Only in Japan. Can you find a show about idol singing battles with giant mecha as avatars. Does seem suspiciously like a video game though…
Anime
Venus Project: Climax is an twelve episode show based on a video game. Unfortunately, the first six episodes were live-action specials with both game and anime voice actors. Sadly, they were rather cringe worthy. Like AniDB, only the six anime episodes will be covered in this article.
The plot is a little hard to describe although ANN does take a stab at it: “In a not too distant future, Japan’s data devices and video technology have been progressing to new heights, and people are abuzz about a new form of entertainment — Formula Venus. In Formula Venus or “F-V,” the chosen top idols battle in live performances with their willpower, skills, and all their experience gained.”
The emphasis is on multimedia franchise as you can see from the official site.
Character Art
I do like the character art for Venus Project. Very attractive. Unfortunately, the character art for the anime (last image) is a few steps down in quality.
Eye Catches
I’m a fan of eye catches and fortunately, Venus Project does have eye catches. Even if they could be sexier and they should lose the black bars.
Episode 01
Episode 01 is mostly introductions and set up followed by some idol battles. Followed by a bath scene when you least expect it.
There are eight idols competing in the Rookie Queen tournament but three of them (Eriko, Miu and Ruka) get most of the screen time. Even then, with only six episodes, there doesn’t seem to be enough time to do the girls justice.
The OP starts with a tiny bit of fanservice from Eriko. More would have been much better. The bra shot was pretty much the only underwear shot in the first three episidoes. So much aerial gymastics and nary a panty shot…
Most of the Eriko fanservice consists of cleavage shots. Which is OK. But more cleavage would have been even better.
Fortunately, there is a little more cleavage when the idols are participating in battles. And more fanservice overall.
Too bad these idols were wearing pants…
Idols look better in stitches.
This show really needs more ass shots. Just saying…
Seems Eriko wears a t-shirt to bed. Tame…
Sure seems like Miu’s panties should be peeking out here…
Just when you think Venus Project is going to not have very much in the way of fanservice, even casual fanservice, they trot out a Miu bathing scene. No nipples, at least in the TV show, but still candy for the eyes…
Episode 02 is more setup and then a training montage and then more idol battles.
First we get to see Eriko work up a sweat. Really work up a sweat. In semi-sexy ways.
Then we get to see laws of physics applied to oppai in the dance training…. Too much jiggle to be silicone it would seem…
Then it’s on to fun with idol battles.
Note the boob slippage in this stitch.
And a rare ass shot…
One thing I don’t get is how Mui’s poster can be so much sexier than her battle outfit. Her outfit should show a lot more skin just like her poster does.
Another thing I don’t get is that the “goth” loli, Ruka, has one of the sexiest battle outfits and yet they seem to do everything they can not to show very much of her in that outfit.
Episode 03
Episode 03 ramps up the battles scenes. And the humor. Then adds a bath scene for good measure.
Sex sells. Make no mistake about it. Even for managers of young idols.
Nothing wrong with bunny girls. Especially when they wear glasses…
But maybe ring announcers can’t count? Should be weapons not weapon. Two large boobs and one fine ass makes at least three weapons. There may be more. Even if she is a retired race queen MILF….
Large weapons indeed.
Hey, there’s actually a little boob slippage in this shot.
It’s not easy finding large-sized official art for Venus Project and a lot of that is drowned in walls of text…
Fan Art
Surprising that there isn’t more fan art for Venus Project. Maybe the late start for the anime part of the show resulted in less interest from potential fan artists?
Overall
Overall, three words come to mind after watching Venus Project anime: Cheap. Crass. Commercialism.
I wish it was’t so but it’s blatantly obvious that the anime is just one long commercial for the video game. I’ve never seen so many sales crawls per episode in raws before. Made it challenging to make clean stitches. Then clean HD artwork is hard to find since most promo art is crawling with walls of text. Not to mention that the first six episodes were live-action shows pimping the video game (and the anime) instead of being anime. One or two live-action specials should have been more than enough.
Worse, is the poor quality artwork. Only in closeups is the artwork close to almost decent and even then it is wildly inconsistent. Boobs, eyes, hands, hips and more are constantly changing size from frame to frame.
Even worse is the crappy video quality. I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time making stitches for three episodes (except maybe when I was still a newbie). And it wasn’t because the stitches were hard (although a few were). It was because the video quality was bad. Even with two raws and one fansub, some stitches would not turn out decently if they turned out at all. Poor video quality leads to breakage when making stitches.
But enough negativity, on to some positivity. Maybe. The big question is will Venus Project anime have nudity on the BDs?
Wizard had this to say about Nomad’s track record of nudity: “Nomad did a few titles with nipples: Chocotto Sister (pretty sure that had nipples), Kampfer (6th special), and We Without Wings (tons of nudity, tit-fuck scene). But obviously, they haven’t done nudity in an anime in four years.”.
My gut feel says nudity on BD is possible but not likely. While there are several opportunities and seeing nipples poking through clothes is encouraging, Nomad hasn’t done nudity in four years. And as a multimedia franchise, actual nudity may be something they want to avoid. I wouldn’t be surprised if they increased the amount of casual fanservice though. The anime had a lot of teasing. If the game has nudity, the odds would be better but I don’t think it does. But nudity is still a possibility. If they think it would lead to more sales of the BD, that is. And with shows like Monster Musume and Prison School seemingly making money, they might be tempted to add nipples. Even if the art and video quality is not nearly as good as those two shows.
Notes
My webm galleries for these episodes can be found here: 01, 02 and 03.
