the story. Although very little backstory information was given, except 1 where lots of backstory happened, all the girls were fleshed out and no one was really left for the "why are you here" question.




*Spoilers ahead*
So going back to why the god of this world is an asshole, in this world you can use god powers in exchange for bodily functions. But why though? In the end they are 100% ok which means that the god could maybe not need these girls to sacrifice themselves to protect it? Even if it did, would it not make more sense to return the girls to a healthy state, it clearly can and it would be beneficial to the girls mental state. And I would think that you would want your protectors to be in top shape to protect you, no?