Synopsis:
Himeko, a shy and timid girl attends to the same school as her childhood friend, Souma and the popular and beautiful Chikane. Unaware of what fate has in store for them, a dark eclipse forms in the sky as the world seems to be covered with darkness on the day of Himeko's birthday. With a mysterious sun shaped mark appearing on her chest and a dark energy bursting from within Souma, what is the cause of all this, and who is the enemy that invites this negative power? The lives these three once knew will forever be changed.
Rating Key:
Excellent
Good
Average
Bad
Not worth your time
= half a rating
Story-
Music-
Characters-
Video and Sound Quality-
Series length- 12 episodes
Released in the U.S.?- Yes
This series contains-
Action, Romance, Mecha, Shoujo-ai, slight nudity, language.
Some facts about this title-
* Title translates to Destiny of Shrine Maiden
* Each Geneon release DVD of this title comes with a mini pencil board
Where can you purchase this series?
Animecastle, BestBuy
When I first came across this title, I was taken by the artwork, the vibrant colors and the characters for this show. Because of that, I had to check out this title. However as I saw the story progress in the first episode, I was getting the feeling this story was heading towards the Shoujo-ai direction, seeing how "close" the two main female characters got >_>. But I am pretty open-minded, so I thought it was a pretty interesting concept in this series and the fact there was also a main bishounen character in it that took a liking to one of them, there had to be some kind of love triangle going on. So according to the story, it was definitely creative and different to me. The opening/ending songs in this series was also crisp in quality and the techno-ish sound makes it adrenaline rushed and refreshing, which really goes well with the opening and ending sequence. The background music especially was extremely well done with it's beautiful piano and violin melodies, it really brings emotion into the scenes no matter how many times you watch it. The voice acting was also very well done, though for the main character, Himeko, her voice could be too cute or too.. desperate sounding sometimes o_O, so it might get a little tiring at some points, but that's only my me. But what I also like about this series is the well thought out characters and character development. Each one seemed to have their own uniqueness in the series and whatever they did, you would eventually understand why they did it, so each character was given a good amount of attention. The mecha in this show were also interesting, some which remind me of Transformers and Gundams in a way. Although the inside view of the mecha was a bit unusual how they could see and fight their opponent in their cockpit arena/area o_O, the outside view would show them fighting as mechas. I also really like the costume designs in this series, especially for the school uniforms, very nice looking.
On a little warning note about the series, however, is there were several scenes that involved some nudity, mentioning of "suggestive"/"wrong" things and even some "hints" of things at some points, but of course nothing that goes into the hentai category >_>. However, if anyone gets/got the 3rd DVD for this title, the picture of the pencil board just shows how "intimate" or "far" the two girls will go >_>. There was also some unexpected use of language at some points that even surprised me, especially how they were said in the English dub version. So this series is definitely suggested for an older audience, preferably 16 and up.
The story itself did have some mystery in it and definitely a plot twist, so this is a show you would want to see all of, also since it's only 12 episodes. The only thing I kind of didn't expect was the ending. It wasn't one of those "satisfying" endings to me, but rather an unusual one. I think guys might actually appreciate this series more than a girl would in a certain degree. But I do however recommend this title for any fan who like mecha action, romance, shoujo-ai, and drama.
My Final Opinion: An interesting series probably targeted more for the male audience, but any fan of these genres who are 16 and up can enjoy this series. Full of action, drama, romance, a deep storyline, beautiful music and stunning visuals, this is definitely a series to check out!
Screenshots: Here are some high quality shots I took of this series.
