Toji no Miko

Recommendation: Could best be described as "cute girls doing cool things". It's an underrated series with similar vibes to a mahou shoujo, and is worth checking out if you're into that sort of thing, though not worth going out of your way to see if you aren't.

Plot: The series follows Etou Kanami, Juujou Hiyori and their friends as fight off demons called aradama with their special swords called "okatanas". This is a 2 cour series, but each cour is really best understood as a separate season, with a hard reset and entirely new story beginning in episode 13. The first follows Hiyori's ... grudge against Origami Yukari, and Kanami's eventual entanglement in it. It struggles with the introduction, with no explanation given for why Kanami has suddenly thrown her life away to help this girl she's never met initially. Eventually a convincing explanation does come, but it takes too long to get there. Once it finds its footing, it gets very entertaining though. The second cour picks up several months after the events of the first and covers the 6 girls and their allies' attempts to defeat the evil god Princess Tagitsu. The 2nd cour is better than the 1st, largely because the early episodes don't get bogged down as much in introductions and exposition, but both are pretty strong overall, if relatively straightforward.

One issue I had with the plot was a lack of stakes, which seems odd to say about a show where the apocalypse is in play. But most of the sword fights are done using "utsushi", a sort of combat projection that allows people to take fatal blows or lose limbs with only minor damage to their "real" body. As a result, the fights often lack intensity, knowing that the loser will be completely fine regardless of what happens. Occasionally the show throws a curveball and a few characters do die permanently, but mostly everyone will always be fine, even the villains, and even people who seem to have died. The obvious comparison of this series is to Yuuki Yuuna, as it has similar plot beats and main characters, but Toji no Miko lacks the darker edge that Yuuki Yuuna had. To some, that will preferable, but I thought it was missing the emotional stakes that made Yuuki Yuuna so memorable.

Audio/Visual: The audio is pretty strong, the sounds of the clashing swords and other battle noises are crisp and dynamic, the VA work for the girls is varied and professional, and the music is very solid. Visually, it is somewhat lacking. The obvious point of contention here is going to be the use of partial CGI for the fight animations, but I didn't think they looked completely terrible. It does look too much like a video game at points, but they do a good job of mostly using it during wide shots where uncanny valley faces and overly smooth movement aren't as noticeable. I would have preferred it without the CGI no doubt, but it could have been much worse. Some of the character designs are also a bit uninspired and the Storm Armor that they wear later in the series looks kind of corny and is too sci fi for the setting.

Characters: There's a big cast and, impressively, they do a good job of giving everyone the necessary screentime and development that you rarely see in an adaptation of a gacha game like this. My personal favorite was the constantly put-upon Kaoru and her sword that was 3 times longer than she was tall. She steals every single scene she's in. The other characters are mostly fun as well, although I found Hiyori unfortunately generic for being one of the main characters. Kanami as Queen Sword Dork does a good job at carrying most of the scenes involving them to make up for Hiyori however.

The action scenes are mostly fine, but the series is at its best with its character comedy. The series composition was done by Takashi Aoshima, best known for writing the adaptations of CGDCT tentpole franchises like Yuru Yuri and Gabriel Dropout, and you can expect similar vibes from the show during the less serious scenes. My one real complaint here aside from Hiyori is that the show feels the need to redeem all of its villains or make you feel sad in some way at their defeat. It's a good thing to do occasionally to add complexity to a story, but gets tiring when they try to extract sympathy from every single antagonist, including a literal god that's trying to destroy the world.

Overall, a fun action-comedy with some light drama and lots of cute girls with swords. It's pretty straightforward and doesn't do much that's new, though the plot does flash some surprising depth on occasion, but it's an entertaining 24 episodes and one I'm glad I stuck with in spite of the slow start.

I think what really spoiled this show for me was the foundation of the story (and I'll try to avoid spoilage as best as can). The lead character and her predecessor in the story both act out of so-called love and, as a result, many people die. Instead of making the hard, painful choice that would end a tremendous, destructive evil, both choose their own feelings.

And neither pays a price for it. They are both seen as heroic, even as innocent people continue to die because of their actions. If you are someone who watches an anime like this for the swordfights and the story ... with no regard for the moral implications *in the world of the story• – my critique won't matter to you.

In terms of basics, the story is pretty standard. There are a few characters that stand out for not being cookie-cutter. The ending is just magical anime happiness. Smiles all around.

Nonetheless, it's an enjoyable enough magical swordgirls fighting demonic evils type of anime. It's better than a lot of them. They make an attempt at character development, moral ambiguity, etc. It doesn't work as well as I would like, but I did sit and watch all 24 episodes and am likely to do so again in a few years.