Title: Mysteria Friends
Director: Hideki Okamoto
Writer: Hiroshi Yamaguchi
U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks
U. S. Release Date: 3-10-20
Format: Blu-ray / 10 Episodes / 150 Minutes
Genre: Fantasy
Age Rating: TV 14
Overall Personal Rating: C-
Synopsis:
The students come to Mysteria Academy to learn the art of magic. Anne is a princess as well as a top student, well gifted in magic. She has become friends with Grea, a princess from another realm, who is a half-human/half-dragon.
The regular things such as studying and test taking go on, and even the ever present beach episode. But it is a magic school and not everyone is human, so there are some unique things that go on.
The main focus of the series is the friendship of the two princesses. Grea lacks the confidence of Anne which causes dome difficulties. She really likes Anne and has quite a crush on her. Anne doesn’t seem to realize this, but still really likes Grea and wants to spend time with her. But as royals, duties can get in the way.
Commentary:
So, my big issue with Mysteria Friends is that I don’t even know who to recommend this for. The show doesn’t seem to have a clear audience in mind or what kind of anime it is. Episode one dives in with fan service and innuendos. I expected it since the back cover seems to boldly hint at that. Then it really drops off, so it is more like a magic high school drama show. Or yuri. But not really. There is a bit more fan service thorough out, but in the end, it gets pretty bland. So, the beginning seems like it is for adults but the end seems aimed at a younger audience. From fan service to blushful crushes. It would have been a fine show had they gone either way but it was muddled and usually seemed like a platform for random ideas the would be cool to do.
The characters of Anne and Grea are okay. Visually they are well designed and the personalities are fine. Nothing unique, even though Grea has a tail and wings, her personality is shy and self-conscious. True, as half dragon she has things to cope with that others don’t, but it really is important in one episode, and that doesn’t really need to be there for the story development. Anne is a high achiever, but as a princess who will one day lead her community, her royal duties are increasing. Unfortunately it is too much the same as the princess in tada never falls in Love which I recently watched. So, it seemed bland. Except for Anne’s sort of body guard, the other characters come and go randomly. Characters get thrown in and maybe are quirky or act in a certain way, but it goes nowhere as if they are no more than props.
The biggest part of the plot is the friendship of the two princesses. Grea really values her relationship with Anne and appears to have romantic feelings for her, sometimes. It’s not always consistent. Like when Anne seems to want a stronger relationship, Grea doesn’t seem to notice. Grea sure gets embarrassed a lot. Over and over. Over done.
The story really isn’t fleshed out. There is plenty of starts at things but they don’t develop are become part of the story, or things we might need to know just skipped over. Everything is rushed.The episodes are only 15 minutes long. Mostly it just moves onto to something else. One episodes introduces monsters of sort and then that’s it, nothing, no impact, no nothing.
We never get a sense of what their world is about. The setting is cool, especially as a Harry Potter fan, but that is’t utilized much. It’s as if it is only because it looks cool, but there is no reason for it. They go to the beach (of course) and swim among ruins, looks cool, but nothing else, no reason for it.
So, as a story, as a series, it lacks purpose and direction. Why? It’s based on a game! Mysteria Friends tries to tell a story with the elements and setting of a game. It stayed the bits and pieces.
