So Sengoku Otome -- Momoiro Paradox didn't turn out to be too bad. No one would mistake it for a top drawer series, but it tells an interesting story, and the time travel aspect of it isn't a disjointed mess.

They didn't explain everything (for instance, why they're all women), and there's a huge hook at the end for a sequel.

The main reason it works is that Hide Yoshino AKA "Hideyoshi" doesn't turn out to be a whiny ball of angst. She gets her act together pretty early, and though she can't fight, she ends up being an increasingly valuable retainer for Nobunaga. Plus, the Nobunaga character is more interesting and... I'm tempted to say "well rounded" but I fear I'd be accused of double entendre.

OK, it's a silly fan service show. But there are neat battles, and a lot of surprisingly interesting characters, and there's a pretty good series-level story. Which is all the better because it isn't the story you think you're going to get after you watch the first couple of episodes. It ends up going someplace entirely different. And when I got to the end I realized that they handled that very well. They knew where they were going, from the very beginning, and did a nice job faking me out.

Considering the pivotal place that Tokugawa Ieyasu has in history as we know it, I was a bit surprised at how the Ieyasu character was handled in this show. It almost seemed sacrilegious, like someone telling a story about how George Washington was an evil genius bent on world conquest, who dabbled in black magic.

I know that saying bad things about the Emperor (or any emperor from history) Just Isn't Done, but I guess it's OK to take liberties with the first of the Tokugawa Shoguns.

I really did enjoy it. And I managed to collect about 50 candidates for the top rotation.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 06:49 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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