Val x Love

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Vallove, Ikusa x Koi

Japanese: 戦×恋（ヴァルラヴ）

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 5, 2019 to Dec 21, 2019

Premiered: Fall 2019

Broadcast: Saturdays at 23:00 (JST)

Producers: Square Enix, Sotsu, AT-X, Tokyo MX, Avex Pictures, Docomo Anime Store, BS11, GYAO!, A-Sketch, MAGNET, entama

Licensors: Sentai Filmworks

Studios: Hoods Entertainment

Source: Manga

Genres: Comedy, Romance, Supernatural, Ecchi

Themes: Harem, School

Demographic: Shounen

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 5.90¹ (scored by 31,094 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #9404²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1963

Members: 83,650

Favorites: 141

External Links

Official Site, AnimeDB, AnimeNewsNetwork, Wikipedia

Streaming Platforms

HIDIVE

5.90

Ranked #9404Popularity #1963Members 83,650

Fall 2019TVHoods Entertainment

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Episodes: /12

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Synopsis

Valkyries—legendary female warriors from the land of gods, Asgard—are sent by Odin to protect Earth against the growing threat of demons. To overcome these threats, nine valkyries under the guise of the Saotome sisters will have to level up by performing a variety of romantic acts with their official lover, Einherjar.

Meanwhile, the socially anxious Takuma Akutsu learns that Odin has chosen him as the valkyries' lover. Despite his utter horror, however, he agrees to let the sisters stay in his big yet empty house to help them in their war against demons. With nine beautiful women sharing his roof, will Takuma manage to prevail over his fear of society and become someone worthy of saving the world?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:

Supporting

Koiwai, Kotori
Japanese

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Staff

Naoya, Takashi

Director

Hidaka, Rina

Theme Song Performance

Hondo, Kaede

Theme Song Performance

Hara, Yumi

Theme Song Performance

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Opening Theme

"for..." by Rikako Aida

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Ending Theme

	1: "UP-DATE x PLEASE!!! ver 1.7.8" by Ichika Saotome (Yumi Uchiyama), Natsuki Saotome (Kaede Hondo), Yakumo Saotome (Maki Kawase)
	2: "UP-DATE x PLEASE!!! ver 2.6.9" by Futaba Saotome (Yumi Hara), Mutsumi Saotome (Rina Hidaka), Kururi Saotome (Kotori Koiwai)
	3: "UP-DATE x PLEASE!!! ver 3.4.5" by Misa Saotome (Ayaka Shimizu), Shino Saotome (Rikako Aida), Itsuyo Saotome (Ai Kakuma)

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Reviews

Dec 21, 2019

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

2shizukasensei88 (All reviews)

110 people found this review helpful

Is this a must watch anime? No.

But honestly tho, people be sheeting at this like its worse thing ever. I have seen much worse anime that has 7 or 8 rating on mal.

The story is mediocre tbh, and the only saving grace of this show is its MC, the show just feels like your typical shounen/harem/ecchi sheet, but while this is the case, the MC is probably more likable than most shounen MCs ever. Like bruh the MC is not a totally pushover and has an actual goal, where tf can you find that level of competence in this cesspool genre of anime. People like read more

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Dec 21, 2019

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 3

LaLeLuLiLo (All reviews)

20 people found this review helpful

I don't know what anyone else could have expected from this show, of course it's terrible. But this is a kind of terrible that I find to be very appealing to watch at times. There's something about these battle harems that I find really enjoyable, but it's really hard to put my finger on what precisely it is. Maybe it's the base level titillation from the abundance of fan service. it could be the absurd and roundabout ways shows like these justify their fan service. Perhaps it's because of it's simple portrayals of characters.There's also the paper thin plot it has until it falls into the deep end and simply becomes a joke. Or just a culmination of all the above which this show more or less is.

Val x Love is kind of a monster of the week type of show with a thin coating of Norse mythology hence the Val in the title standing for Valkyries. Valkyries being the nine girls, each on fitting into a specific archetype such as the loli, kuudere, himedere, etc etc. Although the blonde haired tsundere also facilities as being the "main girl". All bounded to the main male protagonist who they must form a special/romantic bond with in order to level up like some video game character, and be more capable to fight the enemy and prevent Ragnarok(I think). The way that they bond is usually for the most part risque and mostly serve as the fan service of the show. Doing actions such as kissing, groping, bathing together, or just spending time together which also usually devolves into more fan service.

I'm not sure if there's a word to describe the kind of person that characters like the protagonist are. He's such a heavily flawed in so many ways that it comes off more artificial rather than believable. He has a somewhat scary looking physique but is mostly a wimp who is scared of human interaction. The fact that he has to have intimate contact with the Valkyries exacerbates it. The only thing he is noticeably good at is studying, and even then the slightest bit of pressure can make him panic and fail exams. It’s all done so purposeful to the point of contrivance for the purpose of having easy character development. But that’s the thing, it’s so easy that it’s down right predictable from the very first episodes. Not to mention that if they weren’t to do that, all that would be left is a rather irritating character.

The antagonists aren’t really that note worthy aside that they are also taken from parts of Norse mythology as well. I guess it's because the conflicts are more centered around the main protagonist sucking it up and kissing one of his harem in order for them to fight. Of course from the last paragraph it’s less of a conflict and more of an inevitable amount of time.

There’s probably a lot I could say about the production value, but if you know what you’re getting into when it comes to the story and characters. You probably know what you are getting into when it comes to the visuals and audio. That is to say, it is serviceable for what it is. And that’s something that can also be said about the entirety of the show. It’s a serviceable bad show that isn’t a total joke, but enough that it can be seen in an ironically enjoyable light.

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Dec 21, 2019

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

LegendAqua (All reviews)

16 people found this review helpful

Date A Live: NORSE Edition

Yeah right from this premise this harem anime felt much like an even raunchier Date A live but with Norse mythology (instead of Angels and Devils of Date A Live). But where the premise is interesting, there comes some elements that makes this anime rather mediocre right from the off and no it's not the fanservice, THAT is to be expected from a harem anime no the problem for LA becomes Takuma Akutsu voiced by Yuuya Hirose, as he's nicknamed as a demon as he looks extremely scary but he's the typical gentle giant and is focused more on study and in a ways he's the male version of the shy girl just with the scary aspects plastered in. The problem with him as unique of a main protagonist he is...at the start he's extremely hesitant to go into battle and generally useless and in the harem aspect, he's of course expectedly scared and nervous ALL THE TIME and under misunderstandings screeches the harem to a crawl. Of course he does improve over time but it's a slow crawl much like Takuma's plot and harem pacing.

It's the harem he gets that is more interesting that of the Saotome sisters all having a certain Valkyrie aspect to them and of course they grow more powerful the more "love" Takuma gives out to them, with the harem being really focused on the romance of Natsuki voiced by Kaede Hondo and the typical tsundere, but LA's favourite character was Itsuyo voiced by Ai Kakuma because she's the President of the student body, femme fatale status and is a dadcon (in which her dad is ODIN). Mutsumi and Futaba gets some screentime to them especially in battle and prominence as the anime went along with Ichika voiced by Yumi Uchiyama on the background not doing the harem crap and is in the background helping Takuma and his harem. Shino and Kururi gets the shaft and yeah rather not get into Kururi in terms of the harem because loli but thankfully she's usually the setup to the more active harem members.

The fanservice of the anime is rather typically risque mainly in the fact of the villains and the "akuma" leading the characters to risque and fanservicey moments (but they also get to fanservicey situations all in their won as well), as the akuma have "grabby hands" and you know where to go from there. While the more racy moments, well the fanservice only leads to nudity but not showing it, so it never leads to anything R18 and even then it's obviously implied if the camera looks away per say. In all the fanservice is risque for the most part but safe in some areas because TV broadcast standards and all.

The animation done by Hoods Entertainment is rather meh, with consistent chibified comical moments even in it's battles and yeah since this is a fanservicey harem anime....censorship takes place. Really the character designs are distinct and good in a sense, it's when they go full chibified for NO reason at times that puts it's animation off at times, as for the battles it's ehhh ok, few beam spams or depending on the Valkyrie's power it goes from great to grabby grabby fanservicey...ehh the battles are alright but the character designs were somewhat squandered with the chibiness it has and sure maybe it's from the source material but even then.

The voice cast was at the very least decent, from Ai Kakuma, Yumi Hara, Yumi Uchiyama, rina Hidaka, Misaki Kuno and Kaede Hondo. Yumi Uchiyama was pretty great doing the entire tsundere thing straight down the middle, while Kaede Hondo's Natsuki was based tsundere soo ehhhhhhhhhh. LA went for MVP as Ai Kakuma due to LA liking Itsuyo as a result.

As a defence for Takuma, he DOES develop as a character, but due to his running gag being sooo shy yet "scary" becomes old VERY quickly but LA will give him A little bit of grace by saying he does develop as a main protagonist and is a bit unique in a sense, BUT with the typical harem setup, the HAREM has more investment BUT with having a rather meh main protagonist that needs ALOT of time to get on his own (round past halfway)...it's kinda hard to gain interest in this anime even in it's harem as the anime tries to push Natsuki ALOT while giving the sisters when they are needed (thus forever the support, but only until the plot said so). Moving away from characterization, where Val x Love DOES succeed in is it's world building, mainly taking things from Norse mythology and taking it as it's own in Val x Love through it's characters and what all this links to Takuma, the other would be that in it's comical situations though it's mostly the same running gag or just played for fanservice, the fanservice isn't THAT bad, if the censorship wasn't in the way but eh.

Val x Love is a slow crawl of a fanservicey anime with the problem of Takuma but for a fanservicey harem anime it's ehhhh it's not the worse harem fanservicey anime LA has seen, Val x Love's detriment comes in as it's just "meh" even with it's flaws and in being a fanservicey anime, you might think LA doesn't like the fanservice in the anime, but Val x Love has an even worse problem with it's elements of it's characters and plot from "going all out" as it were. LA had mixed problems with Takuma for being a rather unique main protagonist for a fanservice harem anime BUT where he is set in as well as the harem and anime itself pushing Natsuki and Takuma any way possible DOES NOT HELP in the characterization and harem aspect respectively.

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Dec 21, 2019

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 1

KANLen09 (All reviews)

16 people found this review helpful

I always question myself every single time when we get such shows like this that cross the line between borderline ecchi and hentai, not to mention if it includes a possible harem. For the most part, when these materials are solicited according to how authors wanted it to be, the result always tends to wayward on the safe side while being enjoyable in its own regard (e.g. Monster Musume, How Not to Summon a Demon Lord etc). That however, is NOT the case for Val x Love here, the amount of disgust that this show holds is enough to question my sanity if the show wants to execute the downright full-on hentai like the manga, or at the very least, being a tease about it and just scratch the surface. What a wimp...

Starting with the story, it's some ancient Norse mythology about 9 same-household name girls chosen to be Valkyries from the land of Valhalla, whom their father god Odin has ordained them to cease Fenrir's evil and the summoned Akumas (demons) within the earthly world, and the supposedly "tree of life" Einherjar (which is male MC Takuma Akutsu) is there as means of "thirsty bloodlust fuel" to not just be a catalyst for the Valkyries to power up, but for majority of the time, being a seductive harem magnet...just because. And we all know that shows like this just drives us off the hook, as that is being used blatantly for plot convenience rather than being a major factor in driving even bad storytelling worth investing into.

And the problems just get more worse, starting with the character cast. Especially MC Takuma Akutsu himself, as being a big-buff human with a demonic face but a kind heart, it's easy to judge him on face value that due to his social anxiety, he wouldn't maintain a straight face and tend to hide away in the background. This kind of character, we all have seen an ounce of it before. The damning indictment is to send the 9 girls (not to mention they're all blood-related sisters), part of the same household onto him, as if discounting that these are the ONLY ones needed to quench his frightened heart, compared to the numerous school classmates and teachers readily available within reach. Trust me, I've tried many times to compensate "character development" for fapping fetish, and that almost works instantly every time. And comedy, you say? There ain't any of that sorts of it lying in here, that's for sure. The 9 Saotome girls, each unique and different in their own way, boobs big or small, are still subject to Takuma's groping hands to feel and "inject" the various Val x Love tasks (like as if I didn't know it was almost like a ripoff from Date A Live, only that the latter does it way better and less obnoxious).

The problems don't end there, OH NO. As expected of Hoods Entertainment in their ever increasing mediocrity of shows, the visuals and animation are downright abysmal, there's no redeeming quality on it, especially on scenes where there's full-on nudity that's meant to be experienced like hentai shorts, but just with bad "light-source-shade" and "steamy" censorship on both the covering up of breasts nipples and private parts. And don't ever you say you never watched hentai before, when you know that the full experience we should've got ended up being a worrisome waste of fap material. Not to mention the flatness in the action scenes, it was exactly as advertised from the get-go with the PV(s), to put it simply, horrendous and unwatchable.

IMO the only thing worth talking about is the music, and that's not even worth the saving grace either. The OST (the OP and ED rather) is catchy to me, but that even gets old fast, not to mention the cringeworthy background music that is chock full of the expressions of comedic lust. I'd appreciate the Technoboys Pulcraft Green-Fund for helping out with the various versions of the Saotome girls' ED, but that's the best I can say the good about this show overall in my honest opinion.

All in all, this show isn't just worth your time, but shouldn't be worth a single prick of consideration. When life gives you lemons, Val x Love isn't the solution. Just avoid this shitshow and stay far, far away from this one.

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Val x Love

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Saotome, Natsuki

Saotome, Mutsumi

Saotome, Itsuyo

Akutsu, Takuma

Saotome, Shino

Saotome, Yakumo

Saotome, Ichika

Saotome, Misa

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Val x Love

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