This review does not contain any spoilers. It’s safe to read before watching.
***
A female protagonist, even two of them. Yuri as a highly rated tag. Historical setting. Basically all my favourite things. So what went wrong?
Well, the series turned out to be the definition of “meh”. That went wrong.
The premise is simple: a young thief was recently joined by a mysterious white haired girl with some incredible martial skills. They travel around, and while they do, some dark conspiracy seems to unravel itself in their wake.
Based on that and the genre list (Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama) I expected something similar to Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran - two warrior besties travelling through the world, helping people or causing problems, whichever they find more convenient. And then some kind of overarching plot showing itself in the second half of the series.
Great, just girls doing girly things - and each other, judging by the tags. My expectations were not super high, but I was ready for some fun. The first episode was enough to make me realise it may lead to disappointment.
Story starts with two girls travelling, indeed. The first episode has them attempting to steal something from a young rich man, and uses it as an opportunity to show the protagonists’ skills and personalities. It's a pretty good start. And then the rich boy joins them on their journey. And the overarching plot comes with him.
I'm not going to discuss every episode and story choice, and I do not wish to spoil the watch for anyone, so let me just vaguely summarise the rest.
There is no casual travelling. The main story shows up instantly and is there for the rest of the series. The protagonists don't “somehow seem like they don’t care a bit. They simply continue on their journey”, like the Anilist description says. They're constantly fighting, being kidnapped or saving each other, and then fighting some more.
The rich boy is with them for some time, but the main part is two of them stuck in combat. There are enemies aplenty, though I wouldn't necessarily call them a conspiracy - just your usual bunch of power hungry people eager to beat up a teenage girl. The encounters with them lead the protagonists to learn some truths about their backstories, which tie to the main plot, and it's all connected in a huge web of clichés and boring use of tropes. It's just… so uninteresting. Nearly all parts of the story are so plain and forgettable - they're mostly not even bad, they're just nothing of note. And I believe using tropes is great! But using a bunch of them in a way every other story already did… nah. It's not even particularly well-written to make up for the boring ideas.
From the start, it looks alright. Nicely drawn, nicely animated. Then the second episode happens and for some unknown reason it’s CGI and looks pretty awful. Fortunately, it passes, but there are some weird looking moments later on as well. Overall it looks okay. The backgrounds are pretty, and the animation works well. But nothing more. I wasn’t impressed by the fighting scenes - I feel they were decent, but just that. The choreography was cool, but the whole magical side of the fights were just awfully plain.
The main girls are pretty good leads. They're likeable and cute. Cute enough to make the slower moments worth it, and it's a shame the series didn't give them more time to just spend together on some side quests. The character designs are one of the best parts. The protagonists look very distinctive, and match each other nicely. The rest is mostly much more plain, although a group of side characters that shows up a bit later definitely steals the show. They're a funky looking bunch, one of the highlights.
About the “yuri” tag… I know it may be the sole reason some people want to watch it, so let me quickly explain: meh. It's not as explicit as one might have hoped. Fruity, yeah, I totally see them that way but it's as subtle as the gentlest blow of wind - the title Spirit Wind Elegance certainly matches this well. But really, it's nothing noteworthy. If they get gayer in the sequel, I'd say yeah, there were signs. But if it's just a queerbait, it is not even that strong.
It's my first review on this site and I wondered how to rate it - the same as I did on my list? Or try to be more objective? Well, no review is truly objective, so… It's something in the middle. If one didn't have any expectations, I guess it may be a decent watch. But nothing more than that. There's just nothing novel about the story. The setting is super plain and generic, the story is painfully boring, and the characters are not endearing enough to carry it all. I was disappointed enough to write this thing, so it's something.
TL;DR: just watch Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran instead.