"Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin" falls into the category of fantasy action adventure with a significant degree of ecchi content.
Parental Advisory:
The age rating on the Blu-ray packaging is listed as "16 AND OLDER" while some other sites including this one list it at 17+. Scenes with female topless nudity occur in every episode. The fantasy outfits that some of the females wear have little beyond the equivalent of thongs for their lower region, and copious amounts of skin are displayed often. There is combat violence in several episodes, and some deaths occur, but it isn't overly graphic.
Brief history of the Queen's Blade characters:
For those unfamiliar with their background, the Queen's Blade characters were originally introduced as playable fighters in a set of game books back in 2005. These books were based on the "Lost Worlds" combat system, and they were an instant hit among gamers and collectors. In 2006, a series of PVC statues for "Queen's Blade" were introduced by Megahouse, and these similarly became instant hits among collectors. Many of these featured "cast off" outfits which at the time was not a common feature of PVC figures. The popularity of this feature for PVC statues has grown considerably, in part due to the huge popularity of the "Queen's Blade" figures. Since then many additional figures have been produced by Megahouse and other companies. By 2007, the series made its debut in light novels and manga. In 2009, "Queen's Blade" was finally made into a TV series.
Thus, when watching or reviewing this, it's important to realize that this series did not take a traditional route from manga to anime. It started out as a game and a popular line of PVC figures before that.
Story: 5/10
The show spans 12 episodes. The central plot revolves around several beautiful warriors that are vying to win the Queen's Blade tournament in order to become the next queen. As the series unfolds, additional contestants are introduced, each with a different reason for trying to win. Each episode features one or more combat situations between contestants, or battles between a few of the more heroic characters and various villains. The story largely follows the path taken by Leina (aka Reina) Vance, but several other characters such as her sisters Claudette and Elina, the bandit Risty, the mercenary Echidna, the warrior priestess Tomoe, the assassin Shizuka, and the villains Melona, Menace and Airi are given significant screen time during the series.
Overall, the basic premise is quite simple, and while the lack of complexity is probably to be expected for a series based on a fighting game, this is one of the weaker aspects of the show.
What the series lacks in story, it somewhat makes up in it's character interaction and backstory. Although there isn't a lot of character development, the story does explore the history of some of the primary combatants, and it provides ample motives for them to be involved in the tournament. As a result, the conflicts between some of the opponents seem less forced than the showdowns that occur in some other anime that are based on episodic battles.
Characters: 9/10
The "Queens Blade" characters are among some of the most strikingly beautiful women to appear in anime. Although a few characters are younger, most of them appear to be adults, and the artwork and animation captures this very well. The outfits most of them wear are extremely skimpy, but most of these match the armors depicted in the original game books. As a result, I give them very high marks for staying true to the original source material.
For those who may not like this style, I will re-iterate what I wrote in another review -"Anyone that doesn't understand the reasons for fantasy-based outfits existing in a fantasy world should probably stay away. Please find a documentary on the history channel about period armors if that's what you're looking for. This isn't it."
Overall, each of the characters are rather unique, and most of them are fleshed out (pun intended) to provide their backstories and motivations. A few of the characters are very much over-the-top, but this also fits with their original game book style as well. For example, Melona is a essentially a shape-shifter with an unusual acid attack that takes the form of a bunny-eared bombshell. Echidna is skilled with her blades, but she also wears a very unusual lower "garment" - a real snake! These unusual and outlandish characters are a big part of what defines and sets the Queen's Blade setting apart from others, and the anime does a fantastic job of capturing them so vividly.
Regarding specific characters, Leina, Claudette, Risty, Echidna, Tomoe and Shizuka are featured in multiple episodes which allows for a deeper exploration of their motives and personalities. Other characters such as Elina, Melona, Menace and Airi are also featured in multiple episodes, but they don't seem to be given as much explanation. A few other characters like Nowa, Cattleya and Ymir only appear in a couple of episodes which doesn't allow for as much exploration of their backgrounds.
There are a couple of things I dislike about the characters in "Queen's Blade". One of them is Nanael, a hapless angel, who is supposed to initiate Queen's Blade matches. It seems like she was purely included for comic relief, and her inclusion was not necessary at all. I cringed at watching almost all of her scenes, and I really wished she wasn't included in this series. The second thing I disliked was the lack of explanation provided for Airi. Why is she dressed as a maid while all of the other characters wear outfits that are either armor or clothing fitting for their backgrounds? The anime offered a golden opportunity to explain her outfit but didn't. For these reasons, I can only give characters 9/10.
Art / Animation: 9/10
Most of the characters, and animation are extremely well-done. In the 2nd half of the series, there were a few spots where it looked like they took some short cuts in the artwork and it wasn't quite up to the standards set by the rest of the series. While most of the combat scenes are good, there are a few times where the animation seemed less fluid.
Many of the scenes feature angles that show off the characters breasts or butts, however, this is very much in the spirit of the character artwork featured in the original game books.
Sound / Voice: 7/10
The songs during the beginning and end credits are acceptable, but forgettable. For a series that is heavily focused on its imagery, the sound and voice work was generally good, if not great. The English voice covers were good for the most part, though I found Nanael to be annoying. However, that might be more due to the character than the voice actress. The male voice actor for Setora (Menace's scepter) was a riot. He must have had a lot of fun doing that part.
Enjoyment: 9/10
I was familiar with the Queen's Blade franchise due to the game books and statues. However, I had very low expectations for this series, and I was very doubtful that they would be able to turn it into a watchable anime. Thus, I was quite pleasantly surprised to see that this series turned out so well. It often takes me several viewing sessions to sit through a 12-episode series, but I liked this show so well that it only took me a couple nights to watch the whole series. This isn't any type of cerebral masterpiece, but the characters and combat is remarkably faithful to its game book source material.
Final verdict: 8/10
The copious amounts of skin may be a turn off for some viewers, and the overall story is rather basic. However, the creators should be applauded for taking the "Queen's Blade" material and turning it into a highly watchable and enjoyable anime. Unfortunately, the faithful recreation of the characters from the original "Queen's Blade" game books may be lost on many mainstream viewers who are unfamiliar with the franchise's origins. Ultimately, watching "Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin" is somewhat of a guilty pleasure and one which fans of the "Queen's Blade" franchise will likely enjoy the most.
