The Ambition of Oda Nobuna
Oda Nobuna's Ambition
Synopsis: Ordinary high-schooler Yoshiharu Sagara is sent back in time to the Warring States Period. There he meets Nobuna Oda, not Nobunaga - Nobuna. In this world all the famous warlords of the era are female. Nobuna recruits Sagara, who she calls "Monkey", to help her conquer the world.
Review: Is it okay to say a show is amazing, that others have deemed as mediocre? That's okay right? well even if it isn't,
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna was amazing to me. Quite often I find myself watching shows that are very easily "good" shows. My most common grade is somewhere in the "B" bracket. Most shows are enjoyable, but lacking in enough areas to keep them from anything great; while also having just enough to keep them from being a waste of time. Ever so often I find a show that is fantastic in all areas. Then other times I find a show that most would say is average with minimal flaws; but I enjoy it so much that it earns the respect of a grade slightly higher.
When I first started watching
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna I sincerely expected an enjoyable show, worthy of an average rating. I entered with this set of mind frame and that's what I got out of the first few episodes, an average show. Then I started to get more invested in the characters and the show in general. By the time I was nearing the end, I couldn't stop watching it and I was on the edge of my seat. I had to know what would happen to Nobuna, Sagara, Katsuie, Goemon, Hanbe, and the others. There is little to nothing about the background of the characters in the show, but that does not take away from the characters themselves. I enjoyed every character and their time on screen, even the villains were enjoyable to watch.
Sagara is a great leading male. What I liked most about Sagara was that the he had a backbone. All too often we are given a male lead that is almost hard to root for, just because he is so weak kneed. A lot of times the guy has to rely on a "pep talk" episode or two before he steps up to his role. Not the case with Sagara. In addition, the chemistry between Sagra and Nobuna is excellent. I also greatly enjoyed Nobuna as a character. She is just as strong a lead as Sagara, that they both equally share the light of "lead protagonist". Also,
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna is a harem anime. Not in the sense of multiple love interests, but in the sense of their being multitudes of women surrounding the protagonist(s).
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna is definitely a character driven show. The whole reason I enjoyed it so much and became so invested was solely for the characters. I did not become invested in the characters because of their past; but because I wanted to see what they would become. And this is much of the premise of the story itself. Will Nobuna become history's greatest tyrant or something more? Will all her friends and family stay by her side, or will some betray her? As you can see, even by those couple questions,
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna is most definitely driven by the characters and backed by a decent story at the same time. I do not want to take anything away from the story; it is based on some history after all. It is a great story, I just think the characters took the forefront here.
Animation for
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna was perfect for the setting and the show. It was not too artistic, nor was it too primal that it would cause you to lose interest. The characters are colorful and of course the girls are vastly different proportions. The backgrounds are probably where it lacked most, some scenes seem to be lacking the necessary attention to background for that scene. While other times the backgrounds are excellent. The final villain's animation was probably one of my favorite. He was much more flexible and malleable compared to the rest of the show, and looked quite villainous.
The musical score for the show was also done quite excellently. The right tempo of music was picked for each scene. Whether it be a villainous tone during the secret meetings, an upbeat war beat during battles, or a calm mellow tune for the more dramatic scenes. The Opening and Ending songs were also great, I enjoyed both of those.
Now as for my grade. I know quite a few people may disagree with me on it. There are a couple issues that may be brought up, for example: Sagara never changes out of his school uniform. Any of these issues would be valid points in an argument, and I thought on all these a while. The truth is they did not keep me from enjoying the show so immensely. Sometimes I have to go with my instinct and that's what I did here.
(Plus it's my review anyway)
The Ambition of Oda Nobuna is well written, has great characters, a good story, excellent ending, perfectly chosen animation style, and a great musical score. I'll tell you what, give it a try and if you don't enjoy it you can contact me with as much hate as you can possibly muster. I promise to read every last letter of it; and then I'll go watch and enjoy the show all over again for myself.
Oda Nobuna no Yabo -- A- violence, blood and gore, partial nudity
