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Maria the Virgin Witch (TV).


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 9:39 pm Reply with quote


Maria the Virgin Witch (TV)

Genres:
Themes:

Plot Summary: The story follows Maria, the most powerful witch who lives during the Hundred Years' War in France. She despises war, so she obstructs battles with her strong magical powers. Her meddling with her succubus Artemis and incubus Priapos has caught the attention of the heavens, and so the Archangel Michael issues an edict. When Maria loses her virginity, she will also lose her magical powers. A beautiful angel named Ezekiel is supposed to watch Maria and make sure the witch does not use magic in front of people, but Maria continues to use magic anyways.
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The premise is amusing imo and this is based on the manga of the same name. Production I.G. is in charge of the series and is one of my favorite studios. I wonder how they will adapt this though but with the material of material they have, it should be fun to see how it works out.

I think the PV looks good so far too.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 6:28 pm Reply with quote
Episode 1 (pre-air):

Yup, I thought this was neat. Production IG delivered when it came to terms with the spoiler[action on the battlefield. Comedy was well balanced as well with the jokes and gags so far.]

I hope we find out more about the main characters spoiler[soon especially with Maria. I like how she is proud of herself though for who she is.]

Hope to see the OP song next time but so far, this has my attention.
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justsomeaccount



Joined: 24 Oct 2014
Posts: 471
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 6:37 pm Reply with quote
As someone who saw the animes of the original author's previous work (Moyashimon and Moyashimon Returns), which was quirky, full of curiosities and ambitionless slice of life but likeable, I was curious about this.

spoiler[It was... eh. It's quirky for sure and with many references (ten pounds we will see a Jeanne D'arc sooner or later) and puns (Maria the Virgin no further. Wouldn't be funny if all the witches had saint names? ~), but something about it is off that made it just kind of dull. And the tone is weird because it looks the show is not going to be ambitious at all, just by the premise and the fact that all these secondary/minor characters will reappear (the father doesn't die even though we were kind of expecting it for example...) and the battle is not very intense, but for some reason the music really wants you to feel like it in a very clumsy way. I didn't think the animation was very spot on either. Eh. I'll keep watching, maybe it will grow some charm from here.]
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WhiteHairGirls



Joined: 27 Apr 2011
Posts: 4713
Location: New York City
PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:51 am Reply with quote
Hmmm I liked the first episode. Maria is cute and the premise is pretty much new. This might turn out to be a top anime for me, especially in such a weak season.
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Shadowrun20XX



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 1935
Location: Vegas
PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:35 am Reply with quote
Pretty damn good I must say, quite the cliffhaner at the end of Ep 1.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 8:28 am Reply with quote
justsomeaccount wrote:
spoiler[It was... eh. It's quirky for sure and with many references (ten pounds we will see a Jeanne D'arc sooner or later)]

Maria.... kind of said that spoiler[she was violated and burned at the stake].

Episode 1

I am actually rather interested how this did a kind of down to earth look of the period houses, politics, and war. Elegant it is not, where lords force peasants to spoiler[fight along side mercenaries and what looked like a single well protected knight in a kind of cruel fight]. Which contrasts quite heavily with the witches that seem very powerful, lack much in terms of worry, and kind of don't really seem out for power. Also what appears to be a sexual side where magic seems to employ succubi to do their job, whatever it is.

Sore spoiler[jaw] indeed.
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justsomeaccount



Joined: 24 Oct 2014
Posts: 471
PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 10:46 am Reply with quote
^ Oh, that's right, because she calls her spoiler["La Pucelle"] I didn't realize at first. My bad.

That also means that this is in the last decades of the war (1431-1453), just to point out. I know this author likes curiosities as he showed in Moyashimon (even if mostly of them were about... fermenting sake..), so let's see what weird historical curiosities this will show.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5500
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:09 am Reply with quote
^For starters, the depiction of the war customs was surprisingly accurate, I was particularly pleased to see a reference to the custom of taking live prisoners and get a costly ransom for their lives (even King Richard Lionheart of England once was victim to this practice), rather than killing them when they surrendered. On the other hand, by this point in history, the English were already famous for their effective use of crossbows, so I was kind of hoping to see that.

Other than that, though there wasn't anything particularly exciting or interesting about the episode, and the pacing and cutting off point seemed kind of random. Maybe next week's episode will help set down the plot a little bit better, but so far it remains a low priority on my list.


Last edited by CrowLia on Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:45 am; edited 1 time in total
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ookamigirl



Joined: 15 Jul 2012
Posts: 2274
Location: Croatia
PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:44 am Reply with quote
Well... so far nothing special.
The middle ages setting is something slightly different.
Going to war by force was not fun at all.
The battlefield part was interesting though.
Having mixed feelings about this anime..
Gonna give it a few more episodes before I decide.
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ssotoleiva



Joined: 08 Jan 2015
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:09 pm Reply with quote
I accidentally just ran upon this series (I've been sort of disconnected over the past weeks) and I was pleased to watch the first episode, stunning visuals and a promising story (I have absolutely no idea how the manga is). For sure this is a must this season.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 3:31 pm Reply with quote
Well this comes as a pleasant surprise. I tend not to research shows before sampling because I like to know as little as possible. So I didn't realize this was being done by Production I.G or who the creative team was.

In any case, I was taken aback by the flashes of historical realism, especially the battle stuff (spoiler[not withstanding the odd dragon]). Cool! I think I'll enjoying following this one.
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Alan45
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:14 pm Reply with quote
One thing that didn't ring true was that they had some of the foot soldiers on both sides in full suits of plate armor.

That stuff is every bit as heavy as it looks and severely limits the individual's ability to walk, must less fight on the ground. It was also very expensive for the time. A soldier who could afford a full suit could probably also afford the necessary horse. If he couldn't afford both he would likely buy the horse and something lesser like chain mail. The soldiers on horses were a lot safer than those on the ground.

A guy in a full suit of armor on the ground was likely there because he was unhorsed. If not seriously injured in the fall, he was like a bug on its back. He needed help to get back up.
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Galap
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Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 2354
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 8:17 pm Reply with quote
This is setting up for some really cool commentary. I really like how in this world the witchcraft (which is real in this case) is subverting the domination of the church. I think it's funny how Maria's virginity is ironic since that would fit into the weird prudish sense of 'sanctity' that appeals to the church she would oppose. I hope this thing makes fun of fetishization and obsession with innocence and purity. That stuff bugs me, so I'd find it really funny if the show tore into that (which it seemed to do a little in this episode).

I like how most of the soldiers are conscripted normal citizens and mercenaries, and can't afford to have full plate armor, which is pretty accurate. The mood set by the way they marched into battle and fought was nice too.
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justsomeaccount



Joined: 24 Oct 2014
Posts: 471
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 8:42 pm Reply with quote
^ Haha, if you want to see shortly his opinion about that just watch this scene from his other work Moyashimon.
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4nBlue





PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2015 4:46 am Reply with quote
Alan45 wrote:
One thing that didn't ring true was that they had some of the foot soldiers on both sides in full suits of plate armor.

That stuff is every bit as heavy as it looks and severely limits the individual's ability to walk, must less fight on the ground. It was also very expensive for the time. A soldier who could afford a full suit could probably also afford the necessary horse. If he couldn't afford both he would likely buy the horse and something lesser like chain mail. The soldiers on horses were a lot safer than those on the ground.

A guy in a full suit of armor on the ground was likely there because he was unhorsed. If not seriously injured in the fall, he was like a bug on its back. He needed help to get back up.


Properly fitted armor worn by a trained person isn't that cumbersome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvCvOC2VwDc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm11yAXeegg
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