©タカヒロ・竹村洋平/集英社・魔防隊広報部
I’m glad that Chained Soldier finally gave us a resolution to the fate of Aoba, Yuuki’s sister. After spending time building up Yuuki’s growing power and connection with Kyouka in the first half of the episode, the show made the smart choice to change the status quo by having Aoba and Shuuki take on different human forms. kidnap Yuuki and take him to their hideout.. This gives Squadron 7’s gang an interesting new mission and provides some much-needed perspective and world-building on the Shuuki/Humanoid threat we’ve been fighting all series.
It’s true that I wish this series had played out the drama of this moment a little more. Yuuki has known that Aoba has (possibly) been living here in Yato for a while, but the few contemplative scenes the brothers share aren’t enough to sell the paradigm-shifting revelation this whole discovery is. must have. The villains are much more complex and understandable than we might guess—at least, I suppose that might be the case for a viewer who has never watched other anime before—and the meeting Yuuki’s encounter with his long-lost sister will be a test of his relationship with his Master back in Squadron 7. Instead of something exciting and game-changing, the introduction Introducing Aoba, Coco, and Naon feels like Yuuki is simply adding a trio of new girls to his ever-expanding Battle Mommies harem (and The One Little Kid Who Needs to Remain Off).-Word limit any Pervy “Rewards”, Thank you very much). That number includes Aoba as she clearly has feelings for her brother that both the laws of society and nature frown upon, regardless of whether Yuuki reciprocates them or not.
Still, the new Humanoid girls are an interesting enough addition to the cast, and they offer some new and even more obvious opportunities for fanservice if nothing else. I’m sure Yuuki thought his reward was out of reach back at base, but he spent several minutes in this episode choking Coco’s crotch while she enthusiastically licked her entire body his nakedness. And this isn’t even the result of a giant magic contract; My guess is that Coco is enthusiastic about her role as a healer.
The humor and decent fan service, combined with the surprisingly fun action scenes that get the ball rolling with Yuuki’s kidnapping, make this a pretty solid episode of Chained Soldier, in general. I was a little disappointed by the lack of narrative ambition shown, but then again, this is Soldier in Chains so maybe I’m angry that my expectations were too high.
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Chained Soldier is now streaming on HIDIVE.
James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which you can also find on Twitterhis blog and his podcast.