Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. We continue the Koihime saga with the second season Shin Koihime Musou. Based off the second game in the Koihime series, the anime really doesn’t change all that much from the first season. It’s still an original story that picks up where the first season left off and just adds in new characters that made their debut in the second game. The anime was released in 2009 and is often regarded by the fans as the worst of the three seasons. Is that true? Let’s find out and take a look at Shin Koihime Musou.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening this time around is “Touen Ketsugi ~Touen no Chikai~” by Rekka Katakiri. This opening really does have a more serious tone as opposed to the first one which was more fun-loving. While not a bad song I feel that the song doesn’t fit the overall tone of the show. I mean if the first season hinted that they were going to start getting serious than I would find the song fitting but they don’t and as this season goes on you’ll quickly start to see how this song feels out of place in this series. The ending is “Otome Ryouran☆Battle PARTY” by Touen no San Shimai. It’s return of the chibi animation with all of the characters both past and present waiting in line to get meat buns. Not a bad song, I will admit it’s catchier than the first song but I don’t know a part of me kind of likes the first ending a little more and I think that mostly has to do with the chibi animation and the song complimenting each other. Here, there’s literally nothing going on here. It’s just the characters standing in line. They don’t talk to each other, they do funny things, they just stand there. It’s kind of lazy if you ask me.
Episodes 1-4
The first episode isn’t really a good start to the season. We see that the gang is still in Touka Village defending it from bandits and thanks to their efforts the area has almost been cleared out of bandits (I don’t whether to be impressed that 6 women were able to defeat an army of bandits or sad that an army of bandits were defeated by 6 women). After seeing this the episode mostly focuses on Bancho and Lin Lin. Bancho wants to call Lin Lin, Lin Lin like everyone else but she’s too embarrassed to say it so the episode just follows Bancho trying to say Lin Lin where we get a few misunderstandings along the way which I have to admit are pretty funny (yeah the second season definitely improved the jokes of the anime. They also became a lot bolder with the fanservice as we get a lot of bath scenes and close-up of bouncing breast but they don’t go too overboard with it like other animes). At the end Bancho finally calls Lin Lin, Lin Lin and the group becomes closer than ever.
Episode 2 is where the season really starts (yeah in all honesty you can skip the first episode and not miss a thing). We start off in a neighboring town where Komei is buying porn books at a bookstore (woah who knew the innocent Komei was a pervert). As they’re leaving they hear a group of bandits harassing a girl and go to save her (so much for clearing the bandits out of the area). The girl they save is the main heroine this season Ryubi (the real one) voiced by Mai Gotō and yes just like the other characters in the anime her character is different from the games. In the games she’s actually the queen of one of the kingdoms and has Aisha working under her as one of her warriors. In the anime she’s a carpenter with royal lineage. The personality is still the same, she’s a kind-hearted girl who’s a bit naïve but always stays positive no matter what. Anyway, after saving her they escort her back to Touka Village where she tells them her story. You see a while back ago the man who lead the Volunteer Army (you remember him right? The manwhore who tried to make Aisha his) stole her family sword and name in the hopes of using it to rise to power (and we all know how that worked out for him in the end). The sword was proof of Ryubi’s heritage from the line of a famous emperor and by losing it her mother got very pissed at her (can’t say I blame her). Rather than yell at her Ryubi’s mom just kept throwing her into the river whenever the two made eye contact with each other (still better than getting yelled at). Afraid she would drown to death Ryubi set out on a journey to find the man who stole her name and sword and get them back which is why she came to Touka Village (than you’re a few episodes too late that guy is long gone). The group tell her he’s long gone but as for the sword Komei tells her that rumors were going around in town that the sword is now in possession of Kosonan. This works out for Ryubi because the two used to go to primary school together so she stays for the night and heads out the next day where she gets attacked by bandits (and it’s the same bandits from last time). This time Ryubi gets saved by Choun disguised as Butterfly Mask who Ryubi believes is an entirely different person (well I said she was naïve) and in love with her (fanfiction writers do your job). After saving her Aisha, Lin Lin, Komei, and Choun decide to go with her to keep her safe leaving the village in the hands of Bancho and Kochu.
In episode 3 the group arrives in Kosonan’s territory where she tells them her land went through feminine last year which forced her to go to Enshou for food (going to an idiot for help. How the mighty have fallen) and since Kosonan couldn’t pay her for the food she was forced to give the sword to Enshou as insurance. They go to Enshou where they tell her the story but she refuses to give the sword to them and instead challenges them to a series of challenges where if they win she’ll give the sword back to them. They have 300 challenges with each side winning 150 each and they have one final match which is a sumo match between Enshou and Kosonan where Kosonan wins (but at what cost? Her pride as a woman). After the match Enshou tells them she doesn’t have the sword anymore and lend it to her younger (and smarter) cousin Enjutsu. They depart the next day to Enjutsu’s territory with Kosonan returning to her territory not being in Enshou’s debt anymore as a result of beating her.
Episode 4 introduces us to 3 new characters the Chao sisters, Chokaku (the ditsy but kind big sister), Choryo (everyone’s little sister), and Choho (the quiet but smart little sister). These three are traveling artist who make a living performing magic acts and singing the only problem they just can’t seem to get people interested in their act (times are tough and in era of war we need music now more than ever). After a day of barely getting any money the three get approached by a man named Ukitsu (hello obvious villain character) who gives them the Crucial Keys to the Way of Peace (which is a real book in Taoism which was a very important religion around the fall of the Hans Dynasty. The basic concept is to teach people how to be at peace with the world, the universe, and people) a magic book said to make all their dreams come true. Choryo takes an interest in the book and through it is able to create three magic crystals that work like modern day microphones (so it is true, magic is just like science only without the annoyance of math) and creates talismans that make instruments play themselves. With this magic and new clothes the sisters are able to get an audience and keep them as they continue to grow in numbers all across the land (make way for the new hit pop group). Eventually their fame reaches the ears of Aisha and the others as they’re traveling and Ryubi sees a poster of their performance coming to a town they’re currently in. Since she’s a fan of the group and after pleading with Aisha they go to the concert (so you’re just going to forget your family sword to go to an idol concert? High five). At the concert we get this obligatory fanservice scene (scene here: //youtu.be/5pDRSLk3wVg, *facepalm* oh for the love of God. Actually I can’t really get too shocked at them as this was 2009. Around this time anime was really starting to push the envelope on their fanservice and actually started to become a lot bolder with it) and then a few of the fans start to fight with each other but Aisha and the others take care of them. The sisters begin studying the magic book some more to deal with these annoying problems that occur at their concerts.
Episodes 5-8
In episode 5 as the group is journeying through the woods Lin Lin’s stomach begins to hurt (too many sweets tend to do that). They meet a guy named Kada (oh my God an actual guy in this anime who isn’t evil) who happens to be a doctor in the ways of Tao who heals Lin Lin with ease. He tells them that he’s on a journey to find the Crucial Keys to the Way of Peace and seal it away because the book is evil (//youtu.be/KSuFTeUENOw). While the book was created with good intentions it gained a will of its own and feeds off of people’s hatred of oppression creating more hatred in the world. Eventually it will consume its user and try to spread hatred throughout the entire world (okay question, why hasn’t this book been burnt yet?). Kada believes that Soso has the book so he’s going to her land in the hopes of stopping her (wrong person, look for the idol sisters instead) and the group decides to go with him. On their way to Soso’s land they meet Kakuka and Teiiku two strategist who are hoping to work for Soso with Teiiku being a huge fan of Soso that she has constant nosebleeds whenever she thinks of her (oh you and Soso are gonna get along just fine). They arrive in Soso’s land where Kada goes straight to Soso while the others go out to eat (I would say this is irresponsible of them but like I said earlier Soso doesn’t have the book so it’s all good). At the palace Kada sees that Soso doesn’t have the book and warns her to stop looking for it which she agrees to do. He then asks her why she wanted the book in the first place and she begrudging says she’s been having constipation issues. Kada tries to help her but his suggestion and treatment pisses her off (you don’t talk to girls very often do you Kada?) and seeks her guards on him. Kanu and the others shortly come in after him where she agrees to meet with Kanu, Kakuka, and Teiiku in the baths (hasn’t known them for three seconds and she’s already trying to see them naked). While in the baths an assassin tries to attack Soso but she inadvertently gets saved by Kakuka’s massive nosebleed (the power of ero is not to be underestimated). After this Soso makes Teiiku her new strategist and Kakuka her new bodyguard.
Nothing much to say about episode 6. When the group goes out to eat they enjoy a tasting meal by the chef named Ten-i. Later on that evening they get invited to taste food prepared by Soso tomorrow. While that’s going on we see Kada narrowly escape Soso’s troops and we see that the Chao sisters are using magic to stop the quarrels in the audience during their performances (this won’t end well in the future). The next comes and the group goes to taste Soso’s food (scene here: //youtu.be/QmaMcXlJAVA) where Lin Lin says that Ten-i’s food was way better. Soso takes offence to this and calls for Ten-i to have a cook-off with her (irooooooooooon~ cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeef~). Ten-i prepares a meal which combines all the dishes the group ate at her restaurant the other day forcing Soso to admit defeat because she never asked for the preference of her guest (a big mistake when cooking). An ox goes berserk and tries to attack Ten-i but she stops it with her bare hands and flings the thing into the air like nothing (well get ready to hear a call from PETA). Soso tries to recruit Ten-i to join her army saying she could use her strength and they can talk about food.
Not a whole lot happens in episode 7 either. The group finally arrives in Enjutsu’s city where we see it’s pretty dead because Enjutsu is a spoiled brat who only cares about herself and doesn’t really look out for her citizens. The group stops at a gift shop where Lin Lin tries to buy a little toy dog charm but some other girl by the name of Chinkyuu tries to buy it as well. A fight breaks out between the two with Lin Lin being named the owner of the charm because she saw it first and we see later on that Chinkyuu is actually Ryofu’s strategist. After that the episode just focus on the backstory of Chinkyuu who in a few ways is similar to Lin Lin. She’s an orphan who went from place to place looking for work in order to eat. Eventually she got saved by Ryofu who saved her life from some bandits but in the process lost her dog charm. Realizing that Chinkyuu wanted the dog charm to give to Ryofu and seeing how similar the two are Lin Lin gives the dog charm to Chinkyuu so she can give it to Ryfou as a gift (our little Lin Lin is growing up).
Things start to get interesting again in episode 8. Enjutsu refuses to give the sword back to Ryubi (this spoiled brat needs a good spanking) but they work out a deal where if she can eliminate the monster appearing at the local shrine she’ll give the sword back. That night the group goes to the shrine and see the monster where Kanu and Lin Lin faint (given their history with the supernatural this is to be expected). Komei deduces that the monster isn’t a monster at all (thank you captain obvious) and tricks Enjutsu into giving them Ryubi’s sword in exchange for a mystical mug which is just a regular mug Komei got at the gift shop (so just like her cousin Enjutsu is pretty stupid). With the sword back they go to face the “monster” again only this time they have a plan. They carry bags of money on them and pretend to faint hoping that whoever created the “monster” will come out and steal from them. The plan works and we see the “monster” was constructed by a bunch of orphans who lost their parents to diseases and other stuff. With nowhere else to go they took shelter in the shrine which Enjutsu intends to tear down in order to build herself a villa (why hasn’t this girl been overthrown yet?). Kanu and the others decide to do something about this by scaring Enjutsu and make her build an orphanage. When night time comes they plan to scare her but it turns out the ghost of the dead parents beats them to the punch and scares the living hell out of her (to the point that she actually wets herself). Enjutsu agrees to build an orphanage for the orphans and promises to stop being a spoiled brat and take better care of her citizens.
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9 as the group is making their way back to Touka Village after accomplishing their goal (took them long enough) they come across a village that is constantly under attack by bandits. Luckily the village is under the protection of the three traveling fighters Gakushin, Riten, and Ukin who are looking to join Soso’s army (and possibly her on growing harem of lesbians) but they’re not sure how long they can remain in the village and hold off the bandits. The group decides to help them take down the bandits and after surveying the land Komei has a plan to take them out in one foul swoop. Her plan is to use the nearby lake to flood the riverbed by the village wiping the bandits out once in for all and since it’s the rainy season they’ll have plenty of water at their disposal. With the help of Riten they build a floodgate and after waiting for one month set their plan into motion (begin operation Flood). Kanu, Lin Lin, and Choun aggravate the bandits and bring them to the riverbed where they destroy the bridge forcing them to cross to the village using the riverbed (now. Release the flood). They call for the flood but it doesn’t come (I said release the flood! I knew we should have gone with the hounds) so Ryubi goes to investigate where she finds out a huge rock has slipped as a result of the rain and is blocking the floodgate (nature has forsaken us). With no other options Ryubi makes the ultimate sacrifice by using her sword as a lightning rod to attract lightning and break the huge rock (wow that must have been one powerful lightning strike). With the gate destroyed the flood comes and blows all the bandits away. At the end of the episode Ryubi decides she’s going to stay with Kanu and others and ask Kanu if she would be her big sister but Lin Lin says no saying she’s the little sister so instead she makes Ryubi the big sister of Kanu despite being younger than her (the mind of a child is so interesting).
Episode 10 starts off with the Chou sisters who are abusing their magic powers to get people to give them stuff (this is gonna come back to hurt them in the future). After that we see that the group has taken a slight detour and is heading to Komei’s village for a visit where we see that Komei is a little jealous of Kanu, Lin Lin, and Ryubi’s sisterhood since it reminds her of her sisters (Mira: I’ll be your big sister). They arrive at Suikyou’s place where she has a new student named Houtou (who dresses as a witch for some reason. I thought that was a European thing?). They stay for the night where Komei tries to befriend Houtou since they both have similar backgrounds (orphans who are smart and jailbait) but Houtou avoids her because she’s afraid that Komei’s going to steal Suikyou from her (hey it’s just like that one episode from the first season where Lin Lin thought Komei was going to steal her spot as Kanu’s little sister. Except there’s really not that much effort put into this one). When the two go out to pick herbs and Komei tries to help Houtou she runs away from her and as she’s crossing the bridge she falls through one of the planks and is about to fall but Komei saves her in time while also fighting her fear of heights. Once safe the two talk to each other, work out their differences and become friends. Back with the Chou sisters their manager has betrayed them and stole all their money meaning their performance has to be stopped because they don’t have a permit to perform (Shizuku: Man, fuck tha police! (Nitsuj): Don’t go there Shizuku). However, the captain says he’ll overlook this concert if he has a few minutes alone with Choho (you chose the littlest sister? Pedobear would be so proud of you). This pisses Choryo off so she orders all the fans to attack him (wow, this is an N.W.A concert).
In episode 11 we see that after the events at the end of episode 10 the Chou Sisters have become wanted fugitives and have decided to protect themselves by creating their own army (sure add more fuel to the fire). After that the episode becomes quite boring. We return to Touka Village where Bancho’s cousin Batai who arrived off screen to train with Bancho is in the village. She gets in trouble for a prank but Bancho forgives and puts her through intense training throughout the episode (it’s basically like Kanu and Lin Lin’s relationship). Kanu and the others return to the village where after dinner they receive a message asking to join Soso’s army to take out the Chou Sister’s army known as the Yellow Turbans. Kanu, Lin Lin, Ryubi, and Komei answer the call (so Bancho and the hot milf don’t get to do nothing this season. What the hell?) and they go to Soso’s camp where as they’re discussing their plans for attack they receive word that Kada wants to speak to them.
In the final episode Kada reveals that the Chou Sisters are using the Crucial Keys to the Way of Peace to control people (tell us something we don’t know). Ryubi wants to save them but at this point in the game that doesn’t seem possible (Isis: We got the call. Ladies. (Nitsuj): No! Music must defeat music). Sure enough Kasa thinks he has a plan to avoid a large scale war and it involves singing in order to affect the hearts of the Yellow Turbans. They construct a Trojan horse (don’t question it) and have Enjutsu, Choukun and Kakuka sing calling out the Chou sisters (battle of the bands bitches). As the battle goes on Enjutsu, Choukun and Kakuka’s magic mics lose powers and the group is now at the mercy of the Chou Sisters (Isis: Ladies we’re moving in. (Nitsuj): No! Weren’t you listening!? Music must defeat music). Ryubi begins to sing and everyone else joins her where their singing sways the hearts of the Yellow Turbans (even if you’re an immature if you sing with passion and heart I will always like you better then professionals) and it opens the eyes of the Chou sisters (see? Now what have you girls learned today? (AI girls): Music must defeat music). They decide to surrender and hand the book over to Kada but just before he can seal it the book gets taken by Ukitsu and he escapes. As for the punishment of the Chou sisters and the Yellow Turban the Chou sisters will be traveling around the country putting on shows to collect donations and boost the morale of soldiers. As for the Yellow Turban they will be joining Soso’s army as volunteer soldiers (this will be good because some of them could stand to lose some weight). The season wraps up with Kanu’s group going to Ryubi’s hometown and having a feast.
Final Thoughts
And that was Shin Koihime Musou. Yeah I’m not that impressed with this season. I really expected more from this season. I wanted them to explore the characters more and learn more about them but instead we really learn nothing new about them and the characters that we would like to see more are pushed to the side. While I wouldn’t call Ryubi a bad character I really don’t see her adding that much to the story and just kind of serving as a third wheel to Aisha and Lin Lin’s sisterhood. This season does add a bit more fanservice and jokes but they do tend to repeat themselves and it can get a little boring as the show goes on. The only thing I can really say that caught my interest this season was the introduction of the Crucial Keys and possibly the main antagonist of the series but once again we never really learn that much about them. As far as the animation and music goes it’s the same as the first season. No major changes there. As for the story of this season I feel that the search for Ryuubi’s sword went on longer than it should have and really would have liked to see side stories such as how the other kingdoms are doing and once again exploring the characters more would have been nice.
Is it better than the previous season
No. I still like the first season more than this one. The second season had a chance to expand on the characters while introducing new ones and moved the show in a better direction but they sadly don’t take advantage of it and instead move backwards.
Final Score
This season of Koihime earns a 5/10. It’s not bad per se but like I said before I expected more from this season. There’s one more season left, can it make up for this runt of a season. Well find out next time. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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