Reviews

Summary: This is a fairly typical fantasy anime except that it adds in quite a bit of large scale war and political elements that IMO only detract and generally confuse. It has excellent art and solid sound and characters, but the story is a bit confusing and I found it fairly boring and long winded, even though it only had a single season. One thing I found weird is that it is classified as ecchi/harem but that is mostly not the case. There is very little nudity (if any full topless nudity) and though there is a bit of a love interest between the MC and a few of the war maidens, that isn't really the focus of the story. I guess in that regard it is good, it definitely lets it story shine through, the problem is again that said story is a bit convoluted and boring. Plus there were some elements introduced that weren't followed through on, though my bet was they were at least slightly hopeful for a second season. That said, the story wraps up fairly nicely (though there is definitely room for a sequel) so I feel far less burned than I do during most anime that are cancelled in the middle of the story. I recommend this if you like large scale battles and political strategy in your fantasy anime, but if you're looking for something brainless to sit back and enjoy this might not be your thing.

Story: 6/10
The story is solid, but it is just too confusing at times. There were too many places in the world and I didn't really follow the significance of each, so I felt like some of the overarching plots were going over my heart. The micro story isn't too tough, you have war maidens and the MC and they fight a battle to save MC's homeland, but the issue is they go so many places and fight lots of battles and I'm not sure who a lot of the people are and if they are newly introduced or if I should know who they are. It had an ending that, although it was definitely setup for a second season, did a good job of concluding the story.

Art: 9/10
This is pretty typical high quality art. Character designs were excellent, all of the girls had excellent "plot points" and everything was drawn well. The large scale battles used a bit of CG which was fairly seamless and done well. There was a good mix of light and dark and the vibrant mix of colors really made this anime pop.

Sound: 8/10
A strong soundtrack. The opening and ending these were both very good. The music didn't stand out but it did its job well. There were at least a few songs from the OST that I found enjoyable enough to get, which doesn't happen all that often. Also, the fight scene sounds were high quality.

Character: 7/10
The main characters were likable, if not a bit tropish. You had the tough girl (harem lead), the tough girls friend/rival who wants MC as well, MC's childhood friend (who happens to be a maid), MC has a heart of gold and just wants to do the right thing, MC has a childhood advisor who means a lot to him... there are a lot of the bases covered. That said, the characters were developed fairly well, if not a little bit shallow. I guess they were planning some interesting character development for the second season (which explains why some of the development was stunted a bit) but I guess we'll never know.

Enjoyment: 6/10
This is where the story lacked. I normally watch an anime every 3-4 days but this one took me nearly 2 weeks. I could only watch it 1/2 to 1 episode at a time because of the long and sometimes boring story. The politics and maps and confusing amount of side characters could be a bit frustrating. This reminds me of "Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu" except what it would have been like if it handled the politics and huge amount of characters in a not so good way.

Overall: 7/10
This anime had a lot to offer. Excellent character design and art, solid sound track and likable characters. If it had shied a bit away from the politics and maps of the land and stuck more to character development and story it might have been a bigger hit for me. That said, if politics and large scale battles are your thing, you might really like this. Plus, really this is just an advertisement for the LN which I've heard is pretty good, so I guess this has accomplished its goal.