Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin Anime Review

Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin
Anime Works/Media Blasters
Complete Collection - 3 discs
300 mins. - 12 episodes
$49.99 (2011)
$59.99 (2010) Blu-Ray
$29.99 (2010) Vol. 1-3/ea.
ISBN 631595104974
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Kinji Yoshimoto
Studio - ARMS

Synopsis: Every four years a tournament is held to determine the next Queen.  Beautiful, female warriors from across the Continent migrate to Gynos, the Queen's capital and participate in brutal, one-on-one battles.  Our tale begins in the fourth year as the tournament is just beginning and follows the events leading up to the participants arrival at the capital city.  The combatants include:

• Leina - known as the Wandering Warrior, she's the daughter and heir of Count Vance, renouncing her heritage she enters the tournament as an inexperienced fighter, but through training and perseverance gains formidable fighting skills, Echidna has a crush on her
• Risty - known as the Benevolent Bandit of the Wild earning the title by robbing from the rich and helping the poor, she possesses an Amazonian physique and is a tenacious fighter

Risty captures a runaway Leina in the first episode

• Echidna - known as the Veteran Mercenary, she's the former leader of the Assassins of the Fang, is a wild jungle elf with no inhibitions and an eye for fine maidens, has lived for more than 500 years, wears her pet snake Keltan as a thong
• Menace - ancient princess from Amara (similar to Egyptians) resurrected by the Swamp Witch, wishes to restore her long-dead kingdom and specializes in mind-control, her talking sceptre Setora is a complete lecher
• Nanael - known as the Angel of Hope, she's an angel from heaven sent to earth in order to officiate the Queen's Blade tournament, a complete dumbass she gets exiled for being incompetent, one wing is smaller than the other and she feels inferior to the other angels - so she acts out, possesses formidable powers, but forced to carry a vial of "holy milk" which diminishes her powers if spilled
• Tomoe - Warrior Priestess from Hinomoto, pure of mind and spirit, many of her fellow priestesses were killed in a battle with the Kouma ninja clan, she must win the tournament and save her people, possesses incredible sword techniques

Tomoe finds it quite rude to disturb bathtime

• Airi - known as the Infernal Temptress, she's a ghost maid in service to the Swamp Witch, wields a scythe in battle, and feeds on vitality in order to stay corporeal
• Claudette - known as the Thundercloud General, she's the oldest daughter of the Vance Family, an illegitimate child she is not counted in the line of succession and charged with protecting Leina the true heir, wields a powerful sword called Thunderclap which controls lightning
• Shizuka - former leader of the Kouma ninja clan, battled Tomoe in the past and lost, aids Tomoe after the Kouma against her wishes clash with the Hinomoto priestesses, despite her ninja training she is easygoing and likes to try on hot bikinis
• Cattleya - known as the Giant Slayer, has a son named Lana, her missing husband is also a monster hunter, wields a massive greatsword which is only dwarfed in size by her massive breasts

Cattleya wields her giant...sword

• Elina - younger sister to Leina and Captain of the Vance Guard, a ruthless fighter with love only for her family, she uses spears and a tiger-claw gauntlet, has an unhealthy fascination with her older sister naked full-body rubdowns
• Nowa - half-elf/half-human and mistrusted by her elven brethren due to humans' prejudice against them, known as the Forest Keeper, has a pet monkey named Ruh, she doesn't wear underwear
• Melpha - holy priestess with incredible divine powers and enormous breasts 



Melona

• Melona - known as the Protean Assassin, she's a minion of the Swamp Witch with the ability to shapeshift into a pink liquid form, has a sadistic personality and shoots acid from her breasts
• Ymir - known as the Steel Princess, she's the daughter of the Dwarven King, despite her diminutive stature and childlike appearance she's actually quite older, hates snakes, wields an enormous axe and fights in the tournament to prove the strength of Dwarven steel
• Irma - leader of the Assassins of the Fang, former apprentice to Echidna, master of stealth and treachery, she wields twin daggers
• Alleyne - known as the Combat Master, she's Nowa's instructor and one thousand years old, sets out to help Nowa in the tournament
• Aldra - known as the Bewitched Queen, she's the reigning queen, a cursed half-demon who can encase foes in amber with her "evil eye", has won the Queen's Blade tournament two times in a row

Pros: More fan-service than you can shake a "stick" at, tons of nudity - every battle has the combatants losing their tops and bottoms, decent story, Nanael adds some humor to the show, excellent animation and backgrounds, decent opening/ending theme songs, collection includes first six OVA episodes comprising Queen's Blade: Beautiful Fighters side series, oil wrestling

Cons: It ends :), only the first half of the Queen's Gate saga - finishes in the second season (next 12 episodes), so much fan-service and nudity it distracts from the story

Echidna (standing) and Irma (seated)

Mike Tells It Straight: This show is all about fan-service - the story is entertaining and adequately explains the motivations of the characters, but it's all about showing off their sexy bodies at every opportunity.  A trend in recent anime with a heavy fan-service theme (like Sekirei and Girls Bravo) is to show a lot more nudity.  I certainly don't mind and find it a logical progression to the genre.  Some may call it excessive, but Queen's Blade has been focused on scantily-clad warrior women in half-naked poses since the beginning (originally based on a series of visual combat gamebooks). 

It's not for kids due to the nudity and sexual themes, but perfect for the otaku man-cub.  If you like excessive fan-service with a proliferation of nudity and a story barely held together by a g-string, then pick up this show.  The DVD and BD sets are great, especially with the bonus OVA episodes which you won't see on Netflix.

TO BUY and Recommendations: