Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi - Anime-Planet forum

therik · 07-05-2009, 05:33 AM

Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi

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Site Reviews: therik

Discuss the completed anime or post full reviews here. Post format and full rules can be found here.
__________________________________________

====
Because I don't think we've had quite enough ecchi reviews lately...
====

Story - 2/10

Can boobs carry an anime by themselves? This fascinating conundrum appears to have been the question going through the minds of the makers of Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi. I'm sure their surprise was as great as mine when the answer turned out to be a definitive "no". I was convinced that it would take a quite cataclysmic failure to screw up a premise such as "women with easily damaged clothing engage in close combat", but Queen's Blade forced me to eat my words, my hat and what little pride I have left in my anime tastes.

To give credit in one of the very few places where it is due, Queen's Blade never masquerades as anything other than over-the-top ecchi and it would be foolish to expect the plot to be much more than a laughable excuse for torn clothing, compromising positions and a bizarre array of characters clad in unusually kinky outfits. As such, any detailed or technical critique of the story would have all the sport of playing tennis against a blind man and even less satisfaction. However, problems begin to arise when the narrative transforms from a few paragraphs outlining the scenario to a drunken, incoherent monster of a storyline which goes so far as to act as a wholly unwelcome distraction from the show's pendulous main attractions.

The tournament's rules are alluded to moreso than explained, and the criteria for victory in the competition remain a complete mystery, even as the series draws to a close. Characters' motivations for competing range from the corny to the non-existent, and the value of the reward for winning the contest has to be extrapolated from a few lines of dialogue and a vague introductory narration. To compound the sketchiness of its premise, the show spends entire episodes trying to make the viewer care about certain characters, relating hackneyed and cliched sob stories with only the occasional burst of nudity serving as a dangling carrot throughout the resolutely uninteresting proceedings.

Perhaps the coup de grâce is the final episode, where all attempts at making sense are shoved unceremoniously to one side in order to make way for a gigantic crate of laughable plot twists, inexplicable occurrences and preposterous set-up: in essence, a cornucopia of stupidity. Although I laughed throughout this inanity, it was uncomfortable laughter, tinged with the dismaying realisation that the anime was still taking itself quite seriously and that this was the grand conclusion to proceedings, rather than some kind of epic joke.

I expected nothing from the plot but got even less. It is off-putting, insulting and half-arsed from start to finish. By attempting - even if only on occasion - to deliver a storyline that is more than perfunctory, the anime completely cripples itself. If it were pure parody or pure comedy, Queen's Blade could well have been highly successful, but its token attempts to weave some kind of narrative fabric just end up with it creating an ugly piece of cloth which obscures the wonderful nudity on offer.

Animation - 2.5/10

Passable to begin with, the animation of Queen's Blade - through lack of budget or lack of effort, I know not which - completely falls apart as the series progresses, with the final episode presenting quite possibly the worst visuals I've seen from a 21st Century anime. Characters, even when topless, look terrible from long range and their hair moves as if they styled it with concrete. In the final episode, such staples as lip-syncing and perspective are found wanting: the former to the point that I attempted in vain to correct the sound delay on my computer, the latter even causing me question my eyesight. Towards the end of the episode, following some special effects reminiscent of Windows Movie Maker, even walking appears to present a problem and a couple of characters apparently decide to slide, or possibly float, as a means of transportation so as not to unnecessarily drain the threadbare animation resources.

Because the show's offering is primarily a visual one, this lack of animation quality should be seen as harmful to its bottom line. Even scenes of heavy rain - which ought to offer a wonderful opportunity for soaked cleavage and glistening curves - are botched, with torrents of water seemingly having no effect on characters, except to leave a few poorly drawn splash marks on darker coloured garments.

Sound - 6/10

One of the things which always amused me about Queen's Blade is the fact that it comprises what could be considered a dream team of voice actors. With Aya Hirano, Rie Kugimiya, Ayako Kawasumi, Rie Tanaka and Yuuko Gotou among others, the seiyuu cast reads like a Who's Who of fanboy favourites. And, to their credit, they do a decent job of it. Even towards the end, with the animators having given up trying and the scriptwriters entrusting their task to a demented monkey, the voicing remains of a high standard, with Hirano's energetic performance as Nanael a surprising highlight.

With the exception of a good ED, whose simple but pleasant melody found it a place on my iPod, the music is standard fare. Faux-Medieval action music for the fighting scenes, a bit of generic chanting to build up important moments and some forgettable sounds for the remainder make for an uninspiring if inoffensive expereince.

Characters - 3.5/10

From Nanael's tendency to spill thick, white "holy milk" over herself to Echidna's questionable decision to wear a live snake instead of panties, the characters of Queen's Blade seem to have most fetishes covered, including some that probably don't even exist. Notable even among this salacious bunch is the bunny-eared Melona. With oversized funbags that actually shoot acid (and later, for no apparent reason, explosions), she seems like something out of a gay man's nightmare.

When it comes to sweater fruit, however, the anime actually demonstrates an astonishing lack of variety. Only a handful of characters have boobs that might conceivably exist in real life, and they find themselves very much on the small side of the spectrum. On the other end, past the F-cupped majority, the weaponsmith, Cattleya, sports a pair of grotesque monstrosities which arouse only feelings of disgust.

With the more or less uniform size, particularly among the main cast, there's very much a sense of "seen one pair of mountainous mammaries, seen them all". Given that it takes the anime less than three minutes to expose the first two sets of shirt potatoes and given that - in spite of the commendable ingenuity involved in the "holy milk" stunt - the series is unable to go much further than this, there's very little to look forward to, even during the first episode. Indeed, all that remains is the vision of the same breasts over an over again, and occasional moments of downright freakiness. Are snake bites erotic? Queen's Blade says "yes!"

Overall - 3.5/10

Unless you happen to be averse to omnipresent female nudity, the main problem with Queen's Blade is the fact that it has no idea what it wants to do, and ends up falling into a barren no-man's-land, lost between sets of faraway ideals. It's not witty enough to laugh with and - aside from its closing chapter - not ridiculous enough to laugh at. It's not subtle enough to tease, and rarely creative enough to please. The story is distracting but not engaging. The symptoms of this anime's identity crisis go on and on but together they amount to a failure in my eyes.

Queen's Blade finds itself sitting precariously on an uncomfortable fence of ecchi. On the one side of this fence are anime such as Shuffle!, which lose the air of smuttiness, have a good laugh, and make you care about the characters before stripping them semi-naked. On the other side of the fence there are a number of excellent hentai which don't waste time telling a story and are able to deliver a more satisfying experience. Both of these options are - in my opinion - far preferable to the lukewarm boobfest served up by Queen's Blade. I'd be lying if I said that this had no appeal whatsoever, but - whether you're looking for ecchi or H - there are many better titles available.

KiraRin · 07-05-2009, 06:02 AM

I love that the entire "Character" section seems to be dedicated to perversion and boobs :p

I think the lord therik protesteth too much about his innocence when it comes to ecchi :p

H.

therik · 07-05-2009, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KiraRin

I love that the entire "Character" section seems to be dedicated to perversion and boobs :p

There's little else to talk about

Quote:

Originally Posted by KiraRin

I think the lord therik protesteth too much about his innocence when it comes to ecchi :p

Well... maybe

. I thought I already gave you the lowdown on my perversion or lack thereof?

KiraRin · 07-05-2009, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by therik

There's little else to talk about

Thats probably why Chii said I should watch it. I think she's stitching me up again ._.

Quote:

Well... maybe

. I thought I already gave you the lowdown on my perversion or lack thereof?

In a roundabout way, yeah :p

H.

VivisQueen · 07-05-2009, 07:29 AM

Apart from silly little typos, which you could easily fix yourself with some sleep and a fresh look at the text (e.g. One one side of this fence <--- 'On the one side'), it's bloomin' marvellous. Thanks for the pun-ridden read. More entertaining than the show, I'm sure.

chii · 07-05-2009, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KiraRin

Thats probably why Chii said I should watch it. I think she's stitching me up again ._.

hey!
if you can't sit through queens blade and laugh at how utterly silly it is it's not MY fault!

seriously the humor factor in queens blade made it worth the watch for me and i generally can't stand ecchi of this nature (kanokon)

At least QB didn't have to dress everyone up as animals to get the perversion across. ;)

Bring on S2! :D LOL

Funkgun · 07-05-2009, 08:59 PM

Quote:

On the other side of the fence there are a number of excellent hentai which don't waste time telling a story and are able to deliver a more satisfying experience.

LOL *tears*

rockenroll4life · 07-07-2009, 07:07 AM

Wow...Interesting review. I would have to say the funniest part is the fact that the character section mentions breast by 6 different names....some of which I've never heard them referred by...

"funbags, sweater fruit, boobs, mammaries, shirt potatoes, breasts"

You could have probably said that in that section and got the same information across. XD

KelsieKatt · 07-07-2009, 01:46 PM

This is exactly the problem I had with the episode I watched. It tries so hard to put in emotion and a storyline of some sort, acting all seriously, in spite of the absolute absurdity of the concept it's presenting, that it completely loses the effect.

Also, I agree, the "character" section was really funny, and the very colorful useage of different breast terms was quite an amusing read. Lol

Xennon · 07-07-2009, 01:51 PM

"Lukewarm boobfest"... nice.

07-05-2009, 05:33 AM	#1 (permalink)
therik Otaku Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1,390	Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi Synopsis, screenshots, recommendations ~ Add Recommendations Site Reviews: therik Discuss the completed anime or post full reviews here. Post format and full rules can be found here. __________________________________________ ==== Because I don't think we've had quite enough ecchi reviews lately... ==== Story - 2/10 Can boobs carry an anime by themselves? This fascinating conundrum appears to have been the question going through the minds of the makers of Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi. I'm sure their surprise was as great as mine when the answer turned out to be a definitive "no". I was convinced that it would take a quite cataclysmic failure to screw up a premise such as "women with easily damaged clothing engage in close combat", but Queen's Blade forced me to eat my words, my hat and what little pride I have left in my anime tastes. To give credit in one of the very few places where it is due, Queen's Blade never masquerades as anything other than over-the-top ecchi and it would be foolish to expect the plot to be much more than a laughable excuse for torn clothing, compromising positions and a bizarre array of characters clad in unusually kinky outfits. As such, any detailed or technical critique of the story would have all the sport of playing tennis against a blind man and even less satisfaction. However, problems begin to arise when the narrative transforms from a few paragraphs outlining the scenario to a drunken, incoherent monster of a storyline which goes so far as to act as a wholly unwelcome distraction from the show's pendulous main attractions. The tournament's rules are alluded to moreso than explained, and the criteria for victory in the competition remain a complete mystery, even as the series draws to a close. Characters' motivations for competing range from the corny to the non-existent, and the value of the reward for winning the contest has to be extrapolated from a few lines of dialogue and a vague introductory narration. To compound the sketchiness of its premise, the show spends entire episodes trying to make the viewer care about certain characters, relating hackneyed and cliched sob stories with only the occasional burst of nudity serving as a dangling carrot throughout the resolutely uninteresting proceedings. Perhaps the coup de grâce is the final episode, where all attempts at making sense are shoved unceremoniously to one side in order to make way for a gigantic crate of laughable plot twists, inexplicable occurrences and preposterous set-up: in essence, a cornucopia of stupidity. Although I laughed throughout this inanity, it was uncomfortable laughter, tinged with the dismaying realisation that the anime was still taking itself quite seriously and that this was the grand conclusion to proceedings, rather than some kind of epic joke. I expected nothing from the plot but got even less. It is off-putting, insulting and half-arsed from start to finish. By attempting - even if only on occasion - to deliver a storyline that is more than perfunctory, the anime completely cripples itself. If it were pure parody or pure comedy, Queen's Blade could well have been highly successful, but its token attempts to weave some kind of narrative fabric just end up with it creating an ugly piece of cloth which obscures the wonderful nudity on offer. Animation - 2.5/10 Passable to begin with, the animation of Queen's Blade - through lack of budget or lack of effort, I know not which - completely falls apart as the series progresses, with the final episode presenting quite possibly the worst visuals I've seen from a 21st Century anime. Characters, even when topless, look terrible from long range and their hair moves as if they styled it with concrete. In the final episode, such staples as lip-syncing and perspective are found wanting: the former to the point that I attempted in vain to correct the sound delay on my computer, the latter even causing me question my eyesight. Towards the end of the episode, following some special effects reminiscent of Windows Movie Maker, even walking appears to present a problem and a couple of characters apparently decide to slide, or possibly float, as a means of transportation so as not to unnecessarily drain the threadbare animation resources. Because the show's offering is primarily a visual one, this lack of animation quality should be seen as harmful to its bottom line. Even scenes of heavy rain - which ought to offer a wonderful opportunity for soaked cleavage and glistening curves - are botched, with torrents of water seemingly having no effect on characters, except to leave a few poorly drawn splash marks on darker coloured garments. Sound - 6/10 One of the things which always amused me about Queen's Blade is the fact that it comprises what could be considered a dream team of voice actors. With Aya Hirano, Rie Kugimiya, Ayako Kawasumi, Rie Tanaka and Yuuko Gotou among others, the seiyuu cast reads like a Who's Who of fanboy favourites. And, to their credit, they do a decent job of it. Even towards the end, with the animators having given up trying and the scriptwriters entrusting their task to a demented monkey, the voicing remains of a high standard, with Hirano's energetic performance as Nanael a surprising highlight. With the exception of a good ED, whose simple but pleasant melody found it a place on my iPod, the music is standard fare. Faux-Medieval action music for the fighting scenes, a bit of generic chanting to build up important moments and some forgettable sounds for the remainder make for an uninspiring if inoffensive expereince. Characters - 3.5/10 From Nanael's tendency to spill thick, white "holy milk" over herself to Echidna's questionable decision to wear a live snake instead of panties, the characters of Queen's Blade seem to have most fetishes covered, including some that probably don't even exist. Notable even among this salacious bunch is the bunny-eared Melona. With oversized funbags that actually shoot acid (and later, for no apparent reason, explosions), she seems like something out of a gay man's nightmare. When it comes to sweater fruit, however, the anime actually demonstrates an astonishing lack of variety. Only a handful of characters have boobs that might conceivably exist in real life, and they find themselves very much on the small side of the spectrum. On the other end, past the F-cupped majority, the weaponsmith, Cattleya, sports a pair of grotesque monstrosities which arouse only feelings of disgust. With the more or less uniform size, particularly among the main cast, there's very much a sense of "seen one pair of mountainous mammaries, seen them all". Given that it takes the anime less than three minutes to expose the first two sets of shirt potatoes and given that - in spite of the commendable ingenuity involved in the "holy milk" stunt - the series is unable to go much further than this, there's very little to look forward to, even during the first episode. Indeed, all that remains is the vision of the same breasts over an over again, and occasional moments of downright freakiness. Are snake bites erotic? Queen's Blade says "yes!" Overall - 3.5/10 Unless you happen to be averse to omnipresent female nudity, the main problem with Queen's Blade is the fact that it has no idea what it wants to do, and ends up falling into a barren no-man's-land, lost between sets of faraway ideals. It's not witty enough to laugh with and - aside from its closing chapter - not ridiculous enough to laugh at. It's not subtle enough to tease, and rarely creative enough to please. The story is distracting but not engaging. The symptoms of this anime's identity crisis go on and on but together they amount to a failure in my eyes. Queen's Blade finds itself sitting precariously on an uncomfortable fence of ecchi. On the one side of this fence are anime such as Shuffle!, which lose the air of smuttiness, have a good laugh, and make you care about the characters before stripping them semi-naked. On the other side of the fence there are a number of excellent hentai which don't waste time telling a story and are able to deliver a more satisfying experience. Both of these options are - in my opinion - far preferable to the lukewarm boobfest served up by Queen's Blade. I'd be lying if I said that this had no appeal whatsoever, but - whether you're looking for ecchi or H - there are many better titles available. __________________ Click the image to come visit us Last edited by rockenroll4life; 07-10-2009 at 07:14 AM. Reason: Added link to review

07-05-2009, 06:02 AM	#2 (permalink)
KiraRin Moderator Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Eating out my avatar in Gensokyo Age: 28 Posts: 5,715	Re: Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi I love that the entire "Character" section seems to be dedicated to perversion and boobs :p I think the lord therik protesteth too much about his innocence when it comes to ecchi :p H. __________________ TUSKINATOR!!!! TUSKINATOR!!! That's what I'd shout if I had an Armoured Tuskinator, which I distressingly do not - therik Looking for a new A-P sig? Try: Kira's Siggy Shop If you would like a custom sig, contribute via TACO by making site recs, donations and anime/manga additions!

07-05-2009, 07:29 AM	#5 (permalink)
VivisQueen MY DNA IS MADE UP OF ANIME Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ghana Age: 25 Posts: 6,553	Re: Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi Apart from silly little typos, which you could easily fix yourself with some sleep and a fresh look at the text (e.g. One one side of this fence <--- 'On the one side'), it's bloomin' marvellous. Thanks for the pun-ridden read. More entertaining than the show, I'm sure. __________________

07-07-2009, 07:07 AM	#8 (permalink)
rockenroll4life Moderator Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Englishtown, New Jersey Age: 23 Posts: 2,971	Re: Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi Wow...Interesting review. I would have to say the funniest part is the fact that the character section mentions breast by 6 different names....some of which I've never heard them referred by... "funbags, sweater fruit, boobs, mammaries, shirt potatoes, breasts" You could have probably said that in that section and got the same information across. XD __________________ Official member of the anime-planet class of '07 ~ 2 years 7 months *I read the forum rules, did you?* *~ Your friendly moderator, rock* Growing Final Fantasy XIV Community

07-07-2009, 01:46 PM	#9 (permalink)
KelsieKatt Otaku Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Tampa, Florida Age: 20 Posts: 1,650	Re: Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi This is exactly the problem I had with the episode I watched. It tries so hard to put in emotion and a storyline of some sort, acting all seriously, in spite of the absolute absurdity of the concept it's presenting, that it completely loses the effect. Also, I agree, the "character" section was really funny, and the very colorful useage of different breast terms was quite an amusing read. Lol __________________ My Top 10 Anime 1. Full Moon wo Sagashite 2. Monster 3. The Vision of Escaflowne 4. Xam'd: Lost Memories 5. Last Exile 6. Azumanga Daioh 7. Fullmetal Alchemist 8. Welcome to the NHK! 9. Angelic Layer 10. Paranoia Agent

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07-07-2009, 01:51 PM	#10 (permalink)
Xennon MY DNA IS MADE UP OF ANIME Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Florida Age: 20 Posts: 3,538	Re: Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi "Lukewarm boobfest"... nice.

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