Oda Nobuna no Yabou: Putting out the fires of Mt. Hiei

by dm00

Loliconmyouji

Using Hanbei the loliconmyouji’s powers to douse the flaming temples of Mt. Hiei is an interesting thing to do to history.

This show has been better than I expected, but not as good as I’d hoped.

It has the feeling that they rushed to cram the series into its single-season gamble, putting entire campaigns off-screen, covered with a single sentence uttered by the narrator.  I hope, if there is a second season, that they’re able to relax and let the story breathe a little (or that they’re able to learn some lessons from Horizon on the middle of nowhere about how to cram ten pounds of plot into a five pound time-slot).

(Yes, this post exists solely to give a home to “loliconmyouji”.)

Taking tsun tseriously

by dm00

The cutting edge of tsundere: The Ambition of Oda Nobuna

I am enjoying The ambition of Oda Nobuna far more than I probably should.

I have a feeling that if the series had come out when the novels first started appearing in 2010, instead of in the wake of Sengoku Collection and other gender-bent historical series, it would be viewed more positively.

So: lucky me! I didn’t see those other series, so I’m having a lot of fun with this one, anachronisms and all.

One thing this show has going for it is the way it leavens its silliness with seriousness: it plays off real events in history; the protagonist is not just some schlub, but progresses the plot through his (game-mediated, admittedly) knowledge of his past; it’s taking its politics with some seriousness (for a cartoon about cute girls). In episode two the main character is actually courageous and steadfast.

Or maybe this series is fan-fiction and he’s just a Mary Sue (sigh, why did I have to think of that, now that image will haunt me as I watch the series).

I am looking forward to how the series plays off the protagonist’s knowledge of the past, and how he and Nobuna work to change that past (having Nobuna rebel against his knowledge of her future, as she does at the end of episode two, is a nice touch).

I think I could do without the lolitas, but so far, they’re harmless.

The background art is wonderful, with great use of color (think of that scene in episode two where the light on the window-screen changes from late afternoon to evening — or the use of light in the image excerpted above). That said, the CG battle scenes in the OP are weak, and the battle portrayed in episode two has a cast of dozens.

Kanae Itou is doing a wonderful job playing Nobuna: both vulnerable and imperious. Yasuhara Takanashi’s soundtrack is also wonderfully dynamic.