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Topic ID: 1329
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#0, Recent Anime: Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei bu Love
Posted by drakensis on Mar-27-15 at 06:24 AM
Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei bu Love (Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!) just ended, so it's probably a good moment to talk about it.

So, a group of high schoolers (members of the Earth Defense Club which has nothing to do with defending the Earth and more towards the school financing a room for them to hang out in) are approached by a pink wombat to become magical champions of love. He's really not taking no for an answer - perhaps fortunately, because Lord Zundar (a green hedgehog) has convinced the student council to become the Earth Conquest Club and start turning students into magical monsters with a goal of... well, exactly what it says on the tin.

So the Earth Defense Club become magical champions, with all the tropes associated including transformations into fanciful costumes, speeches about, wands, monsters of the week and so forth. All played completely, determinedly, straight.

Anyone who's come across the show in any respect knows the twist: all participants are male. (In fact so far as I can tell there are no female characters at all). There is another twist, but since the big reveal is in the final episode, I won't spoil it.

I can only presume the designers liked Revolutionary Girl Utena because the student council wear distinctive uniforms (before they transform) and lounge around in extreme luxury. The vice president and the third member (no specific title given) member of the student council could easily pass for siblings of Saionji and Utena (if this is taking place on Cephiro it would explain a lot).

The main cast are a walking bad of stereotypes, practically designed to be a boy band. They also spend a fair bit of time in the public baths, although that's somewhat justified as it's the family business of one of them. They're also, in contrast to the student council, pretty casual with more casual manners and 'lower tastes', leading to their being the subjects to vindictive snobbery by the student council, particularly the president.

The team are:
Yumoto (first year, Red) who is enthusiastic and carefree. Almost always deploys the finishing attack on the monster of the week.
En (third year, Blue) who's lazy and a bit of a slob. He usually takes the most convincing to do anything.
Atushi (third year, Green) who's studious and serious - something of the team mom. He and En are not only classmates but long-time friends.
Io (second year, Yellow) who's money-focused to the point he's working the stock market while at school.
Ryu (second year, Pink) is allegedly a bit of a playboy (although since there are no female characters we don't see that). He and Io are also good friends.

Supporting them are:
Wombat, the pink wombat who forced them to become magical boys in order to "fill the planet with love". He's allegedly got immense scientific resources at his disposal and he's often used as a reluctant cuddle-toy by Yumoto.
Mr. Tawarayama, En and Atushi's homeroom teacher. Wombat accidentally put him in a coma after arriving on Earth. Advanced science is repairing Tawarayama's body as long as he stays near Wombat, so the wombat uses the body as a puppet to cover for his presence. Tawarayama himself is therefore more a plot device than a character and on the few occasions he can act on his own behalf has no idea what's going on.


This isn't a deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre, at most it's a mild parody, and it's pretty fun.