|
|
||||||||||
| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rent |
 Stretch
|
[series:2708#628] | ||||||
|
(All episodes watched): Muneakira returns home from a trip only to find that the harem of Samurai Girls that he has accumulated has taken the liberty of converting his precious Dojo into a Maid Café! I didn't remember much about the largely unremarkable first season of this story, but in my review of that series I mentioned that the hijinx between the different girls was much more fun than the confusing action plot. Things get more serious later in episode one when four 'Dark Samurai' (all girls, of course, and even less modest than Muneakira's ones), show up and kick the asses of him and his girls. For all the fighting, nobody is seriously injured. My initial conclusion was that this might be worth watching, or it might not. Like SamGirls, SamBride is a pretty kinky show, with explicit fanservice is explicit, including closeups of tightly worn underwear and bare breasts among the bad girls. But come to think of it, while Muneakira's girls are pretty exhibitionist when it comes to their choices of what to wear or not to wear, they are proud Samurai after all and don't behave in a shameful manner. SamBride is a fairly funny show as well. Usually fanservice acts as a cheap substitute for quality writing or humor, but the lewd jokes here are good at times. I sort of wanted to write this show off quickly, but I found that it was worth watching for the jokes after all. Also, the plot largely makes sense and holds my interest. During the first season I lost track of the longterm plot, but here it's pretty simple: get ready to take on the Dark Samurai. Even the seemingly absurd episode five played a part. In season one it seemed like there were too many characters to keep track of, but this time I have managed to keep a grip on almost everyone, even though there must be even more this time. The girls have fairly distinct personalities: the insecure, lolicon one, the jealous, scheming one, the masochist one, the monkey girl, etc, etc. Even the Dark Samurai have some personality to them, towards the end at least, like the one who wonders why she was revived from the dead. The idea of having sex with a 'Master Samurai' must turn guys on; as if in doing so they have dominated and defeated a fearsome warrior. I guess it inflates one's self-esteem. In episode four the concept of the Samurai Bride is introduced--somehow, kissing a general, like Muneakira, is supposed to magically increase one's strength and skill to a level even higher than that of the Master Samurai. Such a person might be able to defeat the Dark Samurai. Surely even more harem antics will result. Episode five was more comical and less kinky than usual. In a contest to determine the best maid café crew, the staff of Muneakira's café take on the Dark Samurai who have started a similar one. The bit with the jellyfish had me LOLing. I thought the final episode was a little overcomplicated, what with the evil 'Wraith' conveniently replacing the Dark Samurai as an opponent, and the confusing states of being dead, not dead, sort of dead, etc. I could only scratch my head at the strange capability that being a Samurai Bride bestowed. I sort of lost track of what was going on. But I had a general idea of what was happening, and this conclusion was largely what you would expect. It got the job done. Like season one, the comedy of this series was stronger than the longterm plot. But whereas in SamGirls the main plot almost seemed like a drain of time that could have been better spent joking with the girls, this time the difference wasn't quite as glaring, and even the longterm plot made sense for the most part. SamBride isn't just a cheap excuse to show animated porn; no, it has some definite quality as well. Last updated Sunday, July 14 2013. Created Sunday, April 14 2013. | ||||||||
