Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「Over The Testament」 by Metamorphose featuring Ishida Yoko
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「あなたの為にできる事を」 (Anatanotameni Dekiru Koto o)
“What I Can Do For You”
Earlier indications are that this magical-fantasy-action-harem-ecchi anime might not go the way of IS2. It’s looking bigger, better, more action-packed, and yes, filled with ecchi from the start. Shinmai Maou no Testament BURST hits the ground running.
Scary Jin-san is Cool
I enjoyed the intro scene, if only because we don’t get enough of Basara’s father, Toujou Jin (Fujiwara Keiji). I feel like they did a relatively good job of sliding into this scene without weighing it down with exposition, but the truth is, I remembered Jin well enough that realizing he was going to fight instantly had me pumped. They’ve done a good job of building up his combat prowess, so seeing him go toe-to-toe with the current Demon Lord Leohart (Okitsu Kazuyuki) and both kick ass as well as struggle a bit both cemented his strength and built up that of Leohart. All in all, a nice little intro, and a reminder that this series isn’t all about the ecchi—though let’s be serious, that’s definitely still there.
Hitting the Ground Running
They did some reintroduction of the characters, and they did it quickly. Naruse Mio (Asai Ayaka) is a tsundere; Nonaka Yuki (Sarah Emi Bridcutt) is blunt; Naruse Maria (Fukuhara Kaori) is always pushing the ecchi; and Toujou Basara (Nakamura Yuuichi) is the tsukkomi for all. But mostly they expected us to remember who everybody is and what’s going on, which I kind of like. Granted, if you don’t remember what’s going on, or worse yet, are (for some reason) watching this would having seen the first season, you’ll probably be bewildered. But I liked the absence of forced reintroductions.
Better than that, they hit the ground running as far as plot. It looks like we’re finally going to find out more about the mysterious Hasegawa Chisato-sensei (Asakawa Yuu), and no one should be surprised that the feminine-looking boy has some kind of special power (too much thought went into his character design for him to be a background character). And the attack on Basara plus the arrival of Nonaka Kurumi (Nomizu Iori) (she’s tsundere and a siscon. Yahtzee!) heralds the plot we’re going to be dealing with.
If I have any complaints, it’s that Shinmai Maou no Testament continues its habit of being a touch lazy in presenting plot points. It’s okay to explain things in dialogue when someone doesn’t know what’s going on, such as when Kurumi didn’t know what was going on with the Master-Servant Pact (to her subsequent regret/pleasure), but I-assume-he’s-a-regular-human-sensei warning Basara about Hasegawa-sensei was weeeeeird. Similarly, Takigawa Yahiro ( Tomokazu) warning Mio and Yuki to get stronger was abrupt. And that bully? Gimme a break. It screams, “Here’s a bad guy to make Basara look like a hero!” when the kid tries to punch a girl in front of a teacher. Stupid. (Whether I’m talking about the bully character or that part of the script is up for you to decide.)
Oh Yes, It’s Still Ecchi. But What About the Other Feels?
Make no mistake, the ecchi remains. Ho-boy, it remains! And the censorship too, but I like that they at least imbue a little personality into it, instead of the ubiquitous white lines and steam of other shows. But what struck me was the very real familial emotions on display between Basara and Maria. It’s … an odd situation, granted, this makeshift family, but it’s clear that Basara loves them, or at least is taking his vow to protect them seriously. I usually don’t expect to get the warm-fuzzies in an ecchi series. Not that I’m complaining.
Though I do have one complaint: How could they fade to black in the implied Kurumi ecchi scene!? Okay, I’m partially kidding. The pacing was decent this episode, and putting that in would have wrecked it. Plus, imagination is often better than reality, even if their realities are pretty envious. But c’moooooon! Who doesn’t want to see the tsundere siscon get felt up by her Onee? (And Basara too, I guess.) Monsters, that’s who. And monsters don’t watch Shinmai Maou no Testament. Though they may be featured.
Looking Ahead – Bring On The Action-Ecchi!
Sequels can be a fraught affair. If the first iteration is good, how does the story raise the stakes to make the second iteration even better? And some, like Infinite Stratos, collapse under the weight of their earlier follies. You have to go bigger, better, and more badass, and so far at least, it looks like Shinmai Maou no Testament is set to do exactly that. I have no current plans to blog this weekly (I just picked up Utawarerumono, so my schedule is pretty full), but it ended up being further up on my hype list than I anticipated. What can I say? This series is a lot of fun.
*notices everyone staring at him, nodding in agreement and silently judging*
W-what? I keep telling you, I’m not the ecchi blogger! *tsuuuun* *turns his back and drools*
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – We’re diving right into the plot, as well as the PLOT. #shinmaimaou puts the ecchi in “Holy heck, boobs!”
Random thoughts:
- Mundane-sensei lecturing Basara about the fight, even in passing, was silly. Basara stopped the dude from punching a classmate and then dodged. Maybe get off your ass and stop the bully earlier next time, sensei?
- I’m pumped for Zest to reappear. I’m all for imoutos and classmates, but we need more onee-san STAT!
My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info—now in paperback!) Sign up for my email list for a FREE sequel novella. Over at stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: The best content is in email, My morning routine, True Ends, and Rejection, the secret place, & fundamentals
Full-length images: 01, 19, 22.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「Temperature」 by Dual Flare
Preview
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They cut the Kurumi scene… I can live with that THIS ONCE, but repeated offenses will be met with extreme prejudice *shakes fist* I really wish they had kept in Mio and Yuki’s inner thoughts when they were in pet-mode though, cause those were friggen GOLD.
Did you see the OVA, Stilts? Cause the translation from LN to OVA confused me. (OVA spoilers) Show Spoiler ▼
So yeah, here’s hoping they don’t mess up the up-and-coming events because that was all done in an OVA, and not the “main” series. Cause she’s only supposed to get more and more upfront with him, ifyaknowhatimean 😉
I actually forgot about the OVA until I started watching this episode. So that’ll be a soon thing. Once I log like four more shows this weekend.
It could be that there will be an uncut/uncensored version later, much like the first show. I remember a few episodes where a lot of stuff was cut out and put back in later on in the uncensored version.
W-what? I keep telling you, I’m not the ecchi blogger! *tsuuuun* *turns his back and drools*
We know you’re not an echi blogger. I am the same as you. I dont watch this for the echi…
https://randomc.net/image/Shinmai%20Maou%20no%20Testament/Shinmai%20Maou%20no%20Testament%20BURST%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2019.jpg
I watch this anime for… er…. *drools*…. SIENCE! Yes! I watch this for purely scientific purpose! I am definitely not an echi anime fan!
this show gets so ecchi but then ultimately it can’t cross the line as its a shounen and nothing ever happens in those… need more action!!!
This is going to sound absolutely bonkers, but this series is one of the few that goes the extra step with why Basara hasn’t and actually can’t cross the final line yet. The LN already said it by this point, but I’ll tag it anyway.
Seriously, Stilts, take a look, I think you’ll at least get a laugh and there’s no plot points: Show Spoiler ▼
Nice to see a story going the extra step, and there’s nothing holding them back as long as they know when to stop 😉
Aex, are those theories right? Because it it is so, I’m disappointed.
Seriously, for any ecchi series, is it so hard to have the characters have sex? I’m not saying to show it on screen (that would be hentai), but just implying it would be nice for a change instead of having Brick-kun protagonists or looking for convoluted excuses.
Or just censor it. This series may have the funniest censorship ever.
The translation is all over the place (skipped chapters everywhere) and I can’t read Japanese, so I don’t know yet. Zest and Kurumi are a sure thing, but the rest is all “wait and see” unfortunately.
It’s an interesting take though, so I don’t mind it as much as the MC just being dense as a rock.
That’s a decent enough way to do it. Honestly, it hasn’t entered the time frame where their lack of bangin’ has started to annoy me yet, but soon enough, having reasons why they’re not crossing that line will be necessary. Those are kind of convenient, but if the teasing depends on the harem never being consummated, I guess they’re fine.
@Aex: I’m sorry, but if there were anything that genuinely pissed me off about Shinmai, it’s bull**** ‘reasons’ like that that the main characters can’t have sex. I would rather have them say that they have to wait until marriage rather than do it like that (and I’m not even that much of a believer in marriage anyways).
C’mon, we all know what’s going on here. Shinmai has a very obvious strategy with respect to its fan service, keeping its audience on the edge of their seats with a constant influx of delicious eye candy, but always pulling back at the last second ’cause it would give a sense of finality if any of its characters did end up having sex and possibly cause a loss of interest and lack of sales.
This has absolutely nothing to do with plot, that’s for sure.
@Ryan Ashfyre: oh, I’m absolutely aware that that’s what’s going on. Won’t even try to deny it. Same story every time a harem comes around that embraces the ecchi. They can’t turn it into hentai and don’t have the balls to only show the foreplay and then fade to black for the actual sex (which is probably be best way to do it without losing all the initial interest). Most series bank on the idea that the characters are all teens and inexperienced, so they pair the typical dense lead with the girls wondering “well, I love him, but do I want to go that far, that fast?”
Still, I prefer actual barriers like this over BS like Godou in Campione not making a mess of his harem because he’s worried that having sex will somehow weaken his combat prowess. Or rather, I can’t call that BS, because as much as it frustrates them, he’s doing it because he cares about them and wants to protect them. Still though, that’s just headgames he’s playing with himself. It feels better to have a rule established by the author be the reason for the c**k-blocking.
Also, as I said, these are just theories made by three characters, so I really wouldn’t be surprised if they were used to dangle the ecchi for a half-dozen volumes, and then someone older came along and said “lol what? Of course you can nail him without losing anything. Kids these days…”
I’m all for the ecchi! BRING ON THE BOOBS!
*sees all the stares*
…what?
*staaare*
St-Stop staring! KYAA! *blush*
I seem to recall that I dropped this in the first season to wait for an uncensored version, because it was getting out of hand, and then eventually lost the interest to actually find out if any such version existed, and thus never finished it.
I think there was a group doing that, but they never finished. So outside of the BR, no such luck.
Kissanime has the first season uncensored.
One group did finish it, but it took quite a while. I’m assuming it was from waiting for the releases (heh) to come out. But it is there if you look.
The opening sequence made me think….if Attack on Titan turned into an ecchi series (Granted its not the same animation used in the show but I do like the effort that was put into it. Only major gripe from last season was that a lot of the fight scenes were pretty average looking (there were a couple of good animation sequences in there but still pretty average). Welp, looks like I’m back into this show still mainly for Takigawa (who unfortunately shows up a lot less this season apparently) and Maria.
One thing I did notice is that how Shinmai lets Basara into the ecchi loop once-in-a-while, which is good since its not always about looking at the Tit’s and ass. With last season: him being naked in the op; we got a butt shot from in the show (though it was censored, damn you!!);his ahegao face after Maria frenched him; and not to mention him in the OVA (damn you really need to see that….because damn. If I was into straight stuff I would have gotten more out of it but still, it was pretty hot) Then with this season’s ed….censored butt shot from him. Damn!!! Last would be the 2nd OST soundtrack CD case, the inner sleeve has him lying out on a couch with his shirt unbuttoned. So yup, I acknowledge Shinmai’s valiant effort to sexualize him on rare occasions (a lot more than other shows I’ve seen…*cough* DxD *cough*
Chisato-sensei…
*drooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool*
…..what? Shut up!!!
Any man that doesn’t drool over Chisato needs to check his pulse. Seriously, perfection!
Wow teach, you interfere after Basara stops the bully but don’t even twitch or say a word when he’s clearly attacking that female student? Way to drop the ball teach. Then he has the nerve to tell Basara not to butt in like that. Sheesh…
Don’t ever change stilts
Its safe to assume basara is NOT a virgin. with having hands on pleasuring his slaves…. and hes so comfortable doing the deed to them… now hes gonna have a 3rd girl whose a servant… not counting maria who is a succubus.. I sorta wonder if theres a hentai version outthere showing exactly what he does to them. lol.. im a bad bad echi anime fan.. but its nice to see anime where the main male character is not … how can i say this.. like johnny bravo.. sure he loves women, but the second one wants to be romantic even close to him he chickens out.
Well he’s never done it with any of them, if that’s what you mean. Before he met Mio, who knows, but I doubt it.
He does pretty much everything else(ala Campione LN), but nope, never any crossing of the final line.
I like this show do much better that highschool dxd same genre and everything but this is better maybe because of the MC.
I swear I’m not an echi fan…. I swear I’m not an echi fan….
This show is a trip.
Lets just hope Stillts will add this to his workload as well, as he brings the ecchi the best.