Battle Girls: Time Paradox Review (Anime)
This series was advertised with breasts, and it can only end in breasts. I was hoping for depth to match the busts but alas, the plot could not fight its way through the mass.
The plot itself isn’t particularly bad on paper, it’s just not as fleshed out as other fleshy things which are prominent for the bulk of the show. I’ve watched shows like this before, such as the dreadful Samurai Girls, but I honestly quite enjoyed Battle Girls for a while, although there wasn’t ever any real urge to watch the next episode, plus it’s easy on the eyes and managed to get a good few laughs out of me. It does falter in the later episodes though, where it focuses a lot more on a character pining for affection and sacrifices much of the comedy.
For a series called Battle Girls: Time Paradox, there’s not really a whole lot of fighting, but there are plenty of girls and time paradoxes! No men exist in this timeline, and it seems that all the women are equally well-endowed. The fighting that is there isn’t mindblowing, and only serves to further the story as many of the main cast want to conquer the land, especially red-headed vixen Oda Nobunaga who is feared due to her strength. The unfortunate Hide Yoshino, known as Hideyoshi, is thrown back through time to the Warring States period and is no good in battle, but is quickly thrust to Nobunaga’s side where she’s forced to learn the ropes. She struggles to grow accustomed to living without her mobile phone, proper toilets and friends, but hits it off with Nobunaga and many of the others through her unusual charm which is a fresh of breath air to the warriors.
Sadly, as stated earlier, the latter half of the series becomes a chore to watch. I ended up taking a couple of weeks to finish the series off as it stopped being fun. The humour mostly died out in favour of giving the already fairly dull Akechi Mitsuhide more spotlight, where she just complains and gets upset that she thought Nobunaga and Hideyoshi had kissed. This was dragged out for about four episodes where almost nothing happened, other than Mitsuhide being angsty and envious; sure, there’s some more fighting in the second half but it doesn’t make up for the waste of time that went into Mitsuhide’s childish tantrum.
The animation is nice, if not a little sparse on detail, and I was surprised that the ecchi element of the show wasn’t abused too much; I’ve seen more fan-service in shows that don’t display boobs like they’re going to be in your face every moment. Like I’ve said, there really isn’t a lot of action and the action that is there is underwhelming. It’s explosive but slow-paced, and there’s a lot of standing around with swords clashing, as each woman angrily stares at the other, before they move into motion once again before they rinse and repeat. If you took the battles away, it would be some form of exaggerated slice of life anime.
Somehow, Battle Girls got an English dub whereas outstanding works such as Usagi Drop did not. I’m not sure on the reasoning behind this, but I can only assume that dubbing Battle Girls was a cheap and painless job. The English voice-over is fortunately fitting to the cast, especially Hideyoshi and Nobunaga, and so I’d say the dub is quite easily the best thing about the show. The Japanese voice-over is no bad shakes either, but I prefer dub when given the choice. The music is forgettable, and whilst it may not grate on you and it manages to get the job done, I find it hard to recall any of the themes or the OP or ED; they’re by far from the worst OP’s and ED’s I’ve seen or heard, though.
Battle girls is only 13 episodes, and the ending wraps things up nicely and leaves room for a second season, although I doubt we’ll ever see one come to fruition. It’s enjoyable at the beginning and enjoyable in its last few episodes, but the focus on Mitsuhide around the halfway point is a mood killer and whilst it’s obvious from the beginning that she’s selfish and spoilt where Nobunaga is concerned, I’m not sure why it had to be central to the plot for several episodes as it just felt like filler; what could’ve taken one episode to resolve took multiple, and it seemed like that not only had the story come to a standstill, but that the writers also left their humour at home for a few weeks.
I’ve seen much worse shows in this genre, such as the abysmal Samurai Girls, but I still can’t easily recommend Battle Girls: Time Paradox. If you have some interest in the Warring States period, like well-endowed and attractive women, and just want something to provide you with a few laughs then you might find enjoyment in the show but it’s not something I’ll personally be revisiting anytime soon, if at all.
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