Manaria Friends

For a show about a psychotic lesbian stalker and her oblivious victim/pet, Manaria Friends turned out to be a lot more mellow and hollow than I would have wanted or liked. Manaria Friends is a show about nothing, it is a show where princess Anne and Grea say each other's names to themselves at least 3 times per episode and yet is too afraid to commit to an actual confirmation of their relationship beyond subtext and teasing.

Coming into the show expecting to see the relationship of future Empress Anne and Grea is a task in its futility. As said earlier, beyond some occasional psycho ... lesbian stalker moments, the show never really has a full grip on what it wants to call the duo's relationship with each other. Are they just very good friends? Who knows. The show apparently isn't interested in knowing either.

Even with such weak characters and plot, Manaria Friends does excel in one regard. Relaxation. The slow pace and focus on the environments as well as long drawn out shots of either of our protagonists soothes the mind and is the perfect remedy for a hard day in the office. Background art is vividly detailed with just the correct lighting and color palette so that it doesn't overstimulate the senses. The brilliant soundtrack too, immerses one fully in the world of Manaria, inviting the viewer to join in.

Despite its misgivings I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with Manaria Friends. But I'll have to look elsewhere to get my yuri cravings. It's an alright show if you know what you're getting into, a relaxation aid with the occasional scene here and there to tease on potential romantic developments with Empress Anne and her pet Grea that will never come. Oh well.

5/10

What if I told you that there’s a school for gods, humans, and demons? Mysteria Academy is such a school where these races can all unite together to study in peace. Cygames, known for their innovative game projects, bought the Rage of Bahamut social game into anime form a few years ago. Now it’s Manaria Friends’ chance.

Notoriously known for its production issues, the series was delayed for several years since its announcement. It’s a bit unusual considering the show isn’t even full length (12-15 minute length episodes). Yet, it took nearly 4 years for this to make it onto the TV screen. Given its context, ... you really shouldn’t expect this show’s storytelling to be similar to the original Bahamut series. This is more of a fusion of supernatural, magic, school life, fantasy, and perhaps a little bit more…

Despite my experience with the previous Bahamut shows, watching Manaria Friends felt like a breath of fresh air. It’s known for its cheek humor, fan service, relationship development, and slice of life storytelling. Mysteria Academy itself has a rich history and we discover the depths of its secrets. However, what attracted me the most to this show are the main characters: Anne and Grea. As a human princess, Anne is known for her academics and social status at school; think of her as a role model. On the other hand, we meet Grea, a half-dragon girl with a mystique and peculiar personality. Throughout the show, it’s no secret that their relationship develops and reaches deeper levels that goes beyond than just fellow classmates.

It really isn't rocket science to figure out that Anne is attracted to Grea. Early in the show, she is fascinated by her beauty and ability to shed skin. The amount of blushing is also clear evident that Anne likes Grea more than a friend. Even when they’re not together, Anne is constantly thinking about Grea or adding her name into conversations. A more symbolic example occurs in one episode when the two are on a boat date. In one particular scene, the two gets intimately close that strongly builds the “ship tease”. As such, fans of shoujo-ai should be delighted about the direction of this show. However, anyone expecting a serious plot will be disappointed. Even with one particular mid-season episode that features a goblin/golems invasion, more than half the series consists of lighthearted slice of life. The comedy makes up a bulk of the series with its character interactions and goofy character cast. This includes clumsy girls like Lou who often makes a fool of herself with her klutzy behavior.

But as a fantasy slice of life, I should warn you to pretty much accept the anime as it is. What it advertised is what you’ll get. And despite the years of delay, production quality remains generally the same as I remember from some of the key visuals and early teasers. Don’t expect your mind to be blown away. For a 10 episode anime, there’s not much home to write about the plot in the end either. Treat this as a slice of life with doses of girls romance and mix of fantasy. Cygames’ meta verse world is complex and Manaria Friends has a spot in its place.

A very cute series that is a nice slice of life anime to watch on a slow day. I wish there were more episodes but you can tell from the beginning that this show wasn't meant to last. It lacked substance but it was filled with interesting characters. This show is simply about the friendship between two princesses. There is not much to this show but it's a little cute ride.

The music was nice but forgettable. The piano playing was nice as was the singing from the student council president. So the voice acting is on point and truly enjoyable.

Manaria Friends, Mysteria Friends, Shingeki no Bahamut whatever is finally out after having been stuck in production hell for years in a will it, won’t it type situation. The big question though, was it worth the wait?

Originally I thought this was going to be a full length standard anime series. You know the 12 episode 24 minute format. Instead the show was downgraded to 10 episodes at about 15 minutes a piece which is disappointing especially from a story perspective. Then again the Shingeki no Bahamut universe was known more so for having cool and fun characters rather than a cohesive story. Manaria Friends stays ... true to its world by continuing this trend. As a slice of life type show there really isn’t a story. Most of it is just daily school life in a fantasy world centered around the shows main characters in a will they won’t they get together scenario. Did I mention that these two characters happen to be female, and not just female but one is half dragon. That’s right this isn’t your normal fantasy slice of life this is a shoujo ai bordering on yuri with a thicc dragon who pines for the princess. Unfortunately they never tread past the point of no return and instead we are left feeling unsatisfied. The first episode showed promise of interspecies love yet mellows out the rest of the way. No wonder why they made the show so short. There is barely enough passable material for 5 episodes. The art and animation is pleasant to look at which is surprising for a show like this. Sound is pretty unremarkable with nothing that stands out. Overall, the show relies heavily on the promise of yuri with thicc dragon girls but ends up bamboozling the audience with a potential spicy forbidden love story that goes nowhere.

There’s something fascinating about the way fantasy anime has trended away from grand epics and adventure narratives in the past few years, instead favoring slice-of-life stories that use their fantastical elements as mere window dressing to a paired-down human story at their center. Sure, most isekai will still have enough Tolkien-inspired monster fighting to keep the sakuga nuts appeased, but the actual meat of their stories will still be focused on its characters just living their lives in this unusual, enchanting world. And even the small handful of high-profile fantasy adventure shows that have come out recently (Made in Abyss comes to mind) are still ... heavily tonal in nature, relying on atmosphere and tone-setting just as heavily as plot progression. Perhaps we’ve all gotten burned out on great epics after FMA Brotherhood successfully instilled the image of the definitive fantasy adventure in our collective consciousness, perhaps the increasingly cash-strapped industry is budgeting its resources, but either way, between your average seasonal isekai and The Ancient Magus bride, low-key fantasy seems to be the same of the game for the time being. And that’s not inherently a bad thing; there’s plenty of value in stories that aim for comfort over challenge, and who wouldn’t want to experience what it feels like to live in the magical lands that capture their imaginations?

That said, if there’s one thing that Mysteria Friends has confirmed for me, it’s that sometimes, I really miss anime’s ability to go all-out with fantasy. Because while it’s by no means a bad show, it’s a show that I was constantly wishing was able to be so much more than its status as a 10-episode, 15-minute-per-episode short series allowed it. It’s a small, cramped window into a world that I want to get lost in as completely as I get lost in the sprawling fields of Amestris, or the lush landscapes of your average Ghibli fantasy. Structurally, it feels like a spin-off of an already existing property, set in the same universe as a sprawling cast of lovable characters from an entirely different show and just focusing on a couple of fan favorites who were popular enough to warrant their own offshoot property. And whereas this hypothetical parent show would likely be a magical high school Harry Potter romp along the lines of Blue Exorcist, with danger and camaraderie and secrets aplenty to keep the excitement high, this offshoot is a series of loose vignettes, checking in on a pair of students’ blossoming relationship throughout their daily lives at Mysteria Academy. In doing a little research, I found that this was exactly the case: Mysteria Friends is an adaptation of a spinoff of the Rage of Bahamut fantasy series, which I have no experience with and only vaguely know as a surprisingly well-respected card game adaptation. Evidently, I’m going to have to check that series outa t some point, because the possibilities this spin-off only hints at are so tantalizing they almost hurt to think about.

Set in an academy for young wizards and witches in Medeival Fantasy World #3,456,738, Mysteria Friends plops you right in the middle of the action and starts the ball rolling as if it expects you to already know what it’s on about, befitting a spin-off of a property it likely expects its audience to be relatively familiar with. Luckily, that was no barrier to a Rage of Bahamut noob like me, as the world of this show is self-contained enough not to need any outside info to properly contextualize. Like I mentioned above, it takes the form of a series of vignettes following the daily lives of students Anne and Grea, a princess and a dragonborn, high-spirited and shy respectively. On a broader sense, that’s all there really is to this show: snapshots of a much bigger life in a much bigger world, just the faintest taste of what it must be like for these two girls to go to magic school together. The closest comparison point I can think of is Ancient Magus Bride; it has the same sense of languid, lived-in pacing, albeit splitting the difference between not being as consistently original as Magus Bride while not being as painfully slow either. There’s no greater meaning, there’s no higher purpose, and there’s nothing much to chew on if you’re not fond of either well-made yuri fluff or well-made fantasy backdrops. Thankfully, I happen to be incredibly fond of both of those things, and as simple and paired-down as Mysteria Friends is, there was something so wonderfully absorbing about it that just kept pulling me back short episode after short episode.

Really, what it comes down to is the strength of its execution; Mysteria Friends only has a couple balls in the air, but it delivers on those balls incredibly well. The fantasy world we catch in the margins of this relationship is eminently fascinating, the kind of mystery you just want to dig into and unravel for yourself. There’s a part in episode 2 where Anne goes into the forbidden section of the library to find a particular book, and instead of just being a chained-off section of bookshelves, it’s an entire extradimensional space that she has to traverse one challenging environment at a time. And that’s all just happening in the background, as a montage of moments that flash by that offer mere glimpses of the wonders she’s going through. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to jump through the screen, slow the show down, and spend every second walking through this planar marvel along Anne’s side, just to experience it for myself. That sensation permeates the entire show, aided by consistently fluid and pleasing animation and a comforting piano soundtrack. Meanwhile, Anne and Grea’s relationship is so warm and comforting that it doesn’t matter how meaningless the rest of the supporting cast is; these two alone are enough to carry the show. Their relationship isn’t a journey or a challenge; it just is, in the way only people completely at home with each other can truly be. They ain’t at Hibiki and Miku’s level, but they have that same comforting afterglow that makes all my worries seem to wash away whenever they’re around. Sometimes, things just have to be to be special.

And that’s my opinion of Mysteria Friends as a whole. It simply is, existing to be taken on its own merits or not. It has no pretensions or illusions, merely existing as a window into another world, a world where life goes on just as simply and straightforwardly as it does in our world, just with a little more magic and a few more lesbians. And on those terms, I’m happy for the time I spent looking through that window, even if I’m definitely hungry for the chance to squeeze my body through that gap completely and explore this universe of possibility from the inside.

Decided to pick up a quick series that plays out as a slice-of-life, even though it takes place in a bit of a different world. My understanding is that it's based in the world of Rage of Bahamut, a different series, but it's not a required watch at all.

Story & Characters: Mysteria Friends is a quick, ten episode series that takes place in a magic academy, and focuses on two princesses from different kingdoms. Anne is very dedicated to her duties, but you can tell she'd rather have a bit of her own life. She's a bit of a prodigy in using ... magic and is clearly looked up to by her peers. She doesn't seem to have a wide circle of friends though, and sees her classmates as peers, rather than friends. That is, outside of Grea. She is born from a dragon and a human, which comes with its own complications as it is. Like Anne, she doesn't have a wide circle of friends, but find comfort in each other's company. Grea's physical attributes are quite exceptional, likely from being part dragon, but she's a gentle giant.

The story structure itself really isn't much of anything. Like I alluded to earlier, the story elements are very brief, and each episode seeks to make a quick problem and solution right away. Nothing's really fleshed out, and this series plays out as pretty shallow as a result. Each episode spans roughly fourteen minutes, though curiously, two to three minutes plays after the episodes' credits. Those two to three minute segments never have anything to do with the episode it's contained within, and it makes it feel kind of misplaced and random. While the pacing of the episode is strong, those segments at the end stagger them a little bit.

Side characters are mostly non-existent, and that in itself isn't really a problem for a series of this nature. Owen is Anne's faithful servant, and he's mostly likable. He's never a distraction, though one of the episodes does hint that he can be a bit of a goofball. Still, episode two and ten kind of reflect his commitment to his duties and he was a strong inclusion. Hanna is the student class president and isn't really much of anything. As much as she's fine in the role, you don't really sense she's above anyone else in terms of anything, outside of maybe popularity. Miranda is one of the academy's teachers and she was a fine distraction in one of the episodes, as strange as she was. Lou, one of Anne's classmates, pops up every now and then, but she doesn't really add anything.

Still, Anne and Grea would be why you're watching Mysteria Friends. The multiple moments of anxiety when they are separate are very apparent, especially with Grea. They spend most of the series tackling some problem or another, some of which are trivial, and while they come out ahead in most of them, it's not really a deep dive into the problem. For Girls Love watchers, hints of such seem pretty obvious here and there, but I believe the goal is on friendship here. Anne's playful characteristics is a perfect match for the shy and timid Grea and it's those opposites that reflect the series' best moments.

While getting to the end, the sense of direction isn't really there, so outside of episodes one, two and ten, the rest could have been viewed in basically any order. That's unlikely why you're watching this series to begin with regardless. The ending is sweet and was probably the best place to leave our two characters. (Story: 6/10, Characters: 8/10)

Art: Cygames Pictures isn't really a studio that's everywhere in the anime world, but they do a pretty admirable job here. They have no real flaws that show up in some bigger names, so that in itself keeps them ahead of them at times, even if the ceiling is lower. (8/10)

Sound: Similarly, I have no real issues with the sound production here. Most of the OST is made up of piano tunes in the early going and some of the later tracks do get a little more exciting. Avery Smithhart (Grea) was the strongest of the crew, which comes off as a nice surprise, as I'm not familiar with her work outside of Scum's Wish, where she was mediocre, and O Maidens in Your Savage Season, where she was hilarious. Cat Thomas (Anne) is someone I'm back and forth on similarly, and I didn't love her work here. She had moments where her lines felt more "said" than acted, and I'm not sure it was the best fit. Adam Gibbs (Owen) and Hilary Haag (Lou) have been around forever, and are both predictably strong here. (8/10)

Overall: Mysteria Friends is a short series that shouldn't have strong expectations, due to the episodic length. It's still worth watching because Grea and Anne are great, and it's not a huge time commitment regardless. You can basically ignore all the side characters and still have a decent time. (7/10)

I think this anime had a lot going for it, but imo it turned out to be lackluster at best.

The plot is almost entirely missing. It seems the entire show is just about two girls doing random things with each other and sometimes there's conflict. The fight scenes aren't that bad but they're not very good either. I'd say they're more there for the sake of giving the girls something else to do together, rather than being truly engaging and filled with a sense of angst and potential danger. Now, there are a lot of cute moments between the girls, but even that is superseded ... by the fact that their relationship never develops properly, which brings me to my next point.

Unfortunately, the relationship between the two characters is always kept in the dark. I believe this was one of the best things the show had going for it, but the delivery was awful. Their relationship between each other basically ends the same as it began; in some weird state between good friends and romantic interest. There are plenty of moments where you think "Oh wow, they're such good friends", and there are plenty of moments where you think "Okay, so they're into each other, right?" but in the end you're always left wondering. It never develops to a satisfying conclusion (or even develops at all). It's basically just a huge tease with no real action besides a hand touch here and there.

That being said, as I mentioned I do think there are some good things about this show. I very much enjoyed the art style, though I wouldn't say it's the best. The music in the anime is very nice and relaxing and I quite enjoyed that. There were a lot of really cute moments between the main characters, and a few emotionally impactful ones, though there isn't too much in the emotional department. I think if they put more emphasis on the development of the relationship between the girls and added more direct yuri, it would have been much more successful as the characters are great and have a lot of good qualities, they're just never really explored and neither is their relationship. Its really unfortunate. They should have taken this and run with it but it's more like they army crawled backwards through the mud.

I'd say give it a try, but don't expect much. What you see in the first few episodes what you'll get in the rest of the anime.

Frankly, as I haven't done much research, I have no idea how this is related to Shingeki no Bahamut besides it being related to Cygames and the fact the end of episode one shows a picture of Favaro and Kaisar. In my opinion, everything from the (main) characters (whom are polar opposites) to the story line (which there is no story) is a completely different feel from Bahamut besides maybe the art. Though one could say that's what makes it unique. Unfortunately there's no real story and we never get anything exciting like peering into the royalty lives of either princess. There's definitely a lover's ... vibe between the two princesses throughout the show, though it stays PG13. I guess we'll leave that to the people of the doujinshi world. To me, Manaria Friends wasn't bad per se, but it wasn't amazing. If I were you, I wouldn't go into this expecting much out of it but to just watch it for fun.

Who I'd recommend this to: anyone who wants a quick watch for a chill nonsensical slice of life with some magic in it. The show isn't very intense and is pretty lax throughout. There's some points in the show where they try to mislead you to make you think another way, but that's about it.

"You look like a work of art," Princess Anne tells Grea during a brief, stage fright scene behind the curtain.

Grea is half-human, half-dragon and is dressed in an elegant pink gown. Her outfit is a stark contrast to her usual white long-sleeved polo and maroon skirt. Anne consoles her with a backstage rehearsal of their lines, which they deliver in contrived British accents, and the episode draws to a close just right before they're called up on stage.

I start this review by recounting this scene because it accurately describes how I felt while watching this anime. Just like Anne, I was fairly impressed ... by the animation and production value of the show. The image of a dragon in a dress is, quite frankly, befitting to the show because it's rather ridiculous from a narrative perspective—it's trying too hard to be something it's not.

But for the odd spectacle that Mysteria Friends puts out, I would be doing a grave injustice if I fail to acknowledge what swells beneath the surface. There are certain aspects of the show that Mysteria Friends gets right. But as a callback to the scene I touched on at the start of this review, the episode ends before we see Anne and Grea's performance.

And this is exactly what happens throughout Mysteria Friends' short, 10-episode run: the carpet is pulled out from underneath the main characters before any chances of character development or progression take place.

STORY

Mysteria Friends is a slice of life iyashikei anime, and its premise is fairly simple. Two girls, Anne and Grea, attend the prestigious Mysteria Academy, where they embark on a series of hijinks and adventure. Both happen to be princesses of opposing nations, and they "struggle" to balance school duties with their royal obligations.

I use quotation marks to describe their struggle because Anne excels at academics and is a skilled mistress of witchcraft. Meanwhile, the show does nothing to explore Grea's backstory, and it significantly detracted me from my enjoyment of the show.

From a narrative perspective, the story is a disjointed mess. There is no continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential, episode-by-episode fashion. This isn't to say that a non-serialized approach to storytelling doesn't work. It does. But for Mysteria Friends, the episodes simply don't flow organically from one to the next.

The first episode, for instance, touches on the relationship between Anne and Grea. But in the next episode, Grea immediately falls ill with a strange fever, and Anne takes matters into her own hands by exploring a forbidden library to find a cure. Putting these episodes after each other seem to trample on the blossoming seeds of their friendship before it even has the chance to grow. Placing Anne in a position where she has to deal with a near life-or-death situation is careless and premature. Even when she finds the cure, I found myself asking: Why would I root for Anne in this situation if she doesn't even know how she feels about Grea yet? Why would she go through all these lengths to save someone she barely knows? Why should I even care?

Since I've already touched on the "questionable" nature of Anne and Grea's relationship, I want to point out that Mysteria Friends is seasoned with yuri undertones. I'm about as thirsty for yuri content as the next anime fan, and finding a show about a princess and a dragon girl falling in love makes me feel like I've struck gold. The story is by no means original, but it makes Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid seem like child's play.

To say the least, Kobayashi is a mindless ecchi fever dream. Riko, a third-grader, makes orgasmic facial expressions when she so much as GRAZES fellow schoolmate Kanna (a dragon loli) in the playground. Quetzalcoatl (another dragon side character) exists solely to show off her oversized, bouncy tits EVERY SINGLE TIME she's on screen.

Mysteria Friends serves up none of this ridiculous garbage. The weirdest scene we get is Anne taking a deep whiff of Grea's shed dragon skin, but these lurid moments are few and far between. Rather, Mysteria Friends is a wholesome, slow-burn romance about two girls awkwardly coming to terms with their burgeoning attraction for each other. It's subtle, but it's there. And sometimes, that's all we need.

The fact remains that for a story set in a fantasy world where humans, gods, and demons co-exist, there is little to no world-building that takes place in Mysteria Friends. If only it had taken inspiration from Little Witch Academia, which excels at setting the scene.

LWA fully immerses the viewer into Luna Nova Academy and explores relevant locations such as the New Moon Tower and Professor Ursula’s observatory. But in Mysteria Friends, we get close to nothing. Even with each episode’s short 12-minute duration (and three-minute, post-credit epilogue), it is no excuse for its untapped world-building potential, and this might well be my biggest disappointment in the show.

Score: 2/10

CHARACTERS

Anne and Grea's romantic friendship is the main focus of the story. Anne is the princess of Mysteria Kingdom and a master of magecraft. As a young girl, she is driven by her boundless determination to protect her Kingdom (and Grea) from harm. However, her good intentions often backfire due to her lack of restraint. In one episode, she ends up blowing up nearly half of the Academy in an attempt to rescue Grea. But for all of Anne's magic powers, she ends up isolated from her peers and often takes shelter in the school library. Deep down, she yearns to break free from her shackles of rule and routine, and even sneaks out of her castle to return to Grea’s waiting arms.

Grea shares Anne's burden of royal duties as a princess, but the extent of her obligations and how she balances it with schoolwork is never explored in the anime. All we know about her is that she's shy and soft-spoken, but the anime never delves into why. Is it because she feels like an outsider in her own family? Could she possibly be seeing herself as an odd duck in a Academy that claims to “teach magic without discrimination” when she’s the only non-human student? Maybe she’s struggling with body dysmorphia because her dragon tail is too big for her body? These are crucial questions we will never get the answers to.

In the very first episode, she is shown eating alone before being joined by Anne. Whenever Anne so much as approaches Grea, she immediately clams up, blushes, and averts her gaze. While this could imply that she's flattered by the attention that Anne shows her, I have reason to believe that she suffers from some case of social anxiety.

Let me just say it: the idea of two princesses (and one that's half-dragon, at that) from opposing factions gravitating towards each other to form a full-fledged romance is bursting with potential. The rustic, idyllic allure of Mysteria is an aphrodisiac; one powerful enough to encourage two teen girls to fall in love. When Anne chances upon a love potion and asks herself, "But would this work on a girl?" it's almost as if the show doesn't trust its storytelling abilities to achieve the romance it set out to portray.

For all of the show's attempts to build up Mysteria Academy, the love story amounts to nothing more than a house of cards. And it follows this simple formula: Anne and Grea bashfully say each other's names then exchange nothing more than four sentences over the course of an entire episode. These awkward exchanges are punctuated by Grea's incessant moans of discomfort or bashfulness. If I were to black out my screen, my mother would probably think that I'm watching masturbation porn. I shit you not.

In some select episodes, however, these timid interactions were endearing. There is no doubt that the pair has chemistry, and the best example of this is when Anne accidentally falls on top of Grea while they're riding a rowboat. They blush, share awkward glances, and it’s electrifying. But once the tension has died and things drift back to normal, we're back to the dull, languid pacing of the show. As a viewer, it feels like being forced to sleep after running on a treadmill.

The rest of the characters on the show are meaningless. The only other character I recall is a pink-haired girl who's basically a klutz (the only reason I remember her is because Hillary Haag voices her). Every time she's on screen, she's either crying, whining, or tripping over her own feet. But this clumsiness isn’t funny, it’s ill-placed and disruptive. Even though the anime focuses on Anne and Grea, I wish there had been more effort to develop some of the characters, instead of reducing them to paper-thin, acrylic figure stands.

Score: 2/10

ART

As an anime from the relatively unknown CygamesPictures studio, the animation quality is truly a feast for the eyes. The Medieval landscapes are mildly reminiscent of the gorgeous landscapes in Violet Evergarden. The rows of shelves in the Mysteria library are evocative of the C.H. Postal Company and there were moments when I simply wanted to step into my screen to experience the beauty of Mysteria Academy in the flesh. I'll give major props to Cygames for the amount of intricate detail they placed in each frame of this show.

Anne's character design is nothing we haven't seen before—long orange hair, a full fringe, and emerald eyes—but it matches her naivety. Grea, on the other hand, is your typical cute monster girl. She has short purple hair, black horns, wings, and a tail. While they have distinct character designs, they don't stand out from the rest of students at Mysteria (it can be rather jarring to have a show's main characters stand out and make everyone else appear lackluster, though this is a personal preference). My only gripe with the art is that the colors were a lot more pastel than I would've preferred, but the lack of vividness might have been intentional since Mysteria Friends is technically a historical romance SoL.

The camerawork is an interplay between long, languid shots that capture the austere, monolithic appeal of the Academy (and its nearby town) and close-up shots of Anne and Grea's facial expressions/body language. These visual cues communicate an overall sense of wistful longing that neither Anne nor Grea are able to convey through words.

This isn't to say that the show is devoid of spectacle since it has its fair share of action scenes. But one scene that will remain tattooed on my mind is when Anne dances along to Grea as she plays the piano in an abandoned palace in the woods—an almost painful reminder of Kaori and Kousei from Your Lie in April.

Score: 6/10

SOUND

The sound is undeniably the strongest part of this series. The OST is composed of soothing compositions and sad piano pieces that align with each scene’s emotional weight. The sound screams of yearning, and is equal parts tumultuous and subdued. The piano plays a key element in the sound design, and even shows up in the anime as a focal point in Anne and Grea’s relationship. Other sound effects such as splashes of ocean water and the chilly wind of falling snow were lush and added an extra layer of realism to the show.

I’d like to point out that even Mysteria Friends doesn’t turn dialogue into a narrative crutch—an issue that plagues almost a majority of slice of life anime. I have nothing against dialogue-driven narratives, but it should be paired with unique directing techniques and visual storytelling to keep viewers engaged.

The SoL genre has practically degenerated into nothing more but 20-minute straight dialogue in a single episode, with absolutely zero effort to make these conversations seem interesting. Mysteria Friends understands that less is more, and that silence carries more meaning than words ever can.

As a short series with little dialogue, the VAs didn’t have much to work with but they did their job fairly well. I’m both a sub and dub watcher, and I opted to watch Mysteria Friends dubbed (as a huge fan of Yuigahama from Oregairu, I’ve made it a personal goal to track down all of the anime that Nao Toyoma and Cat Thomas have starred in). Avery Smithhart and Cat Thomas played their roles well, but I was thoroughly impressed at Cat Thomas speaking German for the spell incantations.

Score: 6/10

ENJOYMENT

I can’t turn a blind eye to Mysteria Friends’ total lack of world-building and character development. But for all its flaws, the series had an oddly strange pull and I told myself that I’d watch “just one more episode.” Perhaps it’s the short series format or my infatuation with Cat Thomas (mostly the latter), but something at the back of my mind tells me that I was truly invested in this show. Even as if I’m typing this, I wish that there was more to the mysterious world of Mysteria as there’s really nothing quite like it.

From what I’ve gathered, Mysteria Friends is a standalone spin-off loosely based off of the characters in the Rage of Bahamut and Granblue Fantasy mobile games. As I have no interest in gameplay, the next step is to move on to the next yuri/romance, hoping it’ll make up for Mysteria Friends’ lack of central lore.

Score: 5/10

FINAL VERDICT

Mysteria Friends is a wholesome slice-of-life anime that takes a subtle approach to its yuri themes. At first glance, one might confuse it as a gem among rocks and stones, but a closer inspection reveals that it’s nothing more than an authentic-looking jewelry replica that lacks deeper substance.

Anyone coming into the series expecting a serialized narrative will end up sorely disappointed as the story is composed of short, standalone vignettes. Yuri fans, however, are in for a treat because this isn’t your standard, run-of-the-mill romance that relies on fanservice or slapstick comedy to get its message across.

FINAL SCORE: 5/10

Manaria Friends, also called "Mysteria Friends" can be described as the perfect illustration of a "fantasy highschool slice of life with soft romance genre".

Indeed, it features an extremely calm, peaceful and magical world where humans, elf, semi-humans and other ferric creatures. They are all students living in the Mysteria Academy which teaches them how to use properly their powers and classical subjects we could study ourselves (such as literature, history, biology, etc). The anime will focus on Anne, a human princess and Grea, a wonderful and attractive semi-human semi-dragon. Talking about dragons, I'm currently listening (for a few days actually) to Skyrim's Theme... is that ... a sign ?

Well, we will follow during 10 episodes, 10 of their student days. It fits the slice of life genre by its simple but magical scenes, going from a lecture to a city trip between girls. The man characters are catching and attractive, especially Grea who has a certain originality of being a semi-human/dragon. That includes her having a tail and horns, some body parts which particularly attracts her best friend Anne, and she won't hide her desires.

I don't think there is a global plot, each episode could be taken in any order (except for the last one which ends Manaria Friends) and features a different scene. Actually, every episode is extremely different : for example, one focuses on a beach trip when the previous one focused on combat training. Basically, we get to follow how we would study if magic existed in the world.

How I felt watching this anime can be summed up with a few words : peaceful, relaxed, calm,... This is what it brings, a very chilling atmosphere without any sort of violence or darkness, just the crossed story of 2 young teenagers living in a fantasy world. They will also discover love & disappointment in their lives, though their friendship won't break ! Testifies the latest episode which represents also a school break. Indeed, both friends agree to spend more time together, sharing a room for the next semester. Ah god, the very awaited moment where our favorite dragon girl would spend a night (she accepted Anne to sleepover in her place) with her best friend... won't actually happen. Well, we know it WILL, but we won't get to SEE it. Meh, I was waiting for this scene which would have been very funny and lovely to watch : guess it will but in my own imagination.

I still decide give it a 6/10 mark, 'cause every episode had a shorter than usual duration (+/- 14 minutes, including credits with artwork backgrounds and classic credits with a back screen), a total absence of ending or opening and also a lack of plot. It was a choice to bet on a very beautiful art and a magnificient atmosphere (I can't avoid mentioning the songs used were really accurated and gave each episode such a calm and fantastic vibe) but it - in my opinion - lacked on a more solid story.

TL:DR Review

There's always one problem with this anime. "What's the plot?" "What's the plot?" However, there isn't a plot; but maybe that's a good thing. Every episode is like a short story with some kind of conflict that is solved in the 14 mins each episode. Manaria Friends only focuses on Anne and Grea, so I really wouldn't call it "friends" This anime, however, does not get enough credit for its animation. The shadow detail in the first and later episodes fascinated me. One other problem this anime has is, I already noted this, that each episode is 14 mins long. That's almost half a ... normal episode and on top of that, there are only 10 episodes. That being said, I believe that if the anime was longer, there would have to be a certain plot to follow so that the watchers wouldn't be bored out of their mind.

- Spacecraft555 UwU

I got into this anime because I play Shadowverse. Anne, Mysterian Imperatrix and Grea, Scorching Fury are cards that I used in my Shadowverse deck. The strategy of the deck is to banish it / draw it until you have 5 cards left. Anne will give you Rending Blast and Grea will give you Resentful Blaze. These cards can win you the game.

The cards are based on some lore that really isn't explored in this show. Actually nothing really happens in this show at all. So, the lore they built for the cards in Shadowverse is actually deeper than ... this show. I'm serious, nothing happens in this show. I'm not sure what's the point of watching it.

*Short Non-Spoiler Review*

To sum up this entire anime series in a few short words, it's basically cute, slice-of-life yuri.

What I enjoyed about this anime:
- The girls are cute
- The animation looks great
- The OST is relaxing
- Watching this generally makes you feel happy, since it's so laid-back and heart-warming at times

... What I disliked about the anime:
- Sometimes it's really slow and boring
- Not much of a story to be found here
- No actual yuri action (just kidding on this one of course..... or am I?)

In summary, if you're a fan of the series, or you're into cute friendships between girls that is borderline yuri, then do give this anime a spin. Even those who are simply into the slice-of-life genre might find this enjoyable. Otherwise, don't bother with it.

So apparently this anime is based off of a game which i haven‘t played so my review comes from a pov of knowing nothing about any context or whatever.

Honestly many people here are criticizing that the anime has a very poor to no story at all and honestly - i agree. The anime felt like it wasn‘t really following any significant point like it‘s just episode after episode after episode but ESPECIALLY because of that i feel like the anime is very chill and relaxing to watch.
If you think about wanting to watch any anime right now which you can have running in the background ... or on a second screen or something while just relaxing, this is probably it.

I don‘t think it‘s a masterpiece or also one of my favorites but i‘d say it‘s a good … which is why i give it a solid 7/10

Just another "more than friends less than lovers" story that ends in nothing, not a spoiler just a fact.

I have nothing against this anime, the story is nice, the characters are nice, sweet and cute, the animation is very nice and everyone has such a nice design...

My biggest problem is that i hate when stories end up in nothing, feels like a waste of time, what was the point of all that tension? All those intimate moments? All that build up? For nothing.. yeah is a cute story but without a conclusion just make it feel unfinished and unworthy of anyone time.

Just go watch something ... else.

Whaaaaat did I just watch?

I feel like I'm doing a disservice to this show somehow, but I couldn't like it as much as I wanted to. I think the problem here might be that I just came off of binge-watching March Comes in Like a Lion, which was an incredible show with some real thought put into all of the elements of the story. And I decided, since I'm a fan of the shoujou ai/yuri genres, I'd treat myself to something new and see what this one was all about.

There's nothing that frustrates me more than wasted potential. The characters were there, ... the setting was there ... but it seems like little things like plot and character development of any kind were sort of tossed overboard to make way for fan-service shots and vague romance (maybe?).

I tend to like to talk about the story when I'm doing reviewing something, but what story is there? There were a lot of elements that were shown that could have been expanded into actual, interesting plots ... character arcs, emotional development, battle potential, etc. ... all of these were hinted at and then quickly forgotten. I wanted to care about the characters, but most of them were barely around enough for me to even remember their names.

That's not to say that all of it was bad. Firstly, if you're looking for a show to mellow out to, this is your ticket. There was one episode where sort of a battle took place, and they didn't bother with any music for it. For the most part, it's a light jazzy piano groove played throughout the show. I half expected a muted trumpet or a saxophone to start in on accompaniment to give it that extra Skinemax treatment. So if you're looking for a show with a mellow groove set over pretty anime girls deciding whether yuri is the way to go (well, I think one of them has already made that choice, and is only slightly creepy about it), then look no further. This is your stop. Unless you demand the yuri be conspicuous. Then you might start yelling at your screen.

The art and sound were good. The episodes were thankfully only 15 minutes long, and there were only 10 of them, and that is perhaps the only way I would have made it through the series. And I hate saying that about something that had plenty of potential. I guess since this was based on a card game, I could only ask so much of it, but dammit, Pokemon was a card game and there have been umpteen million episodes of it and about as many movies.

Manaria Friends, why can't you be more like Pokemon? I'm gonna go watch Hibike! Euphonium again. At least all the teased yuri there comes with a plot and more than one piano piece for the score.