Queen’s Blade 1

Walking on a desolate mountain path, a hooded girl confronts an odd shape-shifting witch called Melona, stating her intent to defeat the one who has been terrorized travelers. The two clash swords, but to the hooded girl’s shock, a lethal slash that cuts Melona almost in half doesn’t seem to have any effect and immediately heals.

Her hood soon torn away, the young girl is revealed to be Reina, Count Vance’s daughter and younger sister of the legendary warrior Clodette.

Disappointed she’s not facing Clodette, Melona uses an acid attack that dissolves Reina’s weapon and clothing. Terrified, Reina calls the magic using creature a monster, much to Melona’s dismay who proceeds to choke Reina to death.

Having witnessed the battle from afar, the bandit Listy intervenes, saving Reina’s life by slicing off Melona’s hand, but the witch dissolves into liquid and flees.

Hoping to prove herself as a warrior, Nanael appears to join in the fray, however the battle is already over.

Regaining consciousness, Reina finds she’s been rescued by Listy, who warns her for foolhardily rushing into battle that way against such a powerful creature like Melona.

Alas Reina’s troubles aren’t exactly over, for Listy intends to trade Reina off to her family for a hefty reward.
The one place Reina did not want to return to is home, as she had just run away to escape being forced into marriage. Taken to her family’s castle built in the middle of a lake, Reina is welcomed by her sisters Elina and Clodette, the former ecstatic to see her beloved sister again and the latter quickly dispatching Listy and locking the bandit up in the castle’s dungeon.

Though Listy may be imprisoned in the dungeon, Reina feels like she’s a prisoner herself as well, secluded into a life she does not want to live. When Reina’s tries to protest to Clodette, saying she wants to lead her own life, her older sister slaps her, sternly stating she must behave well at the party being held at the castle later that night.

Listless, Reina attends the event, clearly unhappy no one understands how she really feels.
Worried about her older sister, Elina tries to cheer her up, saying she doesn’t want to see her dearest sister get married either, though it seems Elina’s motives to have her sister always by her side may not be all that pure.

Unable to sleep, little does Reina realize while she stirs restlessly in bed, Melona has already infiltrated the castle and Listy has escaped the dungeon, plundering the Vance family’s treasure vaults.

Clodette is quickly on to Listy’s moves and gives chase, prompting Listy to hide in Reina’s room, where she presents Reina with an armor outfit she found in the castle’s treasure chambers.
Intercepting Listy when she tries to flee the scene, Clodette battles the thieving warrior, oblivious to the fact Melona is taking advantage of the situation to go after Reina.

Having decided to live life by her own volition, Reina cuis off her long hair, dons the armor suit and takes up her sword. However, that life will not be an easy one as she’s quickly attacked by Melona.

In a final standoff on an acid drenched rooftop, Reina lures Melona in close by calling the witch a monster and launches her sword into the roof, causing it to buckle and trap Melona’s legs.
Seizing her chance, Reina lunges against Melona, pressing her armored chest piece against her foe’s acid squirting bosom. Unable to release the acid building up within, Melona’s body explodes.

As the sun rises in the horizon, Reina awakens on the lake’s shore, having been saved once more by Listy. When Listy asks what the young girl intends to do now, Reina says she plans to travel the land…

Was a nice first episode overall, had plenty of action, battles and introduced us to a sizable portion of the cast, of whom especially Reina, Nanael and Listy looked terrific.

It’s too early to decide as a whole on the series, but I’m not too keen on the abundance of nudity and other overly present ecchi elements, including ample bare breasts, pantsu shots, bondage,…
If you intend to watch the series, be aware it does contain a lot of explicit scenes in that aspect.

Animation itself seems good so not sure why they’re already pushing the envelope with that much explicit scenes. If done correctly, an action series like this one with such sensual warrior maidens can be very enticing without having to resort to that much bare skin.
Suggestion and well animated battle scenes would make for a more pleasing viewing experience I believe.

Quite a bit of excellent seiyuu though, with Ayako Kawasumi as Reina, Aya Hirano as Nanael, Rei Kugimiya as Melona, … next episode will feature Tomoe who’s voiced by Mamiko Noto.

Not sure if they will keep this level of explicit scenes up, though I plan on checking out some more episodes. Haven’t decided yet if I’ll blog this regularly, that will depend on my decision to follow the series or not.
As it is, I did enjoy this first episode and will probably keep on watching, have not been disappointed at all, but haven’t been wowed yet either.

Reina was quite cute though, love to see more of her!