Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru

Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru – “You’re likely to succeed if you try” Many have claimed it is just a Madoka copy, and yes the character designs are Madoka based. That I can’t refute when Yuuki looks exactly like Madoka and Fuu looks very much like Mami. But once you start to watch the story and understand what is going on, Yuuki Yuuna is its own story, with its own characters, and its own beauty.
Story – 8/10
In an alternate world everyone worships a divine being known as the Shinju. The Hero Club is a small group of four girls who ... do random tasks to help others, when suddenly they get transported to another world in which they have now been tasked with protecting the Shinju from twelve “Vertexes” that will try and destroy it.
As we follow them through their struggles the story, despite all the problems they are dealing with, always feels happy. As the girls fight Vertex after Vertex they do it with a smile. We also constantly look onto the lives the girls live each day when they are not battling. At times it can even fool us into thinking it’s just a normal slice of life and that everything will be ok. However the writers played it perfectly, lulling us into a sense of safety as we believed these girls would finish their tasks and we would see them succeed without consequence. An epic battle of the last remaining Vertexes at once and when they defeated they were done, they had done their task and succeeded. And then it happened. A dark turn into which no one saw coming, the heroes injured, each losing something vital in exchange for using the great power that come with using their “Mankai” and without a way to take back what was lost. The story grows ever darker as they try to discover why this is happening to them and to even discover the truth of the world.
Characters – 9/10
Happy and upbeat is something that can describe the first four members of the Hero Club. Yuuki Yuuna is the eternally happy girl always looking out for her friends. She’s the one girl who even everything is against them will always smile. Because of the love of her friends she also tends to be the one more willingly to sacrifice herself in order to protect them. Mimori Togo has always been Yuuki’s best friend but she has always felt ashamed of herself for being a burden due to her confinement in a wheelchair. Her story is one of pain and resentment which is slightly lightened when she discovers that she too can fight beside her friends. After defeating the twelve Vertexes she is the first to research why the injuries cannot heal which ultimately will lead her to discovering the truth of the world. The Inubozaki sisters are always together, yet could hardly be any more different. The elder, Fuu, is the strong willed senior of the group and constantly watches over everyone most notably her sister. She is quick to anger and even when upon hearing that their injuries even tries to attack the Shinju is vengeance for her sister. Itsuki was the quite girl of the group, yet no less helpful than all the others. Her constant helpfulness and eagerness was always shown so brightly. Even when she **Spoiler** lost her voice she never stopped helping others and wishing others to get well themselves. **Spoiler over** The late comer to the group was Karin, self-described as the superior version to the current girls she was trained by the Taisha to combat the vertexes at all costs. She can be considered a tsundere as she slowly yet surely becomes dear friends with all the girls. She is the one girl who after the final battle of the twelve vertexes was uninjured as she was unable to find the opportunity to use her “Mankai”. This actually helps lead her to become closer to the girls as she feels great guilt in not helping more.
Art/Animation – 8/10
The main target of much of the controversy that this was just a Madoka copy. The art is entirely different when in the real world looking very beautiful and serene, but once inside the plains around the Shinju where they fight the world is entirely different with strange vines and roots everywhere and strange looking Vertexes to fight. The character design, which two are based off Madoka and Mami are very different and beautiful.
Sound – 9.5/10
Oh the music was memorizing. Almost hypnotic tracks of beautiful sounding music. However strangely enough the music except at times was never overly positive or overly negative. It remained neutral throughout almost serving as a reminder of the situation that during peak times that not everything is as it seems, yet also when everyone was in anguish and denial that it would soon become better. A rather memorable moment was actually the ending credits of episode 10 in which they forewent the instrumental background in favour of pure vocals, it sent chills down my spine and was so sad without the music in order to prepare us for the final episodes.
Enjoyment – 10/10
Few anime this year have moved me in the way that Yuuki Yuuna has. A perfect combination of happiness and sadness. A story showing both times of joy, and times of anguish. Characters being ever proud, and ever doubting. It balances every aspect on such a fine thread, yet never slips. And in that perfect harmony of light and dark, Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru shows its true beauty.
Total Score – 9.14/10

My thoughts after the first few episodes: “The OP and music is great, the art is clean and colorful, but it seems like a standard Magical Girl anime”.

My thoughts after the last few episodes: ”Wow, that was a rollercoaster of emotions! And it actually turned out to be more like a contemporary Magical girl anime”.

As of late, the Magical Girl genre has given us anime like “Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica” and the “Selector WIXOSS” series. Joining their ranks is “Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru”, an anime that shares many themes with the aforementioned ones. The primary theme, of course, is the power ... created by friendship. Here, our heroine is Yuuna, a junior high girl whose devotion to Tougou, her paraplegic best friend, is praiseworthy. The two of them are part of the “Hero Club”, members of which also include their senpai and club originator, Fuu, and Fuu’s younger sister, Itsuki.

The Hero Club is a supportive group in Sanshu Middle School – Their duties generally include volunteer work and providing assistance to the other clubs. When everyone first joined the club, Fuu had them download a special app that contains hidden features which are activated when they’re summoned to a surreal forest by the Divine Tree. Unbeknownst to everyone except Fuu, the members of the Hero Club are the next in line to protect the Divine Tree against monsters called “Vertexes”. Should the Vertexes (Vertices?) reach the Divine Tree, the world as they know it will be destroyed. And if they’re up to the challenge, they’re able to use the app to transform into heroes who are aided by Pokémon-like fairies. However, any damage that results from battling Vertexes is reflected as collateral damage in the real world.

It seems like a conventional good-VS-evil story, right? That’s how it starts out, but there are several revelations unloaded in the second half that’s more reminiscent of Madoka. What has basically been subtext in similar anime is the main focus here. There’s a heavy emphasis on what it means to be a hero and what one is willing to sacrifice to that end. Heroes aren’t perfect – they go through trials and tribulations like any normal person. With that in mind, several of the girls experience doubt and begin to question whether or not their efforts are in vain. That kind of exploration is the real appeal of contemporary Magical Girl anime, and it’s also all you need to know from a plot standpoint. And even though comparing this to Madoka might be a spoiler in and of itself, it works better going in with the knowledge that this isn’t a sugary, saccharine Magical Girl anime.

As I alluded to, the second half provides startling answers to any questions you may have about the characters’ purpose. But the first half sets the rules, characterizes the girls, and establishes what’s at stake should they fail. You know, aside from the obvious end-of-the-world setup – namely, their personal goals and keeping everyone together. Seeing the interaction amongst the girls gives you a warm feeling in your heart. The feeling manifests even more when you see how they welcome a lone wolf-type into their group. Their bond in the real world is strong and it never wavers once the battles get underway. Most of the time, they wins battles through support and sheer determination. As for the battles themselves, outside of “Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works”, “Rage of Bahamut”, and “Garo”, Yuuna has some of the best choreographed battles of late 2014. The colors are clean and bright, the characters move gracefully, and the Vertexes have that otherworldly look that Madoka captured so well.

Likewise, the transformations are stylish and gorgeously animated, but I couldn’t help but notice how slyly the anime tries to insert gratuitous fanservice. The fanservice is not restricted to their transformations either, as on occasion, the director shoots the girls from suggestive angles. The anime wants to portray these girls as paragons of purity, yet conversely takes time out to say, “This girl has a tight body” or, “This girl has huge boobs”. I don’t know for whom this level of fanservice is directed, but there’s not enough to satiate those who crave it and it’s distracting to those who actively avoid it. However, from what I hear, the fanservice is toned down from other Yuuki Yuna properties, so I can somewhat accept it as a compromise that leans more towards my sensibilities.

“Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru” is an anime with an unassuming beginning that artfully raises the stakes as the series progresses. Despite the homogenous character design, the entire anime is exceptionally drawn and animated. The music is at times delightful, energetic, and ominous. And as a final note: The character of Yuuna is one of the kindest, most dedicated female characters in recent memory. I mean, she’s stubbornly dedicated to – not only her friends – but her ideals. Characters like her can come off as cloying, but in the second half, her hopeful nature is very reassuring. Even when the situation is at its bleakest, you can count on Yuuna to display true heroism. Those who like Magical Girl Anime with a tinge of darkness to it should give this a try. After all, you’re likely to succeed (finding a good anime) if you try.

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.

I'll try not to spoil the story, but certain words might give some important plot elements away.

I'm probably a sucker for cute girls doing cute things. Well, unless it's so iyashi it literally puts me to sleep. So seeing the Hero Club do a puppet show for a preschool turned my brain to pudding in a hurry... and then there was a literal punch line, a "Hero Punch!" line if you would. LOL.

So for the next 15 minutes or so it looks like a slice-of-life show with comedic elements. OK, cool, so why is it called Yuuki Yuuna Is a Hero?

As Yuuna is scolded ... for leaving her smartphone on, time stops. Fu runs to her sister and says, "We've been selected!" Reality fades away in a rush of petals.

Oh. This could get interesting.

There's a niche industry in Japan that caters to people who want to cry. Melodramas, beautiful music, that sort of thing. The way YuYuYu does it is... well, think Saishuu Heiki Kanojo, but more of a magical girl show.

I say "magical girl", but this ain't no Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura. The action scenes are intense, and even though these girls have the ability to save the world, it comes at a terrible price. It's more akin to Uta Kata in this respect. This price will ultimately lead to some of the most emotionally intense scenes I've ever watched in anime (even more so considering the chemistry these characters have), capping it off with an epic finale, both in action and emotional weight. This series does get a bit melodramatic, but then, it is a life-or-death scenario.

The soundtrack is a work of art in this show. The battle music combines driving beats on the synthesizer with a soaring choir, employing melodies that evoke traditional Japanese religious ceremonies. Another big battle theme evokes the valor of the Heroes, but is in a minor key, and sometimes the phrase "lamb to the slaughter" comes to mind as it plays. The songs play an important role as well-- important episodes for a character usually end in a solo by her voice actress. Other nice touches include an opening animation that changes as each Hero builds up power, and episode titles that are the "messages of flowers" (which is a thing in Japan).

The villains, such as they are, are pretty much really powerful Neuroi but with much better art style and no lasers. Why do I say Neuroi? No one knows how they originated, not even the series creators (or no one really bothers to put it in animation, anyway).

Finally, if I may be so bold, whoever is in charge of the soundtrack needs to release the song Mimori sang in the karaoke booth.

A very enjoyable, well-rounded show that wonderfully tells a story through emotions, color and flowers.

Imagine an anime being born from the visual appeal of No Game No Life, the moe from YuruYuri, and the plot of Madoka Magica having a threesome.
Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru is that anime.

The art is so crisp and clean, flaunting all those magnificient colors and oftentimes showing the beautiful contrast between hope and despair.

The music is really lovable. It's lively, yet ominous at the same time.

There were also these subtle references that I always find entertaining and interesting to spot. Just knowing that something is a reference to something ... else is fun and gives you a sense of achievement.

I overlooked Yuuki Yuuna, henceforth referred to as Yuyuyu for the sake of typing speed, while it was airing. That's a standard cutesy looking show, I thought as I clicked past in favour of something with more substance. All magical girls and fluff with no real meaning. Not what I'm looking for in a show.
I'm glad I came back to it. And now, a warning. To those of you looking for cute girls doing cute things with magic, turn away now. Close this tab, this window, and continue living your normal life as if you had never seen these words I am currently typing. ... ABORT. ABANDON SHIP. THIS IS NOT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN OR THE FAINT OF HEART. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE PUNCHED REPEATEDLY IN THE PLACE WHERE YOU FEEL PAIN BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING, LEAVE NOW. LEAVE WHILE YOU STILL CAN.



You're still there? Okay.
So on the level of the technical things, the art is very nice, use of thematic motifs throughout, some really nice watercolours; sound is unobtrusive (in other words, I didn't pay attention to it).

Narrative. The thing I do pay attention to.
On a character level, everyone is very fleshed out, there is depth beyond the surface-level trope personalities applied to each girl. You learn more about them as the series progresses, as you would expect to.
The pacing is very purposeful, I thought. The slow episodes, the fast paced fights, the gripping-tightly-to-the-edge-of-your-chair-moments, they all felt like pieces of a larger and well-thought out puzzle that made use of your expectations and played with them in ways you might not expect. The narrative is not your standard Saturday-morning-shoujo fare. "That throw-away line halfway through that ended up having a deeper meaning at the end? I meant to do that," it says with a wink as it walks away into the sunset with a confident swagger in its step.
The thematic material explored isn't something I've seen before, either. I was pleasantly surprised at the direction it decided to take.

To make a long story short, I really enjoyed Yuyuyu. It is a show about heroes, yes, but also what happens to those heroes when the fighting is over. It is quite the show, Yuyuyu. Not the show I was expecting, but better because of it. If you enjoyed Madoka, you will enjoy this. I suppose that is as good a recommendation as any. You will enjoy the time you spend in this little world, at this short fragment of time, with these small people. It will be time well spent.

Good emotional payoff but not worth suffering through its mind-numbingly boring plotting.

★☆☆☆

Spoilers from here on, because this is less of a review and more analysis.

- SPOILERS -

I was told this show was going to be like Madoka Magica, and they were partially right. Except Madoka was great all 12 episodes, even the first three slow ones have replay value once you understand the full context. Madoka Magica is pitched as a magical girl show with dark tones and little cute girls suffering. Yuki Yuna attempts the same except I’m the one that’s suffering because it’s so boring. The emotional payoff—while fantastic—is NOT worth it.

Look, there’s ... only so much time and energy we all have. We work, we go home, and our free time is precious. I can work through my Steam library of 300 games, I can finish reading The Hunger Games, I can catch up on Breaking Bad, or I can watch some anime. Point is, there’s a million alternatives I can do which are far more satisfying.

The premise is that these girls are chosen to defend the world. They can transform to have magical powers, and they fight off monsters. Turns out there’s a cost. Who knew? I do not recommend this show to anyone. It drags on far too much, and it’s so boring you’re left numb. I was begging for something interesting to happen. The emotional payoff is good I’ll admit, but it’s not worth it. Furthermore, the girls can go into a second more powerful transformation to defeat the increasingly stronger monsters, but they suffer permanent damage to their bodies like going deaf, mute, blind or even losing limbs.

It’s this sacrifice that carries the dark undertone of the show, and it’s a fantastic story element. I’m sick of power ups with no cost. Oh, there’s a new stronger enemy? Lemme get in my hyperbolic time chamber and train and go Super Saiyan 4. This is how you get power creep. But the fact that the girls literally sacrifice life and limb for their powers makes the battles a lot more engaging. Unfortunately, there’s very little action until the end of the series.

These sacrifices are hidden from the girls until they find out which drives the emotional payoff. For example, one girl wants to be a singer but later (after using her secondary power up) she goes mute. Everyone thought their injuries would heal, but they soon realize that it's permanent. There’s a great scene where the older sister realizes this and breaks down. Before, there was a heartbreaking moment where the sisters were eating dinner in silence after earlier episodes showed them eating, talking, and laughing. It's a subtle but excellent scene with set up and payoff. One of my favorites from the show.

The character and enemy designs are so generic and bland. Not that Madoka’s character designs were much better, but they had enough style to make them distinct. Here the characters look like anyone else. The enemies aren’t threatening looking in the least. They’re masses of bland parts thrown together. Madoka’s witches had that surreal, nightmarish quality to them.

I didn't watch this constantly comparing it to Madoka Magica. The similarities are shallow at best. I let Yuki Yuna stand on it own. I WANTED to like this, but Yuki Yuna is just...

So. Fucking. Boring.

The characters themselves aren’t actually interesting at all. They’re just as boring as they look. The reason the emotional payoff near the end is so great is because of the story’s set up and not the actual characters. The elements and the plot details are there so when they click together it’s great.

For example, in the third episode there’s a new girl. She’s the tough, “I don’t need friends” kind of character. The other girls eventually throw a birthday party for her and she realizes the value of friendship. Shit like that. Later there’s a big battle in the middle of the show where she doesn’t use her secondary power up. This was before they realized the bodily costs of the second power up. This was early in the show and good set up.

Later, during final battle she goes all out and uses her second power up over and over. She fights the monsters while yelling about protecting her friends. After it’s done, she’s left blind and deaf. This was the payoff, and was very satisfying.

The pacing of the show is awful. It drags and drags. It doesn’t help the characters are boring, but the actual events in the show are dull slice-of-life. They eat udon, they hang out at karaoke, they go to the beach—it’s all so mundane. There’s nothing else happening. It’s all very linear. There are no subplots to keep it exciting. And this is most of the show. I constantly felt numb at how boring it was. I kept asking “When is this going to get better?” A good show should never make you feel numb.

I kept track of how each episode left me feeling and 7 out of the 12 episodes I’ve watched were terrible. Fucking seven. That’s 58% of the show that’s shit.

- Would you watch a movie where half of it was boring?
- Would you read a book where half of it was a chore?
- Would you watch a TV series where it doesn’t get good until halfway through the season?

Absolutely not. Worse, you can’t skip the episodes either because through the boredom they sprinkle in details as set up for the later payoff. The boring episodes develop the characters and sets everything up for later, but this doesn't mean the development itself was good. You still have to make the actual, minute-by-minute screen time of the characters exciting. Just showing them off and setting up by itself isn't interesting.

Now here's the worst part. After any investment you had in these boring characters, guess what? It's all ripped away by the final episode. All their sacrifices, all the damage to their bodies, the entire emotional drive of the show is made worthless. The mute girl talks again, the crippled girl can walk now, any blindness is gone—the emotional payoff that you waited for is given and taken away by a happy ending that wasn't earned.

So was there anything I liked about the show? Little details here and there. I liked the crippled girl in the wheelchair. She was my favorite because it was a novelty.

They use smartphones to transform so it makes it feel modern.

I was so bored I actually enjoyed the fan service, and I almost never do.

The animation is good enough. There's some nice jokes.

There’s actually a lot of subtle foreshadowing which I really appreciate.

There were moments that showed character emotions and intentions instead of using cheap monologue.

I don’t recommend this show at all. The emotional payoff is fantastic and satisfying, but it’s not worth it. I’d say because I was so bored that the payoff probably felt better than it should have. The show has hints of good writing when they set things up, but most of the plotting is so fucking boring and mundane you’re left feeling numb and exhausted. This should’ve been a movie instead.

Yuki Yuna is a Hero, for now on being called Yuyu, is a magical girl series that surprised me. Being a seemly dark magical girl anime released after Madoka, and with another show making that a negative thing, (Daybreak Illusion), I really didn't go into the show with much expectation. Though Yuki Yuna is a Hero is a title worthy of being a stand alone anime that shouldn't be seen as a madoka rip off.
In a world ruled by a being named, Shinju-sama, Yuki Yuna and the Hero club help out the community. The Hero Club is chose by ... the Shinju-sama to fight off 12 monsters called vertexs. And so, the Hero Club ensembles with the power of cellphones and friendship and protect their everyday life. Though as their lives go on they learn of the truth of their duties. The brutal truth that make them question the world around them, and ask the most important question of all, why are they even fighting.
Yuyu is centered around a concept that is rather overused in the media, known as the power of friendship. While I do enjoy the concept; usually I find media to handle that concept horribly, due to fact that many shows don't exploit the actual friendship in question. Yuki Yuna does the exact opposite of that. Yuyu gets that friendship is about sticking up for your friends, but that what makes them so strong is being with them. Yuyu understands character interaction. The way the characters interact feels like how my group of friends act together, we just be ourselves. The conversations the characters feel like they do strengthen the bond between the Hero Club. It's because of those silly moments in the show that the serious moments have real impact. You feel the tension and the risk of their everyday lives, and their moments of happiness fading away.
The show is very character driven, and it’s a refreshing break from the plot and world driven show that is Madoka. The characters for the most part are likable and I really don’t think any of them are badly written. While I wouldn't call any of them complex; their simplicity is really what sells them to me. Everything about them is clear cut and simple. Even with huge explosions and fighting going on, their conflicts are understandable. Though admittedly I am a bit disappointed by the lack of inner conflicts. Yes, while I could understand what a character is going through, none of the conflicts in the characters are really personal. In short, a lot of the characters are missing the big flaw. The thing that makes them a bit more relatable. With the exception of a few, I feel that the cast is really lacking a human element. Even so, they are likable enough and I do care when something happens to one of them. By the end I felt that all of them went through some kind of character arc, and that they have grown as a person at the end.
Though...except for one... Yuki Yuna herself...Yuki Yuna is admittedly a very undeveloped character. She really doesn't have a character arc no matter how much I think about it. Yuna is kind of the same person she is at the end. She's heroic and selfless from beginning to end. So she kind of just exists for the sake of the plot and Togo as a character...Though she's not a complete Mary Sue, almost but she does have those moments when she's weak. She's not a perfect little flower, almost but no. Though despite all of that, I still cared for her at the end. For awhile I couldn't think of why I would like such an undeveloped character. Though it kind of just hit me when Yuna was fighting in the last episode. She was really similar to Hikaru Shidou, a childhood hero of mine. While Hikaru is a much better character, their personalities are similar; their outgoing and positive attitude and their I will never give up frame of mind. Yes, a bit of a shallow reason even for me, but yes I don't find Yuna to be a negative factor even though she should.
So I was pretty satisfied with the character work, even if it was nothing too complex, and it did disappointed me in some aspects.
The show’s biggest weak point is no doubt is the dialogue. I don’t think any of the dialogue is too bad, but it’s just that..some of it was bordering on cheesy due to the way the characters delivered their lines. (Both Languages) I mean someone times it worked, because it fitted some of the characters. Example, whenever Yuki screams shit about the Hero Club’s rules during battle, it fits because Yuna is a huge fan of those rules and it fits her outgoing and positive personality. Though in a case where things don’t work is when Togo screams her heart out. Yes while those lines are okay and aren’t something to complain about, what I mean is that Suzuko Mimori, while a great actress I felt like the direction given was basically: “Uhhh try to sound like you’re suffering, but...keep it cool some how...”.
The ending was a bit disappointing, I was hoping the show could go out with a bang and end with a bittersweet end, but I felt like it was a cop out. Though after re-watching the show, I have to say it fitted. The writers wanted to give the girls a happy ending, and they did it in the best way possible. While I'm disappointed, I can't say that it came out of nowhere.

Yuyu is a great treat, it's story is a spin on what is now a Madoka inspired landscape. The script and the lore is interesting enough for me even though it's simple and grabs things from Madoka. Though it really is the simpler things that make the story and characters so likable. No matter no messed up a situation is, I could always understand, emotionally what is going on. Since the show sets up its characters to be endearing and relatable.

Technically, Yuyu is quite impressive and performs well. Which is unexpected from a relatively young, Studio Gokumi. The color palate is light and fluffy, which gives the show a nice light hearted tone, but because of impressive lighting effects. The show got what it wanted across.
Directed by Seiji Kishi, Yuyu is what I'd like to say is his directing skills in one show. Yuyu has his dramatic and emotional direction tactics as well as his comedic ones. Ala Angel Beats and Carnival Phantasm. The show's comedic scenes have the familiar quick editing and goofy shots. It strangely works, despite the type of comedy this show works with is different than something like Carnival Phantasm or Persona 4. Whole those shows have comedy that relies on anime tropes greatly, Yuyu uses the familiarly of the characters and certain situations to get across it's comedy. I still found it strange that his comedic direction still works well, even though I think the style is more suited to silly anime comedy.
Kishi's dramatic directing also exists, pulling off a lot of emotion through character expressions, and dramatic shots. Though to be honest, I could have used more subtly. For example, in Togo's emotional climax, the shot is positioned right at her face. Yes, while it's okay for her to cry and scream, I felt like the scene could have been more effective if they just kept a back shot and the background being quiet. The expression while didn't bother me too much, I feel like it's a tad over the top. So I feel like the scene should have let the admittedly great acting shine through by itself. Though the scenes still come off as emotional and it still hit me. It's just my wishful thinking. The lighting is also a great factor. I noticed that in the most emotional scenes Kishi uses the darkest variations on the already existing colors. Which is nice since it shows how straining and heart breaking a scene is.
On to the music aspect, the music is composed by KEIICHI OKABE, the man responsible for my favorite video game osts. I’m was honestly surprised when I saw him on the staff list. Didn’t know he did anime osts. I found this sound track of his in particular to be a rather interesting work of his..Throughout the show I always had a lingering feeling that the music was at least inspired by Okabe, as the arrangement of instruments and vocals were similar (and actually is) his style. So when I found out that he was the composer I was kinda surprised. Surprised that it wasn’t inspired, I began to see the OST in a different manner since it was composed by someone who has impressed me before.
I began to listen and compare my impressions to his past work. After listening to the OST a few times in it’s entirety. I feel that with a lot of his work, this soundtrack, was different. That’s why I like Okabe, with each soundtrack he does for a piece of work, he does something different. Even with his style being prominent, I always felt that the music he composed was fresh each time. That is the same for the score here. Since Yuki Yuna is a show very different in terms of tone compared to Nier and Drakengard 3, the soundtrack reflects this. There are a lot of calm and more simple pieces, but there are pieces with more intensity because this is an anime. Because it is an anime, the pieces can be short and not have a loop, unlike Nier and Drakengard 3, which are video games.
And really, that's the reason why Yuki Yuna's soundtrack is my favorite anime OST of all time. It's refreshing. It's style of music is refreshing from the bombastic and SUPER DRAMATIC osts from Madoka. (Still love the Madoka OST to death tho) The action pieces uses a combo of the violins and choir, but the way the drums were used made the scenes have more of an impact on me. The emotional pieces, with the exception of one are simple and contain the right amount of punch to get emotion across. You don't have to have an arsenal of violins to make a piece emotional. All it takes is one vocal and a guitar, then maybe a bit of violin. While this isn't Okabe's best work critically, it's an OST that I honestly liked because of the context I had while listening to it.
In terms of voice acting, the cast consist of mostly new people. Which is something I adore the producers deciding, since the acting also felt fresh and different than the usual Kana Hanazawa performance. (She's in the show too by the way, she does the job like always). Though the cast do have their fair moments where they mess up. While I do think the acting is solid for the most part, there are few times where I felt like some lines could have been delivered better. Sometimes I felt like it was the director's fault (the Togo scene previously mentioned), and sometimes I just felt like the actress could have put more into it. (Yuna mostly) Still, those moments when the acting falters, they are few and far between. Plus when I was watching the show without a critical eye, I was sucked in enough to not care about the acting.
In terms of the dub, which currently only has 4 episodes out at the time of this review. I like the fact the the dub also opted for newer voice actresses. They perform well, and is about the same level of the Japanese performances, for now. Though the script is mostly faithful, I do feel like the script does changes how a few characters feel. For example, Itsuki is less reserved, calling out on her sister's crap a bit more harshly. Fu is a bit more soft, with her tone of voice slightly less...Senpai like. I actually like these slight changes. Fu comes off a bit more relatable and Itsuki is quite nice as well. Though these changes don't make the two different characters. They still are the same Fu and Itsuki we know.
Overall even with the minor hiccups, Yuki Yuna performs amazingly. Certainly one of the better shows of the 2014 fall season. Yuki Yuna is a Hero was an enjoyable experience that is everything I wanted in a show. It reminded me of the times I had as a child as well as the special moments of friendship I have now. So even if it's flawed I'll always remember it as something more than a Madoka rip off.

It's been compared to Madoka since Episode 1. But as the story progresses, it becomes pretty clear that the producers've intentionally made it similar just to play with audience expectations. The result is a well-paced, high-tension anime that somehow manages to balance super serious action mahou shoujo and blissful slice-of-life.
And that kind of hybrid actually works really well together! When the show gets dark, the characters keep their heads up by being there for each other. That's good stuff, and the perfect anchor for when the show gets really emotionally demanding into the latter half of its run.
Yuki Yuna isn't about how these girls solve ... plot problems, but rather how they react and cope with being given such a heavy responsibility.

Unfortunately, this does backfire a few times, as the-power-of-friendship and doing-my-best can lead to cheesy resolutions - Yuki Yuna isn't afraid to take plot shortcuts in order to focus on the characters' relationships. This gambit has definitely polarized reviews, but I like the direction the producers took with it.

9/10, this show is terribly underrated! (On a final note, the animation and music are shockingly good for such an obscure show.)

This magical girl anime is yet another dark magical girl anime that has been influenced by Madoka Magica. There are some similarities between this anime and Madoka, but to me that wasn't a bad thing. It was because I liked Madoka Magica and magical girl anime in genre that I decided to watch this.

The first aspect of this anime that I enjoyed was the animation. It is like Hayao Miyazaki meets the watercolor artwork of Syu (who did the artwork for Nujabes album Metaphorical Music). It is beautiful and there were times I wanted certain images as my laptop wallpaper.

The next aspect of this anime ... I enjoyed were the magical girl transformations and abilities. This is one of the things that reminded me of Madoka, but I actually like some of these girls abilities better than the Madoka ones. One girl has super-powered fists that can do "Falcon Punches", one girl has a large sword, one girl has vines, one girl has a pair of katanas, and one girl has a sniping rifle. Each girl has a basic form and then a "Mankai" form that is like a leveled up version of their original powers. The Mankai forms are basically run by "nakama power", but one girl gets her Mankai form in such a touching and kick-ass way that makes this less cliche.

The characters were the third thing I enjoyed. While three of them are reminiscent of Madoka Magica characters, all of them have genuinely care for each other as friends and get development that makes them sympathetic. My favorites included the siblings Fu and Itsuki, Togo, and Karin. Togo in particular, was enjoyable because she was a less crazy version of Homura from Madoka Magica. I also liked that even though she is a wheelchair and can't walk, she could still be a magical girl without having her disability magicked away.

As for the fourth and fifth things, they are the soundtrack and the plot. The soundtrack is nice, particularly during the girls' transformation sequences and certain battles. The plot has some nice symbolism involving flowers, a dark and interesting take on gods and sacrifices to them, nice behind-the-scenes commentary through "a hero's play", and a happier ending than that of Madoka.

With all the good aspects, you'd think I'd consider this a masterpiece. However, I feel like there is one small loose end involving a certain secondary character that prevents it from being so. Nontheless, this might be the best post-Madoka Magica magical girl anime out there and I may rewatch it (and Madoka) again sometime.

Did Puella Magi Madoka Magica make you sad? Well, worry not, my friend! There's a new superpowered monster-fighting 13-year-old pink girl in town and she has a fist with your name on it! Her name is Yuuki Yuuna and she is going to PUNCH your sadness RIGHT IN ITS STUPID FACE. The most succinct explanation of why you should watch this show is as follows - if Madoka Magica is "Magical Girl Evangelion," then YuYuYu is Magical Girl Gurren Lagann.

What are you still doing reading this? Go. Go watch it. That should've been all the convincing you need. Like, the first episode ends with her ... punching a cannonball out of the air and then punching a giant flying death monster so hard that half the thing explodes. Holy Christ, it's amazing. Just go already.

For those of you stragglers, let's start from the bare bones. Comparing this show to Madoka is honestly unfair and cheap (but the same could be said of EVA and TTGL, so the comparison still stands) because YuYuYu is absolutely brilliant of its own merit in very nearly every capacity. The art is gorgeous, the music is epic, and the plot is a fantastic showcase of everything that appeals people to the Magical Girl genre, both modern and classic. When our heroes are hit with despair, you feel it, and when they triumph, you will be cheering on the edge of your seat. The "power of friendship" has never felt so tangible - you're gonna believe.

This show's story is masterful at preying on your expectations of what's to come. As little as it deserves the comparison, this show WANTS you to think that you're watching Madoka. It wants you to keep your eyes constantly peeled for foreshadowing and eagerly wait for that "dark twist." When the final act sets in, you've forgotten all the little things that made up who these characters are and why they're doing what they're doing. Then, it reminds you. The small things - the bonds that are gained between people (reminder: this guy also directed the Persona 4 anime) - are what save the day. The main point of this show is that suffering and hard emotions aren't what makes a person strong; strength comes from standing together with people who believe in you and having the determination to push through those obstacles.

With that being said, what sets this show apart from a storytelling perspective is its use of "filler" as a tool instead of a gimmick. The overall plot to this show is streamlined, with only a single third act dedicated to the actual twists and turns of the story itself. A large chunk of the show is goofy, comedic slice-of-life with little connection to the action and the drama from later. Unlike most filler segments, these moments are used to enhance the subsequent drama instead of stall for its coming. You understand the livelihoods that these kids are fighting for. You understand how close they are to each other, so that when a big speech about "the power of friendship" is delivered in true Magical Girl form, you understand exactly what they're talking about. You get to see what is at stake - and what is already lost - when they are put in dangerous situations. As mentioned before, the bonds between people are what makes them strong in this show's moral, and so any time it can take to show you these bonds is a wonderfully calculated build-up to the final climax.

This show is a roller-coaster of clashing emotions. It's a comedy, and a serious drama, and a straight action series all wrapped up into one. What's most important, though, is that at the end of the day, all of these elements come together to a satisfying conclusion. It shows what can really be accomplished if a show is allowed to be fun in an industry that applauds angsty brooding. Get ready to cry and cheer and laugh and, overall, have fun.

Did I mention that the main character punches things really, really hard? 'Cause she does. It's awesome.

This anime was definitely a hidden gem last winter and I'm so glad I went back to watch it. While watching the series, you can't help but feel bad for the girls and wish that someone would please give them a break. At the same time, you just can't stop watching.

If you want to see a mahou shoujo anime with a great story, characters, fantastic music, shocking plot twist and a very satisfying ending, do watch Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru.

Ever since Madoka Magica's popularity skyrocketed, many people have tried to emulate it and imitate it's success. Some have succeeded whereas others failed, Daybreak Illusion being one such failure. It focused too much on shock value and being dark without properly developing its characters and giving us reasons to care about them. The most important thing in making a form of media is making it stand out from the rest. If it's too much like another work, people won't be interested in it. A form of media needs to stand on its own two feet and give us something other forms of media haven't Thankfully, ... Yuuki Yuuna Is A Hero isn't yet another Madoka Magica rip-off, and succeeded where Daybreak Illusion failed. It even did some things better than Madoka!

The story is about four girls, soon to be five, who form a club at school called the Hero Club (why they don't call it the Magical Girl Club since it's about magical girls is beyond me) who go around doing good things for people, such as putting on puppet shows for kids, giving abandoned pets permanent homes, and just doing community service for their town. Every day, they pray to a divine tree that protects them. But one day, out of the blue, they're forced into another world, fighting monsters called Vertexes that threaten the peace of the world. They become magical girls to protect their precious world because it's the right thing to do. But...there are many secrets about the Vertexes and the concept of Heroes, and what happens when they find out the truth?

The animation has a bright, soft color palette during the slice-of-life scenes, but the battle scenes are bombastic, epic, and extremely colorful, going from light to dark in a matter of seconds depending on the situation, complete with flashy lights, fiery punches, and explosions. The character designs are relatively decent, and the transformation scenes are very well animated...though I'd prefer it if they didn't close in so much on Togo's chest and sexualize the girls so much. But for the most part, there's pretty much no ecchiness at all, even though it's a magical girl anime aimed at adults, so for the most part, it's okay. The soundtrack isn't really anything special, and some of the battle tracks with vocals sound too much like bad imitations of Madoka Magica's soundtrack. But I do love the opening and ending themes. They're soft, well sung, and know when to be subtle and when to hit hard.

The characters are a bit hard to talk about. They're all amalgamations of typical magical girl cliches at first glance: the cheerful pink girl, the smart and reliable older girl, the polite blue girl, the shy cutie, and the arrogant snob. I do admit they're a bit bland and could have used more development and fleshing out, but for the most part they're relatively decent, and do have their fair shares of hobbies and interests, so they're not entirely bland. I think a few more filler episodes dedicated to them just having fun and doing what they like could have benefitted the show a lot. But they do have a decent amount of character and personality, so we have more reasons to care about them. My favorite out of all of them is Itsuki. She's the most well developed out of all of them. She wants to be strong, has a dream she wants to fulfill, is trying to overcome her flaws in whatever ways possible, and loves her friends dearly, and she isn't the cute pure girl who doesn't know anything about the situation either, no matter how much her sister tries to hide it from her. She wants to throw herself into danger, be brave, and help her friends. To me, that's a character worth respecting.

Unfortunately, there is one character I seriously cannot stand: Karin. God, I can't stand her! She's a typical tsundere, she's arrogant and has a superiority complex, acts like she's better than everyone else because she's supposedly an artificial human, her annoying voice makes my ears bleed, and she does nothing throughout the entire show until too late in the series. Really, you could cut her out of the show entirely and nothing would be lost! Plus, she claims she's an artificial human, but we see absolutely no evidence of this. She could easily pass for a normal human with the way she acts. Worst of all, the characters actually approve of her bad attitude and don't make a big deal out of it. I'm seeing this a LOT in most anime, and it's bugging me. I know it's probably shoehorning in the moral "Be nice to someone in the hopes that they'll reciprocate, see the errors of their ways, and change for the better," but wouldn't it be more believable if SOMEBODY got angry at her or called her out for being such an annoying, whiny little brat?

But this isn't the only flaw the show has. Since the series is only 12 episodes long, there isn't time to really develop the characters and explain some very crucial plot related issues. There's also the ending. I won't give anything away, but I feel it's just too happy and convenient for it's own good, and with some things not being permanent raises a lot of unfortunate implications. But I won't let those kill my enjoyment of the show. It has its problems, some minor some major, but I really enjoyed it for what it was, and it's very inspiring. I also praise it for managing to keep a good balance of both lightheartedness and seriousness without going overboard with both, complete with subtle hints and a general sense of unease throughout the series, keeping us on our toes. Daybreak Illusion tried too hard to be grimdark, and it failed in its presentation with its bland characters and no usage of basic characterization and storytelling techniques to make itself better. Yuuki Yuuna knows what it wants, but knows it has to make us care about the characters and restrain itself in getting there in order to be effective, and for the most part, it did very well.

It's not the best magical girl show out there, but I found it enjoyable. Feel free to check it out if you have the chance.

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.

Tip/s: Prepare two rounds of tissue papers.

If you like genres drama, slice of life and magical powers, then this anime is recommended for you.

Here's my review:

Story: 9/10 - I already watched many world-saving anime but this one is different. This anime tests the characters itself if they want to continue to be a hero or not. Can they sacrifice their own life, happiness, social life, goals to save the world?

Every time they use their powerful modes (Sorry. I don't remember their term.), one of their physical abilities will be disabled. But In the end, before they lose their powers and bodies, they finally saved the ... world.

Art: 8/10 - I like the art itself. It's simple, clean and well-developed.

Sound: 7/10 - The OP and ED are good and easy to understand. The background music is very good which makes my heart melt.

Character: 8/10 - Every characters has their own personalities. I like the way they help each other both on life and battle.

Enjoyment: 9/10 - Simply the best!

Overall: 9/10 - No matter how many times I rewatch it, it's still great. I'll recommend it my kids to watch this in future to teach them what and how the heroes really feel and do.

I am assuming that you are here because someone somewhere told you this show is like Madoka Magica and you like that show. If this is the case you are unfortunately going to have a bad time with this show because it is NOT like Madoka Magica and you will be expecting it to be. While the show does offer some interesting parallels to serving in armed forces and PTSD it ultimately falls flat and neuters itself with a very bad ending. This review will have very generalized story descriptions with minimal spoilers. Still, if you would prefer to go into it with you eyes ... closed.... skip to the end of the review for an overall section.

So lets get to it: On the surface Yuuki Yuuna is a pretty standard magical girls show about middle school girls doing middle school things. The girls are part of the Hero club, and become magical girls that fight evil for the guardian spirit of the Earth. The show has a tremendously long wind up (for a 12 episoder) as episodes 1-6 are basic monster of the week/ cute girls doing cute things style of anime. Again if you watched Madoka Magica and someone told you to make sure to watch to episode 3, I guess in this show it would be watch to episode 7, more than halfway through the show.

Episode 7 is where "$hit gets real" and the real themes of the show come out. For what it's worth, episodes 7-10 are quite good and deal very interestingly with PTSD, regret, shell-shock, and survivor guilt. As the story unfold you learn about the less nice aspect of the girls' powers and the toll it takes on them. As with many anime, Yuuki Yuuna focuses heavily on the theme of indomitable fighting spirit and power of friendship, which begins to ring hollow.

The ending is where the story completely falls apart. Instead of sticking with a strong and poignant story that episodes 7 onward set up, the show throws up its arms, calls on the power of friendship and undoes all of the difficult decisions and character moments leading up to it. The ending is ABSURD especially considering what is said by one of the plot relevant characters as a part of the "oh shit" moments. But everyone loves a happy ending right? /s. The outcome of the ending is also inconsistent in terms of the world of the show.

The characters in the show range anywhere from MAIN CHARACTER WITH HEART to moderate chuunibyou to "I'm too good for this shit anyways" fighter character. While the character tropes are pretty standard, they're well fleshed out, each one filling a niche. Again here the comparison to armed forces service comes in very well. You have the guy who joined to serve his country, the guy who was in who recruited the others, the younger brother who follows his big bro in, the guy who thinks he can't hack it but does it for his comrades, the guy who's been training his whole life for this moment, etc.

The art in the show is quite good with beautiful visuals during fights, and solid animation otherwise. Each of the girls has a good design and a somewhat memorable look. The sound is solid with good music, a good dub and nice sound effects. During the end quarter of the show, theres a good bit more yelling, but it's done decently.

The overall enjoyment of the show is crippled by a very long lead-up before any interesting thing happens. For 6 episodes this show is the most mediocre magical girl show I can think of. For 3-4 episodes it is a fascimile of Madoka Magica. And for the last 1-2 episodes its Dragonball Z with the power of friendship, blissfully undoing any parts of Madoka Magica that may have been lingering around.

It was a chore to reach an interesting and watchable point in the show, and it was over too soon. The ending left a horrible taste in my mouth and I wouldn't recommend it. I would suggest reading a plot synopsis on a per episode basis to get some of the thematic elements if you're into that. Skip the ending altogether unless you enjoy hackneyed bullshit.

Time and time again, I have heard this anime compared to the amazing Madoka Magica. I wasn't expecting much from this anime, but even then I was disappointed. This is my first review, and it will be spoiler free!

STORY: 7/10. Good. Basically your average magical girl plot formula, so don't expect much there. The first 6 episodes are basically just filler, and nothing happens until the last few episodes, where the show decides it wants to be all grimdark like Madoka.

ART: 7/10. Good. The areas are colorful and the character designs are cute, but they don't stand out much.

SOUND: 6/10. Fine. There was one song ... that stuck out. The opening and ending are nothing special. The music, however, fits the show pretty well.

CHARACTER: 3/10. Poor. This is the area I was most disappointed. Before watching, I had heard that this show was character driven rather than plot driven, and I hoped that I would see great character development and growth. However, the characters are not only cliche and typical, but they are complete rip-offs of Madoka Magica characters, right down to the color scheme. Fu is obviously a rip-off of Mami, Togo is exactly like Homura, and Yuna is a carbon copy of Madoka. Even Karin took some inspiration from Kyouko. The only character that didn't feel like a PMMM clone was Itsuki, but she isn't anything special herself. The only saving grace are the decent interactions between the characters during the last few episodes, but they don't do the show much, because they are quite cheesy.

ENJOYMENT- 5/10. There is a beach and hot springs episode, and there is enough fanservice for those who are into that. Like I said earlier, half of the anime is filler so if you like that then you may like this anime.

OVERALL: 4/10. Sorry, but everything about this anime is average, even for a magical girl anime. Nothing really stands out, it's all been done before, and the entire time I watched this, I was plagued by the fact that it clearly rips off PMMM.

Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru is a Studio Gokumi anime from late 2014. Yes, the same studio that brought us the fun A-Channel & that piece of garbage, Crime Edge. So, I don't know what to expect from this. But it's the end of hero month and let's hope we can end it like we began it, on a high note. Because, so far, the only good series we've looked at this month has been Boku no Hero Academia. 

Story: 

We open with our titular heroine, Yuuki Yuuna working with members of her middle school's Hero Club to put on a puppet show. Basically, these four girls get ... together to help out in other clubs, finding homes for kittens and other public services. Things change when, one day, everything freezes during class and the four find themselves in an altered landscape. It turns out the hero club has a hidden purpose, to defend the barrier created by the Shinju that preserves their world. They become magical girls, fighting whenever they're called but they quickly learn that there's a secret behind their powers and it may be too much for them. 

My biggest issue with the series, narratively, is that the final climactic turn may be a bit too easy. Basically, the big "antagonist" is too easily dissuaded from what she's doing. It kind of makes sense in context but it might work a bit better if it took a little more effort. The ending may also be a bit too predictable once things get going. Though I'd be lying if I said I disliked it. 

That being said, there are a lot of good things about the series. The events leading up to the big climactic clash are very well handled. There are some strong emotional scenes. Two of which definitely may have elicited some tears from me. The series does a good job of subverting some aspects of magical girl shows while embracing others, including the optimistic outlook. Holding on to hope is a big theme in this series and it works really well. Honestly, I appreciate that it can incorporate some elements that are dark for a magical girl series while still keeping things generally optimistic. There are too many works out there that treat dark content as something you have to go all the way with or just can't have at all. It's nice seeing something with a more nuanced take on it. I also appreciate the way the world building is handled. We don't get a bunch of boring exposition, instead they show us throughout the series what the world they're living in is like and what the more unusual elements like Shinju, Taisha and Vertexes actually are. Foreshadowing is pretty well handled as well. 

Characters:

The cast is mainly composed of five characters. Yuuna, Tougou, Karin, Fuu & Itsuki. On the surface, they're a pretty archetypal magical girl group. However, every single character goes beyond the typical tropes that they start with. Whether it's accomplished through their reactions to tragedy, their interactions with one another or their way of pursuing their own dreams. Which makes the cast quite compelling. The character interactions are quite strong as well. 

I also do like the way shifting loyalties are handled. There is solid reasoning behind them that makes sense while also revealing information about the characters in question. The only real issue I have is that the vertexes are kind of nothing villains. We know what they're trying to do and we know the basic reason why but that's about all they have. To be fair to the series, they do provide an in universe explanation for why that is. 

Art:

There are a lot of positive aspects to the art. The vertexes have interesting designs. The heroines are well designed and their magical girl forms are nicely detailed. The supernatural world where they do their fighting looks pretty interesting. The fights themselves are quite well done. They involve actual weapons too. Fuu has a buster sword. Karin uses a pair of katana. Tougou has guns. Which leads to some interesting action sequences. 

Sound:

They got some strong actresses for this series. Terui Haruka, Mimori Suzuko, Nagatsuma Juri, Kurosawa Tomoyo & Uchiyama Yumi are all really good in this. The emotions they convey just come across as so genuine and the way they converse with one another has a good level of verisimilitude to it. The music by Okabe Keiichi & Hoashi Keigo is really good as well. 

Ho-yay:

There's a general undercurrent among most of the girls. The sisters being the obvious exception. It's clear that they care about each other but it's equally clear that it's familial. The most prominent les-yay is between Yuuna and Tougou. They come across as being deep into their first feelings of romantic love. Once Yuuna figures it out they'll probably start dating. 

Areas of Improvement:

I'll try to go into these without giving too much away.

I'd make that final conversation that leads up to the climactic turn a little more substantial. 
Extrapolate on the effects change at the end a bit more. 
Have some anger directed at Fuu. Basically, Fuu knows that they could be called on to act as heroes, but doesn't tell the others. That's not much of a spoiler since it's a part of the first episode. But what bothers me a little bit is that everyone else is immediately okay with it. I'd like to see them take some time to get over the feelings of betrayal over that. I think it would make for some interesting character moments. 

Final Thoughts:

Ultimately, Yuuki Yuuna was Yuusha has a lot of good elements. It has a lot to recommend its story and its characters. It has great art, great acting and solid music. It could also be improved with more time to flesh things out properly but, for what it is, it's a great series. In the end, I'll give it an 8/10. And I do recommend it for those of you who like magical girl series that do things a bit differently. 

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

Warning: spoilers ahead

When I was first introduced to Yuuki Yuuna, I went in expecting darkness. I went in expecting tragedy. I went in expecting suffering little school girls. So I was therefore unsurprised when horrible things started happening to the characters. “Okay”, I thought, “I can enjoy this”. And I did, very much. However, there were flaws that I noticed and simply can’t ignore.

Plot: 6.5/10
As great as this anime is, there are things it definitely got wrong, and one of those was pacing. I don’t mind slice of life elements mixed in with my tragic story lines of suffering little girls. Gakkou Gurashi is ... a perfect example of an anime that balances both slice of life elements and horror/tragedy elements without killing the pacing. Unfortunately, this cannot be said about this anime. There are times when the slice of life just shows up seemingly out of nowhere, such as episode 5 when they go to find a home for a cat. It just kills the pacing. The twists in this story are great, with things slowly being revealed over time rather than all at once. You don’t learn everything about the world and about the hero system until the very end of the anime, which is something I like a lot. And let’s just talk for a moment about the mankai. The idea that magical girls suffer and pay for their actions is nothing new. We’ve seen it before. But this anime takes it to a whole new level, with heroes gaining disabilities every time they go mankai, eventually losing all functions of their body and turning into logs. It’s an idea I haven’t seen before and it’s so great. The author is so cruel to his characters though. I can imagine him sitting in front of his computer planning out the story and saying “hmmm should they die or turn into vertexes when they use their powers. No, I have a better idea. Let’s give them disabilities instead lol.”

Now you may be asking “if you loved the plot so much, why does it only get a 6.5/10?” The answer is the ending. Rarely do you come across an anime with an ending as lazy as Yuuki Yuuna’s. Basically, they all get better in the end. Now, this is not horrible in and of itself. I’ve had happy endings to tragic stories before that I loved. Higurashi is a fine example of a happy ending done right. However, this anime’s happy ending comes out of nowhere, makes no sense, and contradicts everything that has been said thus far. All the drama, all the urgency, all the pain and suffering these characters went through in order to save the world, all of it meant nothing at all. Suffering and sacrificing for the sake of the world is fantastic. It’s a great idea. Here are these heroes at the end of episode 4, helpless, having lost everything, but knowing it was for the sake of saving the world and the people in it. But then the writers were like lolnope. This is borderline Angel Beats levels of bad, with events taking place that had no impact on the plot whatsoever. There’s so many problems with this ending I don’t know where to begin. First of all, why did they get better? Like, why them? There were countless heroes before them, based on what I heard. Why did none of them get better? And don’t tell me it’s because none of them tried to rebel against the system before. If there really were a ton of heroes before them, wouldn’t at least one of them have the same idea Togo did? Second, why did only Yuuna not get better? She was in a magic coma for a while. That was another thing I had an issue with. What the hell is up with this coma. I mean, ignoring the question of why the hell she’s even allowed out of the hospital, since it’s against hospital regulations for her to be allowed out, why does she come back? She just all of a sudden comes back from the coma grave and says “Togo… I heard your voice…” Um, excuse me, what? That isn’t how a coma works. You cannot hear people. You cannot see. You cannot do literally anything. But apparently this is like some kind of magic coma where you can hear people and can come back to life because you heard your friend’s voice. I’m beginning to think they hired guest writer Jun Maeda to write this ending for them.

Characters: 7/10
I know I say this a lot in my reviews, but I really want to give this a higher score. I wish I could give the characters a 9/10, but I can’t for a few reasons. First of all, they don’t really develop that much. I mean, if you asked me to name everything I knew about Fuu, I’d tell you she was a leader and she loved her younger sister. But that’s true at the beginning of the series and that’s true at the end of the series. Yuuna also doesn’t change or develop. She’s the Genki Girl who fights for love and justice to protect her precious friends. Itsuki is pretty much a prop from start to finish with nothing interesting about her other than she likes to sing, used to develop Fuu. However, despite these flaws, the way the characters interacted was beautiful as well as their reactions to the others’ problems. Episode 9 illustrates this very well with Fuu’s reaction to her sister’s inability to sing for the music group she wanted to. She completely breaks down, drowning in grief and guilt at the knowledge that it’s her fault her sister had this happen to her. I mean ffs, the episode is literally titled“Those Who Know Grief”. Every interaction between the characters feels meaningful, even if the scenes they are in don’t. They establish relationships and reinforce bonds, especially with Karen. She is far and away the most developed character in the show. The person she started out as and the person she became between episodes 3 and 11 are almost as different as pre-mercy kill Homura and post-mercy kill Homura. She goes from being an introverted tsundere with no friends to being comfortable with these girls and seeing them as friends, people she’s willing to sacrifice parts of her body for. Seriously episode 11 was one of the most emotional episodes for me, since I love Karen.

Art: 8/10
The character designs were gorgeous and the surreal look of the dimension where they fight the vertexes looks great, although there may be people who argue with me on that. The mix between traditional animation and CG was noticeable but not distractingly so. It was pleasant to look at, and that’s really all I look for when it comes to art in an anime.

Sound: 10/10
The music in this show is amazing, reminding me a lot of Madoka music. The exciting parts are made even more hype by the bad ass choir in the background. The sad parts are made even sadder by the music. It’s one of those soundtracks that I can just put on and listen to all day. It’s music that I can hear and be like “Oh, that’s Yuuki Yuuna music”. Also worth a mention is the series’s opening song. Seriously, I could listen to that shit all day long. So relaxing. It reminds me a lot of the second opening to Higurashi.

This anime had the potential to be great. It had fantastic ideas. It had a good opening, lulling us into that false sense of security. However, the characters are underdeveloped and the pacing is broken by the slice of life that’s put into the middle of it seemingly for no reason. Like, honestly, what did that cat scene accomplish? The real killer, however, was the ending. It was a lazy cop out that served no purpose than to give us a happy ending. There was a comment I read about it once that sums is up perfectly: “behold, the hardest, most cynical downer ending ever written, ruined by Deus Ex Machina.” You know with the underdeveloped characters and poor ending, you’d almost think this was written by the same writer as school days…

Oh wait…