I’m not even sure how to start this review. Should I start with a rant about the awful, ridiculously weird ending, or should I rant about the stupidity of some of the characters? Or should I be thanking my lucky stars for the lack of panty shots?

… okay, let’s start with the positives: For a yuri series based on an eroge, Yamibou (as it’s called for short) was not horrible. It did not have a wussy male lead, some of the characters (especially Hazuki) were very likable, and there was some interesting bits of plot in the short-story-type format the series followed. Some of the characters’ situations were cleverly written and managed to be very emotional.

However, parts of the series make be wonder just what drug the producers were on. (mild spoilers ahead; you have been warned~)

Yamibou is, basically, a collection of short stories spread throughout multiple dimensions. The stories are only connected by three things: Hazuki, who’s searching for Hatsumi; Lilith and her library that holds all the dimensions; and this really flaming gay guy and his stupid goons.

In the end, you end up with this really complex, compelling plot that involves who Hatsumi really is, what her duties are, how she affected really flaming gay guy’s life, who from which dimension ended up where, etc, etc… but instead of being emotional and epic, it almost sucks. Why? Because the journey was weak, and the characters are weak so the viewer doesn’t care what happens to them. And to make matters even less interesting, you have these three goblin things always commiting acts of incredibly stupid humor. It’s a shame, really.

… Of course, as I said, not all of the characters are stupid. Hazuki’s predicament is fairly emotional, even if you’re not at all into yuri. Lilith is fun to watch when she’s not all over Hazuki, and several of the one-time characters are either very cute or very interesting.

I hated Hatsumi, though. Why the heck did she go back to the library after a millennium of playing hooky? And why did she run around so many worlds, abandoning so many people in the process? And why did she act like she couldn’t talk all that time? AND WHAT WAS WITH HAZUKI HAVING HER AS A BABY IN THE FUTURE? It’s like immaculate conception, only 50 times more screwed up. Joyous.

My favorite arc was probably the one in the spaceship, where the adults fall victim to a ‘paralysis disease’ and the ship’s main computer attempts to make up for it. That was a morally and psychologically compelling issue, and though the writers could have handled it better, it was a joy to watch. There was a fair amount of creativity involved in the scenario for that arc; I wonder if it played out the same way in the game.

The animation favored that arc as well, with the rainbow-colored computer voice, high-tech stuff, and shiny spacesuit things and all. The other arcs had their moments of QUALITY, but the gorgeous opener pretty much made up for that. The character designs ranged from really cute (Milka~!) to really… er, boring and ugly. The music was hit-or-miss as well, with the opening being pure awesome and the background music failing to impress.

Most of the action scenes were very generic, with Hazuki drawing her sword and cutting up random monsters and never getting a single scratch herself, etc, etc. There’s one action-y bit in episode 2, though, where this cross-dressing spy chick goes totally ninja on a bad guy, AND IT IS PRETTY FREAKING AWESOME. I would fangirl gush about that single part of the episode for a whole post if I had the time.

Reviewing this series is a bit sad for me, though, because the concept had tons of potential that went unrealized. If the writing and characters would’ve been stronger (and the ending not so crappy) it could have been decent. It’s still not horrible, though, and it has enough moments of sheer pathos and beauty to make it a series to give a try if you don’t mind yuri or are sick of generic sword-swinging RPG-style fantasies.

CJ’s Rating: 6.5 out of 10 California rolls

Possibly objectionable content: Some violence, intense moments, etc, but then there’s the yuri aspects and fanservice. Some episodes have a fair amount of girls hitting on Hazuki in skimpy outfits, but most of the time it’s fairly tame. There is, however, a girl-on-girl kiss in one episode (won’t say when; that’d be a spoiler) so I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone under age 16.