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What's YUKI YUNA IS A HERO?
YUKI YUNA IS A HERO is a 2014 magical girl TV series directed by Seiji Kishi and featuring animation by Studio Gokumi. Crunchyroll describes the series as follows:
Yuna Yuki is an ordinary second-year middle school student. She gets up in the morning, gets ready for school, goes to classes, participates in club activities, and has fun with her friends. But there is one extraordinary thing about Yuki -- she belongs to the “Brave Hero Club.” What does the Brave Hero Club do? Who is the mysterious being called “Vertex?” Yuki Yuna and her friends’ story takes place in Year 300, Era of the Gods.
This premise doesn't entirely convey the tone of the show. YUKI YUNA IS A HERO is a magical girl show, but it's also a deconstruction of the subgenre, one that smoothly pivots from the mundane activities of the Hero Club helping the community with volunteer work to climactic battles with bizarre monsters to staggering revelations of cosmic horror and back again.
Vibrant Visuals and a Sense of Scale.
When Yuki Yuna and her friends in the Hero Club fight the Vertex, they are transported to a spirit realm by the Shinju, the god-tree that grants them their power. The battle scenes are dynamic, not only because the animation by Studio Gokumi captures a sense of size and scale that enhances the drama, but because of the beauty of the background art.
The psychic battleground is an explosion of prismatic colors, creating an otherworldy atmosphere as the Hero Club engage in mortal combat among the roots of the Shinju. YUKI YUNA IS A HERO synthesizes modern elements (such as the smart phone apps which allow the heroes to transform) with classic, Shinto-inspired shapes to create a unique visual aesthetic.
Representation / Deconstruction.
One of the most gratifying aspects of YUKI YUNA IS A HERO is how it treats characters with disabilities, especially Mimori Togo, a Hero Club member who was left wheelchair bound by an accident several years before the series proper begins. It's rare in anime to see a main character with a visible disability. It's even more rare to see them depicted with dignity and respect, where their physical impairment is treated as a part of their life experience rather than the sum total of their character.
Like Puella Magi Madoka Magica, YUKI YUNA IS A HERO deconstructs the magical girl subgenre. The series poses brutally difficult questions about what it means to be a hero and the nature of sacrifice. As the girls battle the Vertex, they begin to accumulate physically incapacitating injuries when their powers take an unexpected toll on their bodies. The psychological shock that this causes – and how each character deals with disability – is central to the show.
Heroes Never Die.
In addition to the 2014 TV series, YUKI YUNA IS A HERO has inspired numerous spin-offs and sequel series in a variety of media: three manga series, three light novel series, a game for PS Vita, and two visual novels for Windows. There's also a quarterly Internet radio program starring the voice actresses as well as character songs. Fans have been hoping for a sequel anime series for some time now, but so far no plans for such a follow-up have materialized.
Crunchyroll streams YUKI YUNA IS A HERO in 203 countries in the original Japanese language with subtitles in English, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, and German. The series is also available on Bluray in North America via Pony Canyon, but these releases are aimed at the collector's market and so they cost a pretty penny.
If you're in the mood for a post-modern take on the magical girl subgenre, you'll find much to enjoy in YUKI YUNA IS A HERO. Just be prepared going in: the adventures of Yuki Yuna and her friends in the Brave Hero Club can be an emotional rollercoaster.
Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.
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