Title: Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar (Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari)
Genre: Action, Ecchi, Fantasy
Publisher: AIC, Funimation
Original Creator: Masaki Kajishima
Director: Koji Yoshikawa
Producer: Shouji Oota
Series Composition: Hideki Shirane
Music Composer: Akifumi Tada
Review Copy provided by Funimation
A not-so-long time ago, in a world far, far away, Kenshi Masaki was sent to Geminar. Though unknown to him, his mission was to safe the strife filled world from a power hungry mongrel trying to resurrect the very thing that nearly destroyed the previous civilization. Though almost tricked into working for the wrong side and killed off (whoops), our hero is luckily captured by the right side and makes the switch. It is now that he, obviously, sets out for the Holy Land with his new buddies, including a Princess King that sometimes refers to herself as “we.” Having arrived, still as ignorant as a confused kid that was randomly sent to a strange world and with no nefarious villain in sight, of course, our brave and dashing hero enrolls in school where tits and games abound. Here he befriends and wins the hearts of all he meets. Home becomes but a faint dream and all signs of strife seem to never have existed. The End.
Missing the action in the first episodes that lured you here? Tune in next time (x6)!
Honest to God, the first half of War on Geminar is pretty mediocre, mainly because the whole “War” bit of the title disappears aside from some vague whisperings about “ideals” and some mysterious upcoming event, only to be replaced by a meandering sort of tone where no one does much and the series gleefully flings itself into the gutter on multiple occasions. Though the series never gets crosses into gross fanservice territory, it does have a love for the bosoms of its female characters and frequently (especially if you sit through every OP) shows them off. Though I can’t say I’m surprised by the fanservice, that didn’t make it any less annoying, especially when entire episodes were dedicated to it. An entire 45 minute episode dedicated to orgasmic massage experiences is one episode too many.
Admittedly, though, the more the first half dragged, the less I cared about the fanservice and the more I cared about certain other glaring flaws. First off, Kenshi (voiced by Hiro Shimono/Jason Liebrecht) is literally a perfect human. Aside from the fact he nearly dies from altitude something-or-another in the first episodes, Kenshi, in addition to being the pilot of the only White Sacred Mechanoid, also has endless stamina, the ability to trump everyone in about everything, and a shining personality making it impossible for people to hate him. I wouldn’t say Kenshi necessarily has a bland personality, but it’s pretty static. He doesn’t change much, throughout the course of the series. If anything, the more you see of him, the more outstanding qualities he seems to dig up. Honestly, though, it’s hard to dislike the only exceptional male character War on Geminar offers up.
War on Geminar is brimming with girls who, though maybe not the most original or even nice, at least do stuff. When Dagmyer (Takuya Sato/Duncan Brannan) is the only other notable teenaged male in the cast and he’s a pampered, woe-is-me ass who is practically useless, you know the male cast is a bit lacking. I mean, holy crap, as long as you are born a male Sacred Mechamaster, you are set for life. Sure you have to marry some chick you don’t really know in order to make some perfect Mechamaster babies, but who cares, man?! You go to school and one of your classes is literally watching girls with no bras (or panties for that matter) swim in a pool, climb out, and do it again, while you lounge around in a separate pool enjoying the view. You’re also exempt from most school rules because you’re a male Sacred Mechamaster. Oh, and you have a free pass to be an asshole. Life is good if you’re one of the few guys who can pilot a Sacred Mechanoid. These people really have little to no respect for their female counterparts and, because of how they’ve been treated their entire lives, see themselves as above everyone else. It was actually kind of interesting to note how Dagmyer, throughout the first half of the series, is only ever seen recruiting other guys for the eventual attack on the Holy Land. Next to these jokers, I’ll take Kenshi any day — at least he’s respectful of those around him.
The girls, on the other hand, probably because they populate the show, are much more entertaining (and bearable). Since the series wouldn’t be complete without one, Kenshi does manage to build up a harem, though, thankfully, most of them aren’t too outright with their feelings. The romance aspect of the series hardly ever went beyond silly jokes which I appreciated because the one romance War on Geminar actually has is so sappy that it was embarrassing to watch. Each of the main girls has a set personality and runs with it for the duration of the series, but they’re fun personalities that only rarely grated my nerves–probably because I harbor soft spots for most of the stereotypes. Aura (Junko Noda/Lydia Mackay) and Wahan (Rie Nakagawa/Cherami Leigh), especially, were characters who I grew to like. Aura I liked mainly because she’s an elf….and she’s also got that whole I’m-not-a-wimp thing going for her. She was probably the closest to matching Kenshi’s skill level and that was really nice because it meant that there was someone, at least, that was on almost-equal-footing with our perfect hero. Wahan’s neat because she’s apparently 97 and looks like she’s 15, not to mention she creates and constantly works on the Mechaworkers throughout the course of the series, showing that she’s got a nice noggin on her shoulders. Kenshi had a pretty harem going for him, though, and they were all likable and competent at something.
Going back to the story aspect of the series, once the slice of life days were over and done with, War on Geminar became fun to watch because it had other, more important things to focus on than tits and figuring out what other abuse fun things there were to do to Kenshi. The war on Geminar starts with a bang and the show pulls its one and only plot twist which was actually kind of good if you didn’t see it coming like me. With the war started, the number of fights per episode dramatically increases which is nice. Though I’m not a mecha buff by any stretch of the imagination, or even have much of an interest in mecha, I was fascinated by the ones that popped up in War on Geminar. I thought it was interesting that pilots have an Operational Limit and that they can pop into any embryo thing since the design of the mecha itself is dependent on the pilot. The maneuverability of the Sacred Mechanoids, especially Kenshi’s, as well as Wahan’s Mechaworkers also made the longer fights more interesting to watch.
The most War on Geminar amounts to is fun. The animation is colorful, and the major fights move fluidly despite some stiffness in other scenes. If you stop thinking and just go with the flow, once the actual story kicks in, the series is actually enjoyable to watch and, aside from the last scene, it even ends on a nice note. Complex is what this OVA is not, though. The hardest this anime gets is maybe some of the political stuff that never really made sense to start with and the few parts that tie back to the main series which I haven’t watched.
So, can I actually recommend War on Geminar? Before writing this review, I think my answer would have been no, I could not. Having to slog through about 315 minutes, give or take half an hour, of nothing is a lot. Thinking back on the parts of the series, I enjoyed though, it actually wasn’t too bad. Sure the series is flawed and can get tedious, but it can also be fun. I’ll even admit that I thought some of the fluff episodes were entertaining as useless as they may have been. If you’re willing to sit through the worst of the series, then I think that the second half is relatively rewarding because it delivers on some of what it promised. It doesn’t deliver anything great, but it’s not anything terrible either. I’d recommend watching the first two episodes to get the best taste of the series–the first gives you an idea of what sort of action the series is into and the second introduces the slice of life junk. If you enjoy those, then I’d say continue on, though, straight marathon style doesn’t really suit the series as well as it does others. All in all, the series is fun at parts, but not something I’d want to watch again.
