Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!

Noriko Jan 6, 2015

7.5

Haiiii~ (~◠▽◠)~♥ This time I'm reviewing a bit more... special show: ''Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!'' if that title alone makes no sense, please keep reading! Let me start of by saying that this anime is 184% more RIDICULOUS than I though. Magical Boys. With no shame, I can say that I was waiting for this because it was just the matter of time they come up with something like this. Basically, take 5 high school boys with completely different personalities and hair colors and make them wear something... something bad. Give them magic sticks and make them shout LAVU LAVU. Coming from a 18 y/o boy watching this, I was laughing 85% of the time with a more-less terrified face... So, as a really tolerant person, I can say that this show is NOT for everyone. Don't watch it if you expect something logical and reasonable. Let's start! STORY So when I marked this anime as ''Want to watch'' I expected a bit more masculine approach on the style and the story and everything. . . Um yeah. These 5 dudes are dressed and act like drag queens in making. And even though it's strange to see boys in such a feminine way doing such ''feminine'' stuff, I don't mind it as much (okay long story short I've seen ''worse'') So basically what I can say about the story that it's funny/random, hilarious dialogue, puns and jokes, a typical way of storytelling (it sort of lives up to the ''magical girl boy'' genre) with some repetitive scenes. This was a shock for me since I was expecting it to be normal or at least a bit serious. But then someone feels bad about something and bad guys show up and make an abomination out of him that these 5 guys have to fight. But damn when they first got their powers everything went bananas. Story is 70% parody like, didn't expect that but whatever. In all honesty, this story is so funny and entertaining. Reminds me of ''Daily Lives of High School Boys'' It's so weird and unusal that it's hilarious. Dialogue is sooo funny. Considering it's an ''Original Work'', this kind of story is a gem compared to some other shows. In summary, ridiculous parody like story that makes sense if you're on drugs, funny, random and weird dialogue, gives a ''bit'' homosexual... And I know what you could be thinking ''oh this show has a bad rating, wtf is episode 1'' but trust me, give this show 3-5 episodes, you might like it. I'll give this story a fluffy, lavu lavu 9/10 It's weird but funny, makes no sense but funny, gives me giggles etc... ANIMATION Hmm. I'd say the animation isn't bad, but it's also nothing special. It has it's badly done scenes and stills but it's nothing majorly bad. Comedy wise, it's well done. But objectively thinking... hmm not as much. It's very vivid with lots of colors and bright themes. I expected better animation, but it's still watchable/enjoyable. I do mind the sloppy mistakes and bits but it doesn't ruin the show for me. I'm glad that all episodes have a constant animation quality. And by that I mean that the animation on episode 1 is as good as episode 11 or any other. Which is good! 6/10 SOUND Some voices don't fit the character at all (OMG the hedgehog), but that makes it even more hilarious, if a certain character can make you laugh by just talking, then you know they did the right thing. Overall, I don't think sound was badly done. Once again, comedy wise, it's really good but not if you compare it to some other shows. Lots of ''engrish'' which gives me eye twitches every time. But to sum it up, the voice acting is well done and the music is catchy. 7/10 CHARACTERS So the main character is basically Nagisa level 2. Even more girly and somewhat annoying. I'd say he's not really fit to be a leader but whatever... don't like him as much (virgos don't like aquariuses) Rest of the characters are more less okay. I like the wombat and the professor, really funny how they did all that, dying every time he's passed out somewhere. I like the blue one and the brown one, those 2 are funny. Green haired one annoys me a bit. I like capricorns tho. Pink haired one looks like a Visual Kei singer, dig his ''don't give a rat's ass'' personality. Pisces can be adorable but troublesome. Antagonists are also interesting. White one is a virgo but his haircut is a scorpio. The main antagonist is EVERYTHING. Love what they did, I DIE laughing every time he talks. So their enemies (apparently a new one appears every episode) pretty much don't make sense at all. They're monsters created from formely inanimate objects + haterid. So I kinda think it's funny how random and senseless the whole plot is based on something so stupid. Now... CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE OUTFITS. wtf. That's not how you design outfits boo. They look like albino peacocks with magical powers of love. Ughhh... Definitely don't like the outfits. But yeah.. So in conclusion... characters are well developed, I found out enough about each one of them. Everyone is different and has unique personality traits. I like most of them. 8/10 OVERALL Didn't expect this show to be like this... but I LAVU LAVU it! However, Parody/Comedy wise, this show is SO WELL DONE. It's really, really funny. Probably the best comedy this season (Winter 2015). You might go from ''OK'' to ''WTF'' to ''ROFL'' to ''HAHA'' in mere seconds. But what's with the rating!? Probably just people who watched episode one and said ''ohurrdurr it's a no for me''. But I personaly absolutely recommend this show to everyone who is ready for something ususual yet funny. That's all! Thanks for reading my review! This was my favorite comedy of the season! I would recommend this anime to anyone who's ready for a serious dose of ''WTF am I watching'' Rate if you found this review helpful, funny, or just like it. I have more anime reviews so check them out if you want! UPDATE: MY LOVELY DRAG QUEENS WILL BE BACK FOR A SECOND SEASON! I'm very excited and I'm very likely going to review it as well :D Thanks and have a nice day ^^

BlueSummerSkies Oct 26, 2017

10

I'm in my late 30s, and let me just say that this is one of the most clever animes I had seen in years; I'm not sure if viewers realize just how brilliant it is. This show essentially parodies all the things in magical girl animes which are disguised as being supposedly empowering to women, but which are actually degrading and insulting. Magical girl animes usually depict women in ridiculous outfits, acting as cutsey little girls you can't really take seriously, and are often filled with overly-gratuitous shots of them looking half-naked and vulnerable. Showing them as sex objects serves to neutralize any strength of character they might have, so that people won't have to feel indimidated by the idea of women being strong. And what's more, more than half the time women in magical girl animes aren't actually shown as being strong in character: rather, they are usually shown as being unrealistically shy, docile, and fragile in personality, "but they're really determined so they achieve what they wanted while still being docile and timid." Cute High Earth Defense Club Love depicts boys in the same ridiculous way that females are usually depicted in most magical girl animes: as cutsey little parlor pets you can't REALLY take seriously, who get gratuitously naked for no reason other than fan service and needlessly grab each other's privates all the time. It's wonderfully heavy on the female-oriented fan service (in the same way that 99% of animes are heavy on the male-oriented fan service): the boys' usual hangout is in a bath where they sit or stand around naked purely for your viewing enjoyment. Apart from that, there's a ton of sexual innuendo-- their transformation is called 'lovemaking,' their scepter resembles a phallus, and their 'healing attack' is called a 'love shower' (a euphamism for sexual climax) which in the end leaves the enemies in a state of exhausted bliss (like post-coital exhaustion). Apart form that, the show parodies animal mascots in a hilarious way (for anyone like me who is very tired of annoying cutsey animal mascots), and even parodies the "power up transformations" you often see in the second season of magical girl animes ("the Battle Lovers have powered up to become the More Better Battle Lovers!") The second season also includes "brotherly love" between a set of twins like the Hitachiin twins in Ouran High School Host Club. Just everything about this show is genius; for anyone else like me who is incredibly sick of the gratuitous male-oriented fan service in almost every anime you see, and who is tired of watching docile, impossibly shy and timid heroines in magical girl animes being dressed like parlor pets, this anime will be a breath of fresh air.

Ailly May 4, 2015

7

Hey you! Yeah, you. D’you know what you need in life? Magical boys, that’s what. “W-wait…”, I hear you stammer, “Who’d want something like that?” Everyone, that’s who. And guess what, you’re in luck today because I have the perfect show for you. From the director of Gintama and Nichibros comes Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu LOVE!, a.k.a Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!, a.k.a Magical Boys: The Show, a.k.a Let’s See How Many Double Entendres We Can Make, a.k.a Let’s Also See How Much BL Undertones We Can Get Into This. Buckle up ‘cause we’re going on a wild ride filled with frilly outfits, public bath bonding and love sticks. Story The story starts off with two of our main protagonists in a public bath, discussing the intrinsic qualities of chikuwabu. Don’t know what chikuwabu is? Neither did I, but apparently it’s something you eat. Looks… great? Right off the bat, you get a sense of what kind of anime this is going to be. Hint: not something serious. That fact is made even more clear when a talking pink alien wombat suddenly falls out of the sky, into the bath and asks them to help him protect the Earth. Yes, you read that right: a talking pink alien wombat. It only gets more ridiculous from there on out, as our five main boys (Atsushi, En, Io, Ryuu and Yumoto) get together to form the titular Earth Defense Club. They’re defending the Earth. With LOVE. They’re called Battle Lovers. They fight with love sticks. And love showers. Yes. A little later we meet the villains, the Conquest Club, which consists of members of the student council and a green hedgehog. And yes, this hedgehog is also an alien. And he talks. With a ridiculously deep voice. The face of destruction Each episode they face off against a monster-of-the-week, who always happens to tie in with what our protagonists happened to be discussing in the opening scene. And here comes one of Boueibu’s weak points. While this formula is witty and funny for the first couple of episodes, it quickly becomes repetitive and stale. The show simply relies on the strangeness of its premise too much. Not to say that the jokes aren’t good, but it’s a lot of the same and the same gets boring after a while. In a genre as iconic and trope-filled as magical girls, Boueibu just didn’t get out of its comfort zone enough. So you might feel that it starts to drag a little in the middle, but don’t give up yet! The ending has some amazing twists and reveals which more than make up for the mediocre episodes. And aside from the awesome ending, there are tons of great stand-alone and running jokes to be found in the series. One of the battle lovers' names being Battle Lover Spinach, Yumoto’s constant sexual harassment of the wombat, the monsters’ punny names, “Something or another”-attack and ALL THE HOMOEROTICNESS. Boueibu knows over-the-top ridiculousness is the only thing it’s got going for itself, so they put all their money on that. And it works. Most of the time. Animation Boueibu is very bright. Like, ridiculously bright. From the boys’ uniforms to the attacks, everything has flashy colours and sparkles. The character designs (especially for the monsters) are really creative and fun. And my god, did you see their transformation scene? I still can't get over their transformation scenes. It's glorious in every way. That cheeky little hip shake With the amount of scenes they can re-use, you’d think that the animation outside of those sequences must be stellar, right? Nope. Not at all. In fact, the fights are rather average and there’s nothing too spectacular about the rest of the visuals. Sound The voice cast for the main characters consist of fairly new voice actors who do a really good job at their first main role. The Conquest Club and all the villains are voiced by veterans and if you’re a bit familiar with the seiyuu scene it’s a lot of fun to spot the guest appearances. Hachiman as a remote control monster? Sure, why not? Opening and ending are amazingly over-the-top, as you’d expect from a show that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Background music is fun and loud and bright, except for the Conquest Club theme which is appropiately pretentious. Characters All of the characters are fun and quirky, but don’t expect them to be deep or anything. Atsushi is the normal guy, En is the lazy one, Ryuu is the lady killer, Io the moneygrabber and Yumoto… Well, Yumoto is Yumoto. An eternally optimistic wombat molester? The Conquest Club can be best described as a bunch of (lovable) snobs. So, yeah, most of the characters are pretty one-dimensional. Not that it matters, because their defining traits are what make them so enjoyable to watch and the reason why they work so well together. Overall Koukou Chikuuu Bouei-bu LOVE! can be described as being a lot of things, but serious is definitely not one of them. If you’re looking to laugh your ass off, you shouldn’t look any further. A magical girls parody that makes fun of, but also embraces all the tropes and clichés of the genre. By all means, it’s not a perfect show; there’s the repetitiveness, hit-or-miss jokes and somewhat wasted potential when it comes to parodying stuff. But the high amounts of raw energy make up for a lot and in the end, Boueibu still manages to nail the ending. So throw away all those prejudices about boys in ribbons and hotpants and get ready for some love making.