©タカヒロ・竹村洋平／集英社・魔防隊広報部
There’s a moment in the third episode of Chained Soldier where our hapless hero Yuuji finds himself delicately peeling off the socks of his “master,” Kyouka, and he thinks to himself, “Oh my God.” . We’re getting deep into fetish territory.”Boy, he’s not lying! While no one can accuse Chained Soldier of having the sheer depth of fetish fun that Nana & Kaoru does, the series seems to be making up for its lack of explicit imagery with tons of variety in its sleaze. its. Sure, HIDIVE’s uncensored release only really offers a few seconds of tits to be proud of in each episode, but you also have to factor in the fact that, in just three episodes, Yuuki has:
• Transforms into a buff Pokemon love slave of Kyouka, the domineering leader of Team 7 of the Demon Defense Force.
• Transformed into a humiliated chore boy in a dormitory filled with a literal harem of romantic comedy archetypes, who also possess physical and destructive superpowers ego.
• Blackmailed by a feisty buck-toothed girl (Shushi), who is also a female gamer who can kick your ass in Street Fighter. She’s also a shapeshifter, using her size-changing powers to sit on his face and insult him over his tiny cock.
• Squeezed and smothered by Shushi’s chest while in her even more massive Ultrawoman form, this happens just minutes before Shushi openly admires the fact that his cock is actually very big.
• Pushed to the ground so Kyouka can attack his toes and shoes with her boots and bare feet, while loudly berating him for the various subconscious depravities Kyouka is forced to perform appears as a “reward”” for Yuuki’s service.
• Attacked by the lecherous monster girl, who also happens to be his presumed dead and publicized incestuous sister.
When you look at it from that angle—that is, the view from the floor where you are lying patiently waiting for the Chained Soldier’s boots to make loving contact with your drooling mouth—this show is truly a cornucopia of debauchery, even if it doesn’t flaunt its uncensored assets as blatantly as some of its competitors. Now, it’s all well and good for Freaks n’Sinners™ will indeed attract whatever Chained Soldier sees fit to supply them, but what about people like me? People who, for some ridiculous reason, might be looking for a level of depth or narrative complexity in Chained Soldier, since their job is really to think too hard about whether or not no Incredible anti-demon sex slave harem or not./Tokusatsu/Is the fantasy action-comedy anime”good”?
Well, I have good news, everyone! Chained Soldier is really, well…good! I mean, yes, the conflict”Shuuki vs. Mankind” is a setup we have seen hundreds of times before and the harem comedy angle has been played out for so long that I don’t even know if it is “original” or not. Its version is even more doable, but in the end, it’s the execution that counts, and Chained Soldier succeeds on that front. The animation is consistently decent for the most part, and the show does a great job of conveying its world-building, action, and undeniable brazen horniness so that you never have time to get bored with any element. The characters are simple but fun and heck, the jokes are pretty funny, right? I laughed when the third episode spent so much time emphasizing the squeaky sound effect of Kyouka mashing Yuuki’s potatoes like she was a Minnesotan housewife preparing a Thanksgiving feast , and I’m just a little embarrassed to admit it. I have a feeling that”being constantly entertained and only moderately humiliated when seen interacting with it in public” is exactly where The Chained Soldier also wants his audience towards. If it can continue, I see no reason to complain!
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James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other popular cultures, which can also be found on Twitterhis blog and his podcast.
Chained Soldier is now streaming on HIDIVE.
