Copying some of this from what I posted over in the anime recommendations thread. Valkyrie Drive is a new show made by the same people behind Senran Kagura, so expect a mostly female cast, lots of gratuitous panty/breast shots and yuri. The plot is that a mysterious virus called the "Armed Virus" swept the world, giving its carriers (referred to as "Exters" for some reason) the ability to transform into special weapons known as "Liberate Arms" who can be wielded by individuals known as "Liberators". Mamori Tokonome is one such girl who finds herself on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere, gets attacked by a Liberator and her partner only to be saved by the stoical, enigmatic Liberator Mirai Shikishima who wields her as a giant sword to fight off the attackers. In the process Mamori ends up entangled in the machinations of the organization "Welter" that manages Exters and Liberators, and must come to terms with her own true nature and relationship with Mirai.

So the tl;dr version is "Basically Soul Eater, but with less Tim Burton and more yuri fanservice". Only two episodes are out so far but it seems interesting enough. Mamori certainly makes for an adorable heroine, and her budding relationship with Mirai has a lot of potential to it. I'd recommend checking this show out if you like yuri, action and have a strong tolerance for fanservice. This show, Code Geass and Concrete Revolutio are probably going to be my main watches for this season.

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Evil flower of Pure Illusion... we're going to pluck you out!

Checked out the latest episode last night (just posting it now because I can't post consecutively in the same thread more than once in one day). Despite what JackTheSpades said in the discussion thread, there does seem to be more to this show than just pure fanservice (although that certainly is a large part), like with the flashback to Mirai's past to explain why she's so determined to protect Mamori (as she failed to protect her previous Exster). The relationship between Mamori and Mirai is pretty much the highlight of the show for me, as the cute, innocent and virginal schoolgirl being protected (and seduced) by the cool, aloof and mature woman pretty much hits all of my fetish buttons at once. Although, I say "schoolgirl" and "mature" but funnily enough, Mamori is actually one year older then Mirai, believe it or not! There's also a lot of bridal symbolism going on in this episode with Mamori (who's surname can be read as "Virgin") getting all dolled up in a white dress and waltzed down an aisle to be "matched up" with a Liberator in what's explicitly referred to as a wedding ceremony. Subtlety definitely isn't this show's strong suit LOL! (In more senses than one)

The show seems to be making a running gag of sorts with characters referring to Mamori as "Shoujo" (Virgin) and her incessantly correcting them even in ostensibly "serious" scenes. Can't exactly blame the poor girl though, must be pretty embarrassing to have people constantly reading your name as "Virgin" (especially if you have it literally emblazoned on your shirt!). She should maybe think about including a pronunciation guide on that shirt of hers LOL...

The censorship in this episode really is ridiculous though. I have no problem with censorship if it's done in an artistic or at least not overtly intrusive way (like the "eating" scenes in Yurikuma Arashi for example, a show that I need to watch more of sometime), but just showing random bright lights or dark spots in front of boobs is the laziest way possible of going about it. Not even trying to do anything clever with camera angles or scenery censors or anything, just "Oh hey, have some censorship!". In some scenes practically the entire screen is blocked out with white light for fig's sake! It's obvious that they're only airing the show as a teaser for the inevitable uncensored DVD release that hardcore otaku covet so much.

Update: found an uncensored version of this episode over on Animeshow.com. Rewatched the episode and it was way better without glowing nipple and crotch lights everywhere (those really only worked for Kill La Kill, and only because the show knew full well how absurd it was). Once again, it's not even the censorship itself that I mind, but how blatant and unoriginal it is. Plus it was kinda overzealous. I mean boobs I can see, but they even censored the friggin' kissing scene between Mamori and Mirai.

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Evil flower of Pure Illusion... we're going to pluck you out!

Animeshow was actually the first place I could find that had the second episode uncensored. Even sites (like Ryuanime) which had the first ep uncensored for some reason only had the censored version of the second one. Also what's wrong with Fairy Tail? I watched a season of it back in the day on the Funimation channel, sure it's fairly generic shonen but it's good for what it is and has a likable, quirky cast of characters.

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Evil flower of Pure Illusion... we're going to pluck you out!

Watched the fourth episode when it came out this morning. We get introduced to the leader of Welter and the only male on Mermaid island, Akira Hiiragi. I seriously cannot believe this guy is a guy. I mean, just look at him!



Bishonen in one thing but that's taking it to a whole different level. His voice, appearance and mannerisms all scream "girl", hell he even seems to be wearing lip-gloss! Mamori evidently likes her guys that way though, considering she basically became infatuated with him on first sight (Mirei must be jealous...). I found it funny that even in her own personal prince fantasy, people keep addressing her by the wrong name. Akira seems like a genuinely really nice guy so far despite being the leader of a highly morally ambiguous organization but I get the feeling he might have some hidden dark side or something to make Mamori pick Mirei instead of him (I presume the show's going to go that route anyway, I will eat my hat if this turns into a generic shoujo romance partway through).

Mamori is as adorable as ever, although her naivete is starting to get a bit ridiculous. I mean, she sees her "prince" appearing in the middle of the night and just follows him off into the woods with no explanation? Everything about that just screams "trap" (in more than one sense of the word LOL). And of course, it was an illusion set by an enemy Liberator who wanted to capture Mamori, only foiled by the last-minute intervention of Mirei. Although she was still half-asleep and not really thinking clearly, so it is somewhat excusable. Her being basically a stock shoujo heroine isn't as irritating to me when it's directed at another girl rather than a boy. Also apparently an Exter will turn into a weapon upon climaxing regardless of the presence of a Liberator. That must make masturbation pretty difficult! (Also a very unexpected surprise for anyone who didn't previously know they were an Exter, suddenly turning into a sword or something post-climax)

Mirei is seriously powerful. Pretty much every fight scene with her takes the form of "is briefly overwhelmed by enemy's special attack, then breaks through and finishes enemy off with a single stroke of her sword". I understand that the fanservice is the main highlight of the show, but I at least we got some longer and more interesting fights later on. Although it was badass the way she broke out of the enemy Liberator of the week's illusion ability, by biting her own lip hard enough to draw blood in order so that the pain could snap her out of the illusion. Especially when she told her that an illusory Hell would be ineffective against her because she's "already seen Hell in real life" (presumably referring to when she lost her Exter).

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Evil flower of Pure Illusion... we're going to pluck you out!