Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru

[KrackoCloud]

Yuki Yuna is a mahou shoujo with moe slice-of-life elements. Girls in a club find out that their smartphone app gives them mahou shoujo powers and they're tasked with fighting off the Vertexes to protect the world.
Of course, if it was just that, I probably wouldn't be loving it so much. It also has a good share of dark parts - not as dark as Madoka, but it can definitely get serious.

If you just like funny and moe interactions, it's there. Lots of strong relationships and friends caring for each other.
If you want a mahou shoujo where mahou shoujo is serious business, you've definitely come to the right place.
The balance works really well, and you best believe I am very emotionally invested in it right now. I'd say it's definitely one of the most underrated shows of the season. It's like Madoka, but better!
Also, it has a paraplegic sniper magical girl who's just plain cool, so there's that.

So it is kind of late into the show, but I figured I'd post this here anyway to see if anyone else is watching this.

[LaserTurtle]

I went in expecting magical girl fun times.

Spoiler:

I did not get those promised fun times. I got feelings I was never prepared for. Seriously, Episode 9, what the heck? If I knew, I wouldn't have gotten emotionally invested in the characters ;_;

But yeah. I've been watching it; it's one of the better shows of the season.

[An Odd Sea Slug]

I went in expecting a moe slice of life about friendship and getting over dark pasts. I got magical girl warriors. Feels good man. And yes, it has been one of the season's better shows.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

I really wish every magical girl show wasn't compared to Madoka as if it's the gold standard for magical girl shows. Much as I like MadoMagi, it ain't THAT top-tier great. <_<;

That said, I'm really liking Yuki Yuna so far. It's managing to pull off a serious storyline without being too edgy or predictable while still managing to keep the impact strong in each episode. I'm a little disappointed that the spotlight of the story has kind of seemed to forget that Karin and Itsuki exist most of the time while focusing on Yuna/Fuu/Togo, though. But I really like everyone so far!

The animation and music are stellar, though. I get the feeling the next episode is really going to be a punch in the throat.

I'm really impressed with how Togo has been written so far. It's not common for characters with disabilities to get much spotlight-- but Togo gets it and it focuses on her as a character without making her primary character trait "paralyzed wheelchair girl" like so many narratives do. That, and I just really like magical girls who are analytic of their abilities to see what they can and can't do with them

Spoiler:

going so far as to trying multiple methods of suicide to prove whether or not they are all truly immortal after using Mankai

. There's a lot of depth to her that hasn't been fully explained yet, and I'd really like to know more about

Spoiler:

her past with Sonoko

as well.

[KrackoCloud]

I really wish every magical girl show wasn't compared to Madoka as if it's the gold standard for magical girl shows. Much as I like MadoMagi, it ain't THAT top-tier great. <_<;

I agree, but if any mahou shoujo were to be compared to Madoka, it'd probably be this one. The producers seem perfectly aware that they're gonna be compared to it, and I think they likewise play our expectations to their advantage really well.

Spoiler:

lots of deaths vs. lots of death flags but unwanted immortality, or choosing to become a forgotten sacrifice vs. unwittingly becoming sacrifices that everyone worships.[/spoilers]

[highzealot]

I'd really like to know more about

Spoiler:

her past with Sonoko

as well.

There's actually a light novel called Washio Sumi wa Yūsha de Aru which is a prequel to the anime and actually explains why the important stuff in the current hero system actually got implemented. LN Spoilers:

Spoiler:

From what I've read so far, I think it mostly came as a result of trying to prevent more deaths like Gin's.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

I know, but seeing that the vast majority of people who are watching Yuki Yuna have probably not read the prequel VN, they should still explain that stuff, regardless. It's kind of poor writing to make a sequel anime that will most likely be the demographic's first exposure to the series and not explain fundamental stuff about the story, expecting the viewers to understand what's going on.

That'd be like someone's first exposure to Sailor Moon be Sailor Moon SuperS and expecting them to understand how on earth a 14 year old girl has a young daughter  who is clearly more than half her age :V

[KrackoCloud]

I'M SLAIN

THAT WAS JUST TOO MUCH

[Chaore]

Spoiler:

GOOD FUCKING JOB PROTECTING ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS TOGO.

[LaserTurtle]

Personally I found it just fine without any knowledge of the prequel, because of the Togo-centric episode 10. It tells enough to satisfy me, at least

Also regarding the current episode:

Spoiler:

why do you do this to poor Karin-chan, she just wanted to be a hero!

I mean I never really liked her, but then this happened and now I feel really bad for not liking her earlier!

[Chaore]

Personally I found it just fine without any knowledge of the prequel, because of the Togo-centric episode 10. It tells enough to satisfy me, at least

It feels kinda like F/SN, I don't think I'd enjoy it nearly as much knowing what was actually going on. Much like if you tried F/SN after F/Z.

Except the prequel is prolly better and less irrelevant than F/Z.

[KrackoCloud]

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Spoiler:

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. THEY HAD THE MOST MIRACULOUS ENDING I COULD EVER HOPE FOR
I'm sure some people are disappointed it ended like that so easily, and honestly I am too. But I'm also thankful. Really, I'm just happy we had a happy ending.

[FinnKaenbyou]

MERRY FRIGGIN' CHRISTMAS.

I just realised there was a topic for this show now! I've been posting about it weekly on tumblr because quite simply I've been in love with it from the beginning. Here's my roundup and opinion on the last episode and the ending in general (warning: spoilers and :wikipedia:)

Also hello, Kracko! We have an odd habit of running into each other whenever magical girls are involved. :3

[LaserTurtle]

EVERYTHING IS HAPPY!

Man, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, fourth shoe. The other shoe dropped around episode 10, and then shoe 3 dropped around episode 11

Spoiler:

Karin-chan I still feel bad for not liking you until then

.

And boy was I ever glad it didn't meet my expectations. I wasn't expecting an unambiguously happy ending, but it was what I always hoped for.

I mean, I got attached to the characters SO MUCH. And then everything was getting worse and I fully expected a spiral down to a horrible sad ending and I would feel terrible for Christmas.

Yuuki Yuuna is a hero, after all. Great anime, would recommend incessantly to all my friends.

[KrackoCloud]

MERRY FRIGGIN' CHRISTMAS.

I just realised there was a topic for this show now! I've been posting about it weekly on tumblr because quite simply I've been in love with it from the beginning. Here's my roundup and opinion on the last episode and the ending in general (warning: spoilers and :wikipedia:)

Also hello, Kracko! We have an odd habit of running into each other whenever magical girls are involved. :3

I wouldn't say it's happened that often just yet. Give it a one or two more magical girl franchises, and then we'll call it a pattern!
(Now I'm feeling embarrassed about my DRK drawings. Oogh.)

Anyway, now that I've had some time to recover from all the emotions, here are my better-worded thoughts on the finale.

Spoiler:

At first I was happy, and then I was really disappointed, but then I was happy again.
Yuki Yuna is all about playing our expectations, and I couldn't believe the producers would make such a contrived ending without reason. So I guess that was the point. It feels forced because it's intentionally forced, like some sort of gigantic "Gotcha! Bet we had you worried there!" that the series has been doing from the very beginning.
And more than that, I'm realizing now that the show isn't revolving around the plot or the setting or the problems the Hero Club had to overcome, but how the characters themselves responded to these problems. When I think of it like that, it makes sense that so much of the show focuses on slice-of-life. Yuki Yuna's about the characters and relationships.
So all this plot and conspiracy and suffering that seemed to blow up in the latter half of the show's run? This ending is proof that in the end, it was still all just secondary.
It was a really risky move that I think left a lot of fans in a tantrum. I hate it too, but I love it at the same time, and I think that's the point.

[Zengar Zombolt]

The fist has come to say that

Spoiler:

EVERYTHING WILL BE DAIJOBU

I started watching last week after Selector Spread Wixoss ended, and finished just today. And I must say, that the series played me as a fiddle until the end.

[An Odd Sea Slug]

Take this with a grain of salt, but I'm hearing things about a sequel LN. I don't personally have a confirmation though.

Also, here's an interesting, alternate interpretation of the ending scenes: http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/2qgskv/spoilers_yuuki_yuuna_wa_yuusha_de_aru_ending/

[Edible]

http://www.crunchyroll.com/store/p/138727/Yuki-Yuna-wa-Yusha-de-Aru-Dakimakura-Pillow-Cover-Mimori

Rest in peace, rou's wallet

[Thaws]

Thank you for making this thread Kracko :V or I would've never heard of this series. I mean, twintails got the spotlight at the beginning of the season but I dropped that midway as the show just got worse in both silliness and quality.
Just caught up with all the episodes, and what a ride that was.
In Madoka,

Spoiler:

the characters feel kind of detached from normal daily life already a few episodes in, with all the zombifying thing, time travelling, parallel worlds, etc. Here, we see characters having to deal with the consequences of their fights in their daily lives. In a way this makes the whole thing more horrifying and heartbreaking.

Glad I watched the show.

[Quad City QBs]

Togo is my hero

[Menorah Jams, Pham]

Botamochi

BOTAMOCHI

Spoiler:

Togo was right, Togo will always be right. she shoulda followed through, and holy fucking shit that fucking stupid ending.  "lol jk the Shinju-sama undid errything 's all good G"  THEN WHY THE FUCK DID THEY NOT DO IT FOR WHATSHERFACE