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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Monday, 17 April 2006 00:00 |
 Another week, another volume of Battle Vixens, and I'm developing a whole new liking for Ryofu. She pretty much single-handedly makes this volume worth it's 18 certificate with some gratuitous.. err.. pleasure-giving. Meanwhile, the Big Fighters Tournament gets underway, with the predictable outburst of testosterone - which makes you wonder why the women seem to be winning all the battles...
Episode 5
Every fighter in town has received a message, it seems - an Imperial Order, no less, summoning them to the Big Fighters Tournament. Just the thing to help Hakufu reach her goal of becoming an even stronger fighter. But first, she pays a visit to Taishiji - or tries to, at least. After ignoring his orders to kill her, the Powers That Be haven't been kind - with his spine damaged, it's looking unlikely that he'll be fighting again. Feeling she's at least partly responsible, Hakufu heas for Taishiji's school to even the score. As for the Big Fighters Tournament - each school can field a team of five fighters, and it seems Nanyo has realised how useful Hakufu and Koukin's skills would be. Ryoumou would also normally be one of the best fighters around, but she's still coming to terms with her defeat at Hakufu's hands...
Episode 6
Ryoumou pays a visit to Rakuyo High, trying to find Saji, but first has to deal with Ryofu. Ryofu proves too much for her to deal with, and decides to have a little fun with Ryoumou before finishing her off. Meanwhile, the Big Fighters Tournament gets underway. The rules are simple - first team to runs out of fighters loses. You would think Kanu, who's fighting by herself, would be at a disadvantage, but even when she's set against a full 5-fighter team in her first-round fight she emerges victorious - giving Totaku an idea for who should face Nanyo & Hakufu next...
Episode 7
Hakufu finally stops running and deals with Kannei, barely breaking into a sweat in the process - but Koukin picks up an arm injury that will put him out of the rest of the tournament. With Kannei dealth with, they need to get to the location of the next fight, where Ryoumou is already battling Kanu & coming off second-best - she's unable to even land a punch. But that all seems to be part of her Ryoumou's plan...
Back in the good ol' days, it seemed all you had to do was label something "anime" and it got an 18 certificate slapped on it. It's a lot less common these days, but Battle Vixens has managed it - and I'd guess it's more to do with the amount of overt sexual behavior on display here than the violence. Let's just say that Ryofu gets around, and doesn't much care if her partner is willing or not. It certainly doesn't do the fanservice level any harm.
That's all linked with the scheming Totaku, who's in control of the Big Fighters Tournament and trying to manipulate the results to make sure he keeps his position at the top of the tree - and this is by far the more interesting side of the story. Sure, Hakufu gets into a few fights here and there, but that's just background and easily forgotten about. So who was the star of the show again?
The other person who seems to be worth paying attention to is Ryoumou, who after being soundly beaten by Ryofu seems to have developed a whole new attitude to life. That this involves wearing a maid uniform is probably no bad thing - it's that fanservice obsession coming through again, but the reasons behind it are interesting enough.
I'll admit to enjoying this volume a lot more than volume 1, but that wouldn't really have been hard. The problem is that what's enjoyable here is purely on the "shameless titillation" side of things, rather than any real depth with the story - sadly, that's still completely non-existent - and there are still other series that do "fanservice overload" better than this.
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