Mixed Feelings
If I had to describe studio Silverlink in one word, that word would be ''mediocre''. They're perhaps the most "okay" studio working in the industry today and none of their shows I would consider being all that good, with the exception of a couple maybe, but, even then, those exceptions are still nothing all too remarkable. They always make shows that sound good on paper, and, when read, sound like they could be good shows, but they usually lack the creative talents and efforts to carry this through and their shows always just end up feeling either downright terrible or just "meh" for lackof a better term. Nowhere is this more evident than with their latest title, Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism, which, with a narrative and idea this silly, could have made for a good rule of cool show if it had more energy put into its animation, but it feels, like most of their work, that they wanted to create something really cool and cinematic looking, but didn't have the necessary talent or creative force to do so. Despite being a relatively fun show none the less, the anime needed much more charisma in order to carry itself along for the entire duration and the shows just falls short of reaching that rule-of-cool aesthetic and vibe it was so clearly aiming for. In that regard, the show feels very much like a previous Silverlink show, Chivalry of a Failed Knight, which, despite being vastly greater than most other light novel adaptations and is all around a decent show, also falls just short from being good due the studio's general lack of creativity in visuals, while, at the same time, having a decent script with decent characters, something that Busou also carries on as well. Either way, let's dive into this insane, nutty show!
Busou's narrative as a whole is one that is incredibly linear and straightforward. The show will not surprise you with any grand plot twists nor does it bring anything new to the table either, and it doesn't really have much direction. What I mean by that is that the characters don't really have anything in the way of a 'goal' or a motivation in the narrative, other than the main character wanting to collect five stamps from a group of five girls, all of whom carry swords. Oh, did I forget to mention that? Yes, for some reason, the school has allowed each one of the girls to carry a weapon due to the once all girl's school, becoming co-ed, allowing boys to join and, out of fear, request to carry said weapons as a means of protecting themselves. These weapons range anywhere from a sword to a whip to even a giant, damn bear! This aspect of the show is incredibly stupid, but the show as a whole is so tongue in cheek and takes itself so lightly that this aspect feels like a part of the world that is presented to us and doesn't feel all too jarring or even strange. Since the show doesn't take itself so seriously and more so laughs at its ridiculous setup, I can excuse this obvious dumb stuff. Due to each one of the girl's weapons, and general scary nature, the boys who do attend this school are put to humiliation and are forced to wear girl's clothing as a way to blend in with the school. Enter our main character, a cocky, bad-ass asshole, by the name of Nomura, who goes against the demands of the girl's at the school, and the rest of the show sees him fight against five girls, who are called the Five Swords, a group who are the strongest, and most skilled with the sword, who go around correcting problematic students and the such. And that's about it for an overall plot, but the show carries this narrative with such a silly over the top atmosphere and tone, that I find it a lot of fun to watch the battles carry out and the characters feel dynamic and interesting enough in personality to carry the weight of the show.
The anime is incredibly dumb and stupid in a lot of ways, from sumo wrestling a giant bear to the plethora of various battles and fights, but, at the same time, the show also feels self-aware enough to know that the entire thing is incredibly dumb, and fully embraces all of it. Whenever the characters are in battle, bold white text will appear on the screen showcasing the name of their attacks, akin to something like Kill la Kill, with plenty of close-up shots of the characters reacting to certain events while they gasp. Both of these elements help to sell the show's rule of cool vibe it is aiming for and helps to make it fun and fairly entertaining for me personally. However, there are some moments in the show that I feel are a little too stupid for its own good. One such example is when the main character is attempting to hide behind a bear, a pet of one of the members of the Five Swords, which also happens to be female, as he accidentally touches her breasts. Instead of being funny, which is what I believe the writer was attempting, it just comes across as being strange, jarring and uncomfortable to watch as well. Another example that may put some people off is when he fights one of the girls naked in the bathing areas. It can be distracting, and some may even consider tasteless, but I found the fight fun enough to carry the scene, and the nakedness of the girl is part of her tactic for winning the fight and adds on a little bit of characterisation for her character. Some other criticisms about the show may stem from the amount of blood and edge the show does try and convey, especially near the end, and I can understand why. It can seem kind of jarring to go from simply hi-jinks to a complete bloodbath as shown in episode ten, but, on the flip side, at the very least it provides some narrative stakes for the final fight and makes the villain out to be much more menacing and threatening too. The use of blood never really came across to me as being forced since it at least made sense in the context of the battles since all of the characters were using razor sharp blades. Another troupe that I wasn't too fond of, is that two of the girls fall in love with our main character and end up acting catty and bitchy to each other as they fight over him. I've always disliked this in anime since it reduces the female characters as nothing more than petty women, but here it didn't feel as bad as what I have seen before, and for the most part, there is an actual reason why these girls have fallen for this guy, as opposed to them simply wanting the main guy's dick just because the plot demands them to. This doesn't make this element any better, just a little bit more bearable in the long run.
I was honestly surprised at how much I enjoyed the show and found myself actually excited and immersed during the action scenes, especially during the final fight. The series is so over the top and so dumb that I believe it does work from an entertainment standpoint alone, and while I wouldn't consider the entire narrative and characters to be terrible, it certainly needed a lot more work to make the show good.
Each one of the characters has a stupid obvious gimmick whether that be in design or personality, but, at the very least, many of the characters at least have some depth, no matter how little granted, to make them feel a little more like actual people than bland archetypes. The main lead, Mamoru is essentially a better version of Glenn from Akashic Records, in that he is far more consistent and does the whole bad-ass cocky bastard rather well. I genuinely liked this character, and his back-story, unlike Glenn didn't feel as if it were included just for the sake of evoking cheap emotion from the audience, despite how generic and by the numbers this back-story actually is and how little of it we actually get to learn. A character like this holds up well for a silly narrative since he simply a lot of fun to watch and complements the silly nature of the show, although I wouldn't call his character good by any stretch. He fills his purpose fairly well, has some decent comedic moments and is a fine character. Rin's character has a massive hatred of men and wears a death god mask over half of her face since her mother called her ugly when she was a child and made her wear a mask over her face at all times when she went out with her. This back-story is quite dumb and rather, again, silly, but at the very least it provides an explanation into why this character acts the way that she does and the purpose behind her mask, rather than it remain a silly gimmick like those presented in Hand Shakers for example. Mary was a lot more generic than these two previously mentioned since we barely learn anything about her past and just assumes the "girl with big boobs" role while also carrying around a dictionary since she is Le François. She can be pretty annoying due to her attitude and general stuck-up-edness (that's not a word, I know) but otherwise, she is pretty forgettable. One of my favourite characters in the show is Satori, not only for how well her voice actress conveys her messed up mentality and rather sadistic sword fighting but because there was a decently executed plot twist in episode nine. It's not something to blow your mind, but I felt it was a decent twist none the less, and I did enjoy every scene she was in. While she doesn't necessarily see much development (as does the rest of the cast) she still gets some decent characterisation. The other two members of the Five Swords, Warabi and Tsukyo, were also likeable, and Tsukyou especially manages to pull off the strong swordsman character rather effectively, and that's one thing I can praise the show for. The main character, while very strong, still isn't able to blow through all of the girls with ease and finds himself cornered more often than not, having to think up some clever way to win. While this isn't on the same level of tactical fights I've seen in some other shows, it at the very least, creates some narrative tension and stakes and makes the girl characters feel more like fighters than in your typical light novel series where the girls are all presented as being weak without the help of the boring male self-insert character. The final villain was decently executed and I felt a genuine sent of excitement seeing the main character and her fight in the final episodes, with a decently explored back-story explaining their rivalry and the reason why it spawned in the first place giving more weight to the scene. The character interactions were fine but often the dialogue feels very simple and trite, with two characters just yelling how great they are, and sometimes the comedy between certain characters could fall flat on its face.
The animation consistency was fairly good with a lot of character movement and attacks but the art consistency took a large hit as a result of this. It's good enough in conveying the action on screen and some moments can look downright great, but overall it's just fine. I liked the character designs themselves and the general colour design too, and the opening is catchy as hell! While in terms of visuals, it's just a bunch of random fights, each one flows into each other fairly well. The music is fine and does its job but is ultimately rather forgettable once you've finished watching the show; nothing all too remarkable aside from the opening and ending tracks. Overall, I believe this anime did achieve what it set out to do to a certain extent. While it is an overall decent show, I would be lying if I said that I didn't have fun watching this show and I would recommend this anime for anyone looking for a dumb, easy ride, although I doubt this show will be remembered in a few months.
