Walkure Romanze

Summary: >

Winford academy is a school centered around jousting. Takahiro was once exceptional at the sport, but due to an injury now helps out in the stables. One day his friend Mio is challenged to a jousting duel, even though she has no experience. Takahiro offers to help as her "begleiter" (assistant / advisor). Impressively, Mio holds her own and takes a liking to jousting. In the upcoming tournament, a few more girls see Takahiro as the key to victory. Who will he choose?

Thoughts: >

It doesn't take long to understand Walkure Romanze is fan service heavy. It's easy to dismiss this anime as another fluff brain series all about the girls. But it has other nice features too... like really attractive uniforms.

No wait, I mean jousting. It appears to be a gimmick for girls in armor, but could jousting add enough freshness to keep this afloat? Actually I'd say yes. It's a nice diversion from the usual anime scenario, even if downright stupid at times. It should be expected when there's an opportunity for fan service, this anime will take it

With various girls featured, I dreaded the one chosen as the focus point... at first. Mio is the start and end point of the anime, but Walkure Romanze is well distributed among the cast - and the characters aren't too bad, even if nothing great. The male lead is unusual since he's more than a blank slate girls like because he's "a nice guy". Takahiro is sought after because he's an exceptional strategist. Each girl believes he's the key to winning the tournament, and ask him to act as their second - although they're clearly romantically interested in him too.

Since it's based off a visual novel, each girl has her own story. The stories are decent for what they are, even if a bit eye rolling at times. Each story is separate, yet integrate into the overall anime surprisingly well. There isn't much else aside from the comedy. I'd be tempted to flame this anime on that front, but... there are (apparently) a lot of sexual innuendos to be had in a jousting themed anime, and I found it fairly amusing in that respect.

If you're watching for the girls, it's hard not to talk about the service. And by that I mean the Napoleon era military inspired uniforms which look really cool. Taking place "somewhere in Europe", you might wonder how this could possibly have a hot springs episode, or if there's a beach around for swimsuits. Don't worry, Walkure Romanze has it covered (and the girls uncovered).

In the end Walkure Romanze is just another anime featuring many girls around one guy. Assuming your expectations are realistic (and thus not high), it's not too bad, and at least it looks really nice. I won't say the jousting theme makes it incredibly fresh and new, but it keeps it from becoming completely stale. I thought the jousting was interesting, even if not a huge feature of the show. I don't think it could have focused on it more than it did, due to the simplistic nature of the sport. It's not too bad considering how poorly similar titles fair.

Screen Caps: >