Score: 6.08/10
Ken En Ken: Aoki Kagayaki
Synopsis
Yin and Ning are two sisters who have been wandering the land together ever since their village was destroyed by the villainous Taibai Empire. Their childhood friend, Zhao, has been enslaved by the Taibai himself, and uses his brilliance at tinkering and inventing to get by as a slave to the Empire's whims. One day, Yin accidentally discovers a legendary sword, which grants her fantastic abilities in combat, and allows her to summon a mystical, mechanical fox spirit named Yun, who is sworn to fight by her side. Meanwhile, Zhao is making fast friends with a mysterious young girl who just may hold a great amount of power within the Taibai Empire. As Zhao and the Fu sisters find themselves increasingly caught up in the Empire's battle for supremacy over the land, it will take all of the magic and might that the budding resistance armies can muster to turn the tide of war once and for all. (Source: ANN)
This anime is pretty much the definition of mediocre. It’s not bad, but it really fails to capitalize on the rich setting and world they build. Characters are often introduced and just sort of exist without much development or interpersonal interaction. The way violence is used very casually lends so much potential to the show, but in the end they seem more interested in using that violence as a shock factor than to use it for character development.
That said there are some good things going for it. Their inability to put character depth beyond the main three characters actually works in the case of the automaton, which in so many other anime would have a developed personality but which was in this show pleasantly flat and tool-like. The willingness of the animators to use real-life landscapes from China really adds a level of overall beauty to the show. And despite the mini-harem nature of the relationship between the main characters, the women aren’t represented in a particularly weak or vulnerable fashion.
It’s kind of aggravating because there were some characters I genuinely liked, but I feel like their motivations and feelings were really just incidental, and that their destiny had been written by the authors despite their personalities. By episode 4 I was really excited to see the developmental arc of the little sister, but two episodes later I’m facepalming as the authors immolate any possibility of her arc being enjoyable.
You should watch this anime if you have a soft spot for Chinese culture and history, if you like action anime and don’t mind transformation scenes, or if you want to watch people be slaves to romance in the middle of wars killing thousands.
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