Onigiri currently airs on The Anime Network for paid subscribers. Each episode is roughly 3-4 minutes long and the first season is set to last 13 episodes. It's based on the video game of the same title. Three OVA episodes are available legally for FREE on the official Onigiri YouTube Channel.

*Sigh* What happened here?

Back in January, I wrote about Onigiri, the free video game that took PS4 users by storm. The video game has you create a fighter and then travel through a fantasy world, killing demons known as Kamigui, while also helping to save and then cultivate a strong fighter in Princess Shizuka.

While I praised the game for it's gender neutral, gender friendly storytelling and options, I did share with you all it's racy, anime commercials, which you can watch here. The commercials puzzle me, because while the video game does have sensual content, the girls are portrayed as independent, strong women (minus Shizuka at first) and the game treats men and women equally. There are even LBGTQ friendly options for the players and the focus is more on the combat rather than fanservice. But the ads feature overtly sexualized, sometimes nude women, in less heroic situations.

What I did not know at the time, was that the ads, which run at 2-3 minutes a piece, were actually free episodes of the new Onigiri anime, which had not been announced at the time they went live to YouTube. So with that being said, when I read the announcement that Onigiri was getting it's own, full fledged series, I was surprised. Ignoring the sexualized OVA, I went right to The Anime Network with the intent to binge watch the first seven episodes.

... And.... eh?

Don;t misunderstand me. This is not a bad show. In fact, there's a lot of good things about it.

For starters, the opening theme is done by STARMARIE. It's an energetic dance track that's also soothing on the ears. I highly recommend giving "Hime wa Rankiryu☆Goikkou-sama" a listen.

Also, the animation is fluid. There are no shortcuts made, no stock footage, just everything you could ask for in an anime. As a bonus, the colors and drawings actually match the video game art, something often overlooked when translating a game to the TV screen.

But as for accuracy? It's not here.

​If you saw the OVA on YouTube, then you already know this show has no desire to follow the video game. Select elements appear, and certainly some of the game's characters, but it doesn't follow the path of the game at all.

Instead, we are treated to 3 minute episodes where the girls all act stupid.

It's a comedy, and I get that. But where it's based on a more serious video game, it's problematic. Princess Shizuka is the only character that retains around 95% of her in-game progression, while the other characters bumble about the screen, getting drunk, acting selfish and doing everything except going after the Kamigui. In fact, their lack of battle is a running gag on the show, where at the end of each episode, the narrator reminds the audience that this is supposed to be an adventure show about fighting the Kamigui.

As for the guys? They're accessories. 

For a video game that was as gender friendly as Onigiri is, it amazes me just how sexist the anime is. Yeah, the girls are overtly sexualized, but at least they have personalities and dialogue. The men are basically paper dolls and a sword. In fact, outside of the narrator and maybe two background characters, NONE of the men have voice actors! This also becomes a running gag, where when they speak, all we get is a Final Fantasy style text box, and the girls just nod their heads and react. It's a clever joke, but it also sends the idea that men are toys.

That being said however, the anime is self-aware. 

It's like the show knows it's not living up to the video game, and it's just trying to do the best it can in the short amount of time allotted. Each episode takes place in it's own story. 

Some episodes will poke fun at the game. For example, you'll see two of the girls fighting demons, and then suddenly, the screen turns black, and a voice overhead says "You were caught cheating/using an illegal move, you are banned for three days" poking fun at the game's community rules. Other times, a character will earn exp points or they might "die" on camera only to re-spawn a second later with half of their money.

If you haven't played the video game, Onigiri might give you a few chuckles. But if you have played the game, you'll find yourself wondering what might have been.

Magic Knight Rayearth is currently available on Hulu and ConTV with subscriptions. Each episode runs 25 minutes in length and lasted for 49 episodes between October of 1994 and November of 1995.

For years, anytime I mentioned watching Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, I would always be asked by rabid CLAMP fans if I had seen Magic Knight Rayearth, arguably one of their most popular titles besides Cardcaptor Sakura. In the 1990's, my mother had a few single-print issues from the manga in her collection, but outside of finding a bootlegged VHS tape here or there, I never really had the chance to sit down and watch more than two episodes until recently.

And now, after all these years, I can understand why this was routinely recommended to me.

Magic Knight Rayearth is a swashbuckling story, surrounding three Middle School girls, who get abducted one day on a trip to Tokyo Tower. With almost no explanation, the girls are entrusted with the future of the magical, rural, parallel world of Cephiro, which we learn very late in the series is actually a younger-sister to Earth, by a centuries old but very boyish looking sorcerer named Clef. Clef also entrusts them with the task of saving - but later killing - the Pillar and Princess Emeraude.

What is a Pillar you ask? Well it's a title for a person whose job it is to pray for and think only of the planet Cephiro. All day. Every day. 24/7. Non-stop. Literally, you can't even fall in love, or have another thought other than the well-being of Cephiro. You get distracted by a so much as ONE cat video on Facebook and guess what? Ka-BOOM. Planet dead. Seriously, this may be the single most annoying job anybody will ever have in this series. The first season is all about finding the current Pillar, because Cephiro is starting to crumble, while the second season is about replacing the Pillar, because the damn planet is blowing up. That's just terrifying to think that if one person has a brain fart, you're screwed.

Aside from the nonsense of the Pillar, we find the girls also having to fight deadly monsters and acquire new weapons in order to do their job effectively. 

Hikaru is the most popular character of the trio, and is a pink and red haired tomboy of sorts. While she's 14 at the start of the show, she's still oh so very much a little girl in certain aspects, but it's that innocence that helps her to make friends easily, and eventually sort out this Pillar business.

Umi is a pretty and rich girl with blue hair and a bit of a selfish streak. She freaks out easily and has a temper, but is often the comic relief.

Fuu is the typical "smart kid" stereotype, complete with glasses. She's also the most normal looking character in the series, with blonde hair and green eyes. She serves as the voice of reason for Umi, but similar to Umi does have a slight ego, as we see in episode five, where she explains that she holds herself more dear than anyone else.

The girls are soon joined by a little rabbit creature named Mokona, who is so popular, he's appeared in dozens of ads on his own, other CLAMP productions and in the 1990's, was the single most popular mascot character for anime websites, at least until Pokemon debuted. But despite being adorable, Mokona is hiding a darker secret. Kinda sorta... he's God. But not. But kinda yeah. It makes more sense later on in the series. The red gem on his forehead can produce items and all sorts of useful things for the girls, or transmit messages from Clef.

The series has plenty of sword fighting and stock-magic attacks for those who like the Magical Girl genre. The pacing of the fights is action packed, and the animation is very fluid and smooth for a 1990's TV series.

The first few episodes, the writing is hyper, and you just want to hand the girls a cup of decaf, but around five or six episode sin, the girls begin to settle into their new roles, and it doesn't feel as jumbled anymore.

One of the show's stronger points is that the girls behave like regular 14 year old girls. As I mentioned earlier about Hikaru, the girls are still caught between childhood and the teen years. Sure they fall in love and have adult emotions, but those are balanced by segments where the girls are still learning about the world and sorting through these new feelings and growing up.

It's also nice to see that the girls are not being overtly sexualized, though the opening is a tad too revealing during the transformation segment. The girls are fully clothed, I'm very grateful for that.

Magic Knight Rayearth starts off girly, but then becomes very heavy in magic and action. If you haven't seen anything of CLAMP before, this is a good place to start.