Opening Songs
OP 1 - The Bravest Destiny (Toy Gun Gun)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Gunjo Survival (Mikako Komatsu)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama
Episodes: 12
When we think about anime and air soft or BB guns, the first thing that comes to mind s "Sabagebu", which I swear to Jesus is severely under rated and is mostly shrugged off because its a show with an all-female cast. While that was a show that was funny, "Aoharu X Machinegun" over here...is actually pretty f**king hardcore. Sure, you'll just ignore me with the same, exact thing that most people will say: "It's about air soft!". Yeah, if "Shokugeki No Soma" can make cooking so f**king epic, then "Aoharu X Kikanjuu" can definitely make air soft badass, and it surely did. Sporting one of my favorite art and visual styles of the year, "Aoharu X Kikanjuu" is pretty f**king good to look at while also being quite intense to watch. I might be in the minority here, but I really, REALLY enjoyed "Aoharu X Machinegun", and hoped that it would go a bit more than 12 episodes. But alas, here we are.
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| Tachibana is actually decently cute as a girl. |
The opening and ending themes all have Mikako Komatsu in it, who is the seiyuu for Tachibana. The opening is "Bravest Destiny" by Toy Gun Gun, which is Mikako Komatsu along with Tomoaki Maeno and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka. Its an alright shonen-esque opening theme that packs some intensity and heart, but its decent at best. The ending theme, "Gunjo Survival", is actually better, with some fast beats and Komatsu singing with a really pumped up masculine voice (meant to imitate Tachibana, I assume). I like it.
Rating: 8.0/10
I'll be the only one here that gives this a high rating, because personally, this show does many things right. While it MIGHT look and feel a little bit yaoi at times, its...really not, though it does have a fair amount of fan service for the girls when the guys tough it out with one another. The story picks up fast and never drags, before you know it, you're into the meat of the show: the intense air soft battles at a high, competitive level. Much of the show is spent building up the main character, for her to be a better air soft player, while also introducing many of the show's quite entertaining characters, though I'll be honest, nobody is more entertaining than our protagonist. She is INSANE, being both a pesky shonen goody-two shoes justice hero and a monster with an irresistible hunger for battle. At its best, the air soft action scenes are great, and the story behind many of the show's characters are also done extremely well, though not EVERY character is well represented, what's here is pretty damn good. The one thing that I thought was sub par, was probably the comedy, everything else felt spot on. The pacing was good, between the intense battle scenes were a ton of character building and room for drama...it's great, really.
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| The lust for blood is intense...even though its just air soft. |
Tachibana Hotaru is just your everyday regular high school GIRL who decides that she wants to dress like a guy. Why? Because she's got a strong sense of justice and she pretty much lacks ANY chest what-so-ever. It's be weird if she dressed like a girl...to her anyway. She and her best friend Kanade were just talking and goofing off as usual until she mentions that she had been defiled by a certain man known as Matsuoka in a night club. Refusing to let this slide, Tachibana attacks this club, and the bell boy Matsuoka just refuses to play rough, so he suggests that they settle the score with air soft. Being a complete newbie and Matsuoka being a hardcore pro, Tachibana was floored even though she had an entire magazine and Matsuoka only had a single bullet. Seeing her talents, Matsuoka invites Tachibana to join his air soft team, mistaking her for being a "him". Things get out of whack when Tachibana actually finds herself enjoying air soft, but refuses to reveal her sex when she finds out that Toy Gun Gun does not recruit girls.
"Aoharu X Machinegun" is great in my book, though of course, its not a show that everybody can enjoy. Its one for action lovers, that's for sure, though I can't really say much else because its a "one of a kind" anime. Watch it if you're willing to try something new, you may find something awesome in there for you.
