Early Impressions: Queen’s Blade 2

If you’re reading this post, then there’s probably a good chance you already know what you’re getting into. Queen’s Blade: Gyokuza no Tsugumono is a lot like the first anime series; for better or for worse.

I won’t waste a lot of time here picking on Queen’s Blade’s cliched plot and stock characters, or bad pacing for that matter; this is, after all, an anime series based on a series of game books which nobody actually plays, instead buying them for the scantily clad, busty heroines contained within. No. Queen’s blade is all about the ecchi/hentai, probably the only reason to watch this series.

This is unfortunately where Queen’s Blade’s fault lies: It’s just not sexy enough. In a series that’s sole purpose is to be sexy, this is almost unforgivable. I say almost, because this second season seems to have upped the ante a little from the first series, Rurou no Senshi. At least this time around we don’t have characters urinating themselves.

All the elements of hentai-ness are here: girls grabbing other girl’s chest, naughty tentacles, more than one bathing scene. But what should constitute a sexy show somehow comes out flat. Scenes that could render its heroines in the sexiest light instead choose angles and poses that are perhaps more realistic — but not sexy. At times it seems the director is purposely trying to downplay its characters’ attractiveness, ultimately obliterating the series’ only real selling point: A pastiche of fetishes. Why else would anyone want to watch another shounen tournament saga?

Despite a large number of negative reviews, Queen’s Blade: Rurou no Senshi still seemed to garner a large number of fans, and anticipation for this latest series seems high. For fans who found something to like in the first series, its unlikely this new series will disappoint. But ecchi/hentai has been done better.