Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Hero Chapter

This review does not contain spoilers but it will cover all the stories that is Washio Sumi arc, Yuuki Yuna Hero arc and sequel. Many have compared it to Madoka, but I think this is more a Bokurano and Neon Genesis Evangelion combination(was lucky to decide to see the original Evangelion prior to YuYu). Basically we have chosen girls to become magical girls instead of persons piloting the mechas. The enemies are the Vertex (lets call them The Vertex, could be Vertices also, not a native English speaker). The Vertex are similar to the Angels in Evangelion. The characters and interactions are complex up toa point, however not as complex as Evangelion's characters. in YuYu everything revolves around friendship , dreams for the future, family, but mostly friendship. I guess in our real world we would be lucky to have at least a friend like Washio, Yuna, Fu... The friendship depicted is strong they almost never argue or have qualms with eachother, that's a bit off and takes from the complexity of the characters. The best explored theme is the Hero theme and this is done nicely and this show in total has made me review what means to be a Hero. Take Superman for example, he is a hero, but why because he fights bad guys, always winning and protecting everyone. Yuna and the others are different, sacrifice, friendship is required to be a Hero and a motive of course like your life, family, etc. Of course here comes the best part - Shinju-sama, the God, the system, the ones that manage the system. The system is never quite fully explained. What exactly is Shinju-sama, what are The Vertex, what is the world they live in, not fully explained yet the brilliance is there. It's a system, and the author decides to break the 4th wall with the system, it's you the viewer who decides if it's evil or not. By the end of the show you will have not an answer from the author but your own opinion. The Shinju-sama system is brilliant however, and you can see it at work in real life in corrupt states or developed nations alike. Of course if your political system provides all, you will fight for it ti protect what you have, if your system is corrupt but manipulates so yo see it as the provider of wealth (communism for example) you will be forced/manipulated to fight against it. If by any chance you rebel, the system will change enough so that you feel a change but you still are oppressed though you have no idea. Shinju-sama is the single best character of the series! The Vertex, not quite fully explained, but again you can choose what they are and what they represent. The ending of the series is great and fitting, but requires previous knowledge of the YuYu novels and you need to watch it at least 2 times, once preferably after reading what you've seen as it's hard to understand...but so is Madoka and Evangelion. What could have been done better is the interaction between our Heros and the system, takes a long time for them to figure what the relationship with it is. But of course, it's a society based on God, can you challenge and question God? Well, a certain character does in a monologue, and he's 5 years old, our heroes should do too! Apart from this, Shinju-sama is inspired from Shinto beliefs, there are Shinto shrines everywhere in the show. There is something regarding the maiden sacrifice that bugs me though, I have not found any evidence of this happening in Japan apart from "building pillars" - human sacrifices to make certain buildings last. I've seen this very concept in Shikabane Hime, so I'm still investigating the roots of this idea. The art is great, especially during the fight scenes, CGI and animation is blended nicely. The rest of the show in the normal world slice of life, animation is ok, some details are very nice to look at also. There are certain fan service moments, but not all the transformation scenes include such scenes for example, some episodes skip the transformation scenes altogether. Sound is my biggest complain for this series, YuYu S1 suffers from it a lot, S2 and Washio have corrected this however. Most annoying are the seyuus, they seem to not have experience with the battle scenes, their cries really overpower the beautiful music in the background, something that does not happen with Kana Hanazawa's character. Also crying in this show is very abundant to the point it gets annoying in the loud pitch that they use. All in all, it's a great show to watch, it's not for younger audiences because of the general theme , some blood, some drama, but it's a good show to reset your views on what means to be a Hero, what's worth fighting for (total opposite to the Nihilism present in Madoka or depression present in Evengelion). As long as your world provides everything, you might just fight for it although the leaders have no good intentions for you. YuYu manages to raise a moral dilemma without even being labeled as psychological. Definitely an anime that is underrated, but is a must watch if you generally like Evangelion type stories and some themes that make you think about stuff that surrounds us.

Three years ago, I watched S1 on a whim. I loved it. It and Your Lie in April were the two 2014 shows I gave 9/10. In the end I narrowly chose YuYuYu S1 as my 2014 anime of the year, despite the controversial final episode. I was okay with S1's ending because YuYuYu wanted to forge a hopeful path rather than one of desolation. The prequel, Washio Sumi, aired earlier in Japanese theatres. Though it never approached S1's greatness, it still mixed the slice-of-life and magical girl elements well. Though it was a straightforward show with a telegraphed ending, I gave it a solid 6/10.The first "half" of YuYuYu S2 is the Washio Sumi movie, but repackaged into episodes. The real S2 is this, the Hero arc. The reason why Washio Sumi went to theatres and not YuYuYu S2, unlike what Madoka Magica did with Rebellion, is simple. YuYuYu S2 is inferior and is completely void of the magic that made S1 so good. S1 explored each of the characters and still had time for plenty of magical girl action. There were episodes that focused on each club member, allowing the viewer to care for them. So what happened in S2? It decided to not be a magical girl show. In the first five episodes, there is only about 1 minute total of magical girl action. The "new" girl, Sonoko, added absolutely nothing to S2 and was only there just to sell more drama CDs based on the star power of Kana Hanazawa. Itsuki and Fuu became background characters. Karin had one moment alone with Yuuna but that was it. By episode 5, there is a complete reversal which makes the previous episodes irrelevant, as the show throws away the main plot point. In the final episode, we're given a deus ex machina ending that makes you wonder why this hadn't already happened. How come none of the other girls up to this point had the courage to do this? What makes Yuuna so special? I felt absolutely no emotion as Yuuna delivered her final hero punch. Some people said that you get more out of S2 by taking in the surrounding media in the franchise, such as the light novel, visual novel, and manga. However, I believe that an anime should be able to stand on its own. While YuYuYu S2 wasn't the worst 2017 anime I've seen, it is by far the most disappointing. I don't know of any other show that completely threw its second season like this. What a damn shame, because I had it pegged as an anime of the year contender. I can only imagine what this could've been had it been 12 episodes like S1.

Disclaimer : I have never watched Madoka Magica and I don’t give a shit about the drama between that series and this one. This review will be exclusively focused on my opinions solely in regards to Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru with no uneven or biased judgements or any mentions which compare the two series. In addition, this review will also consist of all the prequels and sequels of Yuuki Yuuna altogether excluding Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha Shozoku. Now then, it is time for my review to commence. Story : 10/10 Taking friendship to another level by using excess Slice of Life that createsa feeling of contentment and at the same time utilizes dark plots in order to maintain the "hype". As a Slice of Life lover who also enjoys maximum edginess, this show really hits the spots and granted me exactly what I wanted. Vibing and slowly becoming depressed at the same time up until the point where I had to shed tears of sadness and joy at the same time. Something that an ordinary show can't do if it doesn't pique my interest to the utmost. Art : 8/10 Yucks. The fuck is this? Garbage? Well let's get this straight. Everything related to "art" from this show is dum dum. It makes everything feel less hyped. The CGs aren't even good... But as I progressed. The movies made the animation and quality better as well as the final sequel. So I don't really mind it that much now. Sound : 10/10 Don't even have to talk about this. They're all good. Character : 10/10 Character developments through friendship and... Self-torture I guess? I don't really know why I like this so much. Probably because it holds so much meaning. It relates to teens a lot and that really brings me back to the good ol' days when I had issues similar to the ones represented within this anime. Ahh~ if only I could travel back in time. Enjoyment : 10/10 Very fun experience. Overall : 10/10 Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru ( 10/10 ) Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou ( 9/10 ) Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou Movie 1 - Tomodachi ( 8/10 ) Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou Movie 2 - Tamashii ( 10/10 ) Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou Movie 3 - Yakusoku ( 10/10 ) Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou ( 10/10 ) It's over, eh... Mmm.. It was indeed very fun. Probably something I'd remember for a while. Thank you for the experience, Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha. I appreciate the things you've done to keep me happy. ;) Recommended to Slice of Life lovers, people who can accept CGDCT and a little bit of darkness.

So Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou's finale ends with this. Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou now stands toe to toe with Madoka Magica with this installment by bringing in it's own take on the dark magical girl genre....and it did it in it's own great way. This final installment gives us what is essentially giving us 6 episodes dedicated to Yuna's struggles as she tries to save Togo and the aftermath of her continued struggles. Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou's 6 episodes gives nothing but Yuna's character development and her strong beliefs of justice andin being a hero goes into trial here. LA will be completely honest here but Shinjyu-sama is an asshole of a God considering what his religion makes their followers do and most obviously the Hero Club gets dealt with this the most. Even at the start of the 6 episode runtime, something is a bit different and wrong at the same time which leads itself to the ultimatum that Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou leads itself into and it is gloriously done. Sure due to the slim 6 episode runtime, Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou may have rushed it a bit however considering the prequel Washio Sumi no Shou actually helped in giving us a bit more backstory is actually a compliment to this finale instead and gives us cameos from Washio Sumi no Shou that are somewhat important to the plot, especially how Shinjyu-sama revolves around all this. LA did mention how Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou now stands toe to toe with Madoka Magica and by that, LA means that even the prequel and the original series did give the Yuuki Yuna franchise it's own identity, LA thinks that this finale cemented as it's own thing as well as defy what Madoka Magica gave us for it's finale. Much like Madoka Magica's finale, it was grandeur in it's finale and how it was dealt with, to what both Madoka Magica and Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou is a defiance of God. LA will go into spoilers for both series so be warned right now, but as Madoka Magica used Madoka to sacrifice herself in order to save everyone and rewrite history and the universe, Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou showed Yuuki Yuna that sacrifice in order to be a hero isn't exactly the right way either and Yuuki Yuna faced God in order to do so. Both lead to happy endings, however where Madoka Magica left Homura lonely and by herself but the world and magical girls saved but facing different threats as a result (let's not get into Rebellion, that's an entire different can of worms), Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou gave us a happy ending to which even the characters are happy with magical girls gone forever as a result of the defiance of Shinjyu-sama. Sure the happy ending is cliched for this kind of dark magical girl series, but man, LA will agree that the Hero Club went through soooo much depression and angst that LA says, let them have this happy ending. Once again, the animation done by Studio Gokumi is brilliantly done with special props going to the final battle and the awe amazing visuals and battles shown throughout, LA was amazed by this, so overall Gokumi did amazing in the animation department. The voice acting, well there are TWO voice actors LA would need to mention here although the majority of the voice cast is still amazing, those being Haruka Terui as Yuki Yuna and Juri Nagatasuma as Karin Miyoshi, both of them doing brilliant battle cries and triumphant dialogues as well as more dramatic accenting when it calls for it, but again the majority of the cast as well as returning Suzuko Mimori and Kana Hanazawa from the prequel are welcoming additions to the cast. Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou is not the end in terms of content for the Yuuki Yuna franchise (in terms of the light novels) but if this is where Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru can finish itself off completely then LA will be satisfied by it especially with it's ending and if we can see the Hero Club again, then LA will still be satisfied for more. Now since LA made the comparison to Madoka Magica, does it hold itself up or even surpass it, LA says neither, Yuuki Yuna is it's own thing, it's a franchise that can hold itself up to Madoka Magica and maybe even be compared to Madoka Magica in the future, but LA doesn't think Yuuki Yuna "needs" to surpass it and if people think it does, then that's great, if some people will debate about it still then that's great too. Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Yuusha no Shou by all means is a great "finale" and another great installment to the Yuuki Yuna franchise and it goes out with a smile.