#Intro: Hello, for context on this review, the Yuki Yuna series is one of my favorite series ever made and I would consider myself a huge fan. Still I wanted to create this review on what I would consider the worst entry in the series to explain where it fails, but also compliment it in places where it does succeed. NOTE: I will list major spoilers for both this anime as well as the original source material, I will be making active comparisons of key differences. The light novels are incredible and I advise you to read them, if you want to read them without specific spoilers I would do so, otherwise I’m hoping what I'll talk about will sell you on them. Anyways let's get this started!
To start, the contents of the Great Mankai Chapter are part original and part adaptations of two of the light novels. It is scattered around with episode 1 being almost all new content, episodes 2 through 4 are adapting Kusunoki Mebuki is a Hero, episodes 5 through 8 "adapt" (quotation marks intentional) Nogi Wakaba is a Hero. Then 9 and 10 are part of Kusunoki Mebuki epilogue chapters, 10 and 11 are new versions/cut of the ending of season 2's Hero Chapter, and 12 is an overall epilogue to Yuki Yuna's story. There are some intermittent new scenes added into the adaptation that are worth mentioning as well. A lot of my critics will come with the adapted content, and generally what's added is very strong, the only problem is the time taken from the adapted content, which desperately needed more time to develop.
I'll go chronologically through episodes, with episode 1 being mostly new, as said I have little to criticize. A lot is pretty cutesy and fun with the main Yuna six having fun giving comedic relief. Of note; we get a scene between Tougou and Sonoko discussing Gin. Talking about their time when they were the three heroes, Tougou being upset with how she forgot such an important friend having Sonoko consoling her. This stuff is great and we get to see Tougou get more closure on these feelings with other short scenes similar to this one.
#Kusunoki Mebuki is a Hero Adaptation: But moving into 2 through 4 we get into the adaptation of Kusunoki Mebuki is a Hero, about 6 chapters and roughly around 150 pages of light novel content. This is clearly not enough to get everything and the content cuts are pretty huge. This part is coherent but lacks a lot of the emotion and character payoffs from the light novel. They were able to keep key story beats of the events, but a lot of the lessons are cut off. I'll give an example with Suzume's character arc. There is a short moment in episode 3 that is 5 minutes at the start of the episode, and in the light novel it's about half of chapter 3. In the anime Suzume describes her encounter with the Hero Club to the rest of the group going into a flashback of her meeting with it ultimately being pretty comedic telling the group that these heroes are just normal girls. It gives a general detail of the events and passes important information to the characters, but this doesn't give any incite or development to the characters. But in the light novel the Hero Club assumes that she has come to ask a request to help her, and Suzume in a quick rush asks:
>"I-I've always been a coward! That's why...I want to get a bit more brave, even just slightly!"
Both anime and LN readers know she is a scaredy-cat, but this is something she wants to grow from. Then following the plot line of the lost cat that was still in the anime, Suzume ends up seeing the missing cat on the roof so she and the heroes go up to the roof to get the cat. Yuna ends up in a dangerous situation and falls over the railing and instinctively Suzume ends up going to grab her leading them to both falling. There fall was protected from Yuna's fairy and nobody is seriously hurt, but this leads into a moment where the heroes doubt her lack of bravery and try to raise her confidence:
>Yuuna clasped Suzume's hands. "I'm a coward too. I hate when it's scary or it hurts. But if my friends were in trouble, I think I'd definitely save them even if it was painful or scary. Just like you did right now, Suzume-chan!" Brave, but cowardly? Suzume didn't really understand. Mimori came near Suzume and said: "First of all, let me deeply thank you for saving Yuuna-chan. And, Kagajou-san. I think bravery and cowardice aren't opposites of each other. I think they can coexist. A person who's cowardly, but at the same time brave. Kagajou-san, I think you're a person like that"
This being lost in adaptation really takes away from understanding Suzume's character. While she is the lowest ranked sentinel, her instinct to help and dive in to save others is her power, even if outwardly she shows fear unlike any other.
Every character's background, growth, and understanding is neutered like this or worse. Especially Shizuku who in the anime is boiled down to a multiple-personality disorder gag with "angry Shizuku-chan" while in the light novel she has an arc along with Mebuki where Mebuki learns to work with both versions of her; while Shizuku for once has person who can accept both versions of her making her very happy. While we understand the characters on the basic troupe level, everyone's moments of personal growth are almost completely cut out.
#Nogi Wakaba is a Hero Adaptation: But now we get into episode 5 through 8, or the "adaptation" of Nogi Wakaba is a hero, which is 2 books, 22 chapters, and over 450 pages of content. So every issue of content removal from Mebuki's story is now ten times worse. To start they cut the first 13 chapters from the novel, which is all of the first book and jump in at the middle of 14, to the point where Tamako and Anzu have died. Now, while I could probably say this and already be justified, having to cut all this development has huge consequences on character motivations which are needed to justify the actions that follow in what they will go and adapt. The biggest loss is Wakaba who is actually presented as a more stoic, unfeeling asshole with Chikage's aggression towards her being more justified. They need to utilize Tamako and Anzu's death as what starts tension between the two while in the LN it is a many reasons coming together, her background, her motivations as a hero, the rivalry, her emotional support, and use of power. In the LN, you'll learn Chikage has this desire to perform as the best hero because her being a hero is the only time the community she grew up in has seen her as valuable, and her gaining this status is the first time she is treated with common human decency. All of chapter 4 is to set this up:
>The sound of the impact echoed, and everyone around her went silent. "...I have something...To ask of you all." With everyone's attention on her, Chikage said with a tiny voice. "Am I... a person of worth...?" They all stood there looking dubious, when someone broke the silence. "Of course. You're a hero after all." The others followed suit and said the same thing. Everyone praised the hero Chikage. Up until recently, she had lived as the lowest of the low. Bullied, mocked and hurt. The fact that she was useless drilled both into her body and mind. How about now though? Those who had hurt her once were now trying to get on her good side. The adults who thought of her as nothing more than a stone by the side of the road, were now holding her hands. (All because...I'm a hero now...)
Chapter 4 is extremely dark, going into abuse and torment she would receive at school and in her small hometown because of her mother cheating then getting sick and coming back to Chikage's dad. It comments on how ugly collectivist, family based culture can be to people who have no involvement in doing bad to their name. Admittedly this chapter I feel would need to be cut or softened for just how brutal it would be to picture the contents of it. Still losing the developed motive as a hero from this chapter, plus losing moments of tension between Hinata, Chikage, and Wakaba in Chapter 15.
>"In that case, fine, I'll just stop using trump cards... And then we'll see how many victims turn up. That'll teach them... Shikoku and the Taisha alike... They talk big for cowards in their safe places...! What the hell do they even--" "Chikage, that's enough." Wakaba interrupted, as she had noticed the sad look on Hinata's face. Hinata knew her role put her in a safe place in society and felt guilty about it. The phrase "cowards in their safe places" just rubbed salt into the wound. ... Wakaba placed her hand on Chikage's shoulder, stopping her. "I know you're frustrated in this situation. Of course you are! But that's no excuse to hurt someone else like that! It's difficult times like these that we really do need solidarity--" "What a logical statement. Everything's 'logical' about you, isn't it...?" "What?" "You can't live on cold logic alone... Not without a thick skin... But me? I'm not as strong as you...I'm not thick skinned like you...! You have no idea what it feels like to be weak like me...!" "...Now's not the time to whine!" "Shut up!" Chikage pushed Wakaba away. The sudden motion took Wakaba by surprise as she fell onto the floor alongside a nearby decorative plant. A shattered shard of the flowerpot pierced the skin of Wakaba's hand, causing red drops to scatter on the floor. "Gh...!" Hinata rushed over to Wakaba as she winced in pain. "Wakaba-chan!" "Ah..." The sight of Wakaba's injury caused Chikage's face to tremble. She had only pushed Wakaba away impulsively and didn't mean to hurt her.
It is moments like this that show tension between the two after the deaths of Tamako and Anzu, the added aggression caused as a side effect from prior power-ups in battle. Wakaba is a lot more emotionally aware in the LN, especially after development in the first book, while the anime makes her very stoic in all moments making her come off, again, as an unfeeling asshole when Chikage is reasonable hurt from the deaths of two of her very few friends. This makes the fight between them as well as Chikage's death much emptier. And while this isn't huge changes, the small things show how the little development makes them need to cut subtly out of the scene.
>(I thought... that if I died... nobody would mourn me...) Chikage wanted to be loved. She thought that if she strove as a hero, she would prove her worth and be loved by others. So she fought, and fought... When unbeatable Vertexes appeared-- when she lost her hero power-- when people stopped loving her-- she had thought she had lost everything. But in truth, she didn't. The days they spent in Marugame castle together-- the udon they ate together. The Vertexes they fought together. The hot-spring trip they spent together. The games they played together. The leisurely hours they spent together. Regardless of her hero power, or her Vertex fights, Chikage's friends had loved her as a friend. (... I'm such... an idiot...) If only she had made that realization-- Chikage would probably have been satisfied. She would have been satisfied just being loved by her friends. ... And then-- With the last of her strength, Chikage told her. She told Wakaba the one thing she never could before. "... Nogi-san... I... hate you..." "I know..." "But... I adore you... just as much..." "..." "I loved... you..."
Change wise, the first part in parenthesis was changed from an inner thought to spoken dialogue, losing the subtlety of showing this late realization visually as to this point in the anime the story has failed to fully establish just how empty her life is outside of her time as a hero and how her overall desire for love from people who never truly care blinded her from a new found family with the heroes. They also give Wakaba more dialogue where she gets to be emotional in the anime, it's a okay change that helps give her more life and removes the bit of stoics for once but the LN really takes the cake by having a more simple but powerful dialogue where in the anime they say:
>Chikage: I still hate you...But...But I looked up to you just as much...Maybe I really liked you...after all...
While the silence for Wakaba works, parts like "maybe I really liked you" feel off as Chikage does realize in this final moment that she is one of her few friends, there is no doubt or question to it. So she does love her, but the reason she hates her is this envy over how she has handled being a hero and how she acts as a true hero doing her best to keep her alive even after she had tried to kill her.
To summarize, this stretch of episodes get some basics on the events of what happened in the book, yet they still fail to adapt any of this huge emotional moments, and they really shift the motivations with Wakaba painted as quite differently in a bad way
#Good Additions: But to lighten up finally I want to talk about some of those smaller new scenes that were added in during these adaptation episodes. The first one is in episode 4 giving some added content to when Tougou goes and sacrifices herself for the fire offering. It gives her this near death moment where she gets to talk with Gin before the heroes go and rescue her. Giving a pretty sappy moment where Gin rests her ease about forgetting her and how her friends are never going to let her be sacrificed for the sake of humanity. It does get me teary eyed and nobody is going to argue for less Gin moments. But these out of body meetings are not done because in episode 8 we have the two Yuna's conversing with each other. This taking place when Yuki is suffering from the curse on her after saving Tougou from the fire offering, Takashima whose soul is with the Divine tree talks to her and says that the gods view them closely as one in the same and that she can take the curse off of her and onto herself. The moment bolsters the kindness of both characters. When Yuki asks what would happen to her, Takashima is quiet, showing that taking the curse while in the Divine tree would be very bad but she would do it so Yuki wouldn't suffer through the future. Then Yuki rejects the offer and says: The moment is good for both characters and also gives a little more understanding to the ending of the first season of the anime. Overall another great point. And while mentioning these points in the story I wanted to talk about one other portion that feels similar. This happens in episode 12 with all of the original content. Particularly the final scene where Tougou and Sonoko visit Gin’s grave, while the exchange those two have is great. I feel this scene is really nice for the closure of Aki, the Taisha member who always had to be closest to the girls. Being the teacher for the three of them in the Sumi Washio chapter where she was really allowed to show her emotions, then she sits in the background being the Taisha member informing and sending the sentinels out on their missions, where she would not show her face and hid behind the mask, trying to give her distance between the girls. She is a unique character for being the only adult who we see suffers through the guilt of having to help the government in sending these young girls on death missions. She is the only one to voice any discontent about the Taisha from within it And this scene after all the conflict is over do we see Aki come with flowers to visit Gin's grave. She is afraid to come in contact with Tougou and Sonoko after what she had done but both are very happy to see her coming to visit Gin. Before she can step down to the grave site she breaks down in tears releasing the guilt built up after years of working alongside Heroes and sentinels. I love that we get a bit of closure for Aki, a character most people wouldn't think about too much.
#Remaking the Ending: This is the last thing I want to cover in this review, I could gush and make whole segments on other parts between 9 and 12. But I'll keep it short. The adaptation of the first epilogue chapter of Kusunoki Mebuki is great, they shift perspective a bit to Karin, but this makes sense for adaptation sake, and god that fight is awesome: Mebuki's confrontation with Aya during the Shinkon ceremony in episode 10 is an amazing sequence. And of course the four years later epilogue is a yuyuyu fan dream to see, and we love seeing them living their best life. To the remake of the ending of the Hero Chapter as they don't change events, but there are a ton of small changes to dialogue, score, and shots. Some are good and others bad. Ultimately I think asking a yuyu fan which version of the ending they like more is a good bar argument. Personally I like the original more for a couple of reasons. First and honestly huge to me, have the peice "Hana Kanmuri" play from when the spirits start flying down towards Tougou, the score is just literally made perfect with the show and everything is paced so perfectly with the climax, the soundtrack for this entire series is one of the best, so what they change it to is still great, but I'm sold by this track more. Second is I personally like the dialogue choice more in this moment before Yuna is broken out. I can see why someone likes the other and it's again a toss up to preference.
>HERO CHAPTER VERSION Tougou: This can't be...We...Shouldn't be doing this...I am thankful...but...but...it's fine. I don't want a world you can only gain by sacrificing my friends and other people. I don't want...a world like that. That is...
>GREAT MANKAI VERSION Tougou: No...This wasn't what we fought for...I truly am grateful...but...but...I've had enough. I don't want to lose those around me. My friends...Who needs a world without all of them? I don't...this what it means to be...
Subtleties like "It's fine" instead of "I've had enough" just flow a bit nicer and give a better feeling of that defeat for me. I also feel similarly for the dialogue from the other heroes after these lines.
Still with the additions of showing the Chikage's tower from the sentinels and other shots that pay homage to Gin, there are many reasons to give the Great Mankai chapter pick as your favorite.
#Conclusion: To wrap it all up, what are my overall feelings of The Great Mankai chapter. It might be surprising for how critical I was for over half of this review, but the high number at the bottom of this review reflects that I still view this season highly positively. The reason for this is that for all the shortcomings of this season, and how it really butchers adapting some of the best material in the entire series. This entry got me intrigued and interested in reading into the light novels. It shows enough of the deeper connected lore and makes you think about the series in a more broad way. Yuki Yuna is a Hero was not so highly regarded by me initially. I would have given the original maybe an 8.5 or 9, but not view it as something with a deep level of thought and care, but after watching this, then going into the light novels. I began to think very highly of the series. I like to say it is the inverse of Madoka Magica. Madoka Magica is a deeper look into the psychology of the girls, and expressing it through gigantic-universe altering events. Yuki Yuna is a Hero is a deeper look at societal flaws and human perseverance, and expressing it through the lens of the girls' personal dramas. Yuki Yuna might get perceived as a cheap version of Madoka when it is looked at through the perspective of it being simply about the drama from the heroes. But the Great Mankai chapter is the catalyst to make me realize the strength of this series is the reflection of the world made by the characters. Without this I don't know if I would have ever read all the light novels and been such a huge fan of this series, and I think that I'm not the only one.
Thank you for reading is whole review, I know it's long. If you haven't got the message already, Read the Light Novels /manga/99559/nogi-wakaba-wa-yuusha-de-aru /manga/100676/kusunoki-mebuki-wa-yuusha-de-aru They are so damn good, I would start with Nogi Wakaba first as the story is just as big as the Yuki Yuna's. (Then you get to cry your eye out at the Anzu and Tamako death) You also get bonus points for reading the Hero History Apocrypha's /manga/142100/yuuki-yuuna-wa-yuusha-de-aru-yuushashi-gaiten Yuki Yuna fans are rare to come by, so if you get really into like I have, the community would love to have you! Peace out!
