IMHO. Maoyuu ~ problems of modern education

It's sad when an anime turns out to be completely bad and not worth one's time, but it's also sad when it had potential but didn't live up to it.

This is what happens when you try to make a shounen-harem single-season anime series out of a history textbook, even if that history is a fantasy.

The start was almost good, not least because of the funny gap between the seriousness of the main characters' undertaking and their teenage clumsiness.

It also never hurts to have the creators self-conscious of what they do, and once in a century the silly puns and comments typical for ecchi anime sound fun not because they're fun as they are but because they are so intentionally made to be perceived as your typical ecchi comments.

The epic discussion on the fates of the world, philosophical contemplations on good and evil are easily tolerated when punctuated by out-of-the-blue anime-only developments.

The ending by Arai Akino with her ethereal voice, being a nice counterbalance for the generic shounen-anime energetic song with female vocals, also contributed to the fantasy atmosphere.

I even found myself fascinated by how the development of the world is viewed by our main character, Demon King.

However, the further into the story the more the pace of the series is disrupted. It starts when the creators decide to put a whole year of the characters' lives into one episode #3. Then, in the span of 12 episodes we follow, or at least are supposed to be following, several wars and conflicts, both real and economic, developments and deaths of several major poleis, forming of alliances and church dissents, era-changing inventions such as printing and arbalests, all taking place within only several years.

I don't know if the creators meant this anime as a way to attract students not interested in history otherwise, but Maoyuu looks like a perfect ad: hey do you know there's a new version of a history course, this time with boobs and first-rate voice actors.

Maoyuu constantly doubts whether it's a fantasy shounen or a textbook. Where previously shounen characters would be admiring opponents' new techniques, Maoyuu's characters are amazed at...

And when the swaying gets too strong, there's bound to be resonance, which, in its turn it bound to increase the swaying even more. By the last episode, hardly any character gets enough time to be fully presented, new characters and directions appearing even as the last episode is approaching its 20th minute, and the series end up in a peaceful harem interaction while the world's fate stays undecided.

There are cases when I wish a book was made into an anime, but this is the first time I thought I'd be happy if Maoyuu was a proper book rather than a single-season shounen harem.

p. s. Reviving my 'how to learn Japanese' column, I highly recommend to stay away from Maoyuu if you're still in the early stages of learning the language. At least for me, Maoyuu became a source of an infinite despair because of my sheer ignorance of all the Japanese lingo pertaining to economics, politics, warfare and such.

to watch or not to watch, that is the question

with Koshimizu, Fukuyama, Sawashiro, Saitou Chiwa, Touyama Nao and Kamiya in the voice cast and Arai Akimo performing OP/ED, I thought this might be a rare jewel among the sea of commercial mainstream

and then something prompted me to learn about the director

since when am I so interested in directors? I already know that one good anime in some director's list does not guarantee the following would be as good...

but this case is actually vice versa... if Takahashi-san has only made several mainstream series, frequently dealt with harem and ecchi, and is known for two incest stories, what will he make out of 'Maoyuu Maou Yuusha'?

my humble opinion on 'Ikoku Meiro no Croisee' ~ deja vu

why deja vu? it reminded me of 'Aria' greatly, that's why. I don't want to say they're alike, the plot is different, and the general idea is different, too. what's alike is the feeling I have - no boredom, but calmness and peace, not emotionless, but not too stirring/confusing/frustrating. a perfect balance. a thing to enjoy

plot and characters

like in Aria, there were moments when I was really moved by what the characters do or say, but this feeling caused no darkness of despair, nor they made me laugh out loud. those were the 'simple truth' turned into words, an ordinary and frequently used idea which was presented so nicely that I could not help but skip a beat

such was the moment when Yune doubted whether to stay with Alice because the latter promised her to give the kimono back for free, as Yune wanted all the best for Claude, while Claude didn't take her back from Alice because he wished the best for Yune. both were wrong - Yune in thinking Claude was not eager to earn money to buy the kimono, and Claude in thinking that Yune would be happier in the rich house, but the final decision was my biggest delight. instead of sacrificing herself in an egoistic manner Yune chose to come back to Claude's. my reaction - ^__^

the 7th episode was almost unbearably filled with touching moments. even if I wanted I could not say the concept was very new and original, or sophisticated, but the setting, the direction of the episode was so... so... T____T I just can't

and you probably understand that one moment like this

or like this

weigh much more that a thousand of 'squeezing the girl to the wall' - a phrase I read in some comment on 'hakushaku' to describe their 'romantic' relationship

apart from the main characters, pay attention to all the others. how realistic and alive they are. Claude's neighbours, farmers from the market. Alan, who only tried to help Yune once, but turned out to be a nice and kind person

every character is memorable. pay attention to Alice's elder sister - Camille - who is loving, caring elder sister who says that she enjoys herself as long as her Alice enjoys herself, and believes in Alice, but also shows her own stance - though she didn't say anything when Alice gave Yune a very bad choice, her glance betrayed her disapproving of what Alice did. note her look when she's told that everyone has high expectation about her, how she reacts when Yune says that a crinoline looks like a bird cage. 'tis not that 'twas unexpected of her, but I was impressed how the authors created such a character. well, on the other hand I was rather irritated with this hinted feeling of Camille for Claude. this has nothing to do with the quality of the plot, just I was really annoyed with it, yep ^^`
and of course, Oscar. a very typical old man for Japanese animes, caring and understanding, but at the same moment - never old in terms of how he feels or behaves. loves tricks and entertainment, tells stories, makes a shadow theatre, and more importantly - helps both Claude and Yune in their hard moments. and - did I say he loves tricks? can creep to Claude from behind and scare him as well, just to have fun. can go for a date with a young mademoiselle. can give 'the water of life' to Yune. nice and funny guy, yep

also, note how every episode has a new image of Yune with a cat - in the middle where the episode is divided into two parts

considering the ending, I would not  wish for the better. they did not think of a random scenario of Yune going home ⇒ parting with everyone, and quite opposite, the ending leaves the light feeling of tender happiness - the same one I had after 'Aria' (well I already started comparing, so let me go on). the story of the last episode was pretty simple, but what feelings it conveyed I cannot put into words. 'twas not the same as in 7th episode, the main idea came only during the last minutes, but those feelings were overwhelming. several ideas perfectly fitting the plot, the time, the flow of the story in general and of the episode in particular. feeling useless because you doubt you are helpful to others, feeling frozen because you are unable to save someone, feeling worried that it might happen again, feeling hard because you have to admit all those feelings, and finally - feeling relieved because there are people who are happy with you as you are. and being accepted like this is the greatest happiness, isn't it?
well, in the end I read that Satou Junichi-san helped with the scenario. and he's a master of such works, isn't he?

seiyuus

as I said, there were a lot of moments when I literally forgot to breathe. half of the reason was the moment itself, of course, but seiyuus' work contributed greatly to it. in one of the episodes when Claude was worried about Yune Kondo-san's 'ttaku' made me almost choke with the usual feeling I have in special moments, when something grasps your breast for a second almost painfully
Yune-chan's and Alice's seiyuus were perfectly fitting their roles. in order to fully appreciate their work you can listen to the audio dramas, where you can a. hear their usual everyday voices and compare them with the anime ones and b. understand how much they put their heart into what they do. Aoi-san said, if I am not mistaken, 'when I took the audition, I was already thinking like 'as Alice I would like to do this, and say this, and this...' so when I was approved I was so happy!' isn't this one more proof that they are great seiyuus, apart from their splendid work in the series? also, the picture dramas are good if you want to understand the work of seiyuus better. when the video consists of almost motionless pictures the voices of seiyuus become much more distinctive and stressed. all of the seiyuus coped with the task. I especially laughed in the episode where Alice asks Yune-chan about different things in Japan and they use a lot of onomatopoetic words and the stuff like 'wasshoi'. that was LOL
as for other seiyuus, I didn't notice anything too outstanding, but I enjoyed every phrase I heard in the anime. this is the case where the seiyuus' voices are pleasant to hear and the intonations are all 100% right

music

I am not wrong for remembering 'Aria' all the way, you know!

first, the OPED songs were of the same style. light, cheerful but calm, positive melody and sonorous vocal of of Youmou-to-Ohana, tender melody and thin voice of Touyama-san perfectly matched the general style

also, if you look at those who are responsible for the OST - ko-ko-ya - myanimelist will tell you - 'Led by Shigeharu Sasago, the guitarist of Choro Club'. heeey, that's almost unfair!

graphics
somehow I watched nothing from Satellight. or almost nothing? well, I knew nothing about the studio - whether 'tis capable of a good picture or not... and I was pleasantly surprised. some shots were created to resemble coloured retro photos

exactly reproducing real places

some brilliantly portrayed objects reflecting the 'time and place' 

and some showed great love of the creators towards what they do. otherwise would they care about such tiny details?

conclusion
everybody says this work was 'overlooked' and 'underestimated'. why??? such a brilliant piece. can't find a single bad point in it. well, probably, people who don't care about different characters, their relationships and behaviour, their feelings and deeds, their views of the world, will not be happy with this series. as well as those intolerant to soft kawaii (I would name it 'true kawaii')... actually I would really pity such people

p. s. - what's with Yune-chan's age, in the end? she claims to be 15, but she obviously isn't, as she was drunk. however, she is angry when Claude tells her he thought she was 7 or 8. her anger was probably a real one, so she is a bit older. then, something like 10 to 12?