Review of Absolute Duo

My abridged review of Absolute Duo, an ecchi harem that is actually not half-bad. The main character, Tōru, is a generally likable main protagonist, who is an example of the new harem trend where the main character is neither deathly afraid of female contact nor a lecherous pervert. With that said, Tōru is still a typical bland hero. Julie is a foreign girl with a very direct and non-aggressive attitude. Julie's backstory is equally tragic, and her general lack of shyness around Tōru is refreshing. My favorite aspect of Tōru and Julie's relationship is that, despite advances by nearly every female supporting character, Tōru is unwavering inhis oath of partnership (or rather dou-ship) to Julie. Also, unlike most other harems, Tōru and Julie actually need each other in the sense that they are both emotionally damaged characters. Unfortunately, all of this interesting subtext is pushed to the point of almost nonexistence in favor of fanservice, ecchi-ness, and a random bunny costume wearing teacher...

Narratively, Absolute Duo is an Absolute mess (see what I did there?). Many episodes are disjointed and full of poor writing and plot holes. Conceptually, the story is more or less the same thing that we have seen time and time again with a high school for teenagers with magic powers.

Surprisingly, the action sequences are a highlight of the series. Each character's Blaze offers a unique fighting style, and the action sequences rarely use CGI. A final mention should go to the opening sequence, which is one of the best of the winter season (you can watch it in the full post). The animation, editing, and choreography are stunning.

With above average action and surprisingly likable main characters, Absolute Duo could have been great if not plagued by the distracting tropes of the ecchi harem genre. With that said, for an ecchi harem, Absolute Duo is fairy entertaining, albeit nothing special.
_Watch if you like:_ Action, Harems, Ecchi
*-5.1/10*