I plundered the first Shinmai Maou no Testament series, which I expected to be a total pander akin to High School DxD, which really royally sucked. Such story as it had was merely a skeleton on which to hang fan service, and I assumed this series would be the same way.

So as is my habit in such cases, I turned off the volume, turned off the subtitles, and went through the series backwards, beginning with the last episode, in order to plunder it.

But yesterday I was looking for something to post about, and since I've dropped the two series I was posting about (sorry for not telling you, but they both suck) I thought it might be interesting to see just how BURST was.

Before checking it out, though, I actually watched the first series, in order, with sound on and subtitles active, and you know what?

It is pretty good. Not spectacular, but it is telling an interesting story, and the characters are not charicatures, and though there's a lot of fan service (especially in the BD rip, which is what I was watching), and it's a bit excessive at times (you never thought I'd ever say that, did you?) it actually fits into the story. During the rather extensive fondling sequences I just skipped ahead, and as to the rest, it's nicely drawn.

Having finished it, I downloaded BURST up to ep 6 (the most recent one) and started watching it this afternoon. It picks up right where the previous series ended, and I mean right where, like seconds later in the same scene. And for the first three episodes it is mainly concerned with story. It introduces a lot of new characters and gives us a big reveal about one from the first series, and has lots of action. Then in ep 4 it stalled, and I was afraid they had lost their pace. But it picks back up with eps 5 and 6, and ep 7 should be pretty amazing.

There's still ridiculous groping scenes, which I am still skipping. I could do without the magic spell that requires that. But since it was magic cast by a succubus, I guess it's in character.

I think I'll keep watching.

And now for the pictures, below the fold!! (NSFW)

It is a harem show, and there are two main haremettes. One of them is a busty redhead who is the orphaned daughter of a demon lord. (Where have we seen that before?) You don't want to make Mio mad.

The other one is Yuki, the "childhood friend". Our Hero (Basara) is a "hero", and grew up in a village of heroes. Yuki was there, too. When they were kids there was a catastrophe, and Basara was blamed for it, so Basara's father (Jin) and Basara were exiled. Five years have passed.

She is nicely built. But she's having a bit of an attack of the inadequates by comparison to Mio.

By the way, red half-rim glasses:

This is the school nurse. The boy behind her is named Tachibana.

This not being an AT-X broadcast, BURST is full of Buy-The-BD shots. Some are traditional:

Some are very unsubtle:

And some are actually rather clever:

This is one of (succubus) Maria's powerup spells, which involve sex. Oddly enough, Yuki and Mio asked her to do this to them.

That's Maria in the back on the right.

One of the things I like about Burst is that Jin, Basara's father, is a much more active character, particularly because he has the same voice as Hyakume in Mouretsu Pirates. Jin is a real badass, and it's a pleasure to have him around. (BUT... I put it at even money that he dies before the series is over. Or I would, except that the only people who have died so far are faceless villagers and one real SOB villain who really needed to die.)

This is not a classic but it's fun, and I think I'll keep watching. It's certainly drastically better than High School DxD, though perhaps that may see to be damning with faint praise.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 08:25 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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