Master of Martial Hearts from FUNimation. From the cover art it looks to be a bevy of beauties fighting it out in cos-play’ish outfits with plenty of panty shots. This analysis is half right and what viewers get is not what you’d expect but a mis-mash of plot lines and animation. What’s Master of Martial Hearts all about, let’s take a look.
Aya Iseshima may live a care-free life but very quickly her hidden fighting skills are brought to the fore when she’s suddenly wrapped up in a girl-on-girl fighting tournament where battles are waged at anytime, anyplace and the ultimate prize is Platonic Heart, a jewel that can grant any wish. The catch, loses in the tournament go missing without a trace and there is no backing out. As Aya battles she shows a brutal side of her personality which allows her to advance but at what cost? The tournament is underway and Aya is heading towards more than just a prized jewel at the end.
So that’s about it. The plot is one piece that ruins this anime but can something be ruined if it was never good? Harsh, yup, but true. I love heaping praise on anime and manga, finding that one niche that works and talking about it. Does an anime lack animation quality but shine in story, emphasize it. Great animation but horrible voice acting, point it out. With Master of Martial Hearts, from episode 1, the viewers get an anime with canned character styles, models, a very anime look and design and animation quality that is not good … just not good. So the assumption here is it’s a boob, clothes flying off, chick-on-chick fight fest. Not so fast. This is an easy assumption to make due to all the fighting ladies with clothes flying off and many questionable angles but even that hook is lacking. The story lets this anime down big time with a ‘are you serious’ moment towards the end that will leave you feeling robbed of the few hours invested in watching. None of the characters are worth caring about, none of them are deep and the twist at the end, tale of revenge, it fails and fails bad.
There has only been one anime series I’ve watched, Melody of Oblivion, that make me angry and empty at the end. Master of Martial Hearts is the soul mate for that fiasco and it’s the first time since Oblivion I’m telling you to stay away from this anime … go get Project A-Ko for better panty and fighting shots.
