Anime: Gakusen Toshi Asterisk 2d1w1g

The Asterisk War is not an online battle over who can use the most expletives in a sentence, but rather a series of battles fought on Asterisk Island, where the victor can claim virtually anything they want as a prize. Here we find our protagonist, Ayato, a purple-haired Genestellar, empowered by some sort of magical rip-off of Charlotte who is looking for purpose in his life after his doting sister vanishes from the island. Here, he soon meets a princess, much like that in Chivalry of a Failed Knight, and is soon subject to having to pay his life for accidentally walking in on her getting dressed, much like Chivalry as well as Testament.

This is one season where deja vu is the norm in the action-based harem genre. Asterisk is ridiculously close in plot progression to what I'll call its sister show Chivalry. As I'm too lazy to list out the enormous list of similarities, I'll try to instead point out the few differences as we go through the paces of the review. Overall, as mentioned elsewhere, though the harems of the season are a little too similar for comfort, each is pretty good in its own right and above average in general.

Animation:
Whereas Chivalry attempts a unique style and flair, Asterisk utilizes a clean and futuristic setting. The entire show is bathed in light blues, pinks, and purples - nothing stands out as overly-harsh or saturated. Likewise, there is a futuristic feel to everything as holographics pop up everywhere and weapons materialize as lightsaber-like instruments. Backgrounds are often blurred, but when they're not they show a super-modern city complete with lots of greenery and cobble-stoned streets. The characters are pretty good, I'd say even one step up from Chivalry in of style and facial animation. The show gets extra props from me as well for making the student uniforms match the feel of the city and for actually drawing robots rather than relying on ugly CGI; though it's not entirely free of CGI and some of it is really terrible early on when animating unimportant students. The show also uses visual-novel style episode previews, which is rather unique.

There is plenty of fighting in this show, and like Chivalry, you'll see a good mix of close ranged melee as well as ranged magic spamming. Effects are nicely done and attacks are varied and well choreographed. Expect a bit of blood though nothing as serious as either Chivalry or Testament. As for ecchi, this is by far the lightest of the genre. There are scenes of accidental exposure but otherwise it's all rather innocent. You won't even get too much in the kissing department relative to other shows in the season.

Sound:
The sound is quite good and appropriate for the setting. The show opens with an energetic, electric-infused OP and ends with a mesmerizing and melodic piece by Maaya Sakamoto who unfortunately doesn't have a voice role. The show often uses a theatric-style fade in to the ED, which readers of my reviews know is a major weakness of mine. The BGM honestly could be better in of theme, but does have a few electronic-infused pieces that fit the bill, some of which are pretty recognizable after a few episodes. Expect a lot of sound effects to go with all the technology in the show, though I do believe the lightsaber sounds are a bit over the top.

The voice talent is pretty strong here with Ai Kakuma voicing the lead heroine, a bit more personality compared to her role in Amagi Brilliant Park. Ari Ozawa is still growing in of experience but her voice is a great fit for Kirin's shy personality. Nao Touyama is probably the most famous of the VAs here though at least for this season she's more of a tease character; she demonstrates great range here, a strong departure from her voice as Chitoge in Nisekoi. I do find it funny that she also voices a main role in Chivalry concurrently and wonder if she noticed the plot similarity. Last but not least, Chinatsu Akasaki plays a minor role but as a very playful character, and her interpretation definitely elevates the character above what one would expect. Overall, expect a strong sound presentation from this show.

Story:
Whereas Chivalry has an almost desperate air with the protagonist at risk of being kicked out at any moment, the pacing in Asterisk is a lot less tense. There's ample room for comedic moments as well as very light romantic tension. I do feel that the exposition of the setting is a tad weak compared to the other harems of the season, not much is explained about the Strike The Blood-like island and only hints are given about why the world now revolves around a bunch of teenagers fighting each other in some tournament.

In any case, the story is divided roughly into three arcs where Ayato encounters a different adversary. First up is our tsundere princess, who doesn't lose outright to Ayato unlike in Chivalry. The second arc revolves around the school's number one fighter, Kirin- who happens to still be thirteen despite her ridiculous proportions. The last arc is the actual tournament and focuses on the vampire scythe Urzaiz. Mixed in with all of this are pieces surrounding Ayato's blue-haired childhood friend Yuki Nonaka er... Saya Sasamiya. Each arc has its own rising action and climax and some even have semi-filler episodes to cool off (see the ones titled "A Holiday for Two"). The final arc's tournament climax is a bit too similar to that in Chivalry for my taste; to further the parallel, both shows also don't actually finish the tournament. In this case, the show heaps anticipation about the next season with all parties hinting on how to expect great surprises.

Compared to Chivalry, I think this story played it rather safe. There isn't as much tension with the characters and relationships are pretty bare minimum. The show differentiates itself by building on the technological aspect despite not actually explaining how anything works. Nonetheless, it is still an interesting show in its own right with lots of engaging battles and a few good laughs.

Character:
This is probably where this show differs the most from Chivalry. Whereas Chivalry had a great primary herione and junk ing characters, this show has an average protagonist pair with some outstanding additional ing characters.

Let's start with our protagonist, Ayato. Unlike Ikki in Chivalry, he is gifted with unfathomable power at the onset and is only restricted by some unexplained curse cast by his sister. He is by far the weakest of the harem protagonists in the season, I mean come on he can't even properly turn down the multiple approaches by the student council president. Our princess Riessfeld doesn't fare much better either. She's proud and arrogant but is virtually unable to make any progress with Ayato throughout the show, a complete disappointment from a romance perspective and a far cry from what you see in the other harems in the season.

However, the show does make up some ground with the large yet strong group of ing characters. Saya is a rather low-energy childhood friend who specializes in weapons, her attacks remind me humorously of Virtue Gundam and its slow yet overwhelming attacks. Kirin is in my mind the strongest character in the show, having both a thorough development and a strong personality. The semi-harem is rounded out by the student council president Claudia, who emits both powerful and mysterious auras that draws the viewer in.

The show has a fairly extensive list of ing characters, not surprising given that there are six separate factions in the tournaments. What makes this show stand out here is its development of these antagonist forces; significant development time is given to antagonists to give encounters deeper meaning. This is a fair improvement over Chivalry and a huge positive over the joke tournament in Testament Burst. This will hopefully pay dividends in the sequel, as they don't have to spend as much development time there.

Value:
Asterisk definitely has a unique style, despite being a virtual mirror image of other harems in of certain plot elements. While the plot was a bit too safe to be anything close to innovative, the unique setting, strong sound presentation, and strong ing characters help to keep the viewer interested. Despite the disappointingly weak protagonist pair, I think the show still came across as entertaining and am looking forwards to the next season. Reiterating from my other reviews for the seasons' action-based harems, they're all similar but all above average, you can't go wrong with either of them. Testament is the one for those looking for the greatest ecchi, Chivalry for the strongest heroine and most angst, and Asterisk for strongest ing cast and most unique setting.

Special Note: Read my review about Strike the Blood or Mahouka, seriously, read it. After reading that review again I just noted how damn similar they are, if I did a copy & paste you wouldn't even notice. Damn you generic shounens! This also serves for Anti-Magic Academy and Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry. Copy & Paste shows. Yup.

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Review
Gakusen Toshi Asterisk (Asterisk War) is yet another of those shounens which fulfills all the mandatory elements of its genre. Although this would mean success in many other areas, that is not exactly the case here, because this genre as a whole is doomed from the start.

The tale is about Amagiri Ayato, a boy who enters the Seidoukan Academy in search for his lost sister. There he will participate in duels involving magic weapons, invocations, and dozens of cute girls, all of whom will fall for him in the very first second they appear on screen.

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1. I've seen that, you've seen that, we all have seen this sh*t
   I mean, Asterisk War has a good heart, it is that show with a tale about school life involving tournaments to provide interesting combats. That is shounen basic formulae and Shokugeki no Souma a while back did an outstanding job with exactly that. Here, however, there is basically zero elements to twist the formula. If you've watched more than ten shows these last five years chances are half of them look exactly like Asterisk War. The boring protagonist, the dere army ready to bed him, the annoying blushing, the character design, the super powers, etc.
   
   You can't take its merit for trying though
   Asterisk War tries, not that hard, but it does. The background of the show is shrouded in things we don't know, there is a good amount of tease about powerful combatants from other schools, and there are a few developments running besides Ayato dating three to four girls at the same time. However...
   
   It can't succeed like that
   Seriously. If you've seen Mahouka recently you know about what a overleveled protagonist and a bunch of girls can do: f*ck the entire show. Ayato is ridiculously boring as all his counterparts, starting as a boy who blushes every second a girl gets near him, refuses all their advances on him, and is invincible all the way through the show. There is no danger. There are no surprises. It is fun to learn that Ayato is powerful in the first episode, but after that you know everything that will happen. Not happy with that, the girls... oh man, those girls. Their templates are so goddamn generic they even manage not to be cute because of that. Voice-acting is a torture to the ears as expected, but fortunately the themes and soundtrack barely balances thing out.
   
   Not the best from A-1 Pictures too...
   The most popular animation studio of the decade certainly is busy. Of course, doing that many shows is a certainty some will lack the quality standard they imposed on themselves with superb works such as Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, Aldnoah.ZERO, and Nanatsu no Taizai. Asterisk War is not exactly mediocre, in fact it stands conformtly above the average with a nice color palette, superb special effects, and some interesting background work. Its characters, however, do nothing to stand out and as the show goes on there is a drastic drop in the proportions, details, and coloring on them, turning the attractive show in the beginning into something on par with shows from the 90's in the end. A pity.
   

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Conclusion
Asterisk War could fall in the category of a "safe shounen", but unfortunately it lacks courage to try anything out of the already boring and dated formula, specially when there are other two identifcal shows airing at the same time. Its tension is lacking, the sense of urgency is absent, there is no drama to make you care for the stereotypical characters, and the protagonist is a disservice for a show that could've been a guilty pleasure for some. If you enjoy Kirito-inspired guys, if you somehow liked Mahouka, or if you're into shows like Strike the Blood, Blade Dance, and similar stuff, perhaps you may get a bit of fun from this. If you expect anything else, however, you will certainly be disappointed. Anyway... there is a second season coming, but there is little hope it will even try to stir things up.