What a disappointment. Yuki Yuna had two stellar seasons, with the second seeming to end the overall story in a conclusive way. So where does the story go from there? It backpedals and retcons in some side-stories. Rather than describe the plot in detail, I'll cover the structure of the season so you can get an idea of how jumbled it is.
This was a really confusing season to follow because it was hard to grasp when certain events were taking place at first. I was a bit suspicious that the opening recap only covered season 1, but it wasn't until episode 4 that I realised
...
these events were happening parallel to the Hero Chapter in season 2.
After spending some care-free downtime with the regular cast in episode 1 (probably the most entertaining episode of the season), we suddenly switch to a new set of characters for episodes 2-4. If the Heroes (ie. magical girls) from the first two seasons are like special forces, then the Sentinels from these episodes are the rank-and-file. They're sent out en masse against overwhelming odds, armed with weapons that only give them a fraction of a Hero's power. Their missions were tense affairs because it looked like it could turn into a bloodbath at any moment (I won't say if it does or not). While this could have been a good arc, it ultimately goes nowhere because it's happening alongside the established events of season 2 that the Sentinels can't change.
Just as we're getting used to the new cast, episode 5 cuts back to the original cast (again set during season 2). This just acts as a framing device though, because we then jump back to another new cast of characters, this time the first ever team of Heroes led by Wakaba Nogi. This next prequel arc is, by far, the weakest part of the franchise to date. Earlier seasons of Yuki Yuna expertly rode the line of the tragical girl subgenre without turning into grimdark murder-fests, but the Wakaba arc tumbles off that line in the wrong direction. The problem is that it's trying to cover too much ground, too quickly, ends up using some ineffective shortcuts in its rush to brute-force us into caring. A brief montage skips through the apocalyptic events that set up the main conflict of the whole franchise, wasting the chance to show us these new characters bonding while the world falls apart around them. Instead we meet them once the new status quo has been established, in the aftermath of a disastrous battle that left half their team dead. It tries to make us care about these strangers after the fact by flashing back even further (yes, that's a flashback within a flashback within a flashback (flashbackception)), but it's all so abrupt and jumbled that it doesn't work. Meanwhile it uses laughably over-the-top visual shorthand to show the effect the girls' armour has on their bodies. There has always been a cost when a Hero powers up in this series, but without taking the time to show how those side-effects impact their lives like previous seasons we're instead shown a graphic display of blood squirting out of the girls from all angles as they fight.
It gets worse. One of the girls has a complete psychotic breakdown for reasons that the story can't decide upon. There were two or three different causes, and it all ends up a jumble. The show stops just short of her actually going on a killing spree, but it rides right up to the edge. After another big battle, this attention-deficit season loses interest in Wakaba and co. and switches back to the Sentinels plotline in episode 9. Since we have only spent three episodes with the Sentinels so far, and were introduced to a whole other cast in the intervening four episodes, I'd forgotten who most of the Sentinels were by this point. We rejoin them for another couple of episodes in a plotline again running parallel to season 2, which again doesn't feel like it adds much to the overall canon.
Then we come to season 3's greatest sin: episode 11. This is literally just a re-edited version of the final episode from season 2 with a couple of new scenes from the perspective of different characters and some new music. Reusing climactic scenes like this robs them of the impact they had the first time around. Season 2 built to this moment through a desperate and emotional arc of several episodes that slowly ratched up the tension. Without any of that, simply replaying the last few scenes of it and expecting the same effect just doesn't work.
At least the season ends on a high note with an episode-long epilogue that clears up what happens to everyone after the paradigm-shifting events that ended season 2. It makes for a satisfying capstone to the story as a whole, but I don't think it was worth the messy season of chopped up side-stories it took to get there. The most frustratig thing is that this season could have worked much better if they had just copied the format they used for season 2, giving us two six-episode arcs instead of splicing everything together in a haphazard order.
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Full Blossom Chapter
Japanese: 結城友奈は勇者である 大満開の章
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
12
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Oct 2, 2021 to Dec 18, 2021
Premiered:
Fall 2021
Broadcast:
Saturdays at 01:55 (JST)
Producers:
Mainichi Broadcasting System
Licensors:
Sentai Filmworks
Studios:
Studio Gokumi
Source:
Original
Genre:
Drama
Theme:
Mahou Shoujo
Duration:
24 min. per ep.
Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
Statistics
Ranked:
#28502
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#4585
Members:
26,010
Favorites:
152
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 9 / 9
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Your Feelings Categories Dec 18, 2021
What a disappointment. Yuki Yuna had two stellar seasons, with the second seeming to end the overall story in a conclusive way. So where does the story go from there? It backpedals and retcons in some side-stories. Rather than describe the plot in detail, I'll cover the structure of the season so you can get an idea of how jumbled it is.
This was a really confusing season to follow because it was hard to grasp when certain events were taking place at first. I was a bit suspicious that the opening recap only covered season 1, but it wasn't until episode 4 that I realised ... Dec 17, 2021
Note that I didn't read the light novels the 2 of the sub-stories were adaptations on of. This review is also going to contain a lot spoilers, there is no getting around it for this one, honestly not too worried about it since I don't think this is worth watching if you are a YuYuYu fan or a casual watcher.
This is just awful. The story of Dai Mankai no Shou is a mixture of a prequel, midquel, and an epilogue. It starts with a midquel showing the original cast doing slice of life things, then a midquel of a new cast know as the Sentinels ... Dec 29, 2021
I am a simple person.
I rate the anime based on enjoyment. This anime is 8/10, which is considered as good. I read Nowayu Novel and I loved it. It's unfortunate that this anime summarised the entire Nowayu Novel in 3 episodes and ruined the great story and characters. If you haven't read the light novel, please read it before you watch the anime like an average yuyuyu fan would do. Overall, I still enjoyed the series. They made some good additions to yuusha no shou chapters. I love all the characters in yuyuyu. I cried when I saw some of my favourite characters suffering. The animation, music ... Jan 4, 2022
Story/characters:
Just as a little orientation, despite this being a sequel there are significant number of events that overlaps with previous seasons with some scenes even occurring concurrently. As such it is recommended you make yourself familiar with the Washio and Hero chapters as those seasons are most crucial in understanding what is a confusing series to follow. Although if you can, it is recommended you watch the original season as well. With the conclusive ending we got in the Hero chapter veterans of the franchise are probably asking what can the Mankai chapter could do to extend a story that very clearly ended? Well, this season ... Feb 23, 2022
The Yuusha de Aru canon is surprisingly big. There are several different light novel series focusing on different eras and character groups chronologically beginning in the AD era, 300 years before the events of YuYuYu. Additionally because of the limited length of the stories involved, it is quite hard to create a spinoff series based on another team other than the 2 that Togo Mimori / Washio Sumi were a part of. They were able to keep the momentum going just enough to release 3 feature films and later 6 TV episodes for WaSuYu, but it might be a very different story for the other
...
Dec 20, 2021
When the third season of Yuuki Yuuna was announced I was actually somewhat surprised, seeing as the second season ended things conclusively and I thought there couldn't be anyway for them to make another continuation. The answer to that, of course, was to adapt the Light Novel spin-offs instead. Now, the two original episodes they did, one at the beginning and one at the end, were both great and reminded me why I was so enraptured with the series in the first place. The question is: how does the rest of the show fare?
(Minor spoilers follow) We have two LNs, one focused on present day Sentinels, ... Dec 29, 2021
I can't tell if it's just because of my emotional attachment to the Yuusha girls, but I am so happy Yuki Yuna and the Hero Club's story is finally coming to a close. The ending given by the Yuusha Team was satisfying at best and felt amazing to watch after all that emotional labor.
I do wish to see how the girl's stories play out after the events of YuYuYuDMS, but that can be expressed in an OVA of sorts along with the mobile game (which I really do need to get onto playing, oops). The music for the series is, as usual, absolutely phenomenal. Hearing bits ... Jan 21, 2025
I liked this part of the Yuuki Yuuna story but it was not without its flaws, which is why I decided to mark this as mixed feelings. The beginning of the story was a bit slow and at times the transitions were so poor that I had trouble keeping track of what was happening and how certain characters related back to other characters. After a while, things felt less confusing so I'm not sure if I just missed something or it was a genuine flaw with the story telling.
I liked that the story tied up some things that I had questions about in previous ... Jan 29, 2022
For information I failed to watch this part for once. When the series aired I overjoyed to see the continuation about Yuuna story, how come the series will end. And I enjoy the 1 eps, I think it is good and satisfying for me to see these girl enjoying their daily life. But after eps 1 it is just downhill for me. We see more of new supporting cast (Miyoshi Karin trainee group) and we also see flashback (the predecessor of Sonoka and Yuuna how the first battle start).
I think it is a good concept of story telling if you make it compact or insert ... |