*Nitsuj is at his desk snoring loudly while sleeping until he senses your presence*
Wh-what! Holy crap the review! Uh hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Sorry about that, I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep these last few days. That or today’s anime was so boring it actually put me to sleep. Boring is a word I thought I would never associate with anime but sadly yes, there are some animes that are boring to watch. Whether this is the fault of the animators, VAs, directors, or the source material is anyone’s guess. From personal experience I usually find the ladder to be at fault most of the time, there are just some things out there that don’t translate well into anime like today’s anime Juuou Mujin no Fafnir. Also known as Unlimited Fafnir, the series is based off a light novel written by Tsukasa (he or she is too intense for last names) in 2013 and still continuing to this day. The best way to describe this series is imagine Infinite Stratos except instead of a futuristic setting filled with mechas we instead get a futuristic fantasy setting. The main difference being is that Infinite Stratos turned to be a somewhat decent anime, this series doesn’t show that. In 2015 the small studio Diomedéa (Campione, Akuma no Riddle, and Kantai Collection) decided to take the series and turn it into an anime making it one of the worst animes to come out in 2015. Not the worst but one of the worse. We’re going in bored folks. Let’s take a look at Unlimited Fafnir.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “FLYING FAFNIR” by TRUSTRICK. Surprisingly I found myself liking the song. Probably because the beat reminds me of Dragon’s Dogma main theme if it was slower. Much slower. The singing is good, I like how it starts off slow and quiet but starts to pick up at the end as it feels like the singer and music are in a dogfight with each other. The ending is “Ray of bullet” by Rina Hidaka & Manami Numakura. Again, this was a surprisingly good song I found myself liking. This ending is surprisingly louder than the opening and have to admit Rina and Manami have good harmony with each other. Also, I think this song would have worked better as the opening.
Episodes 1-4
The anime opens up with them explaining how these creatures known as dragons (who look nothing like dragons mind you) invading the world and causing destruction. Okay you know what screw it, you’ve all seen harem/fantasy animes you know how the standard procedures go so let’s sum up the episode. Dragons are invading and only girls called D’s can stop them because they have the power to use dark matter but the main character who is a male has the power of D and is now the only male at a school full of girls (check). Fast forward where our main character Yuu voiced Yoshitsugu Matsuoka has arrived at Midgar a place that trains D’s to live in society, fight dragons, and protect them from dragons because apparently dragons seek the girl who has their crest to eat them and it’s said that when girls come into contact with the dragon that has their crest they in turn become dragons themselves (well that sucks. Check). The school is on a tropical island, Yuu runs into a naked girl who’s one of the main characters (check). Her name is Iris voiced by Rina Hidaka who sucks as a D but continues to do her best, will befriend Yuu, and develop obvious feelings for him (check). Yuu runs into his sister named Mitsuki who is cold and the student council president (check). Goes to class where he meets stuck up girl who’s not happy he’s here but will develop feelings for him (check). Checks out a training exercise where he finds out that the key to using his powers is to think outside the box and view his powers as magic (check). Iris fails in training but gets cheered up by Yuu and the episode ends with a dragon attacking the island and Iris’ chest beginning to glow (check).
Picking up where episode 1 left off in episode 2 we find out that a white dragon known as the Leviathan will be arriving on the island in 33 hours (I guess he’s in no hurry) and guess who he’s coming for? As the girls prepare for combat Yuu receives a message from Loki his superior officer from NIFL (got fed up with the Marvel universe and decided to make it big in anime huh Loki?). Loki tells Yuu he knows about the girls turning into dragons and gives him orders to kill the girl the dragon is responding to. Yuu doesn’t like this but afraid that Loki might do something reckless agrees to go along with the plan however he’ll only kill as a last resort. Back on the island Yuu easily figures out that Iris is the one the Leviathan is looking for and finds her on top of the school building where she planned to commit suicide but was too afraid (you know, if it wasn’t for her cute personality and sexy body I would think this character was totally useless). Yuu manages to calm her down saying that he’ll protect her and if the time comes when she’s about to turn into a dragon he’ll be the one to kill her. She believes him and tells the school what’s going while Yuu tells Mitsuki what his superiors want him to do and she says that if the time comes she’ll be the one to kill Iris because she doesn’t want Yuu’s hands to be tainted like her hands (Seras: Oh, so killed someone? Tell me, what was the look in their eyes when you did the act? (Nitsuj): You are one messed up sexy AI girl. Don’t ever change). So they put Iris down in a bunker with Yuu as her bodyguard (yeah let’s leave the adolescent boy with the adolescent girl that usually works out well) where Iris is wearing a sexy nightgown and in her own innocent way drops hints that she wants Yuu’s D if you know what I mean (http://youtu.be/rv9qs5WVHS8?t=31s). After a few harem clichés the episode ends with the Leviathan reaching the island tearing through the front (someone’s got balls).
The fight against Leviathan begins in episode 3 as he breaks through the first line of defense and the Ds are sent out to fight it (and guess how many they send out to fight? 5. 5 girls are sent out to fight this poorly done CGI dragon. Are you seriously telling me that this island this island filled with girls who are trained around the clock to fight these dragons only has 5 people who are ready for combat? That’s just stupid! IS did the same thing but with them it actually made sense. Ichika and the others are the only ones with a personal IS that they can call on at any time so it makes sense why they’re the ones always being called on to handle missions. Here, what makes these 5 girls so special? Is it because they’re in the same class as Yuu? Is it because they have personality from the other girls? Or is it because we’re too cheap and lazy to animate other characters so we’ll just use the 5 character models we already have? Look, if they lose to the dragon I’m okay with that but at least make it look like they had a chance at beating this thing. Don’t make the fight so one-sided from the get go). The girls lose to the dragon because it has an anti-gravity force field that deflects all attacks (well ain’t that convenient). NIFL infiltrates the island and tries to kill Iris but Yuu takes care of them all by himself with ease (glad to see he’s not a useless character). Mitsuki shows back up and is about to kill Iris saying there’s no other way to win (you only fought it for like 2 fucking minutes and you’re telling me you’re giving up because you can’t get pass its force field? Failures, all of you). They have a short yet cute fight where Yuu explains that the key to defeating Leviathan lays within Iris’s power (oh fuck me how cliché can they get?). When the Leviathan is within striking range Iris fires her exploding energy balls at it which temporarily destroys the shield allowing the others to attack it but despite their attacks the Leviathan still stands tall ready to fight and everything. Finally, Yuu unleashes his power where we see that his powers are different from the others. Yuu received his powers from the first dragon who wants to annihilate all dragons (why? Because potatoes) however using those powers come at a price. For every time he uses them he loses his memories. He uses his powers to summon a giant cannon (yes you like guns we get it) and combines his powers with Iris and Mitsuki and they destroy that thing once and for all saving Iris and the episode ends with Iris showing her gratitude by kissing Yuu on the beach in secret with no one around (one girl down 5 and more to go).
Episode 4 starts us off by Yuu meeting the headmaster Charlotte for a physical exam. Charlotte is a blond loli who has no interest in guys, considers the girls on the island her harem, and is a straight up pervert (well she has my respect). She licks Yuu’s dragon crest (hey, sexual harassment) to see if there’s a reaction to it because a dragon has been on the move on the other side of the world and the academy is investigating everyone to see if there’s a reaction from them. Luckily, none of the girls are reacting to the dragon but two girls within the region of the dragon got a reaction and are sent to the academy for protection. One of them is Tear a young girl with dragon horns who is totally convinced that she’s a dragon (so she’s a furry? Man they’re getting younger these days). When Mitsuki says she’s human she doesn’t handle it well and unleashes her powers within the auditorium (she’s making a good first impression). When she sees Yuu her attitude changes and she proclaims that Yuu is her husband (call the cops). It turns out Yuu rescued Tear a long time ago from the mafia and she developed a crush on the guy. Before getting captured by the mafia we’re told that she belonged to this cult of dragon worshipers (these guys destroy your homes and families and you choose to worship them?) who totally convinced her that she was a dragon and nothing else (so the dragon cult is just one big furry gathering right?). Tear is placed under Yuu’s care and begins sticking closely to him pushing everyone away making Mitsuki and Iris jealous (you guys are getting jealous over an elementary school girl who you could out match. You do know that right?). Eventually Tear starts to interact with the rest of her class making friends but we take a huge step backwards when they’re teaching her how to use dark matter and her powers go berserk because she remembers her time with the dragon cult.
Episodes 5-8
We open where episode 4 left off in episode 5. Tear uses the dark matter to become an artificial dragon and is stopped by Lisa the girl who refuses to acknowledge Yuu but deep down has a crush but is too shy to admit it. She falls unconscious and gets taken to the infirmary where Yuu bumps into Honoka another transfer student (new harem member). They talk a little bit and develop a friendship where they’re on first name bases (oh yeah first name. That’s like halfway to first base). Yuu receives a call from Loki telling him that Kili the female leader of the dragon cult who also considers herself a dragon (you’re a fucking furry! Stop forcing your beliefs on the young) plans on attacking the island to get Tear back (wait, new transfer student, quick character development, befriends the main character, and really has no family? *Thinks about this for a mintute* No, they couldn’t be that stupid or cliché). After Tear wakes up Yuu talks to her on the beach where he tells her that she’s not a dragon (thank you. I know everybody has been telling her this but I think they haven’t been serious about) and that she has to accept the fact that she’s human otherwise they can’t be together (and you need at least 6 more years to sleep with him). After their talk Tear apologizes to everyone and they decide to go to the beach to relax (yeah let’s forget about the crazy furry who plans on attacking the academy at any time. Let’s just look at boobs). So we get our phone-in fanservice and we see that Lisa and Tear are developing a sister relationship with each other (okay I have to admit that is kind of nice and cute. This shows that Lisa really thinks of everyone on the island as a family member to her. Someone who can’t be replaced and who she loves dearly. This explains why she and Mitsuki don’t really get along that well. Oh she tolerates Mitsuki and fights beside her because she’s still family but at the same time she still has a hard time dealing with the fact that one of her family members could kill another member of the family so easily without hesitation). They finish up their fun with BBQ courtesy of the headmaster and return to the dorm where a dragon mysteriously pops up out of nowhere (starting to feel like Attack on Titan).
So a dragon comes right the hell of nowhere and appears on the island in episode 6. Its target is Tear so non-combatants are told to head to shelter (what! No! Everybody on this island should be combat ready and able! This is why you are here so fight damn it) and Lisa is put in charge of protecting Tear while Yuu and the others (and by others I mean the only 5 FUCKING GIRLS WHO KNOW HOW TO FIGHT) are sent to monitor the dragon but they’re not to fight because it’s unbeatable, whatever you hit it with it just revives (http://youtu.be/Vau2hG22DoQ). As the students are heading for shelter we do see that Honoka isn’t the dragon and isn’t Kili as she’s one of the students heading towards the shelter (oh thank God they’re not stupid). However, Kili does appear on the island and breaks into the underground shelter which has no alarms go off (does logic and common sense just leave everyone’s mind when they go to this island? That has to be the case because nothing on this fucking island makes sense). We see that Kili is OP as hell as she’s able to do heat conversions at will, block all attacks and do Mustang’s fire alchemy trick like nothing (this is ridiculous! At least give the main characters a fighting chance). She easily owns Lisa and captures Tear where Yuu comes in to stop her where not even he’s a match for Kili. Kili almost succeeds in getting Tear to rejoin her (good~. Let the furry flow through you) but Tear remembers all the fun times she had with everyone and finally accepts that she’s human (so be it. . .human). Yuu manages to get a hit on Kili (by pure luck) and the dragon begins attacking the island looking for Tear (great, we traded in one OP character for another OP character. Only difference is this one can’t be reasoned with).
Not a whole lot happened in episode 7. Kili leaves for no reason and the group manages to defeat the dragon by blowing it away into the distance (so they defeated something that was said to be unbeatable. Way to lie to us anime?). Even though the dragon was defeated most of the dorms got destroyed (specifically Yuu and Mitsuki’s dorm) so they’re forced to live together in the commons where Mitsuki tries to ask Yuu about his powers but drops it because she doesn’t want to bring up her past (hey you’re brother has an amazing power that takes his memories away and you don’t wanna know about it. Smart).
In episode 8 we find out another dragon is heading towards the island and this one can fire off beams which turns stuff into salt or ash (what the ass?). They believe it’s coming for Tear so they’ve partnered up with NIFL to lure the dragon to a deserted volcanic island and destroy it there (and Honoka is joining them). On the boat ride to the island Yuu interacts with Fyril a bookworm who has dreams of one day writing her own book and takes active interest in Yuu claiming she wants to study him for her book (is the book gonna be an h-manga or something because this series could use a good doujin right now?). We see Mitsuki and Lisa are at each other’s throats over Mitsuki killing another student (which we find out happened 2 years ago. You’ve been holding onto a grudge for 2 years? Get a life). Yuu decides to take it upon himself and help resolve this problem. He talks to Mitsuki and she tells him the story about her best friend Miyako. The two got along right away with Mitsuki even admitting that she fell in love with her (wow didn’t know she swung that way. All this time I thought she was a bro-con). When a dragon attacked the island (secured place my ass! My house safe is more secured than this place) Miyako willingly gives herself up to it becoming a dragon and it’s odd because a few seconds later Mitsuki kills the original dragon with just one arrow shot like it was nothing (why didn’t you do this sooner?). Also, when she has to kill Miyako she hesitates and refuses to kill her until finally her superiors and Miyako herself tells Mitsuki to kill her and she goes through with it (so if Lisa knows all of this why has she been holding a grudge these last 2 years?). After the story Yuu asks Mitsuki if she’s ever asked Lisa for forgiveness (knowing her personality I say no) to which she says no (knew it) so Yuu tells Mitsuki to ask Lisa for forgiveness and she does.
Episodes 9-12
In episode 9 the group arrives at the volcanic island which has hot springs. Fyril gives Yuu a coupon which allows him to enjoy the hot springs by himself in peace with no interruption from anyone (*laughs* oh please. As if a harem anime would allow the main character to enjoy the hot springs in peace. Go ahead anime you’ve done nothing but clichés all season let’s keep it going). Sure enough Fyril set him up and now he’s stuck in the hot springs with unsuspecting naked girls (there you go anime). Before the girls can find him they receive a message telling them that NIFL has a plan to destroy the dragon (if it involves an Italian plumber and a princess I am so calling Nintendo). NIFL’s plan is to drop a bomb on the dragon. The bomb is made entirely out of mithril (okay Tolkein is rolling in his grave) which will absorb the dragon’s salt beam and designed in the shape of Beyblade. They drop the bomb and at first it holds with the dragon unable to stop it but then out of nowhere the dragon shoots a beam from his back (I did not see that coming). The beam destroys the bomb and the dragon continues to move slowly towards Tear.
Not much to say about episode 10. The whole group tries to destroy the dragon and they fail (big time).
In episode 11 with the help of Yuu and Honoka the group escapes safely from the ugly and poorly constructed CGI dragon and arrives back on the ship. After doing a bit of research Yuu and Mitsuki develop a theory that the dragon might have a small window where it’s completely defenseless (and when I say small I mean like 5 seconds). They decide to combine their attacks with NIFL’s mithril bomb thinking that with their combine attacks the bomb will hold out long enough to reach the dragon and destroy it. Everyone seems to like the plan however someone needs to stay on the bomb and navigate it to the dragon directly. Mitsuki says she’ll do it but everyone else volunteers to do it with her (yep cliché to the very end. Like a couple of dumbasses). Yuu goes to check up on Tear only to discover she’s been kidnapped and the person that kidnaped her is Honoka who is actually Kili (is anything in this anime unpredictable?).
At the start of the final episode Yuu takes on Kili all by himself where he picks up a shard of dark matter, charges at Kili dodging all of her attacks, pushes her to the ground, and puts the shard to her neck where he has the chance to finally kill her (do it man). After defeating her he lets her go (why!? She’s a wanted criminal who’s gonna keep coming to cause trouble. If you’re not gonna kill her at least lock her up or something) but before she leaves she kisses him on the cheek (enemies with benefits) and tells him that the dragon can predict the future (good. Than perhaps it can predict what I’m gonna give this anime on my final score). So Kili leaves and they stick with their original plan. They drop from the sky onto the dragon where it destroys the mithril bomb with a second attack from its third eye forcing the group to go to plan B which is just straight attacking the bastard now that it’s defenseless and killing it (indestructible my ass). With the dragon defeated Tear’s mark disappear and she’s safe. They all return safely to their not so safe island where Yuu tells Iris about his powers and how each time he uses them he loses his memories (well I think we know who his favorite girl is right now) where she tells him not to worry about it and that she’ll remember all of his precious memories because she’s going to be with him forever (was that a proposal?). The anime wraps up the only way it can by having everyone go to school and continue living out their normal lives.
Final Thoughts
Oh my God this was so boring. The anime isn’t awful or insulting it’s just bad and boring to watch. Everything that happens in it is predictable, nothing gets explained, the characters are generic and weak, the animation is poor, the CGI is crap, the action is bad, the music is forgettable, and everything that happens is cliché and stupid. There are a few cute and funny scenes but they easily get overshadowed by everything else that’s bad in the anime. This anime was so bad and boring that I actually fell asleep during one episode, re-watched it, and missed absolutely nothing. This whole anime is like a lesser version of IS. While IS went downhill after the first season it at least showed potential and has some enjoyable characters. This series however doesn’t have anything that makes it memorable or something worth checking out.
Final Score
The final score for Unlimited Fafnir is 2/10. The only thing stopping it from being a one is the fact that it’s not insulting, disgusting, or pisses me off greatly. It’s a bad and boring anime that I wouldn’t recommend watching. If you want to check out the light novel go ahead. Hopefully that’s more entertaining than the anime. I haven’t been this bored with an anime in a long time and that shouldn’t happen. I don’t want my anime to be boring, I want it to exciting, fun, enjoyable, and thought provoking. If anime can’t do any of these 4 things than this anime has failed big time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go take a nap and dream up a better anime. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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