It’s time for another installment of GME! Anime Fun Time, and this time Tom and I are taking a look at a short form fantasy comedy TV anime known as Bikini Warriors. The show has about as much depth as you would expect for being based on a series of ecchi figurines, so topics include the influence of Dragon Quest and discussions of similar fantasy properties. CLICK HERE or on the Bluray cover above to check out our review of the show.
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Re: Masochistic paladins.
I think you’re misplacing the point origin for Darkness etc.. Most fantasy tropes you see in Anime are Dragon Quest, but this one is really MMORPG. A proper party/raid needs a tank. This means someone has to play a character whose primary purpose is to get hit (a lot are probably Paladins so they can heal themselves). Good tanks are vital in any multiplayer combat game, but you don’t get the glory, and you have a lot fewer stories to tell, so the implication is that they REALLY must like “taking the hit”
Having no direct experience with Bikini Warriors, I can’t really comment about it. What I can say, however, is that Godannar was a fairly cool giant robot series. Totally disagree with Paul’s views about that show.
The actual story is okay and it has a large number of self-aware gags or mecha in-jokes, including a character literally named Tetsuya Kouji and how he’s treated as a joke, so I wouldn’t really consider it to be a “serious” TV program. Come on, there’s stuff like holding a cellphone within cleavage that is clearly meant to be more silly than not. In short, it’s the sort of series that, in my opinion, illustrates the underlying difference between just being dramatic and being serious. Godannar is far more of the former.
Since you briefly brought it up, the character designer of Godannar also worked on GaoGaiGar and that explains a few pervy design choices there. Not sure that working in pornography is a net minus though. That sure didn’t stop everyone’s favorite (?) writer of the decade, Gen Urobuchi, from becoming an anime superstar. 😛