Kannazuki no Miko - Destiny of Shrine Maidens

 One of the Mecha anime that I have been avoiding for long due to the Yuri fanservice but due to recent turn of event I decided to give this series a watch as Hobby industry consider the series worth their time to make some merchandise out of it. Overall Kannazuki no Miko is still a wasted potential like many of its peers, but it got really good song from Kotoko that instantly gives me nostalgic vibe which makes me sticks around long enough to reevaluate the merit of this particular series. I never like Yuri subgenre but Kannazuki no Miko could really thrive If it really had some good writer to execute the ideas behinds the series which are great actually.

 The Premise of Kannazuki no Miko is the story of a pair of young maidens serving as Priestess Sun and Moon bestowed with special power to wield a Super Robot to fight against Orochi which served as world ending threats of this series in perpetual cycle. In this particular cycle however things went rather differently as a Boy fell in love with the current incarnation of the Sun Priestess and against all odds Defy his destiny as the member of Orochi to protect his beloved girl. Though things doesn't end up well for him as Yuri triumphs in this one.

 I think Kannazuki no Miko could have run for 2 cours if it had some good writers to execute the idea of the series as you can't really take the antagonists seriously in this one due to the lacking proper motivation which is why any possible plans for 2 cours got axed by the mid of the series. I never thought Fate's Saber and Sakura are the VA for the main Yuri heroine; Chikane and Himeko which is why I never able to take the Yuri Ship of this series seriously. Because Ayako Kawasumi and Noriko Shitaya are veteran seiyuus who have played some really Top Tier Waifu roles in Fate/Grand Order and doesn't need to reprise these sort of archetype anymore.

Lastly I actually quite like the Lead Male protagonist in Kannazuki, Ogami Souma. Firstly he is not a betamax male character like many of its peers and actually a Gigachad male protagonist in the making  should he get the proper experience. Soma simply just have a streak of bad luck to be given a Yuri waifu as his partner. Seriously with his willpower to go against all odds and resist the temptation of Dark side right until the end, Soma would have achieved so many things and even gets himself a harem if he had been starring in a regular Mecha series.

 Overall for a 2004 Anime, Kannazuki no Miko is not that bad because Mecha animes in late 2010s and 2020s fared even worse than this one. I never like Yuri but the mecha content is still sufficient enought to put up with the downsides. I am still surprised that Kannazuki never made it to SRW despite it is pretty Obari and Soma probably could have better ending for himself. I would say Kannazuki no Miko could use a second chance in the future for another remake because the 2004 version did have some quality to be a mainstream success.

Given that I actually appreciate the Potential that Kannazuki no Miko had, I will be preparing Mechatalk article for this series in the future which likely be split into three parts because Soma and his Take no Yamikazuchi definitely deserves a dedicated article for his own.