Manaria Friends

Genesis impressed me, Virgin Souls bored me, and Manaria Friends made me go full UwU. Rage of Bahamut is quite mysterious. Despite seeing 3 anime series from the franchise, I still have no idea what the thing is supposed to be about. This time around all it has is cute girls doing cute things + cute monster girls doing cute things, spiced with fair slice of yuri undertones, over-the-top comedy elements and some sort of weird-but-kinda-cute remarks about being self-conscious over your dragongirl hybrid body. All this presented in the iyashikei (=healing anime) format. Our "plot" itself is rather simple. Princess who feels she is somewhatuseless and who seems to go thru some level of solitude discovers that our dragongirl is in relatively similar spot, followed by them simply starting to develop a friendship and accept themselves/enjoy life via this relationship of theirs. Manaria Friends heavily relies on its atmosphere and its meaning in the story-telling is vital to comprehend what the characters are feeling. This approach has rather fresh feel to it. The art heavily relies on waifugame, be it in forms of shaky legs and stockings, watery and sparkly eyes or awkward blushy dragongirl poses, details in art exist to to give value to the female body in somewhat pure and adorable manner. Occasionally just lewd, but most of the time much closer to 2pure4this world. Similarly, even the backdrops are used in purpose of reflecting our casts' emotions to a point that it could be said everything in the series exist in the purpose of our two main characters. The art itself is phenomenal, and one good reason to give this show a try is definitely its production values. These are literally the only times when I wish to go back to 16:9 aspect ration just to background image the shit out of these. This might raise a question "is it any good tho?" And it is a good series in quite a peculiar way, but at the same time it does quite seem like a series that mainly pleases a niche audience. It's a simple story about simple problems that have a simple solution to them. Its execution doesn't do anything in a very in-your-face outstanding way, our characters' reactions are quite predictable once you get to realize what type of a series this is, not much of substance is to be found story-wise. The music is often following a safety route -- not that it doesn't work -- and many parts of the series are quite literally screaming "do this because this is how it is often done." But it has its own magic. Scenes where our cast leaves the dining table, walk away from it and start a dialogue whilst the camera is still locked on the earlier scene while sunlight starts to hit it, feel almost poetic. Other times, the incredible happiness that our characters witness is enough to carry most of the content. Those who notice these type of details like a good senpai would, will have their chances of finding certain levels of significance from them and being left with rather wholesome aftertaste. Perhaps Manaria Friends is demanding a certain mindset from its viewers harder than most series do. It's even likely that I would have come to dislike it as whole if I had noticed it cons before its pros, but as it stands, the series is beautiful and I see no reason to release this review with a lower score for I enjoyed the show a great deal. Watching it simply made me happy, it's near soul-cleansing experience + these girls are just too precious.

For a show about a psychotic lesbian stalker and her oblivious victim/pet, Manaria Friends turned out to be a lot more mellow and hollow than I would have wanted or liked. Manaria Friends is a show about nothing, it is a show where princess Anne and Grea say each other's names to themselves at least 3 times per episode and yet is too afraid to commit to an actual confirmation of their relationship beyond subtext and teasing. Coming into the show expecting to see the relationship of future Empress Anne and Grea is a task in its futility. As said earlier, beyond some occasional psycholesbian stalker moments, the show never really has a full grip on what it wants to call the duo's relationship with each other. Are they just very good friends? Who knows. The show apparently isn't interested in knowing either. Even with such weak characters and plot, Manaria Friends does excel in one regard. Relaxation. The slow pace and focus on the environments as well as long drawn out shots of either of our protagonists soothes the mind and is the perfect remedy for a hard day in the office. Background art is vividly detailed with just the correct lighting and color palette so that it doesn't overstimulate the senses. The brilliant soundtrack too, immerses one fully in the world of Manaria, inviting the viewer to join in. Despite its misgivings I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with Manaria Friends. But I'll have to look elsewhere to get my yuri cravings. It's an alright show if you know what you're getting into, a relaxation aid with the occasional scene here and there to tease on potential romantic developments with Empress Anne and her pet Grea that will never come. Oh well. 5/10

What if I told you that there’s a school for gods, humans, and demons? Mysteria Academy is such a school where these races can all unite together to study in peace. Cygames, known for their innovative game projects, bought the Rage of Bahamut social game into anime form a few years ago. Now it’s Manaria Friends’ chance. Notoriously known for its production issues, the series was delayed for several years since its announcement. It’s a bit unusual considering the show isn’t even full length (12-15 minute length episodes). Yet, it took nearly 4 years for this to make it onto the TV screen. Given its context,you really shouldn’t expect this show’s storytelling to be similar to the original Bahamut series. This is more of a fusion of supernatural, magic, school life, fantasy, and perhaps a little bit more… Despite my experience with the previous Bahamut shows, watching Manaria Friends felt like a breath of fresh air. It’s known for its cheek humor, fan service, relationship development, and slice of life storytelling. Mysteria Academy itself has a rich history and we discover the depths of its secrets. However, what attracted me the most to this show are the main characters: Anne and Grea. As a human princess, Anne is known for her academics and social status at school; think of her as a role model. On the other hand, we meet Grea, a half-dragon girl with a mystique and peculiar personality. Throughout the show, it’s no secret that their relationship develops and reaches deeper levels that goes beyond than just fellow classmates. It really isn't rocket science to figure out that Anne is attracted to Grea. Early in the show, she is fascinated by her beauty and ability to shed skin. The amount of blushing is also clear evident that Anne likes Grea more than a friend. Even when they’re not together, Anne is constantly thinking about Grea or adding her name into conversations. A more symbolic example occurs in one episode when the two are on a boat date. In one particular scene, the two gets intimately close that strongly builds the “ship tease”. As such, fans of shoujo-ai should be delighted about the direction of this show. However, anyone expecting a serious plot will be disappointed. Even with one particular mid-season episode that features a goblin/golems invasion, more than half the series consists of lighthearted slice of life. The comedy makes up a bulk of the series with its character interactions and goofy character cast. This includes clumsy girls like Lou who often makes a fool of herself with her klutzy behavior. But as a fantasy slice of life, I should warn you to pretty much accept the anime as it is. What it advertised is what you’ll get. And despite the years of delay, production quality remains generally the same as I remember from some of the key visuals and early teasers. Don’t expect your mind to be blown away. For a 10 episode anime, there’s not much home to write about the plot in the end either. Treat this as a slice of life with doses of girls romance and mix of fantasy. Cygames’ meta verse world is complex and Manaria Friends has a spot in its place.

Manaria Friends is adapted from a Gacha Game (one I did not play) so my expectations were low and I'm really only in it for the yuri. Conveniently out of all gacha games adaptions to an anime, it did one thing right, focus in immensely on a small cast of characters and make a good show out of it. It successfully did that, the two main leads contrast with one another and like each other. The other cast are tack-ons but they feel right as tack-ons. It isn't as if the tack-ons need to have spotlight which so many other gacha game adaptions always forceinto their anime which again is bad, there is never enough time to focus in on the usually large cast of characters in a gacha game so sidelining them is the correct choice. Story is fun SOL. Music is not memorable nor bad. Animation conveniently is not low budget because it is a short 10 episode run. It never over stayed its place and was just good fun. This show is a must-watch for those who want to finally see a good gacha adaption that isn't UmaMusume.

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