Since there is not much airing this summer, it’s apparent that I’m going through my backlog. This time, I decided to watch Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru, w magical girl warrior show with slice-of-life moments, at least in the first season.
The show gets darker, especially in the later seasons. Enjoy the happy moments while they last. It gets darker in the second half. Thankfully, we are only covering brief thoughts about the first four episodes. Basically, the introduction to the whole team, the meaning of the Hero Club and what the girls are fighting.
In the first episode, Fu and Yuna perform a puppet play for the kids at a school. Yep, it’s the whole hero defeating the demon lord kind of story. I find it funny how Yuna gets so into it that she knocks down the stage cardboard. This is unsurprising since Yuna is an ordinary, cheerful red/pink-haired girl. Fu is the Hero Club president, with a sister named Itsuki, who is shy. As for Mimori, I will explain more about her soon.
Either way, the girls during class find themselves in a strange realm as a “vertex” approaches. The Vertex are forces that come to kill the world if they reach the source of blessings for the world, the Divine Tree. Taisha grants powers to are most suitable, allowing the chosen ones to transform into heroes to defeat the “Vertex.”
With that, Fu, Itsuki and Yuna help defeat the first Vertex by using the new powers they activate from their smartphones. Fu fights with a big sword while her little sister, Itsuki, uses magical vines to trap her enemies. Yusha, of course, fights with her fists. While they managed to defeat their first Vertex, it wasn’t without consequences, as they messed up somewhat. They find out with rumors of a car accident, meaning the stakes are high if they let the Vertex wreak havoc. Of course, later on, the girls find out they can come out at unpredictable times.
Most importantly, we also have Mimori, Yuna’s childhood friend, who is very knowledgeable about computers. You might notice that Mimori is disabled due to being in a car accident, which caused her to become paralyzed from the waist down. That is why she felt she couldn’t become a hero and felt down about it despite being chosen and venting her frustration at Fu.
However, Yuna is very supportive of Mimori and cheers her up. Even when she first met her, she treated her like a best friend and offered to show her around town. When her friend is in trouble, she doesn’t think of her disability as an obstacle to being unable to fight against the Vertex but as the reason to protect her best friend, Yuna, who was in trouble.
The fact that she can transform and fight with the help of appendages and use a variety of guns shows that she can fight. Of course, it’s nice to see a representation of disabled people through Mimori, as she can achieve things and still live a normal life despite being paralyzed from the waist down. Of course, I see a nice pairing between Yuna and Mimori. However, it’s obvious now, given how close they are.
In the third episode, we are introduced to a tsundere and the last member of the team, Karin. She is an ace who thinks she can fight better than Yuna and her friends, whom she calls amateurs. I find it funny how she acts all big because she was training to become the best hero with years of training. Yep, she does a lot of practice and exercises and even optimizes her hero system.
It’s evident that Karin is a perfectionist and thinks she should be the supervisor, but that role is taken by Fu. She acts harshly towards Yuna, who is carefree. Of course, Karin eventually went along with helping out with the Hero Club’s activities for the Children’s Festival.
However, she messed up the location and simply returned home. She didn’t realize Yuna and her friends became worried about her and apparently remembered her birthday. It was nice to see them throw a birthday and welcome party. It’s nice to see Karin loosen up as she reveals she never had a birthday party. I guess she never had friends or came from a strict family. Hopefully, she can grow her bonds with the other members since it’s a team effort.
Lastly, in the fourth episode, Itsuki becomes anxious about her singing test. She is afraid of singing in front of the class. While it’s fun to see the girls try various techniques to help her overcome this. This ranges from taking certain supplements to karaoke. Yes, we get to see Karin sing after Fu gets a high score, and she doesn’t like that fact. Of course, don’t go overboard with supplements, as Karin suggests. Seeing her aftermath after taking all of them and throwing up is funny.
In this, we learned why Fu formed the Hero Club. Apparently, their parents died because of the Vertex. Fu vowed to defeat them. Since she is the older sister, she does all the chores and cooking while looking after her little sister. Of course, Itsuki doesn’t want to be a burden on Fu as she is already doing a lot in addition to holding the burden of the hero club.
Yes, Fu eventually notices Itsuki feeling down. This becomes apparent when she intervenes, knowing that the kid doesn’t want to give up the kitten the owner wants to put up for adoption. While Itsuki is happy that the kid’s parent changed her mind, Fu shows regret over forcing herself and her little sister into doing the hero thing while putting her in harm’s way.
Still, Itsuki doesn’t think this, and Fu is doing the right thing. After all, she can fight alongside her by becoming a hero instead of depending on someone. In a way, she sees the opportunity of becoming a hero as a means of being able to stand on her own too. From this, it’s nice to see her overcome her anxiety and perform excellently.
While this was a lot of stuff to discuss in one post, Yuki Yuna wa Yuusha de Aru is an enjoyable show. While I do enjoy Karin and her tsundere personality, the developments should be interesting, along with the further development of the Yuna and Mimori pairing.
May you too join the Hero Club and embrace its greatness.
For sure, and of course in it for the upcoming drama that comes with it.