Review of Absolute Duo

Absolute Duo is the kind of show that contains the very essence of ecchi harem action anime itself. This means that everything that happens is something you've seen from another show, even it is not a copy of a particular one. I mean look at these: - The setting is in a secluded elite school/academy for super-powered high schoolers with the ability to summon magical weapons. - The phrases tsuyoku naritai and tsuyoku naru ("I want to get stronger" and "I will get stronger") are said probably hundreds of times. - Among the most powerful characters are an old lab coat wearing scientist, a goth loli headmistress, anda bunny suit+ears wearing teacher.
- The main character always "levels up" (in this case, sometimes literally) when in peril, and his main motivation is to protect everyone due to the death of a family member (in what looks like a literal dojo). Various versions of "I will protect you" or "I'll get stronger to protect you" are said on average many times per episode.
- Shameless ecchi fanservice with short schoolgirl skirts and other large bouncy assets abound.
- A tea-sipping helicopter-riding rich blonde literal Ojousama with a maid falls for the protagonist.
- The main grill is somehow living with the main character.
- During fights, the villain harms a main and then just waits for them to recover because of reasons. The main character is able to not only survive but recover from severe wounds nearly instantly in some cases but not others.
- The power gap between the protags and an enemy seems initially insurmountable but then is somehow just leveled after the main's victory.
- Numerous girls fall for the main, and the other males around the main have zero interest in his girls.
- The villains fight with an army of weak faceless and nameless robot-like minions (in other shows, they would be monsters or demons), yet inexplicably possess the ability to manufacture vastly more powerful suits but don't use more than one at a time.
- Powerful abilities, moves, organizations, and events are given English names. Sometimes, a Japanese speaking character invents a name *on the spot IN ENGLISH* for something he/she just thought of.
- The power of friendship, love, and caring overcomes the hateful, power-seeking bad guys.
- The protagonist, multiple times, saves the life of an enemy who definitely should die, to his own detriment, by preventing a team-mate from killing them (to save the team-mate's conscience, presumably).
- Despite events occurring that can only be described as on the level of a major terrorist attack or foreign military incursion, governmental or military responses are nowhere to be found, leaving literal schoolchildren to handle it.
- The main accidentally gets into many situations involving various body parts pressed against him. There is a swim-suit beach episode. (No onsen episode BUT there is a classic onsen scene within an episode... guess you can't fit everything lol).

Whew! Nevertheless, I didn't hate this show, and it did have its own unique aspects. In particular, even if some of the characters were cliches, I rather liked them and their interactions. I like the idea of characters fighting in close-knit duos, and I was surprised to see a harem member actually confess. Note also that, even though the main guy is not perfect, he is not a punk b!|ch, which I appreciated. The characters are not annoying or cringey.

Also, to be honest, I find many anime cliches to be quite amusing, as opposed to irritating, so please, decide for yourself if you are ok with this. Constantly saying "I will proteccc you!" and "I will grow stronger!" is not one of them though, anime, so please, it's time to stop. Same for giving English names to moves/abilities that don't really need names in any language, let alone a foreign one.

I'd classify this one as follows:
- Moe: medium-low
- Comedy: medium-low
- Drama: medium-low
- Action: high
- Romance: medium-low
- Harem: high
- Ecchi: medium

Several of the main grills, Miyabi, Julie, and even Lilith (though not at the start... give her a few episodes) are kawaii to some extent, so I give some moe points. The show has pretty continuous, decently animated action scenes, interspersed with slice-of-life-style comedic ecchi harem antics. There is also some pretty serious material (many characters are traumatized by memories of loved ones murdered in cold blood, for instance), something I often don't like mixing with more silly material, but I feel they did ok in not making the transition too jarring. Although this is a harem show, there isn't much romance or drama, except for a single confession and its fallout, and some light "rivals bickering" (which I classify under harem comedy rather than romantic drama).

Overall though, you should only watch this show if you are not bothered by hilariously large plotholes (despite being an incredibly predictable plot), baffling character decisions, and "y tho" moments. For instance, the main character's "weapon" is a tiny shield on his forearm. The total lack of utility this tool possesses is only emphasized by his need to use his fists to actually do any fighting. But... why is it so small? How can it protect anything? How can he block slashes to his legs? How is he able to block multiple simultaneous ranged enemy projectiles? (spoiler: he usually can't). So why is he so powerful? I wish he could enlarge the shield or something. Another example: character motivations, such as the main "bad guy" Equipment Smith (yes, in English, of course) or the headmistress (constantly talking about Absolute Duo [again in English] yet never explaining it), are simply absent. At least the two mains have motivations, albeit simple ones. Actually, this show could use significantly more world-building in general, to be honest.

Anyway, this review makes it sound like I didn't like the show, and sure it has problems, but I actually quite enjoyed it overall. I'm 100% sure there are a lot of people thinking, "man, this guy is the problem with modern anime" *tips fedora*, but hey I don't criticize anyone else's tastes. Personally, even if "the story/characters is cliche", that doesn't make it bad or unenjoyable. In fact, I think it's important to take each show on its own, not only think about in comparison to other shows. Even if it was inspired by one or more other shows, the author has injected his own ideas into it: whether it is the magic weaponry mechanism, character designs (inward or... otherwise ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ), back-stories, world-building, etc...

Just go in knowing what to expect: for me, as soon as I saw the first few minutes where the protag gazes in awe at the wind-swept hair of a white-haired twin-tailed girl under falling cherry blossoms, I knew what I was in for. You'll have super-powered fight scenes with panty shots and bouncing jello. You'll hear a character referring to the main as "future husband" and not even getting a reaction to this. And you'll also see a cool assortment of unique characters with great designs fighting and growing together, and learn more about them over time. If this sounds like fun, then give it a try. :)