10 Second Anime - Valkyrie Drive Mermaid - Episode 12 [END]

Mirei, Mamori and other girls confront Momoka and her Soldiers. Season Finale.

Episode 12 [END] - "Valkyrie Drive"

Heh.

For a season finale, this was quite satisfying. The bad girl was bad, but not irredeemable. The good girls were good, but needed to persevere in an adverse moment. And the girls who each got a featured episode got another moment to shine. Conventional as all-get-out, but satisfying.

Torino, or at least her rear, had one more impressive scene. Her final reveal was that she was the designated observer of the Arm Virus infected girls on the island. We never saw what other capabilities she may have had, but evidently she handled herself and the girls with her without resorting to violence. I guess Akira always was in contact with the outside observers whenever they had one of their hot springs meetings.

Akira, Lady Lady and Meifon also made reprises. Of note with their appearances were close-ups of their interesting panties too. Except for Akira and Lady J. Pants got in the way for one and Lady J just doesn't have anything to flash.

Last episode felt much more like a video game plot, but the episode long battle with Momoka felt like a final boss fight. Things that used to work before just had no effect on the super powered Soldiers.

The boss' final form was a great opportunity for Giant Nimi to create an opening. This is why you have to do every side quest in these kind of games!

Kasumi and Hibiki

One of my favorite characters this season, and not just from a design standpoint, was Kasumi. She had to balance doing what was ethical with keeping the peace between a whole bunch of violent sexually aroused girls. It was a nice bit of closure to have the traumatized Hibiki join her struggle.

But from a design standpoint... yowza! Now we know why Kasumi had those powerful thighs: she was an ice skater!

Momoka and the endgame was also satisfying. It was a mystery exactly what the 100% Valkyrie Drive thing did, but that the supposed villain wanted it so she could escape the Triple A Soldier organization added a little bit of sympathy for her.

Mirei and Mamori's final form was thematically perfect. So cutesy, using Mamori's hair, and making a whole helmet out of the kitty hairpin. I expect healthy sales on posters, figures and mousepads.

The power of (lesbian) love saves the day!

Oh hey, look. The whole reason for this anime was to grow interest in that Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni game.

Go buy the game, you horny otaku, and make sure these two girls show up in an anime sometime soon!

Geh.

If Lady Lady is fighting, then you're already guaranteed a NSFW scene.

Oh yes. It took them 12 episodes, but they figured out how to put tentacles into this ecchi anime.

Look. We know the other girls are all very nice to look at, but you know and I know why we spent 12 episodes watching this show, especially the last two ugly dramatic ones. Mirei is here to carry the heavy fanservice load, so let's make sure she's loaded up.

At least the reason the girls are bound and have something in their mouths is a much more coherent premise than what happens in THOSE kind of anime. The virus is being sucked out of their bodies to be used in powerful attacks by Momoka.

It's not too often you see a captive tentacle victim actually rip off the tentacles, so kudos to Mirei.

Hmm.

I mentioned before that this episode was a satisfying ending. I'm a bit impressed with how much the story closed up a whole bunch of the premise holes I was worried about earlier in the season. The conclusion too, where the mysterious Valkyrie Drive gave Mirei and Mamori the power to heal all the girls with Arm Virus, ended Mermaid Island's story. All the girls there got to go home.

Also, that Mamori doesn't want to go home yet because she wants to use her new power to help other girls go home speaks well to the nice girl character she always was, but includes some development of courage from her association with Mirei. It's all good. Nothing to complain about there.

Meifon and Lady Lady join Mirei and Mamori on their new mission to heal infected girls, but we don't know if Mamori can give them back some of their old virus power to help. It no longer matters for this story, but it is a wrinkle since we know there are many competing organizations' and individuals' interests in the power of the Arm Virus. They might not be so happy to see a short little girl who looks younger than the tall big girl who can take away that power. This Valkyrie Drive Project still has many stories to tell, which is a good sign we may see M&M in some other media form in the near future.

Final Thoughts.

For a sexy exploitive anime trying to establish a world rich enough for horny guys to buy stuff with these sexy exploited girls on them, Valkyrie Drive Mermaid succeeded. The plot was a little conventional and the setting didn't make much sense until I realized that mystery was part of how the story was being told. The characters were likeable and unlikeable as they were intended. The only real bad guys were the adults and organizations which took advantage of the girls. I guess that might mean the consumers of this media too...

There was just the right amount of comedy mixed in with the action, but as is the convention with these anime (see Freezing, High School DxD, Queen's Blade, etc.), what makes the season fun has to go away for the last three episodes to make a season finale plausible and conclusive. I'd like to see a title that bends that rule a little bit, but it's a convention for a reason and almost everyone appreciates a catharsis of some kind. Valkyrie didn't break any ground there, but the characters did have their comedic and sexy moments. If you like these kind of uncensored sexy violent anime with a bit more humor than most, you won't hate Valkyrie Drive Mermaid.