Story: The plot revolves around Aya Iseshima, a high school junior, who is dragged into a “Martial Hearts” tournament one day. Yes, by dragged, I mean Aya pretty much has to participate in a life-or-death situation since she justifies her use of martial arts as self-defense. Aya has to battle other very stereotypically dressed anime girls to obtain this martial heart capable of granting any wish. The initial premise should be familiar to almost everyone who has seen anime like Fate/Stay Night.
Since the anime revolves around Aya’s perspective most of the time, many technical details are left out in the beginning, such as who sponsors the event or why only females have to fight it out like this. Although this lack of context kept me in suspense about the real plot, it nonetheless oversimplified procedures and made the anime very predictable in the beginning. In other words, don't expect the plot to be innovative.
Now, a big problem comes with the anime’s direction. On the surface, the anime seems to appeal to guys who enjoy watching women’s clothes ripping off during fight scenes. That is, expect a lot of unnecessary fan service. However, the actual fight scenes are often brief, spanning only a few minutes at best in an episode. A large portion of the anime is spent on the drama and transition events, such as Aya lamenting over the consequences of her actions or trying to find out why her opponent has to fight.
In general, the shifts may confuse viewers because they don’t really know whether to treat the anime as more serious or comical, especially with the stereotypical costumes and battle moves during the fights. It’s like the anime staff wants you to like all this fan service but still feel guilty about it as a morally responsible human being. Thus, the drama does not complement the anime's action scenes very well.
This anime also has the issue of length. Spanning only 5 episodes, the story really doesn’t allow much time for multiple character developments. You’re expected to know how each character is related when they are first introduced, and the story pretty much goes from there. Therefore, you might have a hard time sympathizing with some of the characters, especially when it comes to situations when you're clearly suppose to feel sorry for them. For example, you're suppose to believe that Aya's friendship with a character you meet in the first episode is reason enough for her to risk her life.
If you can’t come to like any of the characters, that makes appreciating the drama in this anime rather difficult. Things might have been more clear if the anime was extended so proper character introductions could be made and the fight scenes given more detail. It just often seems unrealistic when the staff spends so much time emphasizing how important each contestant feels about winning and yet each fighter gets beaten in a few punches.
In addition, the length of the series makes episode 5 a bit hard to swallow for most viewers. I had to watch the episode more than once to fully grasp its meaning. The staff jammed way too much information in one episode, since the anime had so many plot holes to cover. The lack of transition scenes can make the ending appear rather distorted to viewers, which is understandable. I could tell that the staff members were attempting to make the plot seem simple at first but gradually grow more complicated. The only advice I can really give for this factor is to pace yourself when watching the anime to minimize information overload.
Art: In my opinion, this is probably the weakest category in this anime. The art style is your usual pretty girl look, and the female bodies are given a mature appearance to enhance the appeal of the many boob and panty shots. Seeing as how this anime is based off of a visual novel, you would expect the art to be gorgeous, but this is sadly not the case. There was obviously a budget issue. For one thing, the characters hardly look the way they are portrayed on the cover advertisements for this anime. Whoever was in charge of character designs in the show probably didn't care very much.
Furthermore, the animation is often very limited. You’ll often see only a few frames associated with individual facial expressions and movements. Some of the scenes were quite ridiculous, like the flight attendant’s handbag assault in episode 1. The bag was clearly heavy enough to dent a solid wall, yet the woman suffered no recoil. This obviously violates conservation of momentum and demonstrates how the staff lacked an understanding of fundamental physics. But I suppose this is anime humor in its own right. Other fight scenes tend to look rather jerky and fake, and female bodies are sometimes shown out of proportion when the camera angle shifts. At the very least, special effects like explosions, rain, and obstacles are inserted in the right places.
Sound: There’s nothing too radical in the sound and music department for this anime. The opening is upbeat and cheerful to fit the action genre of the series, while the ending is more melancholic to fit the drama category of the show. The OP can get annoying somewhat, but you can always skip it at will. Music of the proper mood is thankfully inserted during important scenes of the anime, although they can get slightly repetitive. Most of it, once again, is used to enhance the drama that is centered around Aya. However, don't expect anything groundbreaking.
Character: There’s pretty much a large variety of stereotypical female characters you would find in a ecchi anime, like the shrine maiden, nurse, and police officer. The characters certainly act like the way they should in those uniforms, which tends to add some comic relief because it’s just plain hilarious to see people out of context like that duke it out. Besides the costumes’ intent for fan service, it also seems like an easy attempt from the staff to try to differentiate characters in order to make them more memorable. This is reasonable because there's really little time for development in these other characters, so you pretty much have to stick with what you see on the surface here.
Aya seems like the only one whose background was explored in-depth somewhat, although this isn’t a surprise since the story revolves mainly around her. You’re often forced to interpret her past through brief flashbacks and subtle gestures she takes towards certain events, at least before the final episode. One thing I liked about her was her humanistic reactions to her situations, like how the Martial Heart tournament sounded really ridiculous at first or how there would be consequences for others if she continued fighting. Aya's determined but naive personality will certainly be a mixed bag for most viewers.
Enjoyment: To get the most out of this anime, you pretty much have to appreciate both the hilariously bad fight scenes and the emo drama scenes. It’s not something most people can do for this anime, especially since this series is so compressed. You’ll just have to keep an open mind and try to place yourself in Aya's shoes, particularly as the series progresses. For many of the poor aspects discussed above, it might be a good idea to treat them as more amusement from the anime.
Overall: I somewhat enjoyed this anime since I was able to bring myself to like the drama centered around Aya, even though such a story element is overused by now. The action scenes weren’t particularly the best, but they were still rather funny from being random and out of place at times. I especially liked the plot twist towards the end even if it was a bit rushed. For those of you interested in watching, pace yourself and try not to focus solely on the comical fan-service part of the anime if you want to get something out of it.
