Hybrid X Heart

Wow, surprised me to see how long it’s been since I posted. So, this season’s panderfest, Magias Academy HxH. I was writing a post about it that just kept getting longer and longer, trying to explain the balance of pandering vs. plot, and it just aggravated me until I developed multiple personalities that had an argument in a Q&A format. It went something like this:

Q: “So, does this show have anything besides pandering? Comedy? Drama? Plot? Story?”
A: “Well yeah, it’s got comedy…”

Q: “Based on the pandering, right?”
A: “…mostly.”

Q: “Drama? Pathos?”
A: “Definitely pathos. Major parental issues, abandonment, emotional abuse…”

Q: “Enough to carry the story if there was no fanservice or pandering? If the girls were all plain? Or ugly?”
A: “Ummm… no. I think we’d say it was kinda thin and undeveloped. And maybe not realistic?”

Q: “So it’s really just pandering with a veneer of plot and pathos so it can say, ‘Hey, it isn’t just pandering!’, right?”
A: “Yeah, I think that’s about it.”

Q: “So what do we do that that post we wrote?”
A: “I didn’t write that crap, you did!”
Q: “Did not! That was your fault!”
A: “Did to!”

At which point I served an eviction notice to the voices in my head (they were just renting anyway), and decided to post the rest of the article as is. Enjoy. Oh, and if you inflict this on yourself, download the ATX uncensored version. Crunchy isn’t worth it, thanks to the censoring.

Although it’s been out since Tuesday on Crunchy, today’s the first chance I’ve had to view it. Before I did, I checked Baka-Tsuki, and found that someone did a fast job of translating the novels since last year. So, naturally, I read part of it. Up into the third novel, in fact. And….

It wasn’t totally awful. Now granted, I read the prologue, and said, “self, this is totally unredeemable pandering crap. But… schwing!.” And you know, that was exactly what the prologue was meant to do. Sell the sex, because the opening of the first chapter, got real heavy, really damn quick. The anime, of course did exactly the same thing. So let’s cut to the chase.

A guy and a girl, on a round bed, in a room with a disco ball… while an over-stacked blond in a an IS suit (oh sorry, they’re called Heart Hybrids here) somewhere nearby blows up robots and complains “Jeez, just climax already!” Nah, no suggestiveness here.

So they have softcore sex, at the end of which we see the pink and red sparklies and a readout maxing. They get dressed, exit the room (into an apocalyptic landscape), and the girl starts becoming a tsundere prude. The blonde shows up (gainaxing of course) to tease them.

She’s about to grab the guy and head into the love shack when a third, silver-haired girl saves them all from a huge attack, and then cuts in line, locking the other girls out of the room. Suggestive talk and actions, prologue ends, and we get the OP followed by a reset to How it All Began….

Generally it follows the LN. The first three novels, and I assume the arcs to be covered in this cour, will introduce us to the three girls, the guy, and three other important characters. Each of the novels (and arcs?) primarily features one of the girls, although they all appear in the first episode. The “love shack” appears in the third novel, and the prologue may be from the late third, or perhaps the fourth. The story itself follows Hida Kizuna, who was actually the first person to have a Heart Hybrid core installed.

Background: Earth was invaded from an alternate dimension a few years ago; twice. This first time, about fifty million died; the second time, humans lost control of all the land masses; the major countries managed to create “megafloats” which are huge ships linked together, tens of miles long. Think Arpeggio of Blue Steel in reverse; humans control the sea and the invaders control the land. Japan’s megafloat resembles the country, down to the original regions, and they even dismantled, moved, and rebuilt many landmarks on the float during the second invasion. But the US and Japan were cooperating in research on some technology that’s actually effective against the invaders, and the lead researcher was Kizuna’s mother. The tech may have been captured from the first invasion, but the LN hints we might have stolen it and started the whole thing. Maybe even Kizuna’s mom.

LN Spoiler: She’s a cold, heartless bitch; given her actions and personality (and lack of a father being mentioned), I conclude that she used sperm donors to have Kizuna and his big sister, Reiri. Kizuna only had value to her as an experimental subject; when an amnesiac girl was found seven years ago that had a higher compatibility, kaa-san wasted no time in declaring him worthless, and kicking him out. As in, out of the lab where he lived, to live with his barely older sister, Reiri on the Tokyo float. (Ataraxia, the defense/school/R&D float, is at the very “northern” end, attached to Hokkaido.) She never communicated with him again, nor responded to his emails. Later, Reiri enrolled in the school, which meant she had to move to Ataraxia — since then he lived alone. At least she would correspond with him occasionally. The school only accepts students with a high HxH compatibility; otherwise you can’t live on that specific float.

And then Reiri suddenly informed him that, despite his low compatibility scores, Kizuna was being transferred into the school. He thinks she’s showing partiality and put a “fix” in, but it turns out to be entirely different. Kaa-san disappeared a few years back; but some anonymous information just appeared that could only have come from her…

The information indicates that if he can build an emotional/sexual relationship with someone equipped with a Hybrid Heart system, it would “recharge” their energy. The better the relationship, the better the charge. In fact, if they can take it to the max, a “Climax Heart” (nothing suggestive there, eh?) the girls can unlock a special weapon, and he can copy their normal powers to augment his own, rather weak ones. In fact, he seems to develop a new one or two… This reminds me of VanDread, in which the male protagonist can combine his mech with the girls’ fighters. Well, the defense force is currently made up of only three high-school girls, all gorgeous, and Reiri is the school president — which of course, because you can’t save the world without Japanese teens, means that she’s in charge of the megafloat’s defenses, the school, and their R&D division, which is overseen by another student. Somehow he’s the only male with a HxH core, so they need him to sex up the girls in order to recharge them.

So… the girls.

Great body, terrible personality, and she doesn’t know it but she has a connection with Kizuna She’s the girl that replaced him as oka-san’s lab rat. Which is why her personality is awful. He’s had seven years to adjust, but is still a bit screwed up. She has had only about a year.

Her issue? A few years ago, during the final collapse and evacuation, she failed to protect a large crowd that was attacked. Blaming herself ever since, she assumes it was because she wasn’t serious enough. Although she performed her missions well, she slacked off at training, and spent time thinking about boys.

The blond at the top is Yurisha. Despite her name, she’s actually an American; the fall of human civilization isolated various ex-pats across the world. We’ll meet at British loli later on. (Who is not a fighter, just assigned as Captain Kizuna’s assistant.) Yes, Captain. While Yurisha is fairly forward to start, the other two girls aren’t willing to accept being groped by Kizuna, so his sister Reiri solves that problem by putting him in charge of them. Yurisha is the acknowledged “queen” of the school, not royalty, just considered the perfect, popular girl. (Himikawa is too serious, and is a one-woman Disciplinary Committee terror.) Her story is that she either knows or suspects the real drawback of the Heart Hybrid armor, which may have a lot to do with her carpe diem attitude. The armor is eventually going to kill the girls. This doesn’t get revealed until the 3rd LN, but it basically uses up their life force, and they only recover slowly over time. This isn’t true of all the suits, just the ones that kaa-san equipped these three girls with. The American HxH gear is lower spec — but doesn’t have this drawback. At this point, the three girls are so over-used, they’re in danger of dying in any given battle. So when the message appeared with a method to “recharge” them, Reiri jumped on it immediately, damn the consequences.

Of course Reiri not only introduces Kizuna to the student body, she explains what he’s there for, instantly making him suspicious to the female student body

, and super-unpopular with the guys. Of course he’s placed in the girls’ class. Just call him Ichika (only with a libido). Oh, and his unit’s name (which he has to yell out to equip? “EROS!”

Seriously, Yurisha’s tits are just too big. Send her to Eiken and call up Luxandra from Misaki Chronicles.