Chained Soldier is ready in a matriarchal model of Earth the place ladies not solely rule and get unique privilege however can eat otherworldly fruit known as “Mato Peaches” which grant them particular talents. These peaches come from Mato, a demonic world that’s generally linked to ours by mysterious gates, opening the world as much as monsters often called Shuuki. It’s as much as an organisation of super-powered warriors often called the Demon Defence Drive to defeat these creatures and retrieve individuals who have unintentionally wandered over to the opposite aspect in so known as “Mato Mishaps”.
That is precisely what occurs to Yuuki Wakura, who’s swallowed into the realm of Mato at some point together with two younger youngsters. Thrust into a wierd world, all they’ll do is run from the Shuuki making an attempt to eat them, however they’re saved by Kyouka Uzen, chief of the 7th Squad of the Demon Defence Drive. Her energy is to show something that submits to her into her private slave, and whereas she does this with Shuuki, they don’t supply a lot firepower. Confronted with sure dying in any other case, Yuuki agrees to be her slave in a wild experiment and surprisingly unleashes devastating energy that decimates the monsters. Eager to be a hero and searching for a possibility to seek for his sister who went lacking in a Mato Mishap, Yuuki joins the 7th Squad as dormitory housekeeper and Kyouka’s titular chained soldier.
Broadly, Chained Soldier presents itself as a heady, ecchi motion sequence that feels similar to different exhibits involving demonic worlds, with this exhibiting explicit shades of issues corresponding to Testomony of Sister New Satan, Akame ga Kill, and even Twin Star Exorcists. When you may say it’s very spinoff, it does have a singular angle in the principle protagonist getting his powers from his enjoyment of submission, and truthfully, I believe there’s much more to this than initially meets the attention.
Let’s tackle the elephant within the room first – sure, that is an ecchi present that loves a little bit of kink and BDSM, and whereas this may occasionally put some folks off who might not like that type of factor, it’s not as full-on as you’d think about. After every slave transformation, Yuuki will get a reward from one of many ladies, which usually entails kissing or licking some physique half, or exposing themselves to him. At occasions it may seem like a bit too tame, prefer it’s lacking the complete idea of it truly being kinky, but it retains issues accessible with out getting too on the market.
It’s extra used firstly of the present, merely as a hook line to get you , which paradoxically could make it a little bit of a battle to get into. However this shortly drops away and exhibits itself for what it’s – an motion battle present that simply makes use of its ecchi components to bestow a superpower onto our fortunate protagonist that he wouldn’t have had in any other case.
What actually grabbed me although was the story, which is surprisingly easy however efficient. It’s a story of vengeance as Kyouka makes an attempt to search out the single-horned Shuuki that destroyed her hometown, however Yuuki’s seek for his sister additionally offers it loads of humanity as he typically serves because the group’s voice of purpose, regardless of his unconscious needs.
The early episodes are somewhat formulaic of their ‘monster and woman of the week’ format because it has to introduce us to the remainder of the squad, however I didn’t actually thoughts as all of the forged are charming sufficient and have some cool powers too. Shushu’s loud mothing and grandstanding is enjoyable to observe, significantly as she chucks herself round in battle, and I really like how her energy to develop larger and smaller instantly references the Ultraman transformation sequence! It’s sort of robust to observe her preliminary tough remedy of Yuuki firstly, however she does mellow considerably after she correctly falls for him. Himari, in the meantime, isn’t that sturdy, however she at all times perseveres by way of, regardless of the scenario. She will be able to rework her physique elements into any weapon she’s seen earlier than, main her to be an adaptable, all-around fighter. The ultimate woman on the workforce is 11-year-old Nei, who is ready to sense the presence of others, making her a helpful scout. She does get sidelined at occasions due to each her age and skills, (fortunately leaving her out of the extra sexual shenanigans) however the sequence makes use of her nicely throughout downtime, providing Yuuki a clearer hyperlink to dwelling in what looks like a substitute sibling-like relationship.
As soon as the preliminary introductions are out of the way in which, there are many twists and turns within the plot to maintain you engaged, because it throws a wide range of completely different foes on the squad and retains you guessing who the true villains of the sequence are. I actually like that everybody operates in a gray space and there’s no distinct view of fine versus evil. Everybody does some dangerous issues, however when it comes spherical to it, everybody has a coronary heart and it’s a case of selecting which trigger you sympathise with essentially the most. Is it Kyouka and her need for revenge? Is it Yuuki and his need to rescue his sister? Or do you stand with the humanoid demons who immediately seem midway by way of to insurgent towards the identified world order? It’s a captivating prospect and it actually pulls you in numerous instructions because the sequence progresses. Maybe, like Yuuki, I actually felt torn between completely different sides as a result of everybody feels that they’re price combating for.
Whereas it has the story and characters to maintain you going, visually this isn’t a reasonably present. The character designs are sturdy and offer you loads of eye sweet, however the world itself is drab, bland and boring. Whereas a lot of the sequence does happen within the demon world of Mato, there’s no actual effort to provide it any character aside from it being a barren wasteland.
It simply looks like a low-budget manufacturing with poor visible high quality all spherical – a number of scenes appear to be they have been animated at customary definition after which upscaled, giving them a really blurry look, one thing that basically hurts a few the struggle scenes, significantly Shushu’s solo defence of the dorm. The fights on the finish of the sequence are stronger, and I’d say loads of the finances has been saved for them, as we truly get to see Kyouka and Yuuki working at full energy in some frenetic scenes that maintain the strain excessive. I’d say it’s simply missing the visible pizzazz to essentially take it to the following degree.
The music backing the fights is attention-grabbing, as a result of it sounds similar to Hiroyuki Sawano. And that’s no shock, for the composer for the sequence is Kohta Yamamto, who labored with Sawano on each 86 and the later elements of Assault on Titan. It’s undoubtedly good and matches with the on-screen motion however doesn’t fairly match as much as the inspiration! Nonetheless, I do just like the opening theme, “Yume no Ito” by Akari Kitou, because it looks like a traditional rocky pop tune that’s splendid for an motion present. The ending is a little more forgettable, with Maaya Uchida’s “CHA∞IN” being extra of a chill observe, and I don’t suppose it’s certainly one of her significantly sturdy ones.
The voice appearing is sweet although and I discover all of the characters are portrayed nicely in each Japanese and English, with there being similarities and variations between the 2. It’s a bit more durable to inform the feminine voices aside within the English dub, however Gabriel Regojo portrays a Yuuki who’s extra positive of himself, quite than Yuya Hirose’s wimpier supply. Neither are misplaced; it’s only a refined distinction of emphasis. You’ve additionally bought each Akari Kitou and Roxanna George offering a troublesome voice for Kyouka, and a few strong performances throughout the board for the likes of Nei (Hina Tachibana and Kristen McGuire), Shushu (Mari Hino and Juliet Simmons), and Himari (Yume Miyamoto and Natalie Rial).
Chained Soldier involves us by way of MVM, in one other barebones-feeling Sentai Filmworks launch, with the discs containing all 12 episodes of the sequence together with clear opening and ending credit as the one extras. The subtitles are largely high-quality, nonetheless for some purpose Episode 10 makes use of the English for exhausting of listening to subtitles, which places the timing barely off as a result of it’s time coded to the English dub quite than the Japanese language observe.
General, Chained Soldier is an thrilling and intriguing motion sequence with simply the correct amount of kinky romance to maintain pulling you alongside, even when it may really feel a bit tame in comparison with its preliminary premise. It’s extra of a disgrace that the way in which it was animated lets it down, because the story and characters are good and it feels prefer it has lots to dig into from the supply materials, significantly when it begins layering in numerous plot twists which actually have an effect on the stakes of the fights. In the end, I’d say you’re in all probability higher off going away and testing the manga if this has caught your consideration as a result of there’s something good right here, it simply deserves a greater adaptation than what it’s bought.
Our assessment discs have been equipped by MVM.
