Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid, a review
(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, donât take anything I say too seriously.)
Just the facts âCause youâre in a Hurry!
Manufacturerâs Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): 50 USD
Digital Copy (MSRP): 17.99 USD
How much I paid: 50 USD.
Animation Studio: ARMS
Licensed and Localized by: Funimation Entertainment
Audio: Japanese Audio with Subtitles and English Dub available. Â
English Cast: Kayla Hardwick as Mamori, Morgan Garrett as Mirei, Brittney Karbowski as Meifon, Janelle Lutz as Akira Hiragi, Monica Rial as Charlotte Scharsen, Roseanne Palmer as Kasumi Shigure, Tia Ballard as Rain Hasumi, Jamie Marchi as Lady J and Cynthia Cranz as Torino.
Number of Episodes: 12 Episodes
Length per Episode: 25 Minutes on average. 21 Without Intro and Ending song.
Number of Discs: 4 Discs in Total. 2 DVD Discs and 2 Blu-ray discs.
Episodes per Disc: Episodes 1-7 on the 1st DVD disc. Episodees 8-12 on the 2nd DVD disc. Episodes 1-9 on the first Blu-ray disc with Episodes 10-12 on the second Blu-ray disc along with the special features.
Does this come a digital voucher to redeem?: No. This only has the Physical DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Also on: Amazon Video, Funimation Now, Funimationâs streaming service that requires a subscription.
Bonus Features: Textless Openings, Textless Ending and Trailers for other Funimation Licensed Shows. Episode 3 Commentary.
Notable Localization Changes: Meifon, the smuggler character who wears a pink cowboy hat, is given a southern accent by her voice performer, Brittney Kowbalski. Â
My Personal Biases: I never really invested in the Valkyrie Drive franchise before and never played any of the games the anime is adapting. Sorry.
My Verdict: Trashy, lurid, gaudy and with enough fanservice to make even the most perverted of us blush, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid is sure to give its intending audience the happy ending they want. Itâs too bad that in 12 short episodes, thereâs just not enough there, emotionally or lore wise, to get invested in unless youâve already have backhand knowledge of the games. Wait for a sale.
A/N: Okay, since I donât want the moderators to flag this post, Iâm going to have to put an explicit warning here. So while I wonât post any nudity, I will have to Age restrict this post just so I donât get any flak.
Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid. a reviewÂ
Girls from all over the world have been infected with a mysterious virus known as the A Virus (Armed Virus). These girls are divided into two classes; Extars, who can transform into weapons when sexually aroused, and Liberators, who have the power to wield an Extarâs weapon form, known as Liberator Arms, through a process known as Drive. These girls are brought to separate islands to spend their days completely isolated from the rest of the world until the islandsâ Observers, authorized by the government Organisation AAA, ostensibly deem them ready to rejoin society again.
Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid follows an Extar named Mamori Tokonome who forms a partnership with the Liberator Mirei Shikishima on the island called Mermaid.(For our friends not fluent in Japanese, Tokonome shares a very similar writing as the word âVirginâ in Japanese, which Togonome is.).
Mamori and Mirei are caught between a conflict between the WĂ€rter, the islandâs government that lives the castle, Veste, and those fleeing it. With Governor Akira (a supposed male Liberator thatâs actually female) trying to be fair, Charlotte getting delusions of grandeur and wanting to rule with an iron fist and Kasumi attempting to be fair to the girls, the WĂ€rter is in constant conflict. Those attempting to flee join up with Ms. Torumi, a kind soul who offers shelter for girls looking for freedom. Meanwhile, a sneaky smuggler by the name of Meifon is trying to earn a profit from the war.
Along the way, Mamori and Mirei meet other Liberators and Extars, such as the team Lady J and Lady Rain in which one transforms into a ridable motorcycle. Other liberators, such as Charlotte, have their own harem of Extars and arouse multiple ones to form a multi-part weapon.
Letâs get this out of the way.
Yes, it IS in fact Soul Eater but with Lesbians. And the show isnât afraid of being explicit about it. We are talking full-on nudity with lots of exposed breasts flopping around, bouncing and lots and lots of shots of nipples erecting⊠and hardeningâŠ
Christ, this makes fanservice driven series like Kannazuki no Miko or Strawberry Panic look like the chaste Maria-Sama ga Miteru.
On the technical side, everything is very well done. The animation for both the action and fanservice scenes is well animated, the music flows scene to scene (even if I couldnât really remember any pieces that stood out) and the voice acting for both the Original Japanese and English dub is well-done. So, if youâre looking for lots and lots of scenes of girls kissing each other, breasts flopping around with the viscosity of jello and scenes of action with naked girls, have I got a show for you.
Story wise, I found the series rather lacking.
Seasonal shows really need to be careful with their pacing. With a limited 12 episode run, VD:M is already bursting at the seams with an overly long 4 episode prologue establishing the characters, the setting, the divide between the girls going along with Charlotte and Akiraâs lawful order, Kasumiâs wavering allegiance and Torumiâs group of rebels and Meifonâs smuggling between the 2 sides.
Thereâs a sense of urgency that the peace canât last and conflict is unavoidable.
But, not so urgent that we couldnât have two light-hearted episodes involving one girl becoming Kaiju sized and another episode with a beauty contest in a cultural festival.
Boy, this season of Attack on Titan got WEIRD.
When the main big bad does rear her head near the final 4 episodes, the show does a good âenoughâ job establishing the backstory between her and Mirei, but you get the sense that maybe, had the show paced itself better, it would mean more.
Yes, the final battle with all the girls joining together at the end is impressive to look at, but emotionally, I just wasnât feeling it.
If the show were as committed to giving me emotional turning points as it was fan service, I wouldâve been more impressed.
The characters are also rather lacking (writing wise).
While Mirei is certainly admirable and one of the most likable of the cast, Mamori doesnât really change much (character wise). Granted, the show pays lipservice (no pun intended) to the idea that the more courageous Mamori is, the more powerful the weapon she becomes, but thereâs never that moment where Mamori âsavesâ Mirei or gives her the comfort Mirei needs like the way Himeko comforted Chikane at the end. They instead fuse to one super being.
It feels like at one point Mamori was supposed to have the final turning point and be the one to rescue Mirei, but Mamori just ends up being captured and put into the damsel role again.
I also liked Kasumi and her dubious allegiance with the rebels as well as Meifon, getting into all sorts of trouble for some cash.
Iâm told by fans of the franchise that in peripheral media, some of the other couples get more character development. For example, the team of Lady Rain and Lady J were actually on opposite sides of a war but intentionally got themselves captured just to be together or that Governor Akira actually has a female lover back on the mainland and longs to be with her.
Again, I am not here to judge whatâs in an appendix. Whatâs in the show is in the show and itâs clear the TV producers werenât interested in those stories to begin with, so why should I? Â
Funimation Entertainment did the localization for the show. And for the most part, the dub script stays as close as it does to the original Japanese version.
Granted, Funimation has always played it loose with dubbing scripts and this is no exception. The English script contains lots of innuendos and sex jokes to make the English viewers chuckle (i.e. âI caught and she pitched.â âLetâs go digging for treasureâ âIâm gonna let it all hang out!â)
Karbowski adopts a southern accent for Meifon so thick, I thought I was listening to Nico Robin from the 4Kids dub of One Piece. (Iâm aware that localizers tend to translate those with Kansai dialect and give them a Southern accent and Karbowski seems to be doing this accent winking to the audience and having fun with it).
Special credit should go to Janelle Lutz as Akira Hiragi, managing to perform dual roles as both masculine and feminine variations of the character.
The rest of the cast does a good job voicing their perspective roles. Monica Rial does with she can with Charlotte and Cynthia Cranz as Torumi seems to especially fit the role of a motherly caretaker for lost girls.
(Yes, I find the fact that one of the characters is voiced by the same performer as Chi-chi and Botan very disconcerting).
THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE AUDIO WITH SUBTITLES IS AVAILABLE FOR THOSE WHO PREFER IT.
The package includes the OVAs (Original Video Animation) which are short videos of each of the girls revealing motivation and backstory as well as a lot of nudity with nipples becoming more and more erect. Lots of them. Whatâs weird is that the OVAs are also dubbed with the cast members. Funimation didnât even dub the OVA for Miss Kobayashiâs Dragon Maid.
CAVEAT: Itâs very strange that the series suddenly wants to take a more dramatic turn with emphasis on character development and history, but still plays out in a very fanservice driven anime. In some ways, I was enjoying the show more when it wasnât really about anything and just amped the fanservice up to 11. With the exception of a few characters, I wasnât invested in the goings on and 12 episodes is too short for me to have nostalgic feelings for Mermaid Island.
For 50 USD, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid is a bit on the steep end. While the animation, music, fight scenes and⊠PLOT are all well done, emotionally, it doesnât have much to offer. Then again, I donât expect emotional substance out of show where half the teenagers become sexually aroused and transform into weapons.
Those looking for a happy ending (in both senses of the term) will enjoy this.
Verdict: Wait for a sale or rental. Â
jbbartram-illu
2087
discoholicmusic
andulkaphoto
dededos
theartofmadeline
