Opening Songs
OP 1 - Stars And Flowers (Haruka Tekui, Suzuko Mimori, Yumi Uchiyama, Tomoyo Kurasawa)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Aurora Days (Haruka Tekui, Suzuko Mimori, Yumi Uchiyama, Tomoyo Kurasawa)
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy
Episodes: 12
Holy. Shit. Those were the 2 words that came into my mind when I watched, so much so that I was surprised that Gen Urobuchi wasn't behind the whole thing. "Yuki Yuna Is A Hero" is incredibly deceptive, making you to believe that its just another cutesy mahou shoujo anime. You'd be f**king wrong. On par with the levels of "Madoka", "Yuki Yuna Is A Hero" is tragic, its obviously cruelty manifested into its purest form. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY ITS ADORABLE ART STYLE. Only go into this one knowing that you'll be witnessing some of the most f**ked up shit that any possible 13 year old girl can ever go through. Because its f**ked up, its also easily one of the most impactful shows of 2014, and trust me, if "Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works" didn't show up, this would have easily made its way into my top 10 list last year. "Yuki Yuna Is A Hero" made me think about the magical girl genre as a whole, and honestly, if most magical girl animes share even A THIRD of "Yuki Yuna"'s impact, trust me, I would love the genre 10 times more. "Yuki Yuna Is A Hero", for me, sheds a new light on the magical girl genre.
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| Sometimes being the hero isn't the best answer. |
The opening song is "Stars And Flowers" sung by the respective seiyuus of all the characters in the anime. Its a song that gives off a feel of solemnity, its the kind of opening that gets you pumped up or the like. If anything, it sounds pretty chill, nothing like how the anime turns out. The ending song as well, "Aurora Days", also sung by all the seiyuus of the characters in the anime, its so soothing and simple. It feels like the calm before the song, and its especially impactful during the final episode, yes, yes it is.
Rating: 8.0/10
Straight up, I'll tell you this, the show is very, very dark. Perhaps dark isn't the right word, many people say "tragedy" instead. This anime is considered pretty amazing to some, and honestly, I can see where they are coming from. To me, this show only gets to its "strong points" past the halfway mark. Before that, its a little bit boring. The first few episodes serve SOLELY as buildup, and while most of it were just generic mahou shoujo with pretty cool powers VS big bad monsters, it was well done. It was well done, but that's basically all it was, the girls weren't particularly in TOO much danger. Its the second half that truly drives home what it means to be a hero, and whether or not it was worth it. There were a lot of rather sensitive topics in this one, and character development was really strong. Really, REALLY strong. You could FEEL for the girls, you sympathize with them when shit gets real. It all contradicts with the extremely adorable art style and character design. The story and characters are probably the strongest point of the anime, and it holds up from start to finish.
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| Wow, that's a pretty good plan. |
The protagonist of "Yuki Yuna Is A Hero" is, obviously, a middle school girl known as Yuki Yuna. Yuna has a massive sense of responsibility about being a hero. She likes to stand up for her friends. She likes to help others. She wants to protect everyone. Sound familiar? That's the mentality of 75% of shounen heroes and many anime/game protagonists. So yeah, she's not too unique of a main character. She and 3 of her friends, Togo, Itsuki and Fu, make up the Hero Club. The Hero Club is basically a club in their school that helps people, simple as that. However, that's just all a cover by Fu, the president of the club. The purpose of the club was to just find willing heroes that would risk their lives to fight against the Vertex, enemies that threaten the existence of mankind. By downloading a certain app, the girls are allowed to transform into magical warriors that have the powers to fight against the Vertex. Yuna and the Hero Club then pledge themselves to fighting the Vertex to save the world. But, is that really all there is to the Hero system and the Hero Club?
"Yuki Yuna Is A Hero" is a great anime, that much I can say. It may not be for everyone, and the magical girl theme may turn off quite a lot of people initially. But like with "Madoka", its one of those shows that's a lot different when compared to these generic magical girl anime. I wouldn't say that there's a lot to like here, but this, for sure, is one hell of an impactful experience.
Peace.
