Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation: A Quick Take

Unfortunately, removing this tangent from a battle requires DLC that is already on the disc.

Having ended the constant conflict between the four goddesses that rule Gameindustri, Neptune slacked off and soon found that her popularity was declining among the residence of Planeptune. She then ended up hatching a plan that eventually led to clearing out some slimes and clearing a cave of dangerous monsters while the chief villain looked on. In the end, something entirely different gets the residents of the kingdom believing again.

This is obviously something intended for fans of the game franchise that I’ve only ever known as having terrible battle mechanics, new character DLC virtually every week of the calendar year and for having writing with so many in-jokes as to be utterly impenetrable to someone who hasn’t completed the game and bought the DLC. So what I was really left with was just a rush job just to get into the story of this episode. As an outsider, I was supposed to be interested in a story of a princess who plays games all day with her younger sister then going out and transforming into an overpowered queen to defeat monsters then going back to being lazy again without any sort of sense of where this came from. Needless to say, I don’t think this is an anime for outsiders.

What I can say about this is that the production level was passable with a noticeable drop in quality in the middle of the battle with the slimes. The number of scenes where it was stuff flying around a black background seems to be a worrying sign for those who care about future budgets. The insert song in the battle gets in the way of what is actually happening and is probably just meant to sell more CD singles to the fans of the franchise.

Reasons to Continue Watching

• You liked the game franchise
• There is plenty of fanservice to go around
• Social commentary on how pornographic images improve social morale

Reasons to Drop

• You are new to this franchise
• There’s an in joke happening almost all the time
• There is such a thing as being too meta

My Verdict: I’m sure fans of the games will absolutely love this. It’s made for you and its meant to be a shared experience among them. For those who are not, there’s nothing here for you. Since I’ve not fully embraced the Neptunia way of life, this is going to be a drop.