Opening Songs
OP 1 - Absolute Soul (Konomi Suzuki)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Believe X Believe (Nozomi Yamamoto)
ED 2 - Apple Tea No Aji (Nozomi Yamamoto & Haruka Yamazuki)
ED 3 - 2/2 (Ayaka Imamura & Ayaka Suwa)
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Romance
Episodes: 12
"Absolute Duo" is one of the many harems present in the opening anime lineup of 2015, alongside its counterparts "Unlimited Fafnir", "Shinmai Maou No Testamanet" and "Seiken Tsukai No World Break". Despite looking as generic as it could ever ask for, "Absolute Duo" is one of the better harems OF THAT season, since TBH, most of the harems in 2015 so far are kind of disappointing. I like all of their premises: super powered main character joins a school that houses super powered students, he goes on with his life as per usual and for some reason attracts all the ladies. "Absolute Duo", while mostly generic and normal on many of its ends, manages to hold its own along with all the good harems out there, this time with its slightly more niche, out of troupe characters. There's really not much to say about it, "Absolute Duo" is another decent harem that manages to get most of the pre-requisites right, and then some more.
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| So much titties. |
The opening song is practically one of the most jizz worthy opening themes I've heard in a long time. After "No Game No Life", I already started to like Konomi Suzuki quite a fair bit, with "Absolute Soul" added into her discography, I was sold. "Absolute Soul" is fast, frantic, exciting and fun to listen to, its every bit as amazing as "No game No Life", which was already amazing. Konomi Suzuki is one of the current anisong gods in the era. There are multiple ending themes sang by the different seiyuus of the girls in the show, but I'll be honest, none of them caught my attention, "Believe X Believe" is alright, but that's pretty much it.
Rating: 7.5/10
It may not be the most popular thing, but I genuinely liked "Absolute Duo". There haven't been many great harems recently in the past few seasons, I mean, I went to watch "Oda Nobuna No Yabou" a few days back, a harem released in 2012, and I realized how f**king much I love it. Its safe to say that harems have been taking a minor dip, I think "Absolute Duo" is safe from that dip. The characters aren't as generic as you'd think, there are plenty of likable characters in there (though the guys get no love), and I feel that the premise behind everything in "Absolute Duo" is quite cool. The action in "Absolute Duo" is decently impressive, sure, its no "Fate/Stay Night UBW", but its serviceable, better than the lazy efforts of "Blade Dance Of Elementalers" or multitude of stale battles in "Trinity Seven" (strangely, that one had great girls in there as well). The pacing was alright, but things totally kicked off towards the end and I think the show ended well enough. All in all, it did many things right, and I like it for what it is.
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| Typical harem scenario for a typical harem protagonist. |
Kokonoe Thor is another young individual who awakened to the power of Blaze, a special power that is given to 1 in a thousand individuals. Many youths who have awakened to the Blaze are sent to Kouryu academy to further their studies into the art of the Blaze. During the enrollment ceremony, Thor runs into a girl known as Imari, who hopes to get along with him during their school life here. However, little did they know, their batshit insane headmaster orders everyone to fight their partners, only the winners may enroll into Kouryu, effectively cutting away half of the enrollment badge. Sadly, Thor has to fight Imari, and she is easily defeated. Leaving sad and dejected, she wishes Thor the best of luck, and it hit Thor that things in Kouryu aren't going to be easy, as only the strong can thrive. Here, students are paired up in duos to maximize their potential. In his first day of class, a cute girl named Julie sits beside him, and she shows interest in Thor, for he is known as the irregular. Being the "odd one out", he attracts a lot of attention, and that's how his life started to become more interesting.
"Absolute Duo" works as yet another high school battle anime that doesn't manage to screw up too much. There are quite a few things to like about it, and I do feel that its one to watch for the harem lovers. For everyone else, there are better harems out there, but if you're feeling bored and want something that isn't too bad, this one works.
Peace.
