Oda Nobunaga was genuinely the only harem anime in the past four years that I honestly enjoyed. Now perhaps enjoyed isnt quite right maybe amused will be closer. It was amusing the see the brain dead plot and fetishfulfilling characters actually achieve something. My amusement was a direct product of Oda Nobunaga no Yabou being set in feudal japan in the warring states period/ Senguku era. If you have no idea who Nobunaga was or what the Senguku era is you will probably not like Oda Nobunaga no Yabou for the sole reason that you wont be able to connect with it or even understand whats going on. Still if you want a summary of what happened IRL its like this Nobunaga was this really chill guy in the Oda clan and since he was born during the Warring states period every clan was at war with one clan or the other clanduh and the Ashikaga Shogunate was weakened. He got up and did a lot of cool shit took down the shogun and almost unified Japan under a single banner. He was forced to commit suicide before that happened though. Anyways the peace he created lasted almost 300 years until the Meiji restoration in 1868 when the Emperor and the Shogun jumped at each other over foreign interests mostly the U.S.. http://i.ur.com/OfP9ad5.jpg Oda Nobunaga tries to do all the above in a lot more detail and being much more specific though while remaining a harem/ecchi/comedy. But if you want my advice walk away if you know nothing about Japanese history or dont even know the map of Japan by heart or are just plain old uninterested in either. Well unless you are willing to watch Oda Nobunaga only for the fanservice in which case I wish you best of luck. Artwork and Animation 8/10 After all what is an ecchi anime without artwork? The story isnt gonna do shit atleast the artwork is a surefire thing. Character Models The characters models are fair enough.There is nothing wrong with them but nothing out of the ordinary either. Eyes are a bit dull but eh you get used to it. http://i.ur.com/V56AwjY.jpg Environment Quite good especially the background soldiers and stuff. Its almost breathtaking to see the huge armies carrying their banners clashing or the massive ships sailing off into the sunset even though that is historically incorrect. Despite that the detail drop across the environment is pretty steep so you wont see sprawling cities ever. Well no loss most of the series happens on mountains/forests or inside a hut and those dont suffer the same problems. http://i.ur.com/S0QALjL.jpg Animation Probably one of the strongest and the most unused part of the entire series. Right into the first episode you will be awed by the fluid animation during the battles. But it was still disappointing. In the sense that it could have been used much much more frequently. Considering how we are talking about the warring states battles oughta be fairly common right? Wrong. Despite its solid artwork and animation it just isnt used in that sense. There were what? five short battles in total? It was almost like the artwork was itching for a fight and the script told it to fuck off. Fan service Well no nudity for you. There still some mediocre amount of fan service in the form of Nobuna always showing her breasts and Katsuis breastplate jumping around. The ED had a pretty ecchi video too. Sound and Music 6/10 Gonna keep this section short. Voice acting The VAs were meh and I didnt particularly care for them. Most of the heavy conversation doesnt quite stimulate the viewer to the point it was expected but its not something disappointing either. Environment By environment I refer to stuff like town chatter or the sound of a brook. While the chatter of other people was faint at best the other sections like the chirping of birds or footsteps were pretty good. The war drums were also quite nice. Music Eh. Like really eh. Despite having a great OP video the music accompanying it was quite shit. Same for the ED except the ED had a shit video too. The BGMs were more....promising. Most of the times the BGMs came up only when the tide of the battle changed for better or for worse and I really loved that. It gave a cinematic feeling to the entire thing. Storyline 25/30 There are two sides to war. One is strategy and the other is tactics. Strategy is about planning diplomacy economics maintenance supply and stuff like that. Tactics is more of a inyourface affair. Its about but not limited to how to defeat the guy in front of you using outmaneuvers. Think of it like strategy except on a much shorter time scale and with a much more specific objective. Oda Nobunaga is about strategy. It does have some tactics read: battle but its kinda secondary. http://i.ur.com/v6wEmfc.jpg Premise The premise relies around Yoshiharu who is a student and suddenly ends up in the Sengoku era for reasons unknown and never revealed. He happens to be a big fan of the game Nobunagas Ambition and therefore knows the ins and outs of the history of the era. At the same time all the daimyos read: feudal lords just happen to be cute girls. Now will he able to take the place of Kinoshita Tokichiro and unify Japan under Nobunaga? Execution Considering how pointless the premise sounds my expectations were fairly low. Still the story goes around Nobuna Nobunagas female version trying to conquer japan on her own as the fortune teller MC guides her hand. He meets other important people who are mostly girls too for some reason who played a great role in Nobunagas conquests and downfall IRL. As I mentioned earlier the focus is on strategy so Nobuna is basically treading on a fine line where she can be overwhelmed by other clans if she makes one wrong move. Most clans dont support the rise of the Oda clan and will stop at nothing to kill Nobuna. This allows for great pressure on the diplomatic side of things allowing for a more enjoyable outlook on the entire matter. The series all but explains to you the predicaments of being a daimyo during the Sengoku period. It still isnt KSnH levels of bullshitting and is sometimes fairly funny which I guess is a good thing. I would go so far as to call its buildup to episode 8 great but it kinda started dropping off after that. I mean there were boring emo parts here and there but overall it was fairly fast paced. I just kinda wished that the battles were more...active. To quote Sun Tzu albeit out of context Strategy without tactics is the slowest path to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat I know Im taking it completely out of context here but Oda Nobunaga also took the slowest path to victory. With a few great battles it could have been a much much better series. See the problem is that the tactics totally got killed. The fights are literally just one man armies killing each others cannon fodder. Most of the focus was on the support crew. I would have preferred it if it showed how the common man fights because there is nothing more beautiful about battle than a guy fighting to the last breath torn banner and all in the service of his lord. Like seriously. This was one part that was seriously downplayed since the OP support and Main cast go berserk on Soldier Cs ass and then he dies without so much as a second look. Archers fire at the valiant defenders who hold against the barrage with their battlements falling apart and without a shield and we get to look at MC talk bullshit for five minutes straight. I mean give those brave people some screen time you fuckfaces. Also real battles are much more coordinated than blobs of soldiers hitting each other at random intervals. http://i.ur.com/xUx1YCr.jpg I also hated how most of the cast went into battle without armor. Nagahide literally fights with only a Nagitana and katsuie doesnt wear a helmet and leads the charges at the same time. Even a complete idiot knows that the general is the most important man or woman on the battlefield and a dead or dismounted general is usually a routed army Katsui somehow doesnt comprehend that stray arrows exist. Toshiie Maeda also doesnt wear any armor despite using a yari which leaves too many opening between thrusts. Other than that the fights are too simple minded and dont quite comprehend logistics. Perhaps you will realize why during the Imagawa arc. http://i.ur.com/V8UvAg6.jpg Other than that the main diplomacy cant really be argued against since it happened irl. I did find that some diplomacy was oversimplified to fit the already narrow viewer base which was a bit sad. As a side note the romance is for the most part about nobuna being a tsundere and saying emo stuff while crying. Not cool. Characters 12/30 http://i.ur.com/8KIS944.jpg As I mentioned earlier the characters are made for the purpose of fetish fulfillment. Toshiie is your strong calm loli Goemon is your loli with the voice impediment Nene is the cute imouto type loli Katsui is the dependable strong girl and Nagahide is the clever woman and Mitsuhide is the token tsundere who hates losing. Yeah pretty damn cliche. And of course there are the villains who dont really have any clear motives to speak of but want Nobuna stopped anyways. They all assemble in a dark room and be REALLY condescending while saying nondescript things like so it has begun. Because thats what villains do. Other than that the characters have no development or goals to speak of with no backstory even for the MC and none of them are anywhere near what they were in real life. Despite that I still kinda liked the people that did not turn into cute girls the Viper was pretty cool and so was hanzou. Enjoyment 15/20 Despite me finding Oda nobunaga interesting most people will perhaps not share the sentiment. Mostly because of a difference of interest. Still its decent enough and even teaches you a little on the fly so it really isnt all that bad. Despite my rating making it end up in the 60s its decent enough to be a 70 anime. Tch if only its characters were good enough. While I wont recommend it to anyone but desperate history fans its really not all that bad even if you go in blind. Besides Japanese history is fun and learning while watching anime cant possibly be all that bad. Or can it? http://i.ur.com/tvjpMGZ.jpg