The pacing was terrible. There were like 3 different main antagonists, all of whom were extremely generic and forgettable, who were forced into 6 episodes. When they finally found the doctor as well, instead of Saki actually being trained, they just go straight to fighting the Daimyo and the doctor basically says that she didn't need training because she was already strong enough. Everything feels extremely rushed and the pacing greatly affects the story.
The story itself was so basic it could've been the plot for a kids' movie, and the inclusion of magic and mechs was extremely unnecessary. The plot was essentially go somewhere, fight bad guy, go somewhere, fight bad guy, then big war. It was extremely predictable and was even worsened because of the terrible pacing. It was promoted as a historical anime and there are some levels of fantasy I wouldn't mind accepting, but if mechs exist, why doesn't everyone have guns instead of swords? Why don't the mechs blast holes in the armies instead of in mountains? Also the mechs aren't explained and neither is the magic power system. It tried to include too much with its limited number of episodes.
The characters also were extremely bland and got little to no development, or developed in an extremely forced way. Yasuke, despite being the MC, had no personality. His character was obviously supposed to be haunted by his past, but the short run- time made it impossible for us to see him fully fleshed out. Saki was a Mary Sue and was extremely annoying. Pretty much every situation was solved by Saki's magic. She barely developed, and it was completely unexplained how she was even able to control her powers. The other characters like Morisuke were all extremely forgettable, and the main antagonist was so laughably cartoonishly evil. I couldn't take her seriously when her goal was basically to take over the world with no explained motives. Ah yes, also her other goal was to sit in her castle for 3 episodes until Yasuke came and to also absorb Saki so she could gain her Mary Sue magic.
The final episodes just put the nail in the coffin. They go to Morisuke and immediately start a war. Saki gets no training because all of a sudden she's this all powerful being. The war itself was extremely stupid. Why didn't the Daimyo just use the mechs on the soldiers? It would've been easier and wiser to just spam the mechs. Keep on blasting shots at the soldiers and they would've easily won. The mercs coming back to fight was unnecessary as well and not even built up to. They literally just disappeared after episode 3 and came back out of nowhere. They tried to make some of their death's impactful, but I can't even remember any of their names. And Yasuke and Saki basically beat the main villain with the power of friendship and Saki's Mary Sue abilities. Yay happy ending.
Imo if it was a 2- cour anime then it could fix most of its problems. It was too ambitious for a 6 episode anime. Screw it, just remove the mechs and magic and it wouldn't be as bad as it is. I still don't understand why they researched if they were just going to make their own original story in the first place. Like why not just copy paste from Wikipedia or an existing tale? Inoue Takehiko basically did the same thing with Vagabond, and its considered one of the best manga of all time.
All in all I feel like Yasuke was wasted potential and extremely forgettable. |