First Impressions / Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls

「噂の傾奇者」 (Uwasa no kei ki mono)
“The Rumored Dandy”

Between the grand entrance of a new character and the re-introduction of an old friend, there was certainly no lack of visual panache in this episode. No matter how you look at it, this was a high-concept effort by Hyakka Ryouran and to say it has pulled it off spectacularly would be a gross understatement. I’ll be honest – I’m already a huge fan of Maeda Keiji and the fact that she is voiced by the legendary Noto Mamiko came as the cherry on top. It’s not just her striking appearance and lusty outfit that are such an eye-catch, she also sticks out almost immediately with her distinct penchant for molesting other females, whether it’s her boob-groping antics or bathroom pranks! I’m obviously a sucker for the onee-sama type, and the ones who are bold and unrestrained – not to mention being a fine dandy of the yuri kind – are definitely right up my alley. But that’s not all there is to Keiji and what makes her even more amazing is her proficiency in the great art of trolling – one who might even rival that of Gisen!

Keiji is certainly a woman of many talents and her mastery in the craft of disguise is merely one of them. Kanetsugu was already a riot in her own right, but who knew there can be so much spunk and spitfire in Keiji’s portrayal of the “warrior of love”. The brand new Kanetsugu – one who is sprinkled with the magic touch of Keiji, was completely over-the-top and it was such a phony who brought forth some of the best laugh-out-loud moments in this episode. As Sen Hime candidly pointed out, the real-Kanetsugu has never appeared to be as plucky as Keiji’s version, and despite the bold words that she constantly spews out, Kanetsugu’s a wimp at heart who chickens-out very easily. Clearly, Keiji is not the one who shies away from the high stakes, and not only did she terrorize the Shinkage dojo, she was also bold enough to pull some great pranks on the Dark Samurai – without so much as a flinch at that! There were many great comical moments in this episode, but if I had to pick a favorite, the bathroom scene definitely takes the cake as the best skit this week – the sight of Sen Hime jumping frantically in the hot tub and subsequently collapsing bare-assed, flat on her back, got a humungous laugh out of me. I’ve mentioned in the past that the flawless amalgamation of such scrumptious fanservice and comedic moments is what defines a good ecchi comedy and no question, Hyakka Ryouran is a true powerhouse in this respect!

As with so much that has happened in this show, there’s always a catch to their shenanigans and it was soon revealed that Keiji’s pranks has the alternate motive that doubled as an exercise for their “Qi” training. The mysterious “Qi” is a concept that has been explored countless times across many fictional stories and in Hyakka Ryouran’s context, it served as a stepping stone that marked the re-introduction of Golden-eyed Yagyuu Juubei – who is, of course, the uber badass of this show! Similar to her fellow vocal chameleon, Tomatsu Haruka – the voice of Mataemon in this show, Yuuki Aoi’s excellent portrayal of Juubei’s split personality is a testament to her wide voice-acting range and I’m not going to lie – I find the sensual voice that she used for for badass-Juubei extremely sexy, in a provocative way. The revelation that Juubei can’t revert back to her old self is an interesting twist which I wasn’t expecting – back in season one, it was stated that the Master Samurai persona is Juubei’s true front and a kiss that sets her botched contract right could erase the childlike façade permanently. Such a development warrants our attention and while I have no doubt second half of the show will focus on the inevitable clash with the Dark Samurai, Juubei’s ultimate fate is also a great variable that needs to be addressed before all is said and done.

Random tidbits:

  • There’s something especially seductive about a girl who plays with her hair and Sen Hime’s depiction of it was certainly dripping with sexiness.
  • Poor Hanzou is always at the crappy end of the bargain. That’s what it means to be the “M” of Sen Hime’s “S”!
  • Everything that badass-Juubei says sounded perfectly “ero” to me. Why in the world would Muneakira find her rendition of “Onii chan” cringe-worthy?
  • Gisen is not pleased. There’s another troll out there who is as skillful as she is!
  • The sight of loli Kanetsugu must have sent a few lolicon to the ER – I know Stilts was on insulin drips all weekend!
  • Kanetsugu used to be a “odango atama”! Maybe she was a fan of Sailor Moon.
  • Sayonara, bitches! I hope this is not the last time we see Keiji’s magnificent attempt at cosplaying. An empowered Kanetsugu was such a blast to watch!
  • I just can’t sing enough praises for the great background music in Hyakka Ryouran. I especially like the track that was featured during the Master Samurai transformation scenes.

tl;dr: @SeishunRC – #HyakkaRyouran Samurai Bride 06: The boob-groping and yuri-loving Maeda Keiji makes her grand entrance. Is that golden-eyed Juubei? #Anime

Full-length images: 03, 04, 05, 08, 13, 14, 17, 23.

 

ED1.03 Sequence

ED: 「結果、偶然でござ候」 (Kekka, Guuzen de Gozasourou) by 柳生十兵衛(悠木碧)、真田幸村(釘宮理恵)、徳川千(寿美菜子) (Yagyu Jubei [CV: Yuuki Aoi ], Sanada Yukimura [CV: Kugimiya Rie], Tokugawa Sen [CV: Kotobuki Minako])

Preview

54 Comments

      1. I’ll be perfectly honest. I don’t really care for this show yet <_<

        I never watched season one and I don't watch every episode of season 2. I don't really have the time to add another show to the list when it requires a previous season. I just randomly glanced at your posts one day and saw Senhime.

        I've never watched anything for just fanservice. She's turned me into a shameless pervert that only watches episodes where she gets nekkid and sometimes I'm ashamed of it.

        But then I see DAT EVERYTHING and well, fuck it lol

        I'll watch both seasons properly…one day.

        EmD
        Reply

      2. Am I the only one that finds Kanetsugu to be the best-all-around looking girl in the series? 😛 I know her body is not as gracious as Senhime’s and she doesn’t have that “innocent” body language that Jubei has, but I still find her exquisite!

        Tassadar
        Reply

    2. Tassadar, of course you’re not the only one – a certain RandomC writer wrote a 600-word post on why we should all love Kanetsugu unreservedly, not to mention the fact that she came up on top of Hyakka Ryouran’s popularity poll!

      Seishun
      Reply

      1. I admit I wasn’t too fond of her when she first appeared in Samurai Girls, but she quickly rose among my favorites. I can safely say that the humorous ED sequence of Samurai Bride helped as well!

        Tassadar
        Reply

    3. EmD, you should. There’s more to Hyakka Ryouran than just Sen Hime – I admit she’s my favorite but Juubei, Matabei and the newly introduced Keiji are pretty easy on the eyes too. Plus, the show is really funny, it manages to make me laugh more than any other series this season.

      Seishun
      Reply

  2. I thought the way Master Samurai Jubei was describing it at the end was that this version of her was just the normal bubbly version of her except with a change in voice because she replied to the comment of “Its glad to see you finally back” to, “I never left, I was always there with you”…but then I see that she wasn’t acting bubbly at all in this version so now I’m confused!!!

    SDFSDG
    Reply

    1. Well, both personas are of the same person, it’s the incomplete contract with Muneakira that prevents her true self – the Master Samurai version – from emerging completely. It’ll be interesting to see what Juubei’s ultimate fate is and I suspect this is not the last time we’ll be seeing her childlike front!

      Seishun
      Reply

  4. OP Jyubei is back. Seems Dark Samurai will get their wish of playing with her soon…
    LOL supreme when Gisen was called “shy”. I’m sure no one ever had her accused of that before… Manipulative? Troll? Lewd? but shy???

    ewok40k
    Reply

    1. Gisen’s not especially friendly when she has to deal with the ladies.
      That’s where Keiji’s yuri-loving dandiyish skills come into play. A potential ship, maybe? 😛

      Seishun
      Reply

    2. I also wondered why the studio reused that flashback scene from Samurai Girls but considering that Keiji is a master of disguise, I wonder if it’s possible that wasn’t Yukimura after all. This is all just speculation by the way.

      Zhinvu
      Reply

  7. I still find it hard to believe that Asuna (Tomatsu Haruka) is Mataemon in this anime. I mean, her “voice”; I didn’t realize it was until I looked up her VA.

    foureyeszerosoul
    Reply

      1. While I can usually identify Haruka Tomatsu when she uses her delinquent/gyaru voice, I am almost always caught unawares when she uses her really soft voice (eg. The princess in Mouretsu Pirates)

        And since we’re on the topic of VAs, it was nice to hear Noto not typecasted on to one of her usual roles.

        Asta
        Reply

    2. No idea, you’ll have to keep watching to find out! We’re not even sure what happened to Nia after her brief skirmish with the Dark Samurai in the first episode 😮

      Seishun
      Reply

  11. So you like it when Sen-Hime flicks her hair, lays flat on her back… I approve!
    Where does the new Onee sama rank among the characters?

    Also about time Juubei returns. 🙂

    Dunn
    Reply

    1. Oh come on, I can’t be the only one who has a hair-flicking fetish right? It’s positively seductive 😛
      Hmmm… good question, for now, it’ll be Sen Hime > Badass-Juubei > Matabei/Keiji. But please take note of the extreme volatility in the ranking, I change my mind quite frequently :3

      Seishun
      Reply

      2. Keiji>Ginsen>Inner Jubei>Yukimura>Outer Jubei>Nia>Matobei>Senhime>Hanzo>Sasuke>Kanetsugu

        If I added the Dark Samurai somebody would get pushed back even further to the end of this list, coughkanetsugucough ;p

        Magoiichi
        Reply

  14. Oh my, MS Jubei’s voice… audio tease, especially with her deep ‘Oniichan~’ I can’t decide if I like MS Jubei’s voice or Inner Moka’s voice better… #_#

    Arakan7
    Reply

  16. Late post D:

    I have accomplished my backlog of watching Toaru no Majutsu no Index season 1&2 along with the first Season of Railgun and I am caught up with its Season 2!

    Let’s get into why this particular episode is my favorite thus far

    Soon as I saw dat umbrella, dat stance, dat pervert nature and dat ponytail!I was like yep, must be Keiji Maeda!Thanks to Sengoku Basara and Koei’s Samurai Warriors series, I’d recognize Keiji Maeda anywhere, even if he got gender bendered.

    I loved using Keiji in Basara, so much hax.It seems like this version of Keiji is just as OP’d.It was refreshing and hilarious watching Keiji sexually harass the dark samurai technically defeating them lol.

    No Hands like a Boss!

    Inner Juubei is back <3 Gisen is not amused

    Magoiichi
    Reply

    1. Heh, good point, the various iterations of Maeda Keiji do share similar characteristics :3
      It’s too bad Keiji’s never gonna become a Master Samurai, unless we can find a female general – she’s never locking lips with a guy XD

      Seishun
      Reply

    1. Not at all, I use the Photomerge tool to make my full-length images – multiple cappings then merge them on Photoshop 😉
      You can send me an email at Seishun@randomc.net if you need further instructions, but a simple search on google should give you a rough idea

      Seishun
      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *