Sengoku Otome – Momoiro Paradox 02-05

The quest for the Crimson Armor continues on!

Foshizzle did the first impressions of this series, so I’ve kindly requested to borrow the piece of the Crimson Armor he found as I will be continuing along with Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and the others to gather the Crimson Armor that will unite the land. I am kind of wondering why we’re conquering the land anyway, but hey, I know why I watch it, and you can probably put together why I’m blogging this. Ecchi! Anyways, I got my work cut out for me as I’m blogging not 1, not 2, but 4 episodes of this funtastic series. Hope to see you at the end!

I’m making the same face as Hideyoshi is right now. Guess why.

In Episode two, Hideyoshi is still a fish out of water, trying to make sense of this new world she lives in. With female warriors and time traveling-talking dogs in this world, Hideyoshi does do one thing pretty good: know how to make slaves have fun doing the lord’s work. Hideyoshi’s cellphone easily fascinates the group and they get some good work done and have meat buns. Hope that cellphone at least has good battery life.

Doing the lord’s work can get quite dirty.

Easily irritated by Hideyoshi’s skills at interior design, Mitsuhide challenges her to a 6-round duel to show what a warrior really is. It’s no surprise that Hideyoshi can’t throw kunai or shoot an arrow, but almost Neo-like, she busts out the kung-fu and actually does pretty well vs. Mitsuhide until an opening (and I do mean opening) shows itself with Mitsu taking advantage of it. If you let your mind explore, Sengoku Otome can become a pretty filthy show. It makes it better for me, at least.

Hideyoshi seems confused by the plot. In one way or another… so am I.

In Episode three, Imagawa has the left leg of the Crimson Armor, which Nobunaga seeks out. After having a meeting in which Tokugawa (Tokuyan) fires a warning shot at Hideyoshi, at the suggestion of Hideyoshi, Nobunaga decides that sports is the best way to convince Imagawa to put her piece of the armor up for grabs.

The prize at stake. Autograph goes for an extra $50.

I’m coming for ya, Hideyoshi!                                         Oh yeah… bring it on!

So what sporting events do lady warriors partake in? Well, two girls try to give each other a wedgie, we see the first instance of bowling in the world and see the girls engage in human kite fighting. I don’t really understand the importance of putting girls on the kites, but the explosive conclusion is as silly as an ecchi anime can possibly make it. While Tokugawa is a straight up cheat, Imagawa is there to even the playing field, which causes Tokugawa to be launched first; another piece of the armor unlocked!

It’s all tied up in the Shingen vs. Kenshin battle… like it always is.

In Episode four, Kenshin and Shingen are bitter rivals who fight almost too frequently. If ties are like kissing your sister, then what Kenshin and Shingen are doing is probably a nasty doujinshi alongside Sengoku Otome that I may or may not be looking for on Google right now as I type this. They are pretty good at making those explosive domes, but every match they’ve had has been scored with a triangle. That’s not a fight; that’s a show. The girls are missing out on a money-making opportunity!

This week’s prize at stake.

Please Sengoku Otome, more of this and less of what you were doing last week!

Because those two have pieces of the Crimson Armor, Oda wants to intervene, but Hideyoshi and Mitsuhide offer less violent solutions. Hideyoshi’s is to ask and say please; adorable. Mitsuhide’s is to trick them and make things easier on Oda by having one of them kill each other; shameful, and Oda would have none of that! What does happen is the first actual action sequence in the series, which is pretty fun as Oda showcases her strength as she’s more than able to hang with Shingen. In defeat, Shingen offers her head, but Kenshin steps in and asks for her head to be taken. Showing pity on the two, Oda backs off, hoping they’ll fall victim to her charms and offer up the Crimson Armor. Bingo!

Why not share a scary story in the comments section? The girls could use your help.

In Episode five, Imagawa and Tokugawa decide to give Nobunaga a hunting hawk as a gift. Much to the delight of Hideyoshi, the hawk gathers up animals for food. I’m surprised that Hide is so much into meat; I wouldn’t expect her character to be ok with gathering animals and being so genuinely thrilled with meat. Maybe I’ll change my view on her. After the hawk decides to go rogue and fly into the woods, the group follows and runs into Masamune, who is stuck in a hundred stories with some dead folks. This is where the scary story begins.

Hideyoshi puts on her gameface for story time.

A real warrior wouldn’t be such a scaredy-cat, now would they?

When in Rome, do as the Swiss do, right? Well, considering that phrase isn’t even correct and that you cannot kill the dead or leave the forest without being stuck in a Legend of Zelda-esque loop, the girls partake in the telling of a hundred stories. Hideyoshi finally gets to do something in the series she’s good at, as she’s one of the better scary storytellers (likely borrowing from legends like Hitchcock, or ya know, Wes Craven). While the other girls aren’t so bad also, Mitsuhide is painfully scared and Nobunaga’s stories are laughably bad. Thanks to an assist from Hideyoshi, Nobunaga takes out the remaining candles with a story that basically sounds like one of those damn annoying chain emails your aunt would forward to you.

Who’s that genin ninja you’re talking to in broad daylight?

A tiny bit in episode 4 and moreso in episode 5, Tokugawa is seen talking with some secret ninja-like guy. There isn’t really an enemy yet in Sengoku Otome, but right now the table is being set for Tokugawa to become somebody that aims to take the Crimson Armor away from Nobunaga.

More Sengoku Goodness:

A mouth that I would’ve thought only Charles Schulz could draw.

Only Hideyoshi can find a way to hurt herself in this situation.

The winner of this battle gets their face shoved in Nobunaga’s bosom.

What my dreams are probably gonna be like tonight. Yum~

Join us, Mitsu! For the sake of ratings!!!

My dreams of food are now gonna be replaced with this sickening display of friendship.

Those Verizon LTE lightning bolts are harmful to weaker phones.

The Hulk has his color, Nobunaga has hers.

Hideyoshi is easily amused at Mitsuhide’s paint-on megane.

I’m telling you, there’s a lot of undertones in this series.

I really really want one of those right now. Preferably Kenshin.

End Thoughts: I was with Sengoku Otome before my time here at Metanorn. I watch it because it’s excellent fluff anime and comes out at just the right time, Monday afternoons. After a long day of work, I like to fire up the Macbook, go to Crunchyroll (yes, I subscribe to that wonderful service), and watch Sengoku Otome. It’s really plain and doesn’t have as much ero as I’d like to see, but hearing Megumi Toyoguchi as Nobunaga instantly locked me in and the show is just a fun relaxer; sometimes, watching an anime you don’t have to think about just hits the spot. Yes, the animation is subpar. Yes, I could probably just download Koihime Musou and get this similar kind of anime with the female nudity. But just the simple fact that the release timing is right and that it’s a new series I can follow along with weekly, Sengoku Otome is right in my wheelhouse.

This show needs a villain right away, but I don’t think we’re going to see anything of the sort until episode 8 or 9. Tokugawa is showing signs of being an antagonist, but really? Who thinks she has any hope of hanging with Nobunaga in anything? As mentioned, I like Toyoguchi, but her character is loosing interest with me as she starts to show that she’s actually kind of a dimwit. She is a one-track mind with a passion for fighting, so I can forgive the lord for her stupidity (cue red glow from Nobunaga), but the approach the anime takes is hit-or-miss.

I definitely want to see more of the action like in episode 04. Maybe once things get heated up, Kenshin and Shingen will have other enemies to fight and provide some of their exciting action to the series. While I ragged some on Nobunaga earlier, I do enjoy that she isn’t always a hard-ass and is more forgiving of Hideyoshi not really being a strong warrior. I’m coming around on Hideyoshi’s character more, but hearing her seiyuu (Hidaka Rina) whine and whine gets a little agitating on the ears.

Meeting Me: So who am I? Indeed, I am Jrow, one of the 2011 hires at Metanorn. I’ve been brought on to produce the MetaVerse podcast and you’re likely gonna see me posting some ecchi shows on the blog like Sengoku or whatever oppai-filled shows start coming out. I’ll surely participate in the occasional tag team efforts. I’ve been a part of the anime fandom for close to 10 years, totalling roughly 73 days worth of shows as my MAL list would report. After having Kyokai as a guest on a recent episode of my former podcast (and Foshizzle on another episode), when applications were open to join Metanorn, I pounced immediately on the chance to take part in the day-to-day operations of Metanorn and the podcast that they were forming behind the scenes. So if you haven’t subscribed to MetaVerse yet, do. It’s gonna be a fun ride, and who wouldn’t want to hear Kyokai raging or Ness’ moe moe voice?