First Impression – Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru
Not your average slice of life
At last I have the final first impression post on Metanorn with Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru or as we are calling it on our Metanorn skype chat YYYY Girls because we are super lazy to type it all out! Anyway I hope you enjoy watching these two episodes because I think it might be a surprise to most people who quickly wrote it off as another cute girls doing cute things anime based off trailers.
———————————–
Well, that was a bit unexpected! I thought a program would, typically, announce whether or not they had a Mahou Shoujo in the up and coming. So color me as surprised as the vivid world these girls are fighting in.
————————————-
Interesting Characters
Time to brighten your life up with the cast of Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de aru~
When we meet these characters for the first time we can tell right off the bat that all of them are fairly close in age and how they treat each other like a second family, these girls even go a step further and form the Hero Club which is a club dedicated to helping people in their community. So what makes these girls so special? For starters we don’t get to learn too much outside of Fuu and Itsuki being sisters and Yuuna and Tougou are neighbors who turned best friends; however once we get into the real story of Yuuki Yuuna we discover something interesting about these girls. Personally I did not see the unique twist of making these girls transform into magical girls to fight off creepy monsters! Since I am the resident magical girl fanboy on Metanorn I can tell by the colors of their magical forms how they might act based off my past experiences with that genre.
I love that giant sword!
Fuu: Being a yellow magical girl often means the role of support or backup role as I have seen with past Precure series which usually places yellow with using shields or supplying healing magic to help out the other girls as seen with characters like Inori from Fresh Precure, Itsuki from Heart Catch Precure, Yayoi from Smile Precure, Alice from Doki Doki Precure and Yuuko from Happiness Charge Precure and often these girls are very kind hearted and are sometimes the glue that holds the team together in dangerous situations.
Cute little sister type.
Itsuki: Now you would think that green magical girls would supply all the healing magic; however for some odd reason that is not the case most of the time. When I see green most of the time they start off being shy, but turn strong later on once they gain more confidence which fits Itsuki who was shy and quiet much like Komachi from Yes Precure 5 and the only other green magical girl I can think of besides Nao from Smile Precure, I could throw in Yayoi from Smile Precure who is a Yellow Magical girl but shares similar traits of being shy! Outside of Precure id go with Luna from Genei wo kakeru Taiyou who used vines to hold down her target much like what we saw with Itsuki in the second episode.
Melee fighting in a magical girl series? Always a good thing!
Yuuma: Pink is usually the default leader color for most of these magical girl shows and pink tends to be full of energy and extremely helpful which fits perfectly with Yuuma who displayed all of those traits! So what about her fighting style? Most of my experience with pink they tend to be aggressive and are more hand to hand based like Love from Fresh Precure, Tsubomi from Heart Catch Precure, Hibiki from Suite Precure, Miyuki from Smile Precure, Mana from Doki Doki Precure and finally Megumi from Happiness Charge Precure! Yeah the list of pink leaders is huge.
Blue is one of my favorite colors.
Tougou: Blue types tend to be really smart or the brains of the group and they are usually very tactical and really calm during battles, but Tougou is a bit different because she starts off as quiet and feels weak due to her disability holding her back until her friend Yuuma gets hurt she is forced to push her fears aside and become strong to help her friends! As far as powers go I noticed blue tends to use ice based magic and are usually ranged based as seen with Ami from Sailor moon, Karen from Yes Precure 5, Miki from Fresh Precure, Erika from Heartcatch Precure, Reika from Smile Precure, Rikka from Doki Doki Precure and finally Hime from Happiness Charge Precure.
Tougou is an instant favorite.
Out of the four characters so far which do you like the most? For me I felt quite drawn to Yuuma because of her happy go lucky attitude and helpful nature, but the only character that I could connect to on an emotional level was Tougou! As most people know that I use a wheelchair in my daily life so I can totally sympathize with her due to that and to my surprise she wasn’t complaining or cry about her situation until things got dangerous which she felt weak and in the way due to her disability; however she pushed those fears aside and through her transformation she gained the confidence to fight with her friends. Speaking of her transformation I was kind of shocked that she didn’t just magically stand up start walking because I could totally see her wanting to stay in the magical world to avoid being weak in the real world, but the tiny detail of her ribbons acting as her new legs was a unique touch so good job Yuuki Yuun for doing that right!
Studio Fun
Check out that insane background! Isn’t it awesome?
Studio Gokumi has produced some of my favorite anime in the past few years, with Oda Nobuna no Yabou, Crime Edge, and Kiniro Mosaic being a select few. So I was quite looking forward to another program with their signature approach to characterization and slice of life atmosphere. And it starts of in that realm very well, with the friendship’s very well established in the cold open, and continuing on throughout their everyday lives. Four Bowls of Udon! Fuu-Sempai is superior eater! She a couple of other things as well, besides being the big sister of the Hero Club, an outfit determined to community service, she is also something of a government agent. They let her off the hook for withholding the danger she was prepared to put them pretty easy. But it was fun to see her almost losing control when Momori finally transformed. Speaking of which, kudos to the storytellers for not having the magical girl power’s heal her legs or something equally insulting.
Magical growing boobs.
But when all is going peaceful we get the Forestize Alert! And it all goes crazy. I’m really grooving on the designs, I only hope they can change up the backgrounds every now and again, as that world, vivid as it is, can become quite same old same old after a few more episodes. But I still love the character designs, each one bringing out facets of the girls personalities. And it might have been a blink or you miss it, but did you notice the flower petals on each uniform? They leveled up after each Vertex defeat. That was a moment of very subtle exposition, and I greatly admire the storytellers for not making it a big old in your face Magical Girl moment. That sort of thing is done with just enough bravura to make it noticed, and then it’s down to business. Which is kicking tail.
FK YA EXTRA MAGIC
This is basicall Will in moe anime mode
At least Yuuki doesn’t cry as much as Madoka…
Magical beans?
Big boobs and a huge butt on a middle school girl? Only in the world of anime.
End thoughts
Well that certainly was a very interesting set of episodes for Yuuki Yuuna and I have to say WOW I was seriously expecting slice of life following cute girls doing cute things, but instead I got epic magical girls which has me super excited because that is a genre I can easily talk about! So when these episodes aired I saw a huge flood of “Oh it’s just going to be another Madoka Magica clone.” Which to be perfectly honest really annoys me just because Yuuki Yuuna just so happens to be a magical girl series with odd backgrounds and strange monsters. That said do agree that there are similarities between both series; however didn’t we say the same thing about Genei wo kakeru Taiyou when it was airing? So what do you think about all of that? Do you feel that Yuuki Yuuna is just another clone of that popular dark magical girl series? Personally I want everyone to view it as a standalone series own without all the heavy comparisons and I noticed with this new series we are missing two important additions! Like a wish system and the all-important Kyuubei like figure.
This was an unexpected surprise. I’m more than willing to enjoy a pure slice of life show, so the bonus of the Mahou Shoujo is a benefit. I wonder how they are going to mix it all up in the coming weeks. Are the Vertex an event with multiple participants? Have we had four out of the mentioned twelve to appear, or does this count as two? Will the other hero’s of the world be making an appearance. I’m eager to find out….
Preview
Catch you next time yo!
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Through two episodes, this show has a touch you rarely see on television. There was just enough to make the school seem kinda off (primarily the bowing to god), although I didn’t really realize it was set in a different universe. It rode the line nicely between the action and the school time, and it did amazingly well with the interactions between Tougou and Yuuna.
I was surprised to see Tougou in a wheelchair, but they didn’t hide it for long. And then they had good interactions with her, without condescension or pity, even when Tougou lost confidence in herself. And the idea of both Yuuna and Tougou being selected by Fuu because of their ability was a great touch. Never “your ability despite being disabled” or “your ability because you’re disabled”. Just “Your ability.”
And as mentioned, it couldn’t escape notice that Tougou’s transformation didn’t “fix” her. It worked with her, but didn’t show her up, didn’t make her jealous of the magical realm when she’s in the normal realm. I’m sure there will be some of that in the future, but it’s handled very well so far. I also like that she got 3 of the little spirit guys rather than just 1.
All in all, a really surprising and excellent opening two episodes.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah the bowing to the god part was kind of interesting! I liked that bit even though I didn’t get it on my first watch and agreed the interactions between Tougou and Yuuna were really great! I can tell those two are really close.
Same I was surprised when I saw the trailers for this that they actually had a girl in a wheelchair because that is a rare thing in anime, but I can understand that some writers wouldn’t know how to make that character strong without bringing up the fact that she is in a chair.
Truth they could have easily made her “cured” while in magical girl form so good for them for taking a risk and doing something out of the ordinary.
I think it will be a fun series to follow this season.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Hmm… Colour choices…
So… is Nanoha Blue or Pink?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Nanoha? That is tough just like Sailor Moon she wears white so id guess as leader roles id go pink xD
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
THIS SHOW! Is awesome, normally i don’t really like this type of “kirakira magical girls”…but they conquered me, i’am a fan now…go Fuu-sempai! i can’t help but, to like her big sis/protector/Best sempai personality, and she reminds me of Hisa from Saki which is the best sempai ever…in the whole world…but nevermind that, the characters are in general full of life…and they have the best thing ever in a show, “pwetty” colors *w*
the coloring is excellent! the music is nice and the animation is pretty good…if you forget the first monster, he looked like a child’s drawing.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Indeed! It is certainly the surprise of season for me because I figured slice of life series about helping people through the Hero Club, but instead we got something different!
Fuu is a interesting character so far and I hope we get more back story on how she found out about the Gods being in danger.
Excellent colors <3
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I really hope that it’s not something like Madoka or even Day Break Illusion. We’re allowed to have Magical Girls who aren’t haunted by demons, who don’t get broken by the evils of the world. I think that a lot of people want that because they think things need to be ‘edgy’ to be interesting. They don’t. Friendship that’s supportive and fulfilling is possible, even preferable, and at this point, if everyone’s expecting the characters to be broken down by the show, then how is that even edgy or cool? Everyone’s going to be watching this show for any signs of that, ready to jump in with “See?!?! I told you!”
I would love for that to never happen.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Secretly, I’m hoping Cerebrum turns up with QB. I would watch
PurePrecure if I wanted happy magical girls. Call me jaded, but somehow, the Kirei/Caren in me that has woken up cannot be satiated…POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
@HWY: Same that comparison makes me sigh because every time a magical girl series explores characters with sad pasts or lives it gets the Madoka treatment which honestly sucks because I think Yuuki Yuuna should be judged AFTER it finishes not quickly written off as another clone and I completely agree it doesn’t need to be edgy to be interesting. LOL yeah most people will watch just to prove a point that this is another Madoka-ish magical girl series.
@DiGi: Precure is never dark or near as death filled as Madoka or Day Break because it is focused most of the time around friendship and overcoming hardships, but to my surprise the new Happiness Charge Precure is diving into love and relationships.
No problem I completely understand why you or anyone else would avoid Precure cause in the end it is a kids show technically so it wont show anything hardcore like blood, but I love the epic fight scenes and I enjoy the different characters they bring every year and its not a repeat of the previous season they do keep it fresh.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
I said I would watch PureCure… I mean Precure if I wanted a happy show.
Currently plans are in the pipeline with skylion for an army of magical girls to conquer the world!POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
True! Yeah Precure is a lot of happy vibe magical girls that is true…lol an army of magical girls yes!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Then we can send all the Normas to …
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Disney world?
On the subject of you possibly getting into Precure I would highly recommend HeartCatch Precure because its got a very unique style which makes some of the end fights really amazing to watch or Smile Precure which is more comical in nature and it has a great cast of characters.
You don’t really have to start at the very beginning, but I understand if that is where you would like to xD
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I’m one of those who thought Madoka Magica when they went to the magical realm. Almost impossible not to with the crazy background and weird looking monsters. But that’s okay since that was something I really liked in Madoka.
However, I can also judge this show on its own merits and so far I like it and the girls’ characters. It was a great touch having one of the girls in wheelchair and not restoring her use of her legs in the magical realm.
I would prefer this not to turn dark and edgy since that would go against its tone so far and make the comparison to Madoka unavoidable. I guess we’ll know if its going that way depending upon whether or not Fuu dies soon.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
That is fine I mean I am not completely blind to seeing why people would say Madoka cause of the tone and feel of the first two episodes, but I suppose on the flip side if people loved Madoka they should give this a shot and Day Break Illusion as well.
Yeah that tiny detail might set this apart from the darker magical girls, but some might just say that is the only reason Tougou exists in Yuuki Yuuna for the sad girl with a disability = pulls at peoples hearts much like some of the Madoka girls with their messed up pasts.
Same we don’t need more dark magical girls even though ill be honest and say a little darkness might not hurt, but we will see if Fuu or any of the girls get killed off or seriously hurt.