Article
mrmariokartguy here. It's late at night and I'm here to write a review. For some odd reason, I decided to finish up Absolute Duo after I dropped it halfway 6 months ago. The anime compelled me to write a review about it, and it's not for a good thing.
This review may contain minor spoilers. I'll try to keep it on the low side.
Synopsis via MAL:
The story begins with Blaze—a weapon that is the manifestation of a human's soul. Tooru Kokonoe happens to be qualified for this, but for some reason his Blaze is not a weapon, but a shield. Moreover, he enrolled in a school that teaches combat skills, and thanks to the school's Duo partner system, he ends up living with a beautiful silver-haired girl.
Ratings:
Opening - 10/10 - Honestly, this is the best part of the show. Konomi Suzuki absolutely kicks the ball off the park with her song, Absolute Soul . The animation for the opening are also top notch. Judging by OP alone, you would think that this show has potential. Beware though, this is easily the only good part of the show.
Story - 4/10 - Why? The premise itself had potential. The studio, 8-bit, really screwed this one up. The story begins with the main duo, Tooru and Julie, seeking for revenge after they both lose a loved one. As the story progresses, they get together and..... go to school where the headmaster is solely interested in creating the Absolute Duo. They make friends and go off beating opponents with the power of friendship and willpower. There are only two major events that really happen in this show. One involving a gun-toting girl who wants to be the MC's wife (it's a harem show after all), and the other involving a mecha suit army. Remember the original premise? The main duo is supposed to be "seeking for revenge", yet they get no closer to doing so when the show ends. They don't even become an Absolute Duo.
Characters - 5/10 - It's a harem anime. Don't have too high of an expectation. The main character is an absolute idiot, spouting shit about friendship while he's about to be killed. He nearly digs his own grave through his naive actions. Julie is a bit better. She's a dandere, but she can get pretty kickass when she gets serious. She's a bit too dependent on the main character though. Their friends are bland. Miyabi and Tomoe's duo are close to the MC's duo. They are pretty much the epitome of "friendship is power", solving a major conflict solely using the power of love and friendship. The villain is absolute shit, worse than SAO's Fairy Dance villain. He was hell bent on killing the main characters and had an unnatural obsession with Tooru. Best character easily goes to the bunny rabbit teacher. She has a cute side and a dark side , and both are equally as entertaining.
Art - 5/10 - Not bad, but nothing special. There's some obvious 3DCG, but it's not bad. Animation gets a bit lazy sometimes, but it's not that distracting. However, there is an unnecessary amount of panty shots in the show. The show needed to know the difference between putting panty shots in a casual scene and putting panty shots in a serious scene, because in the latter it takes away from the show. It's was quite annoying to see unwarranted fanservice in the final fightscene.
Sound - 7/10 - Good selection of voice actors. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka voices the main character, which is not unexpected. The only other major VAs in the show are Yui Horie (as headmaster) and Yukari Tamura (as rabbit-sensei). OST wasn't bad either.
Enjoyment - 3/10 - I sat there facepalming while watching the last three episodes. It was that bad. It was hard to enjoy a villain worse than SAO's Oberon and a MC that's naive and fights with the power of freindship. You're supposed to be here for revenge, ya know? Main character took a pretty deep wound during the battle, but it seemingly went away a few scenes later. It could have been done so much better, but it ended up as a farce of a battle.
Overall - 6/10 - Do I recommend you to watch this? If you're interested in harems, the power of friendship, and big boobs, then yes. But if you are here for an interesting story and some good action, look somewhere else because this show doesn't have it.
That's all folks, and see you next time!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mrmariokartguy is a regular on the Crunchyroll forums. You can find him here .
Previous article:
Mario's Anime Corner: Out of Context (10 years ago)
Next article:
Mario's Anime Corner: Fall 2015 Impressions (10 years ago)
About the game:
USA as a world power? In E-Sim it is possible!
In E-Sim we have a huge, living world, which is a mirror copy of the Earth. Well, maybe not completely mirrored, because the balance of power in this virtual world looks a bit different than in real life. In E-Sim, USA does not have to be a world superpower, It can be efficiently managed as a much smaller country that has entrepreneurial citizens that support it's foundation. Everything depends on the players themselves and how they decide to shape the political map of the game.
Work for the good of your country and see it rise to an empire.
Activities in this game are divided into several modules. First is the economy as a citizen in a country of your choice you must work to earn money, which you will get to spend for example, on food or purchase of weapons which are critical for your progress as a fighter. You will work in either private companies which are owned by players or government companies which are owned by the state. After progressing in the game you will finally get the opportunity to set up your own business and hire other players. If it prospers, we can even change it into a joint-stock company and enter the stock market and get even more money in this way.
In E-Sim, international wars are nothing out of the ordinary.
Become an influential politician.
The second module is a politics. Just like in real life politics in E-Sim are an extremely powerful tool that can be used for your own purposes. From time to time there are elections in the game in which you will not only vote, but also have the ability to run for the head of the party you're in. You can also apply for congress, where once elected you will be given the right to vote on laws proposed by your fellow congress members or your president and propose laws yourself. Voting on laws is important for your country as it can shape the lives of those around you. You can also try to become the head of a given party, and even take part in presidential elections and decide on the shape of the foreign policy of a given state (for example, who to declare war on). Career in politics is obviously not easy and in order to succeed in it, you have to have a good plan and compete for the votes of voters.
You can go bankrupt or become a rich man while playing the stock market.
The international war.
The last and probably the most important module is military. In E-Sim, countries are constantly fighting each other for control over territories which in return grant them access to more valuable raw materials. For this purpose, they form alliances, they fight international wars, but they also have to deal with, for example, uprisings in conquered countries or civil wars, which may explode on their territory. You can also take part in these clashes, although you are also given the opportunity to lead a life as a pacifist who focuses on other activities in the game (for example, running a successful newspaper or selling products).
At the auction you can sell or buy your dream inventory.
E-Sim is a unique browser game. It's creators ensured realistic representation of the mechanisms present in the real world and gave all power to the players who shape the image of the virtual Earth according to their own. So come and join them and help your country achieve its full potential.
Invest, produce and sell - be an entrepreneur in E-Sim.
Take part in numerous events for the E-Sim community.
