The episode put us right into the action and clearly from the beginning we can see a few differences. As a disclaimer, people going into this without having seen the original should know that you might be utterly confused. I’d recommend seeing the first Yuuki Yuuna for basically everything you need to know, and then get back to this. Also I’m aware that these episodes are going to be from the three movies, but I haven’t seen them so I’m going to be blogging this. Besides, it’s more fun to analyze and write about things in small bits than in one thing like a movie, especially since it’s three movies. Also it gives me an excuse to write about how much I love this show and Mimori…ahh, Washio, and her aggressively proper way of making friends.
Right off the bat we’re thrown into the combat and we meet with the two other girls that is part of Washio’s team. The sleepy and a little ditzy but cute Nogi, and the brash and tardy girl Gin. When you put the three of them together it’s kind of funny that they are a team because of how different they are from each other. The first half of the episode was the girls fighting against a water Vertex. It was their very first fight together and they had trouble with it, narrowly securing a victory against it. Washio notes this while also noting something else about herself.
Making friends and relying on others. I found it incredibly adorable that she looked up a “How to Make Friends” page on the internet with the most determined look on her face, to ask the girls out to a celebratory outing and read to them the most proper letter of thanks. It literally sounded like what a boss would say to their employees at an employee meeting. The thing is while they are a team, they actually don’t know each other well and didn’t become friends until then. Washio tells them that she didn’t trust them at first because she’s just not good at relying on others, but knows that if she were alone she wouldn’t have been able to do anything. She jumps out of her comfort zone and asks them to be friends with her and they both happily accept. They order gelato and things are happy and cute. But knowing this show, this happiness and cuteness won’t last for long and I’m internally screaming.
I’ve already fallen for Gin and Nogi. Washio/Mimori was actually my favorite of the girls from the original so of course I’m happy to see her again, but Gin and Nogi are great as well. Despite them being so different they actually get along well but they do have some problems when it comes to teamwork, which is something they might address later on. I love how each of their transformations perfectly, with Gin’s full of fire and aggressive movements representing her fiery and impulsive personality, and Nogi’s being incredibly cute with typical mahou shoujo sound effects, cats, a chicken?, forming a heart with her hand, representing just…how fucking cute she is. Washio’s is typical and pretty, a little bit more standard but Washio is a level-headed and a little too serious and by the rules so it makes sense. Though…she still gets the gross fanservice treatment, but this time it’s even more gross because she’s only in sixth grade so she’s about 11/12 years old. Don’t treat my girl this way, please, she’s practically a baby. Also it’s interesting to note that this time her weapon is a bow and arrow and not a sniper rifle like it was in the original.
Another difference I have to note is that the girls being heroes and working for the Shinjyu is not kept a secret. The teacher announced to the whole class that the girls have large roles and that sometimes they’ll disappear without warning. The other students in class confront them, jealous of them and being curious of what they have to do. It’s a huge difference and I wonder when this would change. Other than that, everything else remained the same such as the world in which they fight in, using their phones to transform, and appearing in front of the closest shrine whenever they return.
Animation wise and music wise it’s on par with the original. It looks great and sounds great, the OST delivering. Suzuko Mimori’s song for the OP is nice, and I just love her singing in general. For the first episode I’m glad that they dove right in to the action already since fans already know what the deal is. As for this prequel, we’re going to learn a lot more about Washio than we did in the original, even though we know the truth about the Shinjyu. We know what this story is going to lead to, and we know nothing good is going to come for these girls. Nogi and Gin, we know they’re going to suffer but how and how badly? Thinking about it already makes me incredibly depressed because I love them so much already, but I know what I signed up for and I’m prepared.
For this portion, Washio Sumi no Shou is only going to be 6 episodes, so I decided that I’m going to treat this as one show and do a Final Impression of it when the 6th episode airs. I’m also going to classify Yuusha no Shou, the actual sequel, as a separate show. I’m honestly not sure whether I’ll do a First Impression for that or not, but again I’ll go a Final Impression on just those 6 episodes.
Possibility of watching: Guaranteed
Possibility of blogging: Guaranteed
