5.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
In Kawakami City, having a samurai ancestor and enormous fighting spirit isn't just an interesting historical fact; it's a huge part of how you end up being ranked on the social totem pole. That, in turn, bleeds over into the school curriculum - sometimes, literally. Fortunately, that's something the local kids like Yamato Naoe have learned to deal with by forming small bands, (of samurai, not the musical type.) And while the delicate sexual balance of Yamato's group seemed fine when there were three girls and four boys, the sudden addition of two more girls starts to send everything spinning out of control! Seven's a band of samurai and nine is a riot as boys, girls and naked blades all come together in MAJIKOI ~ OH! SAMURAI GIRLS!
Starring: Hiroshi Kamiya, Yu Asakawa, Yûko Gotô, Shizuka Itô, Katsuyuki KonishiAnime | 100% |
Foreign | 96% |
Comedy | 30% |
Action | 30% |
Erotic | 28% |
Romance | 27% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Some extremely wise man once stated that a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, but what happens when the aroma you’re referencing seems to be emanating from a veritable pile of manure? That may be at least a little hyperbolic, but Majikoi – Oh! Samurai Girls perhaps tries to distract prescient anime fans by changing its name from the original Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!, possibly to draw attention away from its very popular and well received source light novel, while never addressing the central stench emanating from the series itself. The funny thing is, Majikoi – Oh! Samurai Girls starts out winningly enough, albeit with a too tired kind of combo shōnen-harem plotline that has been seen way too many times before. And the series very wisely has a winking attitude toward its very fan service, something that at least invests the proceedings with a little meta arch humor that certainly makes things winningly funny a lot of the time. But then the series devolves into a number of rather unusual and even melodramatic twists that may leave some who came for the scantily clad girls wondering what exactly they’ve gotten themselves into.
Majikoi – Oh! Samurai Girls is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Whatever failings the series may have in and of itself, they aren't visited on the often sterling look of the show. Line detail here is exceptionally sharp and the series exploits a very colorful palette which is robustly offered in this high definition presentation. There are occasional kind of unusual elements—like a "Robbie the Robot" character—that also are very sharply designed and help elevate the basic visual look of the series. There are a couple of bathing sequences where mist passes over naked females, and that is rendered with very appealing realism. Character designs aren't especially innovative in and of themselves, but they're distinctive and differentiated enough to provide some variety and interest, even if a lot of anime fans are going to feel like they've seen these characters before in other series.
Majikoi – Oh! Samurai Girls features lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mixes in Japanese and English. The mixes here are virtually identical other than the voice work. The English dub here tends to favor a bit more of the squeaky high quasi-Valley Girl type of characterization, which some fans may find annoying after a while. The Japanese cast by comparison is relatively subdued. The tracks actually improve somewhat in the second half of the series when action elements start exploding with more vigor. Dialogue is cleanly presented and the series' cute pop soundtrack also sounds fine.
Majikoi – Oh! Samurai Girls starts out appealingly enough, albeit in a rut many anime fans have been stuck in previously (many times). The show makes no bones about offering a harem storyline and lots (and lots and lots) of fan service, but when it suddenly tries investing the series with something other than what was initially advertised it goes seriously off the rails. This is a series that is undeniably old hat and reminiscent of many, many other anime, but which would have done better in the long run to have simply stayed stuck in its comfortable rut. When it veers outside of that rut, things simply are too tonally out of whack with the rest of the show for it to hang together very well. Still, lovers of fan service may find enough here to get them through the other elements of this show, though my hunch is they may end up turning off the sound and just watching the buxom ladies bounce by.
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