Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica

Title:Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica
Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
はぐれ勇者の鬼畜美学[エステティカ]
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables:
Ousawa Akatsuki, trapped by summoning magic in the Otherworld realm of Alayzard, has finally been proclaimed a hero for defeating the Dark Lord Garius and a rogue hero for his independent and philandering ways. After choosing to return to his home world through the Otherworld Gate, he is inducted into BABEL University, a place where returnees can learn to develop and use the abilities gained in the Otherworlds for the good of humanity. However, Akatsuki has brought back a secret in the form of his beautiful long lost sister Miu who is actually the daughter of the Dark Lord he defeated. Furthermore BABEL harbors secrets about the true purpose of training returnees, and Alayzard's troubles with the defeated Dark Cult and the secrets they harbor are far from done.

Summary from ANIDB.net

Series aired June to September 2012.
12 TV episodes (~24min)
Based on an ongoing light novel series with 11+ volumes since 2010.
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 9 9 9 0 8 KBanger1 [series:2819#1694]
There are times when I watch the harem genre of anime and think to myself, "Will there ever be someone who actually doesn't hide the fact that he loves women and use that as a plotline?" This anime is the answer to that. It's protagonist, Ousawa Akatsuki, is a very strong yet perverted warrior who ends up in an alternate world or "Otherworld" and defeats a demon king thus making him a hero. His antics like stealthily removing women's underwear makes him a "rogue". Therefore, he is known as the "rogue hero". Almost like Takeru Yamato in the OVA "Dragon Knight" without Takeru's overly charged libido. After his triumphant battle, he returns to his home world only to be forcefully enrolled in BABEL, a school in which other people like Akatsuki can develop their acquired abilities and use them for the good of humanity.

The funny thing about this series was that I wasn't hooked on it when I first watched it. I was hooked from watching a trailer of it. It was blatant that the hero was a pervert and used that to his advantage but what kept me watching was the Akatsuki wasn't a goofball like some harem leads but was real bad ass and can back his words up. This was what I was missing from all the harem anime I've seen in the past few years. He's not like Keitaro Urashima from "Love Hina" where he's a pathetic mess and gets beat up most of the time or like Tenchi Masaki from the Tenchi Muyo series where sees everyone as important and can't choose to love one person...oh no. Akatsuki is not only aware of who he is but uses that to his advantage. He lives for this like his fate was to use his perverted skills on every woman in the world. Hw loves women and really loves what he is capable of. Even though his is that type of person, he's also IMO one the strongest antagonist (second only to Tenchi) in this genre. I actually enjoy the fact that his skills are always have some deviant reasoning behind them. Overall, he makes this series what it is and to me that's a huge plus. If you want to call one guy the king of the harem genre, he's the man to call on. The plot itself is creative and quite deep in certain episodes. It's not over the top funny, but the humor is done in quite a way that it doesn't overshadow the main story. A lot of ecchi scenes for those who love that but the story itself is good enough for me not to really pay attention to. What it lacks is the english dubbing quality. I've seen the series twice (once in Japanese) and it really leaves a lot to desire. Along with that, it ends on a cliffhanger which I personally despise especially if there is no sequel in the future.

In the end, "Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero" is certainly a series to have in your harem collection. The hero is someone you can actually respect...for at least his power and determined attitude. Definitely not for his perverted nature. It's story is well made and the characters itself are quite the cast. Watch it in it's original format and then the dubbed and you'll see the difference in quality. If you are hellbent on not watching the sub, though, change it to a "rent" because it's not as good as the real translation. It's more suited to younger audiences since a lot of the english script is how most of today's generation can relate to. Not exactly a bad thing but not something that would make me want to go out and get it.

Last updated Saturday, November 22 2014. Created Saturday, November 22 2014.

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