Heion Sedai no Idaten-Tachi packs a punch.
After the first episode of Heion Sedai no Idaten-Tachi I was pretty excited to be covering this anime for the Summer 2021 season. It was energetic and colourful and the characters were interesting enough and promised more in future episodes.
As we hit the third episode I’m left thinking this one is going to be the anime I most look forward to each week.
So far Heion Sedai no Idaten-Tachi has been a brightly coloured affair with larger than life characters and battles unfolding at a fairly solid pace and yet the narrative is still taking the time to lay some groundwork for future developments. And it makes it look so effortless.
Where season two, part two of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, seems to be struggling under the weight of so many characters and the need to transition us from one conflict and into establishing the next potential threat, The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace is delivering a fun caper with sometimes incredibly over-the-top violence and never feels like it is losing momentum.
Episode 3 has the demons decide to check out the Idaten and unlike so many other league of evil villains before them they don’t send their weakest member to squish the bugs. Instead, suspecting their might be either more Idaten than anticipated, or a stronger leader than the kids they previously encountered, they send one of the two strongest fighters they have.
Of course, they do still send only one with a fairly ineffectual sniper as back-up. So while the villains of Heion Sedai no Idaten-Tachi are not quite as incompetent as most Sailor Moon villains proved to be, they still ultimately sat back and watched while the ‘heroes’ of the piece took out one of their minions.
About the only difference here is that instead of declaring the failed minion incompetent and a loud-mouthed braggart stepping up to be the next one slaughtered, here the demons kind of flinch at the thought and may in fact investigate other plans other than walking into the slaughter-house.
However, that the demons here aren’t just following the usual path of anime villains leaves me wondering what they will get up to next and there’s some real potential here for some surprises. This episode also cast yet more questions around the old man who seems to be some kind of leader for the demons and I’m hoping the series has time to explore all these ideas.
So much potential and even if the narrative doesn’t pan out the action remains exciting.
Likewise, Ysley is turning out to be quite the intriguing character as his agenda seems to be a little bit more than just using Rin and Hayato for his own survival. I almost wonder if we’ll ultimately find out that Ystley and the as yet barely glimpsed Idaten may end up being the real villains in Heion Sedai no Idaten-Tachi. Now that would be an interesting twist.
Visually Heion Sedai no Idaten-Tachi remains stunning to look at. The bold colour palette and character designs make this one clearly stand out from so many other anime this season. I also love the stylised visuals when things get super violent such as when Hayato gets punched straight through. It has a very old-school kind of feel about it while at the same time everything here feels a little bit fresh as though it has been inspired by what has come before it but isn’t copying any on thing.
If I had to criticise anything so far it would be Paula. Of the three young Idaten we’ve spent time with she’s perhaps the least interesting and fleshed out. I’m not entirely sure what purpose she served in this episode really nor has she really been given a chance to establish her own character. I’m kind of hoping she gets more screen time or a chance to stand on her own in future episodes because she definitely has the potential to be interesting.
Anyway, Heion Sedai no Idaten-Tachi has continued to impress during its first three episodes and I am very much looking forward to episode 4.
Images from: Heion Sedai no Idaten-Tachi. Dir. S Kidokoro. MAPPA. 2021
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Karandi James
IIRC Paula shows up pseudo-nude in the op. I think she’s there to get a particular demographic’s hopes up.