Toji no Miko (Katana Maidens: Toji no Miko)

Throughout history, an elite group of shrine maidens known as "Toji" have saved the world from "Aratama," strange and malevolent beings bent on destroying humanity. In modern times, these warriors have been assigned to a special police squad to exterminate Aratama. The government has also set up five elite schools across the country to provide young girls the necessary sword fighting skills to eradicate these monsters and eventually join their fellow Toji in protecting the world.

A student of one of those five schools, Kanami Etou is chosen to represent Minoseki Academy in a sword fighting tournament, where she meets the mysterious Hiyori Juujou. Although Kanami and Hiyori rise to the top of the tournament, their battle takes an unexpected turn, throwing the world of the Toji into chaos. Likely that the Toji are facing betrayal from within, the two are forced to flee the tournament, clashing with former comrades on the way.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Toji no Miko
Other:	Toji no Miko: Kizamishi Issen no Tomoshibi PVs
Summary:	Toji no Miko Recap
Alternative setting:	Mini Toji, Mini Toji: Kanami-Mihono no "Toji Miko Taidou-hen" 205-byou de Shoukai Tokuban!
Sequel:	Toji no Miko: Kizamishi Issen no Tomoshibi

Uchiyama, Yumi
Japanese

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Maeda, Toshihiro

Producer

Kawamoto, Sachi

Producer

Isogai, Noritomo

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Maesaka, Eiji

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Opening Theme

	1: "Save you Save me" by Kanami Etou (Kaede Hondo), Hiyori Juujuu (Saori Oonishi), Mai Yanase (Azumi Waki), Sayaka Itomi (Hina Kino), Kaoru Mashiko (Risae Matsuda), Eren Kohagura (Eri Suzuki) (eps 1-12)
	2: "Shinkakei Colors (進化系Colors)" by Kanami Etou (Kaede Hondo), Hiyori Juujuu (Saori Oonishi), Mai Yanase (Azumi Waki), Sayaka Itomi (Hina Kino), Kaoru Mashiko (Risae Matsuda), Eren Kohagura (Eri Suzuki) (eps 13-)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Kokoro no Memoria (心のメモリア)" by Kanami Etou (Kaede Hondo), Hiyori Juujuu (Saori Oonishi), Mai Yanase (Azumi Waki), Sayaka Itomi (Hina Kino), Kaoru Mashiko (Risae Matsuda), Eren Kohagura (Eri Suzuki) (eps 1-12)
	2: "Mirai Epilogue (未来エピローグ)" by Kanami Etou (Kaede Hondo), Hiyori Juujuu (Saori Oonishi), Mai Yanase (Azumi Waki), Sayaka Itomi (Hina Kino), Kaoru Mashiko (Risae Matsuda), Eren Kohagura (Eri Suzuki) (eps 13-)

Reviews

Jun 22, 2018

Shingster

Recommended

Please note this review is intended to be read by those that have finished watching Katana Maidens and while care has been taken to minimise story related spoilers there may still be spoilers within character analysis. You have been warned.

The tale of how six schoolgirls and their allies fought to protect the world from monsters from a parallel dimension with friendship, courage and a whole lot of awesome swordsmanship.

Based off an original idea Katana Maidens or its Japanese title of Toji No Miko is an adventure and fantasy themed anime that gives us the opportunity to see what would happen if you combine ...

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Jun 22, 2018

KANLen09

Mixed Feelings

This show...has a definite edge when it comes to the start of 2-cour shows of the year, but when all is said and done, it is still a good watch from start to end, even though I had a disdain for the premise of the show.

The story of Katana Maidens: Toji no Miko starts as bland, cookiecutter and generic (this is NOT CGDCT)...until the intense action starts building the story up...in a very slow fashion unfortunately. At first, I really don't seem to understand why this 2-cour show is that memorable, but after watching all the way through, it felt some sense of satisfaction, but ... not by much.

In a nutshell, girls who wield katanas that are inherited by various groups of people, presumably from families or schools that have a reputation, fight the forces of evil that are called aradama, noro (or substances) that are the subject of experimentation, and started what was initially just a competition against different girls into something that triggered a national phenomenon that has been existing for a few decades, that is now threatening the lives of girls whom aspirations of being Toji, being used to exterminate the current setting yet again, and 6 girls whom have no affiliation with one another, combines their abilities together (with the power of their friendship) to stop the tragedy from happening again.

The story setting is what you'd expect from a generic battle-shoujo anime, but where I can give credit is with its building story arcs, basically from the time of welding to conquering the world in 24 episodes, and that's where it tipped me off the series. I was trying hard not to see it as a generic show, but it felt underwhelming. Yes, it is an original series, and credits to people whom have thought of such ideas, but aside from people really enjoying the series as a whole, if you're not a fan of confusing or yet slow-progressing story arcs, skip this immediately.

The characters are an interesting choice:
Starting off with the initial two: Etou Kanami and Juujou Hiyori, 2 ordinary yet extraordinary characters towards the end, they come off as your typical shoujo battle-sense girls, and throughout the course of the journey from strength to strength and courage to redemption, their feelings for each other have not changed, for the fact that they were the first to cross each other's paths and because of the whole aradama issue, their bonds are unbreakable whether together or separate from the rest of the group. Kanami is the happy-go-lucky, and watchman of the 6 girls, who vouches to protect them and get stronger and understand their emotions and puts it into practice. Hiyori on the other hand, she is the "act first, think later" archetype, knowing that her enemies will get the better of her, and doesn't acknowledge others' efforts but coming to understand people's worries for her too.

Sayaka Itomi and Yanase Mai are the striking silent duo of the group, because their experiences helm the way of their katana fighting. Sayaka is the worrywart of the group because of her experiences fighting with the enemy's side, then as lifeless as she comes, she learns to open up her feelings towards the group and gets courage from them to slowly get her out of the comfort zone. Mai is also somewhat of the same situation, though oppression and determination, she was the one leading Sayaka the entire way, and it's easy to see why they are so attached to one another, reassuring each other's security.

Ellen Kohagura and Kaoru Mashiko (with her good aradama Nene) come from the same school and have a good relationship with one another. Ellen the big-busted girl is someone that reeks of positivity, looking at everything on the bright side, even in battle, not giving people their way and motivating them to be better and stronger as they go. Kaoru might seem like the chibi annoying little brat (and she is), but her big wide sword means business and that means she's as serious as she comes, taking care of Nene as if it is her last pet.

Origami Yukari and the Elite Four:
At first they come off as enemies, once fighting for each other because of the control of aradama and how Yukari would turn the whole situation around, but after the 1st half, they find themselves in a nutshell because of the manifestation of aradama that's split off into different personalities and fighting with the 6 girls to regain control, this time for good. Yukari herself is sinister, with her plans and her resolve to see things through, that brings over to the end of the 2nd arc, someone that defines a firm believer of "power is king". The elite masters, most presumably Konohana Suzuka, Shidou Maki and Satsuki Yomi, are idolizes of power, and when tormented, they fight for their own ideals and come to the conclusion that even with power, their motivations are empty if not yet realized dreams are not brought to fruition. Especially that one character, Yukina Takatsu, is very adamant on power, and is always being used, all the way to the realization that no one is for her and her alone.

The art and animation is good, something to expect from studio Gokumi, who made Tsurezure Children last year, but that jarring CGI is the exact same reason why the producers went to full-on CGI for smooth battle scenes. Yes it's not heavily used but it's very noticeable. And something to note off of is the fact that while fanservice is little to nonexistent, Studio Gokumi is not a studio where they are capable to show, and while this doesn't hamper the show's quality, it's not something to be expected of here.

The music...is the weakest point of the series. I mentioned in Comic Girls where I have an absolute love-hate relationships for VAs in theme songs, and while the latter is extremely good, this WAS the series I was referring to, this both OP and EDs of the 2 cours are very unmemorable, to the point where I was potentially skipping ALL 4 tracks to get right into the story. If you can appreciate them on its own I have no questions, but it is unfortunately average in every conceivable way.

In the end, do I really hate this series with a flaming passion? Some things I still stand by a few months back, and while the series overall has improved, I'm just not the audience that it was tackling on, and call this a good battle shoujo if you want, but it's just not for me.

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Mar 30, 2018

Kimotokitou

Not Recommended

Preliminary (12/24 eps)

I couldn't give this a much higher rating...so this might even be just a rant. Not because of character, music, art etc, but the storyline. With so many animes such as sora no tooi no basho, yuru camp and hakumei to meikochi coming out, similarity being about girls doing their things of interest, while some being slice of life. I had to give everything a try and plan to stick through till the end. Most of the animes similar to this are worth it to stick to the end, some becoming my all-time favourites.

However, this one was the one I couldn't stick to the end. ... It was an interesting concept and the sword art was pretty amazing but storyline just threw me off. With just a brief introduction to how the sword art was used, I was thrown into the unknown starting from these girls' competitions, 2 good friends/rivals and a mysterious girl that appeared out of nowhere with killing intents for the last 'Boss'. The story might be aiming for action 1st to catch the attention of the watchers, but this attempt seemed to fail miserably, as by 6th to 8th episode, I'm literally at a loss.

A main character who just so decisively decided to leave everything behind just to escape with the very girl she first met properly only during the competition, leaving everything behind without a second thought, meanwhile putting her long time same school best friend/ rival in a tight spot. This mysterious girl that is dying the kill the 'last boss', and just nice the main character seemed to have seen that "evil aura" behind the 'last boss' when it was not even shown to the watchers, which normally should have been shown in a normal show. Then without introductions or background known, we have head mistresses of the schools helping these 2 runaway girls in secret.

All these characters linked only with the name of the blades the runaway pair used. I had dropped around 12th episode, as I could not even be bothered to understand whatever developments might come later, as I felt like the climax of the story was thrust into my face from the 1st episode and the story do not know whether they want to focus on the girls' bonds/development or the action that had held potential in the 1st few episodes. I would have preferred to not even give this show a rating of 4 at all, but even lower, but the art shows effort though the story is a mess.

If I'm asked if I want to recommend, I would say absolute no, but if you are interested in action and doesn't bother about them being random, as this year's spring anime had been pretty much relaxing and fuwa fuwa time, or ninja cutting onions everywhere in the room, this might be something worthwhile for you.

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