It’s what happened to Date A Live II.
My first experience with Twintails came from stumbling upon it’s high quality art in my usual raid through multiple image boards. When I heard it was getting an anime, I didn’t know what to think of it since I was never the one for genderbend. I will admit though, (and believe it or not, even with my poor coverage) I enjoyed it.
Now the only problem remains within the studio that got this out.
Twintail’s finale was around 2-3 episode-parter with Souji becoming stuck in his Tail Red form and being unable to fight against Spiderguildy and his powered up form. The rest of the team tries to help Souji accustom to a strange chapter in his life but when there’s fighting ned to be done, they are unable to beat Spider Guidly. Eventually Souji finally does return to his form and of course, defeats Spider Guildy.
With how short I just made 2-3 episodes feel, it should convey to you two things that you leave with this review. First of, Twintails is an absolute joke of a series. By that, I mean that it’s a “self-aware” series that rarely ever takes itself seriously. With a plot that turns the main character into a little girl and the fact that powers are based on fetishes, only drive that point further. Following that logic, the story isn’t really much a story but it does have its background and its somewhat serious moments. From what I can tell, it does get a bit more serious in the later arcs (much like any LN does) but that doesn’t really apply here.
The main characters consist of our trio of fighters, Souji’s mom, Twirl, and Tail Black. Souji was above average in my scale of main characters solely for the fact that he seems clinically obsessed with twintails that he forgoes any sort of romantic attraction to practically anyone. His obsession to his fetish cures him of the few inherent problems MC’s these days usually have. Aika gets a positive reaction from me because unlike other childhood friend archetypes, she doesn’t beat up the MC, instead she beats up on Twirl. Erina gets a serious family issues arc but it’s resolution isn’t really anything to write home about. Souji’s mom is practically as crazy as Souji is and I didn’t really expect that much of a positive opinion of her until I saw her talk about much she approves of the entire situation. Twirl was entertaining and when the comedy was not focused on specific fetishes, the abusive comedy that the modern anime viewer can’t seem to get enough of goes to her. Tail Black in the short time she appeared was entertaining but I never cared too much for her.
The main draw of the series is not the main characters themselves, although I do admit, I hounded for good screenshots in the first few episodes. The greatest thing Twintails gives us are the villains, the Ultimaguildy’s. Each member is based after an animal and their abilities derive from their favorite “fetish”. Whether it be small breats, large breasts, cute girls hugging dolls, gym uniforms, these guys and their devotion to their fetish is what truly cements the series in terms of how nonsensical this series gets. It also helps that they’re completely serious when they speak to each other when discussing their fetish. Like any Super Sentai parody, we get a weekly bad guy to deal with but for what we got, the villains were the most memorable part of the series.
Being that Twintails is a comedy first, I didn’t expect too much from the action scenes. What we got in the first few episodes were impressive but knowing what happened to DAL II, I expected the quality to dip as we moved on. My fears were met and the quality become noticeably atrocious nearing the later half of the series. Surprisingly, the quality dipped even harder than DAL II did. While I could forgive DAL II for a handful of screw ups, I think it was Episode 9 of Twintails that either had horrible budget or they ran out of time. If something could make DAL II look forgivable, then you know something is up. Aside from my gripes, the series did look colorful and while fights weren’t that amazing, if still made for an enjoyable watch since the fights are accompanied by fetish dialogue.
All in all, Twintails is a wild experience that really depends on the beholder abandoning their logical reasoning. With a premise based around a hairstyle and a guy turning into a little girl, there’s not much in the logical norm to expect. To match the heroines, we got the equally as insane but ever-so admirable villains who always have a thing or two to say in terms of their glorious fetishes before disappearing into the wind. However, it cannot be ignored that the quality did not last for too long and like DAL II, it would be better off waiting for the Blurays to see it in its visual glory.
Lair of the Idle 