Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou Part 3 - Yakusoku - Reviews

In 2017, Studio Gokumi was busy with the advancement on the Yuki Yuna franchise with the six episodes of the Washio Sumi arc, prequel to the first Yuki Yuna is a Hero (2014).  This and the three serial movies Tomodachi, Tamashii, and Yakusoku.  Busy, busy, busy.

Or were they?

It does not take long to see what these three 48-minute movies were ... rehash, repeat, reprise.  So, if you want my original feelings for the 3-part repeat performance of the Washio Sumi arc, check out my original review of Yuki Yuna is a Hero: Washio Sumi Chapter.  I gave it a 4.5 overall.  For this restructuring of those six 24-minute episodes into three 48-minute movies, I offer a 3.5 disappointment score for the lack of original material.  Epic battles in high-tech animation.  Intense character studies.  Again.

This review covers for all three sections.  For a brief synopsis (spoiler alert, unless you are thinking of watching the three-part set hoping for new action … then this is your only warning … don’t):

Tomodachi (Friends):  Washio, Sonocchi, and Gin meet in sixth grade to the moment they find out that they've bonded into life-long friends.

Tamashii (Spirit):  A session of leisure time activities/training leading to the first encounter with the Vertex leading to Gin's death.

Yakusoku (Promises):  Gin's funeral to the discovery of the use of innocent girls as hero/victim/sacrifice.  The coming of the use of Mankai and the transition of Washio as Midori Togo (Sonoko most likely headed to that bandage swathed convalescence you’ve experienced in the 2014 Yuki Yuna).

As presentations go, the Yuki Yuna franchise has offered top-notch animation technique as it complicated its plot and added a cast of select girls whose only mission is to improve their world, first as exploited minions before going it on their own initiative.