Not only is it too short, it is beyond sick! First we have the cliché "New girl randomly wants to bang our male protagonist", the "Male protagonist's best friend gets jelly because of new girl.", "There is a plot regarding religious symbolism" etc. The characters were either despicable or annoying, or both. For example, the main female "protagonist" wanted to bear the male protagonist's child so she would sacrifice it to remove the curse embedded in her tattoo. I mean think about it, she wants to kill her own baby to remove a curse... that doesn't sound like a "protagonist" I should be routing for... EVER! You deserve that curse you evil witch! The male protagonist's cat is also an obnoxious magical girl and there was a photographer who gets excited by having her pose for his pictures, and I mean REALLY excited... I'm calling the police. And the character I hate the most (Other than the female protagonist) was her sidekick who is a disgusting person who can transform into an annoying, badly drawn wolf pup. I mean first he says "That chick with the big boobs is very annoying huh? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY" etc. I mean look who's calling the tea kettle 'black'!? And when he reveals his true form to our Protagonist's best friend, he has a personality of a rapist, and that's how he acts before he gives her regenerative abilities (which I might add serves NOTHING to the story). And let's not forget the story, and I put the term "story" very loosely. It is so jumbled with plot elements that could NEVER fit two episodes, and that's how many episodes it has, TWO! Eiken may have been a terrible anime, but at least it had a plot (Not quoting the meme) that would fit two episodes. This anime however acts like it was building up to a 12-26 episode storyline that never came. Even if it did get 12-26 episodes I would probably still hate it because of the obnoxious and/or despicable characters, poor voice acting, lazy animation, and perversion that is so sickening it makes you question "How is this not a hentai!?" I think I found my candidate for "Worst Anime of 2015" if not "Worst Anime of all time". In fact I find it even worse than Eiken, Powerpuff Girls Z, Demon King Daimo, The Sacred Blacksmith, Blood-C, and Magical Play put in a blender! If this anime were a milkshake with those other anime as the ingredients, this is how I would react to the taste.
3 Reviews
Poor writing and juvenile treatment of sexuality make this a tiresome dud
I_Ailurophile28 August 2024
It's one thing to be direct in terms of a character being very deliberately brusque and forthright, often cutting past any sort of proprieties or social expectations; sometimes this can be a source of humor, or accentuate a character's personality. Moreover, in pictures that are designed as flagrant comedies or wild genre romps, such directness can be a boon when it comes to just letting loose and having a good time. On the other hand, where a title is in any fashion intended for straight-faced, earnest storytelling, drama, romance, fantasy, or otherwise - even with elements of humor involved, too - directness can be a fatal flaw. When ideas, beats, and information are heedlessly thrown at the audience without any tact, nuance, subtlety, or consideration for judicious, meaningful narrative progression, the result will invariably come off as gawky and clunky, a reflection of low skill or lack of care that will just be unsatisfying for a viewer, if not altogether irritating. If such a work is furthermore sloppy about specifically elucidating the details of its plot then it will only come off all the worse, and such matters may also serve to gracelessly accelerate the pacing, or aggravate already overly swift pacing.
It's important to speak to these issues, because they are foremost among the troubles facing this OVA. In a total runtime of under one hour we get a small measure of that sly first variety of directness, but mostly we see the second variety that is oafish and cumbersome. It pretty much never feels as if any fragment of the story is being imparted in the way that would serve 'Holy knight' best, and the story is light and thin as it presents. I don't know how much of this can be traced back to the manga, and how much of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of those who brought this slice of anime to fruition, but the problem is glaring and weighs heavily on the piece from the very start. Appreciate the voice acting all you want, or the rich animation that boasts terrific detail in ever facet and fine consideration for lighting and shading: these can help baseline suitable or even weak writing to pass muster, but they can't prop up writing that is distinctly flawed. We technically get a complete and cohesive tale in miniature, sure, but it falls well short of satisfactory, and it's very patchy and in sore need of more careful, deliberate dispensation to make any of it matter to us. It still feels like only half of a whole, and probably less than even that.
Would that this were the only point of frustration with the OVA. Look, I'm not at all opposed to sexuality and nudity in audiovisual storytelling. It can be a flavorful or integral component of telling a story in any genre, for any number of reasons: dangerous seduction, coy temptation, titillating sensuality, cheeky comedy, artistic representation, dramatic profundity, horrid violence, unflinching confidence, sultry romance, normal romance, inhuman expression, and more - even simple verisimilitude. Never is sexuality and nudity used more poorly, however, and more tiresomely, than in raunchy sex comedies where it is employed purely to draw in pubescent, hormonal teenagers, and so-called adult men who possess the physical or emotional maturity of the same. The inclusion of sexuality and nudity in 'Holy knight' does serve a real purpose, in part, given the premise of a boy and a girl from proverbial different worlds, and her intent to bear his child. Unfortunately, the sexuality and nudity here is written and animated chiefly with the perspective of pubescent, hormonal teenagers, and not with the perspective of a person attempting straight-faced, earnest storytelling. The good thoughts are there, but they're not treated well, and they're matched to at least an equal degree in the scenes, dialogue, and characters alike by the presence of sheer puerile juvenility. Sigh.
It's not as if this is perfectly awful. Yet for what value it does have to offer, frankly we can get it elsewhere just as easily, without also suffering through the faults that drag it down. And as it is, maybe I'm being too nice in my assessment. With so many other things to watch in the world, why should we spend our time with 'Holy knight?' Maybe some day we'll see another, better adaptation that will prove the worth of the material, but until then, you can really just leave this alone and be happier than you would be if you chose to check it out. Oh well.
It's important to speak to these issues, because they are foremost among the troubles facing this OVA. In a total runtime of under one hour we get a small measure of that sly first variety of directness, but mostly we see the second variety that is oafish and cumbersome. It pretty much never feels as if any fragment of the story is being imparted in the way that would serve 'Holy knight' best, and the story is light and thin as it presents. I don't know how much of this can be traced back to the manga, and how much of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of those who brought this slice of anime to fruition, but the problem is glaring and weighs heavily on the piece from the very start. Appreciate the voice acting all you want, or the rich animation that boasts terrific detail in ever facet and fine consideration for lighting and shading: these can help baseline suitable or even weak writing to pass muster, but they can't prop up writing that is distinctly flawed. We technically get a complete and cohesive tale in miniature, sure, but it falls well short of satisfactory, and it's very patchy and in sore need of more careful, deliberate dispensation to make any of it matter to us. It still feels like only half of a whole, and probably less than even that.
Would that this were the only point of frustration with the OVA. Look, I'm not at all opposed to sexuality and nudity in audiovisual storytelling. It can be a flavorful or integral component of telling a story in any genre, for any number of reasons: dangerous seduction, coy temptation, titillating sensuality, cheeky comedy, artistic representation, dramatic profundity, horrid violence, unflinching confidence, sultry romance, normal romance, inhuman expression, and more - even simple verisimilitude. Never is sexuality and nudity used more poorly, however, and more tiresomely, than in raunchy sex comedies where it is employed purely to draw in pubescent, hormonal teenagers, and so-called adult men who possess the physical or emotional maturity of the same. The inclusion of sexuality and nudity in 'Holy knight' does serve a real purpose, in part, given the premise of a boy and a girl from proverbial different worlds, and her intent to bear his child. Unfortunately, the sexuality and nudity here is written and animated chiefly with the perspective of pubescent, hormonal teenagers, and not with the perspective of a person attempting straight-faced, earnest storytelling. The good thoughts are there, but they're not treated well, and they're matched to at least an equal degree in the scenes, dialogue, and characters alike by the presence of sheer puerile juvenility. Sigh.
It's not as if this is perfectly awful. Yet for what value it does have to offer, frankly we can get it elsewhere just as easily, without also suffering through the faults that drag it down. And as it is, maybe I'm being too nice in my assessment. With so many other things to watch in the world, why should we spend our time with 'Holy knight?' Maybe some day we'll see another, better adaptation that will prove the worth of the material, but until then, you can really just leave this alone and be happier than you would be if you chose to check it out. Oh well.
Please continue this anime
kylestjernquist29 October 2020
This was the start of an amazing anime just please continue with the story with more episodes to tell us the viewers what becomes of all of the characters like the girls friend that has the new regenerative powers and the other girl in the school that seemed to know something about the descendant and about the stragoi and go more in depth about who and what her gaurdians are
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