147th G-View: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon

Hey doods and peeps, welcome to another episode of The G-Views. A man known as Eric Bischoff once wrote a book titled, “Controversy Creates Cash”. That title’s meaning couldn’t be more evident than in the following anime. The show I highly consider one of the most controversial this year. This is Koyoukai Senjou no Horizon.

Alternate title: Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere

Genres: fantasy, action, adventure, sci-fi

Themes: school, war, shoujo ai, yuri

Number of episodes: 13 (Season 1)

G-Rating: 9/10

Plot Summary:

Based on the previous summary + http://www.theanimenetwork.com/myblog/359-History-101-Horizon-in-a-Nutshell

In a distant future, Japan is divided into feudal territories, which have been conquered and are ruled by outside countries. The flying city-ship Musashi, which holds the remnants of the Japanese, is being targeted and has no choice but to keep its people safe by going to war. With the fate of the world resting on its hands, the students of Musashi may hold the key to victory.

I’ll sum up the show’s content by slicing up a piece of pie in 3 pieces: 1/3 Intense action, 1/3 serious politics, 1/3 water balloons strapped to women’s chests.

I’ll now sum up the show’s plot pacing:

We kick things off with an action packed examination, then the show proceeds to use a few episodes to explain the world we’re in, how things work, the political system, the current situation that will lead to something big, the big event itself making a HUGE impact, some episodes dedicated to preparing for an important mission and following the procedures to set off for said mission, finally an epic climax with a sort of resolution leading to the eagerly anticipated 2nd season. If the intervals sounded boring to you based on my explanation, believe me, if you pay attention, you’ll notice many similarities to the Middle Ages, Elizabethan Period Europe style of thinking. It’s like repeating history while rewriting it, AND adding a huge dose of fantasy and sci-fi to create a wild concoction of awesomeness. Take my word for it.

A megane girl riding an ancient, nearly impenetrable armor that can barely move, being used as a shield for an attacking army…my life is now complete.

The fights are top notch and exciting. Sure the characters explain the effects of their special moves and shout out the names of their special attacks  (rarely) but it’s an anime and that is to be expected. The point is that seeing android maids taking on giant mechs or an accountant taking down a mech by powering himself up using income the same way RPGs use Magic Points is pretty epic. The fights are either epic duels fought in various creative ways or cool people vs giant mechs. I guarantee that not a single fight sucked on this show.

The political portion of the show is as abundant as that of Gundam Wing or Code GEASS, but thankfully not as confusing as Gundam Wing’s. At first you may be confused as to who’s good and who’s bad but it’ll all be clear in no time. Be patient and you’ll be rewarded.

The animation: Water balloons strapped to hot girls aside, you’ll see demonic judges, a naked incubus, a JRPG slime, a half lycan girl with badass hair, more water balloons, landmasses on gigantic flying carrier ships, a robot dragon, a ninja whose face is hidden behind a cap with eyes but it’s like the eyes on his hat ARE his actual eyes, black puff balls that are supposed to be the universe’ life force or something similar…more water balloons. In short, tons of kooky goodness with explosions and lasers during battles and lots of water balloons. Oh and of course there’s unavoidable groping scenes courtesy of one Aoi Toori. Thankfully they are minor and don’t affect the show’s appeal at all. They hardly use it anyway and it quickly disappears as the show progresses.

The music: Epic RPG tunes, my kind of music.

The characters: There are WAY too many characters in this show to mention so I’ll talk about my favs. Before I get to that, something I should mention that makes this show so cool is that it’s like a reversal of the Koihime Musou series. Instead of having the characters introduced one by one in each episode, almost ALL of the important characters are introduced from the start. The show then proceeds to showcase in a balanced manner what each character can do either in combat or another section where they can be useful. this means that almost nobody is left out except for extremely minor characters that will have to wait for their turns in the 2nd season. Thankfully there aren’t many leftover characters. Lastly, many of my fans know that I really like shows where none of the characters suck. this is one of those shows. Even Aoi toori, who’s intentionally an annoying male lead (It’s eventually explained why he’s annoying) doesn’t suck…much.

Kimi Aoi: foul mouthed, shows no other emotion aside from a haughty expression but there’s a reason for this. It’s because something happened in the past that made her vow to never show weakness again. Her fighting style is also most enjoyable. I also wonder why even though P-01s is the main female lead, most of the sexy pics online include Kimi. Oh well, I guess I’m not the only one who thinks she’s awesome.

Neit Mitsozudaira: 3 things I like about her:

-She’s half wolf/Lycan, which gives her super strength and mastery of chains. (Too bad she can’t transform into a wolf)

-Her mannerisms, similar to an ojou-sama.

-Her hair.

Futayo and Masazumi Honda (No relation as far as I know…maybe cousins.)

Futayo Honda: A badass warrior who was raised to be that and only that. She is well knowledge in martial arts and military strategies but lacks two very important things like any sheltered lady in anime does, common sense and knowledge of the outside world. She’s both awesome and adorable at the same time.

Masazumi Honda: A girl who was supposed to undergo gender reassignment but stopped halfway for some reason. This is due to males having higher authority in politics or something (Ye Old Europe way of thinking, remember?). Masazumi is really serious about her goals, which sometimes cloud her judgment and can lead to some minor mistakes. however, when her mind is focused and without doubt, she will blow you away with her logic…and sharp tongue. Check out her many confrontations with The Pope and you’ll see what I mean.

Last but not least..you didn’t think I was going to leave these two out, did you? Doods and peeps, allow me to introduce the two ladies who are nominees in The G-Empire’s yuri awards’ “best yuri couple of 2011” category: Margot Knight and Malga Naruze!

Margot (Left) and Malga (Right)

Margot Knight
VA: Touyama Nao
A blonde, 6-winged black magic user, as well as Naruze’s lover. Always smiling. Freely uses her abilities in flight, characteristic of magicians. Pursues a career in the transportation industry.

Malga Naruze
VA: Nitta Emi
A black-haired, 6-winged white magic user. Also affiliated with the manga club. Her personality is rather rebellious, but she always puts Knight above all else.

Aside from their tag team mastery of aerial combat, complete with badass BOOM STICKS, what makes NaruKnight such a wonderful couple is that you can truly believe these two care deeply for each other. They don’t behave in a comedic yuri fashion or grope one another or any silly gag, they hold hands (almost always) and are never apart. they have casual conversations with one another, protect the country that took them in with their lives,  fight enemies with in sync and of course have what could possibly be the best on screen yuri kiss of 2011. There’s absolutely nothing to dislike about these as my fair maiden Snippettee would put it, “Doki Doki filled” or “KYAA inducing” couple.

Sorry kiddos, they don’t go that far on the show.

To quote someone I don’t see eye to eye with but respect his opinions regardless, “i’m just happy that we have an on-screen kiss between them that didn’t serve any purpose except to express affection for one another. it’s not part of a special powerup ritual. it’s just Girl’s Love, pure and simple.”

The fact this anime exists is already considered a shocking moment of 2011 by yours truly. This is because the show’s main source is a series of novels with enough content to fill over 3 phone books. Still, it’s pretty cool because of said huge amount of content, the creativity seen throughout the show is quite stagnant. Original, not quite, creative, heck yes!

The dislike this show receives is about as relevant as the hate for K-ON!, meaning it’s as relevant as a speck of dust. It’s fine that haters didn’t like it but don’t pointlessly try to rally a group of haters with reasons as petty as “there’s too much talking” or “the breast physics are ridiculous”. I’m certain others have good reasons for disliking it (Like not into having to search for data online in order to understand the politics or in some cases why a certain person’s execution is a HUGE DEAL) but they’re pretty hard to find inside the large wave of trolls.

In conclusion: Overall, I liked the series. A lot. It cut back on groping, thankfully (those were by far the worst moments in the series), it has an interesting setting, fun characters (not just the angelic lesbians, I also am fond of several others, like Kimi Aoi and Neit Mitsotsudaira, for example) and overall was good!

P.S.: Check out the Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon guide link in my blogroll to see a full guide on the series from top to bottom. It certainly helped me understand quite a few things.

Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon Viewing Guide