Story & Characters
Before I even write the review, I want to discuss/refresh a very fundamental concept of a review: What is the point of a
review? By definition, a media review is a critical evaluation of performance. However, that is only from the
reviewer's perspective. From the reader's perspective, the reader may be reading to: 1) Decide whether to
watch it or not, 2) To give assurance that they are not currently wasting their time, 3) To assess how their tastes and
views differs from the reviewer or the community. Given this, I think it is important to distinguish between quality
and enjoyment. By quality, I mean how "good" the anime is and by enjoyment, I mean how much you
"enjoy" it. Why did I bother to say this? Because the two are DISTINCTLY different yet related! If you think
about it, many "perceived" bad anime are wildly enjoyable and have a large fanbase (Think Dragonball Z or
Sailor Moon) while many of the "good" anime have a low fanbase or aren't very enjoyable (think Grave of
the Fireflies or Haibane Renmei). In my opinion, I think many reviews (not just on Minitokyo) are very limited just by
trying to be definitive, since they don't take people's varying tastes and standards into account.
So what does this have to do with Yami Boushi? Alot. I think a lot of reviews on this title don't give it proper
justice. To me, Yami Boushi was very enjoyable. But did I think it was good? Not really. Do I recommend it? Maybe. What
I'm trying to get at here is there are objective and subjective elements to quality. For example, a reviewer might
say a particular anime is good because he/she "enjoyed" it, when in fact it isn't good in technical
terms. Then someone with different tastes comes along and reads the review. Obviously then the reader will find the
review bogus. As a reviewer, I think this kind of situation can be disposed by simply by separating quality from
enjoyment, then take people's tastes into consideration to make a broad recommendation. And I think reviews that
do this are better works of literature.
Story
The story in Yami Boushi is simple on the deeper level, yet it appears very confusing. It has three distinct sides
jumbled together: Hatsuki, Garuganchua, and Lilith. Each of these three people are looking for Eve (who is also
Hatsumi/Jiru). But the main story revolves around Hatsuki. To search for Hatsumi, she travels to different worlds
through the help of Lilith. On the way, Hatsuki encounters various situations - ecchi situations that is.
Is the story good? In terms of merits, no. But it does have several interesting ideas, none of which were properly
developed. It briefly touches on creationism but didn't take it very far. It's not really a heart wrenching
drama, nor is it funny enough to make you roll on the floor and laugh, and it's not romantic enough to make your
heart melt. What it does have going for it is HOT GIRL X GIRL action. That's right, this anime is full of girls.
At heart, Yami Boushi is just a yuri (girl love), anime. How much you'll like Yami Boushi will largely depend on
how much you like yuri.
The story certainly had potential in terms of originality. I mean, how many anime out there involves travelling through
worlds? Travelling through worlds opens up room for creative situations. I find that some of the worlds are
interesting, but not interesting and relevant to the story enuough. From an objective basis, the story is poor.
Rating: 6
Art
Animation and artwork are different things. I will review them separately.
Artwork: 8/10
Artwork is a matter of preference. I'll be the first to admit that I did not like the mech designs from Evangelion,
nor the character designs from FullMetal Alchemist. But I do like the character and some of the world designs from Yami
Boushi. I find all the characters to be beautiful. It's probably due to the use of colours. If you like beautiful
girls, you will probably like the artwork. And it's not just the characters, the world is drawn quite
decently.
Animation: 6/10
The animation is less than spectacular. The frame rate is quite bad. During action scenes, the background disappears
and becomes a big blur. Generally, motion scenes are stimulated rather than animated. This is one of the few animes
that moves the "camera" to assist in stimulating motion. The effect is not bad. This is actually very cost
efficient and I have to give applause for this. However, I have no clue why the people behind this project decided to
add this weird "light/glare" to the whole series. Every scene feels like someone is shinning a 300 Watt
flashlight on the monitor. I thought this had a negative effect on the artwork and animation.
Rating: 7
Sound
Music: 7/10
The only outstanding piece of music is the opening song. This song is very catchy and fits the OP animation very well.
The lyrics of the opening song also really suits the whole series. The ending vocal song is kind of annoying in my
opinion.
The instrumental pieces aren't bad by any means, but they don't really shine. They do their job of fitting
the mood.
Overall, the music did not grate on my nerves and it isn't the generic love song trash that tarnishes anime so
often. But music is largely based on preference. There's never a correct view on whether the music is good or
not.
Voice Acting: 9/10
I thought the voices were excellent for the most part. They really suit their characters. For example, Hatsuki has a
good Tomboyish voice that suits her well, even though the voice is a little dull. My only complaint is the
narrator's voice.
Rating: 8
Presentation
Yami Boushi is not a hard series to grade. From any objective basis, it isn't great. But it can easily be a
secret/guilty pleasure for many, simply because of its yuri elements.
I think this series is a success in terms of acheiving its goal of showing you good looking girls. Yami Boushi
certainly doesn't take itself seriously from my perspective. The story makes several biblical references but the
story doesn't really touch on those.
It's also worth mentioning that the OP animation in conjunction with the song is one of the best anime openings
I've ever seen. And I've seen well over 250 series. Most anime OP are just a random showcase of characters
and scenes. But this one really syncs with the music and showcases the beauty.
So what's my verdict? I think Yami Boushi's quality is around average taking all elements into consideration.
But the quality of this series isn't the main consideration when deciding to watch it or not. The first and only
question you need to ask yourself is: Do I like good looking girls and lesbian overtones? If you anwered yes,
there's a 99% chance you will really enjoy Yami Boushi.
Rating: 7
Final Verdict
6.8333 (above average)
Reviewed by bluecheese, Jan 18, 2006
