First Impressions / Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls

「愛の戦士、登場」 (Ai no Senshi, Toujou)
“The Warrior of Love Arrives”

It looks like we’re on a master samurai parade with the way Muneakira is locking lips left and right, but if the opening sequence is any indication of things to come, this should be the last one we see for at least the next while. Whatever the case, the introduction of Yukimura’s childhood “friend” Naoe Kanetsugu (Toyosaki Aki) made this episode an absolute riot to watch. These girls sure don’t hold back with the insults, nor the hazing-like treatment in Yukimura’s case. Ironically enough, Hanzou was the one flipping out over how shameless the talk about peeing on an earthworm and having it return the favor was, when she would probably pounce on the opportunity to be Sen’s sex slave in a heartbeat. As for Kanetsugu herself, I love the haughty and almost snobby attitude that Aki plays her with, because she really makes it sound like our warrior of love is asking for it. That of course is aptly followed up by her getting what she deserves for rubbing bust sizes into Yukimura’s face, as the latter busts her ass master samurai style. “Fushaku Shinmyou!”

On that note, the whole having a personal saying to transform into a master samurai bit makes these girls seem like magical ones. I did rather enjoy how it went off and was made fun of for what it is though, namely when Jubei was trying to find one of her own. From meal sets to other references to food, I just loved her cute antics and how she completely sidetracked everyone’s seriousness on the matter. To help balance that out to a degree, there was a bit more of Yoshihiko and Charles bringing some more relevant plot developments, even though that only really resulted in Kanetsugu’s pretty shoddy attempt at becoming a spy this time around. As someone who’s taken a real liking to how unexpectedly funny this series has turned out, I honestly wouldn’t have had it any other way. It was about time someone called out Muneakira for building up a harem even if he wasn’t making a conscious effort to, and Kanetsugu provided just that with the way she’ll speak her mind — something she tends to do whether or not anyone’s around. She’s a true failure of a spy in every sense of the word, but an absolute genius at entertaining me for a good twenty or so minutes. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of her in future episodes.

Other than that, I got to hand it to this series for making characters’ delusions a lot funnier than what they’re fantasizing about. While I’ll admit that it was a bit awkward to hear 19 year-old Kotobuki Minako moaning in pleasure (and doing one heck of a job I might add), the actual things that go awry in those dreams and subsequently in reality are so whimsically funny that I find myself thoroughly entertained. What’s interesting is that there’s actually plot progression happening at the same time, be it how Sen’s fantasy became reality and awakened the master samurai within her, or Yukimura’s insecurity over her breast size leading to Muneakira’s headstrong way of trying to understand her feelings. In short, this is a harem series done right. The male lead isn’t terribly annoying or weak spirited and only really serves as a means for all the girls to behave “mischievously” around him. Ultimately, it’s all in good fun, though a blushing Sen and a beach episode next time might make it FUN fun… if you know what I mean. *nudge nudge*

* I prepared five full-length shots for this post, so those interested should feel free to look for them. 🙂

 

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25 Comments

  4. this show just keep getting funnier each episode…
    what caught my interest was though how no side effects appears when the girls transform themselves through personal sayings… but Jubei is being an exception… (guess it will take her awhile to find a key word that works…)
    If the opening is any indicator, maybe the French girl will also join the harem soon?
    Naoe reminds me of Astraea from Sora no Otoshimono…

    jrj
    Reply

    1. Yea, I remembered Slayers scene where on sight of Lina getting insulted over bust size, the gang do get air-raid siren to warn the population and then wear shades to see resultant magical tactical nuke…

      ewok40k
      Reply

  7. gawd… hearing Kotobuki Minako moaning like that can give a nosebleed…

    But this series is quite unlike wad i expected it to be initially. Thought it was gonna be like some ecchi/action fest. Turns out its more comedy than anything. Still loads of fun though~ 😀

    And yes, Jubei is just too cute XD

    Euzio
    Reply

  8. Any series that has Shana going at it with Yui is gonna be a “win” for me. When I saw the fall preview I figured it was gonna be just another so-so harem series. Clearly this is alot more then that. The characters are beautifully drawn with great facial expressions (especially on Yukimura and Jubei) and its just fun to watch. The script is very funny with many laugh out loud parts.

    Based on the opening and what we have seen so far its not a far stretch to think that the brother is gonna be the main villian of the series and he is gathering his own harem of missing masters that will probably end up fighting Muneakira’s harem. Question will be which harem the princess will end up fighting for? Her own evil brother’s or her childhood playmate’s (that she is so in love with)?

    Karmafan
    Reply

  11. Glad Sen put that “warrior of love” chick in her place. There’s always one that blames the guy even when every girl is coming onto him. Yukimura is still my favorite though, but Sen definitely got some points here! This show is seriously the hidden love-child of Negima and Sekirei… which is awesome!!! XD

    Aex
    Reply

  12. This is the first harem for a long time where -so far- I really like all the girls. I attribute this to the fact that they all seem to fill a role in the story; and despite still filling niches like loli and glasses meido, act somewhat moderately and believably.

    A lot of other harems contain girls who are just there to fill out the numbers and serve no real purpose (Negima I’m looking at you), or have unbelievable behavioral problems when a partcular cliche -usually the violent tsundere- is taken too far. How often have we seen other KugiRie lolis act like irrational, selfish bitches to the male lead character?

    Ninja Penguin
    Reply

  17. 1) https://randomc.net/image/Hyakka%20Ryouran%20Samurai%20Girls/Hyakka%20Ryouran%20Samurai%20Girls%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2002.jpg – Jubei is cute

    2) I think I might have figured out what is the event that will take place in a later episode. The first part is Yoshihiko Tokugawa, Sen’s older brother, who will infact play a role in this entire event and will likely be responsible for it. The second part however is a possible invasion that will occure in Great Japan, because I remember correctly in the first episode were a bunch of planes(maybe the US army) suddely fying in Japanese sea territory and the samurai girls appeared and brought them down, which is a possibility that what we saw in the first episode will happen in the future. Muneakira might also appeared to play a role in this as not only the one who will bring forth more master samurai’s but also a possibility that he will rule Great Japan as the next shogunate instead of Yoshihiko

    What you think?

    SilentmanX
    Reply

  20. I’m amazed at how “Greater Japan” still hasn’t mastered the invention of pants, yet they seem to have mastered “rope underwear.”

    Looks painful.

    Out of all of them, I like Yukimura the best. It’s hard not to, though, because she seems to be the smartest one of the whole bunch. (Which isn’t saying a whole lot, but still…)

    Jubei’s airhead voice is just too annoying for me. It would drive me up a wall to have to listen to that for more than 22 minutes a week. (Thankfully, I don’t.)

    sarcastic_weasel
    Reply

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