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Master of Martial Hearts
Master of Martial Hearts is oozing with Japanese fun and even though
it's as done to death as they come, this light hearted story features scantily
clad young women and over the top battles which is tacky goodness.
The story follows Aya and best friend Natsume who one day witness
two women fighting in the legendary Martial Hearts, a mystical tournament
so to speak. As the battle between these two women becomes quite heated, Aya decides to interfere and becomes friends with Miko, one of the
fighters who we learn is a Shine Maiden.
Unfortunately just as Miko
appeared, she soon disappears and Aya decides to participate in
the Martial Hearts in order to discover the truth about her disappearance.
To make matters worse, those women who succeed in the Martial Hearts are
given a "wish" as their prize, however for those that fail, they are
taken away to hell.
As the story unravels, the most unravelling is done
by the young women who star in this series as each battle reveals more
and more of their naked body as breasts with lots of panty shots. At times, Masters of Martial Heart plays out like a
Hentai story but the creators have somehow managed to stop themselves
from going too far into the deep end of perversion... is this a bad
thing?
There are a few twists to the story such as the history and
darkness behind Martial Hearts but for the most part, it's like watching
one huge fight as clothes are torn, breasts are displayed and lots and
lots of panty action is given the fanboys. The fights are actually quite amusing
to watch, especially some of the more outrageous and dare I say video
game type boss battles that is definitely the highlight of the story.
Video and Audio
Thankfully the animation goes hand in hand with the story and looks
visually quite surreal and impressive that is only highlighted more by
the semi-nude battles. Nonetheless, the characters are animated well and
the animation is quite smooth. In terms of video quality, it looks good
on DVD with vibrant colours, dark blacks and only a minimal amount of
artifacting.
The English audio dub is not bad, although the voices
sometimes grind on your soul as these young girls kick ass. The
soundtrack is done by Masaru Kuba who creates a very Japanese Pop type
score to the story. If this all sounds a little familiar, that's because Master of
Martial Hearts is based on a video game and its creators have
successfully bridged both genres.
At the end of the day, Masters of Martial Heart is a strange anime
collection. On a darker and perverse level, it does offer plenty of fan
action, especially when it comes to panty shots and semi-nudity. But on
a higher level, the story is as clichéd as they come and its definitely
a voyeuristic treat for those who enjoy these type of anime stories. As
I haven't seen one of these stories like this for quite some time, I
enjoyed it but it definitely doesn't get anything above average and
although it borders on nude, it's nothing too rude.
It's just dirty fun! |
