Koihime†Musou knows what kind of show it is and it makes the effort to please its target audience rather than try to stretch itself to appeal to everyone. Above all, this means that it looks incredible. Character designs are a colorful mix of greens, pinks, light blues, and yellows. The outfits worn are elegant, sexy, and highly detailed, even during combat sequences. The fight scenes, also are surpassing in quality, with a level of fluidity in movement that shows the animators took pride in their work. Intended to be eye candy, Koihime is a great big bar of chocolate. Of course, that level of quality can't be maintained through the entire episode, so the animation will at times switch to super-deformed designs with simplistic backgrounds. These SD sequences, however, are used to great effect in the comedy portions of the show and are thus easily forgiven.
The comedy of Koihime is another of its strengths. The show is able to handle both playfully silly situations, such as Chouhi's overly energetic antics, and the more risqué banter of characters familiar with physical intimacy, which find frequent fodder in Kan'u and Chouhi's pact of sisterhood or Kan'u's virginity. The writers also know how to use a joke multiple times but still recognize when to stop before it has worn out its welcome. The bit about Kan'u being known as the "beautiful bandit hunter", for instance, is used frequently in the first few episodes, but stops appearing before it becomes tiresome.
Since the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is such a widely known and adapted work, the characters don't require the same kind of exposition as if this were an original franchise. The show does provide a little backstory for some of the more notable figures and a couple episodes are devoted to character development, but those familiar with the original material or some of its derivatives will easily be able to pick out a good number of the characters based on a few traits or whom they associate with. Indeed, the difficulty in this situation becomes how to make these personalities stand out from the numerous other variations while remaining true to the spirit of the individual. Koihime†Musou requires maybe a little leniency on faithfulness, but this is acceptable when the reduction in enmity between the historical players creates the more interesting interactions that make the show enjoyable.
The plot of this anime may be its weakest point. While the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a sweeping epic of war and political intrigue, Koihime is an episodic adventure. Characters will join with Kan'u on her meandering journey for a few episodes, and then part ways, perhaps returning again later. There is a small spattering of intrigue, but aside from the nonspecific threat of bandits roaming the countryside, nothing really approaches an overarching story. Not that there's anything wrong with that; many shows try to be something grander than they are meant to be and turn out less because of that, so Koihime†Musou avoiding that pitfall is a good thing. There are a small handful of episodes that hold messages about trying one's best and the importance of friendship, but these are mostly the episodes in which Kan'u meets the characters that stay with her for longer parts of the series, so the moral isn't overbearing. The final couple episodes do get a little more serious than most of the rest of the series, but even if that were a bad thing, it is easily justified by the final battle (which features two highly recognizable badass moments) and a very entertaining plot twist.
Koihime†Musou is not a deep series, and it is better for not trying to be. It is a comfort food, like marshmallows. Big, fluffy marshmallows.
