Vacuum Ass Cannon!!!!!!
What they say
Nozomi Kaminashi is a fantastic gymnast, and in order to help her family out of poverty, has decided instead to become a competitor in a new women-only sport, Keijo. A lucrative endeavor, Keijo is a popular gambling sport where female players stand on floating platform on the water and must push other players off by only using breasts and buttocks. Will Nozomi be able to make it big in the world of Keijo?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I feel like this episode, episode 3, is where Keijo is finally hitting its stride. While the first two episodes tried a little too hard to compress as many shouen tropes and scenes into each episode as humanly possible, this episode has a very smooth pacing. It follows what happens immediately after Nozomi ripped off her teammates bathing suit with a super butt attack. We learn that the attack is called the Vacuum Butt Canon, which is performed by rotating the hips and launching a high-powered ass attack that creates a “vacuum” of compressed air that can rip off clothing.
One thing that’s interesting to note about this attack, and what I found the most amusing about its mechanics, is that this is a parody attack. I mean this literally. The Vacuum Butt Cannon works with the exact same principles as Rurouni Kenshin’s Ama Kakeru Ryu no Hirameki in that, if the attack is done improperly, it can cause damage to the user instead of the opponent. Having been a fan of anime for a long time, and having watched Rurouni Kenshin numerous times, it was easy to recognize where the inspiration for this attack came from. My hats off to the mangaka who created the source content. He knows his shounen.
This isn’t the only aspect of Keijo that parodies other anime and real-life ideas and concepts. In this episode, we learn that there are three types of fighters: Infighters, outfighters, and counter types. What’s amusing is that these fighter types exist in real life, and many fighting anime like Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple take this concept to the extreme. Of course, seeing how this is essentially a fan service parody of those anime, the entire conversation takes place while the girls are changing.
A lot of this anime was dedicated to training. Nozomi managed to convince Ujibe, who was going to forbid her from ever using the Vacuum Butt Cannon, to let her use on. Naturally, Ujibe agreed but only on the condition that Nozomi wears a “training bodysuit” for one whole month. Likewise, Miyata also got some training spotlight time while perfecting her Ass Gatling Gun. Perhaps what makes this funny is how similar this episode is to standard shounen training arcs. Watching this made me think of all the shounen anime where, in order to defeat a strong opponent, the main protagonist must undergo intense training to learn a secret skill. Rasengan, anyone?
In Summary
Episode 3 has come and this series is finally going places—good places. The humor was excellent, I love how “shounen” the main character acts, and the training was both hilarious and nostalgic. I’m really happy that I can finally say this anime is something I’m positive that I will enjoy watching.
Grade: B
Steamed by: Crunchyroll
