Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid

I think it was the point where I was watching a four-storey naked woman scream that I stopped hoping this show would ever make any sense. Look. I knew I was getting into something pretty questionable. This is the show that said "You think Eromanga-Sensei is trashy? Hold my beer." This is a show that credits both a "Special Breast Effects" person and "Giant Breasts Producer"--yes folks, there were two people whose entire full-time job was animating giant pendulous breasts. In some cases, literally giant (aforementioned). But there's no point interrogating the logic of porn. Which I think this is--it's the worst kind of exploitative view of(female) sexuality. A view that doesn't even try to make sense. The entire premise is that certain women, when sufficiently aroused or in a trance-like state, will transform into weapons. Okay... well, anybody who's ever had a frank conversation with a woman would realize the flaw with this, namely sexual response just doesn't work that way, when you need a weapon you need it now, not after several minutes of heavy petting, and for many--perhaps most, I would venture to guess--the immediate life threat would make it pretty hard to get well and truly turned on anyway. I say there's no point interrogating the logic of porn, but is it too much to ask for basic plausibility? Although I should have known; even the silhouette of the main character pair shows a wanton disregard for the realities of biology, with Mamori's rib cage clearly in a different time zone from her hips. And for a show that's supposed to be all about a bunch of women having sex with each other, it... sure seems to have no real idea of how that actually works. I've (elsewhere) praised Monster Musume for being refreshingly straightforward about what it is. Most ecchi harems are coy and unconsummatable; this one opens with a snake handjob. Most harems spend at least some effort coming up with an excuse for the women to pursue the main character; MonMusu, someone just sort of tells them to, so they do. Most harems wouldn't have basically the entire cast just give up and call the guy a variation on "MC-kun". But Monster Musume knows exactly what it is. Not so Valkyrie Drive. The show keeps reaching for a narrative weight, a seriousness and importance, that it has no way to earn, neither through its compelling plot (which it doesn't have) nor its lovable characters (also missing, instead we get one-note cliches, from Miss Protect Virginity to the various Obviously Psychotic Sexpots who show up, always with the non-consensual S&M routine). But because it has pretensions or aspirations to legitimacy, it tries to deal with ideas well outside its weight class. The threat of rape--weaponized rape, rape to turn its victims into weapons--looms heavy over the show, but won't be seriously examined. It can't be examined, because it's a cheap source of drama and menace, but also (so far as I can tell) supposed to be *hot*; and never mind that the already flimsy premise of plot-convenient arousal falls apart when women can be raped into ecstatic transformation--unless the show is seriously trying to sell a view that's seriously despicable. The show can't seem to decide if it wants to be Fantasy Island or Lord of the Flies, and when the serious high-drama plot starts happening you'll have seen it coming from literally episodes away. The only real question is how did anyone allow the situation to get to the state it's in, where all the dominoes can come crashing down so readily. There's a way to read this show that as actually a statement about unbridled female sexual desire being such a powerful force that society will do anything to subjugate it, keep it under wraps; that women--especially women who love women--are oppressed and contained because of their *power*. There's a way to read this show as making direct commentary on the very objectification--literally transforming into objects--which it engages in and depicts. There's a way of reading this show that shows that the real monsters are the ones who try to keep these forces repressed, and that the real tragedy is the way women's solidarity turns into a power-struggle catfight as their society immediately reproduces patriarchal norms of dominance from the outside world. Or, rather, there *should* be. But the show's just not up to it. And I wouldn't mind that so much if it would just be honest about it and stop trying to claim some greater significance. There's a way to read this show as being about militarism, psychological trauma, about bonds of love and the awakening of same-sex desire... but instead violence is just a thing people do, some because they're broken and others because they're stupid and sadistic; and desire is just a thing that happens when you touch your nipples together or lick the right parts, no matter what the circumstances. Guess it's lucky all the women with the virus happened to be into other women too, huh. Ah well. I guess I should've known. Turns out it's just porn after all. But if that's what I'd wanted, I could've found something that didn't drag for three hours. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch one episode each of three different shows to get this thing off the top of my recently-watched list.

This is, putting it simply, a softcore lesbian porn anime. It exists primarily to arouse the viewer; nothing more, nothing less. The story is simply an excuse for seeing sexy girls interact, fanservicey fight-scenes and borderline hentai scenes. The truth is, actual hentai anime tends to be stuck with very small budgets; meanwhile "softcore" anime can more often afford significantly better production values, as this anime shows, and I much rather enjoy a softcore show with decent production values over chicken-scratch "hardcore" OVAs. The story of a bunch of girls being trapped on an island, the "Soul Eater, but with orgasms" premise of the action scenes...all of this, as I said above, pretty much an excuse for boobs and yuri, and the characters primarily exist to fit specific fetishes. In that regard, both the "plot" and characterization do a pretty good job. The visuals are pretty nice; sometimes the amount of polish obviously falters, but the lewd scenes tend to look quite good and the character designs are obviously the best and most appealing out of all the Valkyrie Drive projects. They lack the typical VN-esque cheapness often found in such anime, instead managing to be quite stylish and charming and, while not particularly unique, nonetheless have their own look and feel. The animation is pretty competently done when it matters and the series succeeds at having many genuinely sexy scenes. Sound-wise there's nothing to complain about; the VA cast is fine, as is the music, and the obligatory moans do their job quite well. As a fan of competently done lewd yuri, I quite enjoyed this series in the basest way imaginable; and really, given what its intentions are, that's just about all that I needed.

This is lewd show for sure, everyone can read the description right? though I must admit, this one is not your average ecchi show, I think it is not exaggerated to label it borderline hen***. Is it bad then? that's up to the viewer to decide. personally I'll say this show is enjoyable, not because the perverted things, it has few good points too. Story: 7/10 call me inexperienced, but I won't complain that much about this anime originality. the concept about human transform into weapon might have used in some anime. But combine it with other elements this anime has, I think this one ispretty unique. Okay let's move to real plot. The story itself is pretty decent in my opinion. It might have awkward and slow introduction, but trust me, you'll eventually understand almost everything about the chicks circumstance or even how their world is working. There are a lot of flashback as well, which is presented well and smooth. Also, there is good portion of battle in this show.Although, I'll call the battle itself a joke. No.. uhm, I don't mean the "intro", but the actual battle itself. It just went bam..bam! or maybe few flash, beam.. then its over, as simple as that. Some character might give a good show though, for example the four-eyes commander or duo lady. Art: 8/10 There are a lot of oversized things here, if you know what I mean. I think they should made it moderate, not that I totally dislike it. Joke aside, I think the animation is good and fluid, the characters design are nice if you ignore particular part. I especially like the duo lady figures, it give "wild but cool" image matching perfectly with their personalities. And the last episode animation was amazing. Sound: 8/10 character voices are not half bad, and I like the OP and ED. Character: 9/10 I like most character.The blonde one have some development, everyone else are static though, just being what they are until the end. Some of them might even surprise you. I like how everyone participated in the last battle, that was some cool action there, the best part in this anime in my opinion. Enjoyment and Overall: 9/10 Honestly, I'll even give this show full score in term of enjoyment. But I'll hold back since I don't want to be labelled as hen***. Still, this show keep me entertained until last episode, it has nice characters, decent story with good pacing. It's not show for some kid with weak heart as there are some intense scene, also not good for any good man who dislike anything lewd and irrational. But, if you think you like this kind of show, you'll realized this anime is not bad at all.. and you might want to double check your room door to ensure it's locked properly.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Studio

Producers