Review of Katana Maidens: Toji no Miko

Katana Maidens This was a pretty good series that does well in a lot of ways and fails in others. I'm only writing this review because I have a tendency to review series I either love or hate...this is me compromising for everything in between. To be honest, I went in thinking this would be like any of the other million shows involving magical girls or something similar. There's even a subgenre for Samurai/ninja magical girls like "Release the Spyce", "Armed Girls Machiavellism", or "Oh! Samurai Girls"! I'm not certain what the deal is with these shows in Japan, but it's not something we in thewest are familiar with. That being said, I actually like some shows like this, particularly if it's a harem (throw a guy in the middle and it's even more humorous). Either way, "Katana Maidens" definitely falls into this subgenre, but distinguishes itself in many ways!

First and foremost, this show sets itself apart by taking itself seriously. What I mean is, plenty of the aforementioned examples are either comedies or harems (and most of the others in the "powerful samurai/ninja girls" subgenre are basically the same). Katana Maidens has a pretty rich lore, good voice acting, and a few emotional scenes I didn't expect. It would appear they went into this series thinking it would be a hit. To be honest, I doubt many others have even given it a chance. If there's even the slightest chance someone may like it though, they definitely should give it a chance.

SPOILERS from here on out except the conclusion/last paragraph:

I personally liked the intro episodes where the tournament occurs and the main characters have to escape after an attempted assassination of Yukari Origami. Both of the girls are unique in their own right and I enjoyed most of what I saw from them. I'll admit I got slightly choked up later in the series when Hiyori is about to condemn herself to the depths of the underworld and Kanami breaks down in protest. It's just a nice moment between best friends that I couldn't help but sympathize. I also really liked their dynamic: while one is quiet, solemn, and singularly focused...the other is friendly, forthright, and free-spirited. It's not super original, but it makes for great TV.

The character design was really my favorite part of this show though. I'm mostly referencing the humans, but there are a few demons or underworlders that really stand out. For the first half of the series, I could not get over just how cool Yukari Origami's design was. Don't know what it is about villains (or redeemed villains), but I always like them the most in any series unless they're just completely awful. I don't know if it was her hair cut or how she carried herself, but Origami definitely was one of the more stand outish characters of the series. Another villain I grew fond of was Yume of the Imperial Guard. In her case not only was she just a freak of nature when it came to ability, she had a lot of great dialogue (the bloodlust was less than original but still fun). She had a lot of conviction and great moments because of it. My last favorite of the demon crew is Princess Tagitsuhime of the underworld, although I'm not certain if she counts as one or four (her two "clones" and her possession of Origami). The design for all the princesses were by far some of the best character design I've seen in anime period. To expand on this statement, there's a scene toward the end around episode 21 I think, where Princess Tagitsu breaks free of Hiyori's body and you see the demon eyeballs on her clothing come out one by one as her sinister smile eventually comes into frame. It's just a cool and well animated scene that made getting to the end worth it for me.

I know I've bragged on Hiyori already, but I honestly felt she was the only person on the good side, aside from Yukari Origami in the latter half of the series, that had a unique design. Most of the good guys blend together, especially after they acquire that upgraded gear from Helen's grandfather. But Hiyori stands out not just by her actions and personality, but also with the form she takes after teaming up with Princess Ichikishimahime and becomes the "thunder god". Really that just made a great character even more amazing and it speaks to the thought put into each individual or at least most of the important ones. Even though it was difficult to remember most of the names they threw out, I still recognized each individual character once I saw them. But yea, the thunder god scene was pretty fun to watch altogether.

As much as the show stands out for what it's done right, it also has some glaring flaws that ultimately lead to me giving it less points than it I had intended. One thing that a lot of fighting shows do in general is have their characters wait around for exposition, and I can't stand it. It's wild how many conversations these girls are having while crossing blades. At one point, Evil Yukari is fighting with Kanami and Hiyori, and screams out for them to hurry and kill her while she has full control of the body. Of course, both Kanami and Hiyori just stand there dumbfounded, missing the opportunity to end it all right there. But even in the basic fights, so many of them could have been won if the person hadn't stood there allowing their opponent to reqroup. This goes for any of the characters who lost in a duel...they just stood there talking instead of finishing off their opponent...c'mon.

Another glaring negative was the animation. Not so much the majority of the show, but specifically the fight scenes. It switches from classic animation to a 3d cgi, which looks absolutly terrible and boring. Now I understand it's cheaper, and for a new series, that's critical, but if I could have better animation at the cost of epsiode quantity, I'd make that trade. Honestly for how much fighting there is, it was really disappointing. Again, I get there's a budget. I suppose under the circumstances it could've been worse for sure, like the entire season done in 3D!

I really don't have much to complain about. Yes the story is a little predictable with some dull characters and a confusing plot, but it makes up for it in a lot of ways. I honestly believe that had they focused on polishing it just a bit more, it would've been significantly more popular. Although, I'm not sure just how popular it was regardless, so who knows, maybe I'm alone in that thought. I can say for sure that there are some precious moments that are nice to see and some really memorable characters. Music was great as well. In the scene after Hiyori has the Princess rip out of her, a beautiful song comes on that I don't remember hearing for the rest of the series. Regardless, it has well placed music that was performed very well. There's just a lot of things that made this series much more worth it to watch rather than skip and God knows I've skipped most of the series similar to this one or in the genre. The fact I'm even writing a review, for what seems to be an unoriginal series, says it all.