Sekirei: The Complete Series

By: Iggy Michniacki, Posted: April 04, 2012

The Movie itself:

As stated in the review for Sekirei: Pure Engagement, having an anime series with mystical women fighting for a male partner and world domination (domination in a good way) isn’t too far out of the ordinary. However, Sekirei does so in such a way that it’s more perverse than magical. Pair that with the battles, and that makes this series an exception to the typical anime genre.

Sekirei: The Complete Series is about a young man named Minato, somebody who has continued to flunk the college entrance exam and can’t find his way in life. Not moments after proclaiming his inabilities and the fact that he may never get a girlfriend, a full figured woman falls ass first in his face and his life is completely changed. This woman, Musubi, happens to be a Sekirei warrior that is a bit confused about her life as well. Eventually she discovers her true meaning after she grows more comfortable with Minato and realizes she must fight so her and Minato can become godlike and ascend into the heavens and rule the world.

A mystical piece of star power is what Sekirei: The Complete Series seems like when one reads the plot summary, but a quick view at the back of the packaging makes it clear that this series is aiming toward the shallow and the horny. Sekirei falls shy of animated porn but the nudity is there. By episode three there are already battles between Sekiries with the motives being unclothing each other with their powers. Bath scenes get awkward for Minato, but the other females sharing the boarding house have no problem flinging their breasts right into Musubi’s face. And modesty, well let’s just say that is a topic that comes up often in the series because it's something the female characters don’t observe too well.

Sekirei: The Complete Series is better than its follow-up, Sekirei: Pure Engagement. Watching the series in order might have helped make both of them better, but it feels as if there is more plot in this first volume as the second set goes straight after shock value. Call me a pervert if you want, but my wife and I both found entertainment value in Sekirei: The Complete Series. The plot is extraordinary in many ways with an organization releasing the Sekirei warriors to fight and holding those involved to secrecy. The concept is interesting and although the vessel to get there is quite shallow there’s still an intriguing factor in where this story is going. And, to cap it all off the series’ shallow humor and play on nudity is quite hilarious. The fact that Minato is so nervous around women but can’t seem to get away from them makes for some interesting after-viewing chatter.

What really sets Sekirei apart from other anime series is the fact it recognizes what it is. It’s as if the writers had a great concept but one of them said we have to have tons of nudity so they all just went with it. And instead of remaining a serious quest through the series with shallow jokes and plenty of boobs, they decided to make the plot work with the material and made a series that has the potential for a serious premise but flirts with just being funny and awkward -in a good way- instead.

Sekirei: The Complete Series is a unique anime no doubt. It isn’t unique in the idea of super-powered, half-dressed women fighting, or in having the main male character be a trainwreck around women yet somehow continue to land the best looking and strongest ones. No, it’s unique in the idea that it plays out how it wants to and doesn’t take itself too serious along the way. The series might not be for everybody, but if you’re comfortable seeing a few animated boob shots and can laugh at some shallow humor you might find Sekirei entertaining enough.

Movie Rating: 8/10

The Presentation:

The Blu-ray presentation of Sekirei: The Complete Series isn’t as puzzling as the series itself. The video and audio quality are fairly straight forward as they look and sound consistently powerful throughout the season.

Sekirei: The Complete Series is presented in high definition courtesy an Mpeg-4 encode that has a nice palette. The anime series has a bright and vibrant color palette with multiple variations of reds being the primary focus. The colors do help this two-dimensional image seem a bit more three-dimensional as each episode does have a nice variety of color. The animation is clean and clear, with no microbanding or edge issues. The presentation does have the various soft scenes and the somewhat dull moments that keep this from greatness.

The audio for Sekirei: The Complete Series offers two lossless tracks with the English track being a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track and the Japanese one being a Dolby TrueHD 2.0 version. Normally, my first thing to do would be to complain that the Japanese track didn’t get the attention the English one did, but in a series like this I was content with the English dub. The audio presentation is fairly standard, nothing bad but nothing that jumps out and screams excellent. All the dialogue, whether thought or spoken, is clear and loud through the center channel. Sound effects, mostly exaggerated for the intent of the series, are loud and powerful and the speakers divide them quite well. Music is interesting, but that has nothing to do with the audio codec. It does come across nicely but doesn’t interfere with the remainder of the track. Overall, a good track that isn’t perfect.

Video Rating: 9/10, Audio Rating: 8/10

The Extras:

Sekirei: The Complete Series actually is just shy in extras compared to what Sekirei: Pure Engagement offers but does have more extras than FUNimation has been putting on most of their releases.

OVA – Kusano’s First Shopping Trip (HD)
Textless Opening Song (HD)
Textless Closing Songs (HD)
FUNimation Trailers (HD)

Extras Rating: 5/10

Overall:

Sekirei: The Complete Series is an interesting Blu-ray release. Even more interesting is that it’s making its Blu-ray debut after the second volume of the series. The Blu-ray has solid video and a couple of strong lossless audio tracks. The extras aren’t great, but you do get more than FUNimation has been putting on board most of their releases lately. The series isn’t for everybody, but if you’re an anime fan that can find some humor in shallow jokes and boob shots as well as want a strong plot, Sekirei might just do it for you.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Disc Details

Distributor:
FUNimation

Release Date:
April 10, 2012

Tech. Specs:

Region A
50 GB Disc (x2)
DVD Set (x2)

Video:

Mpeg-4 AVC
1080p
1.78:1

Audio:

English TrueHD 5.1
Japanese TrueHD 2.0

Subtitles:
English

Rating:
TV-MA

Genre:
Anime, Action

Runtime:
300 min.

Features:

OVA Feature
Textless Songs
Trailers

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