It may be tournament time but it’s also hella sexy time.
What They Say:
After two demon girls, Maria the succubus and Mio the demoness, force Basara into a contract that makes him their master, the trio form a complicated master-servant relationship. Basara is the last descendant of a demon-fighting hero clan, but as master of two demon girls, he finds himself defending them instead of fighting them.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this series brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo along with the English language dub done the same, both of which are done up in the Dolby TrueHD lossless codec. The show works a lot of dialogue with some fun action thrown into the mix to keep it lively and that has it running all over the place from episode to episode with what it does. The dialogue aspects are nicely handled, especially the silkier moments, and the action has a good sense of impact when the magic is flying or the swords are hitting each other. There’s a lot going on when the action side picks up and the encoding gives it a nice boost with some extra bass in a few scenes that heightens the impact. But both mixes overall are very nicely done with a clean presentation that brings everything through without problems such as dropouts or distortions.
Video:
Originally airing in 2015, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The ten episodes plus OVA are spread across two discs with eight on the first and three on the second. Animated by Production IMS, the show has plenty of standard moments about it that you’d expect when it comes to character animation but it delivers such huge dividends on the high-end scenes that it’s all worthwhile. The character animation, in general, is solid but when it gets sexual and pervy the quality shoots through the roof and the color design, which is already strong, is just fantastic. The money is in these shots to be sure and the payoff is strong and made stronger thanks to a very clean encoding. Fans want this release because it’s uncensored and they want the best-looking presentation it can have and there is only lots to like here and nothing to really complain about as it’s strong across the board.
Packaging:
The limited edition packaging for this release has a really nice heavy chipboard box that holds the Blu-ry case inside. It’s going for an all-white box wrap that looks great with Mio against it as well as the really nice color design of the logo through the middle of it. The back of the case brings in Mio and Yuki together as they’re undressing and that has a whole lot of allure as well. The limited edition also has a cardboard box shrinkwrapped with it that doesn’t use any artwork and just has the logo on it. Inside, we get the fabric poster for Mio which is pretty cute and definitely a nice bonus for fans of the show.
Within the main box, we get a slightly thicker than usual Blu-ray case that holds the two discs for each format and it comes with an o-card that replicates the case artwork. The front, back, and reverse sides feature four pieces of character artwork from the Japanese release that looks great and has a bright and vibrant clean look. The logo is nicely laid out with some simplicity to it but enough personality so as to not dominate it and overall it’s appealing without revealing just how utterly pervy it is. We also get a booklet inside the overall package with character pages showing off all their forms as well as some great key visual pieces and fanservice pieces.
Extras:
The extras for this release has the basics that we like to have with the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences. But it also has the six mini bonus pieces included with the Japanese releases called Maria’s Secret Video BURST. These basically recap some of the sexy times throughout the show with the two commenting on it from static chibi versions of themselves. It’s not bad and it has some cute moments and the inclusion of a play-all feature helps this time for things that are three to four minutes each since the first season didn’t have that.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the first season out in the spring of 2015 the second season landed in the fall, albeit with two fewer episodes. This set, going under the BURST name, does include the OVA that was produced in 2016 and that’s definitely a welcome inclusion of fun. The first season saw its home video release almost exactly a year ago from this one and it was definitely fun and easy getting back into this show. It works a few different but familiar things and it avoids making the whole season about the tournament. It also remembers what works best for it and that’s a whole lot of sexual material that will make some fans blush furiously to say the least. It’s not something I want out of a lot of shows but I love it when a show does really embrace it and they do that here with style.
This season doesn’t leap right into the main story as we get some good fun with familiar events in high school, such as the sports festival. This is comical just for the fact that the first view of it is through Maria’s eyes and it’s pretty much more porn than porn itself, and animated in a way that says they spent a whole lot of time dealing with that. This and the festival event itself plays out well for the first episode while hinting of some of the bigger things to come. The story does turn as the familiar teacher, Chisato, is working her control of some of the student population in order to handle what’s going on there with her master plan. Interestingly, it all gets thrown out the window when some other demons decide that it’s time to push their own plan and that forces Basara to have to deal with this, though at some physical cost early on. It’s a solid piece across the first three episodes that deals with this as it’s really prologue to the bigger event.
And that has, after some sexy times, the group going to the demon realm where they’re setting up shop at Wildart castle. The general idea here is that there’s a group of demons looking to seize control and they’re using a few different things to achieve it, which is pushing events involving Mio and targeting her father. With Basara’s father here as well helping out in keeping Basara alive from time to time, and being impressed at just how far his son has come, there’s a fair number of episodes in the back half that focuses on the tournament element. This doesn’t get into the sexy times all that much, which isn’t as disappointing as you might think, but it pushes the bonds of the group and shows just the scale of what they’re facing from the other side. The demon world isn’t all that unusual when you get down to it with a mild fantasy-style world and it mixes in tech in a fun way, all of which works to keep the focus on the characters themselves.
While there is a story going on here about the various levels of power trying to cement things, it’s not something that really resonates in a big way. We get to connect with the individual fighters in the tournament a bit but those pulling the strings feel more abstract and less defined even though they’re watching from the sidelines with glee. So the story side of it doesn’t really engage me much but that’s not what I’m really looking for here. It’s a nice trapping to the whole thing but it’s the core group that I enjoy watching interact. Maria continues to cause problems as you’d expect but we get a lot of fun out of it with the way Basara takes care of their needs. They ramp up the sexy aspects of it well with some beautifully animated sequences and some amusing creativity here and there, but it really just embraces the sensuality of it all. The OVA in particular has Basara caught up in several situations like this that in the end involves a surprisingly beautiful scene with Basara and Mio that reaffirms them as the core. But at the same time it always feels like all the characters are attended to in a really good way.
In Summary:
I don’t have guilty pleasure shows but I can totally see this being one for a lot of people. Its heavy focus on sex for magic power and more is definitely a familiar piece within the anime and manga world but this one goes the distance with what it wants to do. This season is a bit lighter on story than the first, which might be saying a lot, but it succeeds in being fun with what it wants to do. We get a good setup arc, and introduction to the demon world, and time spent in a tournament arc that sees good growth from several characters. The show continues to look great with beautiful designs and sensuality combined with a fantastic package that delivers the goods from start to finish. An easy complement to the first season that fans will definitely enjoy.
Features:
Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Language, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Maria’s Secret Video BURST, Textless Opening & Closing Songs
Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B
Released By: Funimation
Release Date: October 30th, 2018
MSRP: $84.98
Running Time: 275 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.