Review: Colosseum no Senki ~Another Story~

A fantasy world is ripe for just about anything you can think of but after so, so many interpretations how do you keep it fresh and interesting? In the ero world where fantasy far more common place what can be done? Adapted from an adult novel by Mary Jane what does Colosseum no Senki offer to set itself apart from its brethren and to make it work watching?

Scarlett Ellis Vastia is a warrior and a royal who is stuck in a never ending cycle as a fighter in a colosseum. She dreams of escaping and leaving the town but with no money has few options. A young guy named Gustav may be able to help, taken in by her beauty and struggles he helps her escape the colosseums clutches but can think of only one way to get away safely: pretend Scarlett is his prostitute. Will Scarlett take this and help thank the person who saved her?

The setup may take well known elements of the genre but it puts them together in a nice fresh way thanks to the royal warrior being saved from a colosseum and their thinking of turning to prostitution which is new. Usually it is forced upon a girl in these types of stories but here they think about it and it makes sense despite the obvious risk. She is a beautiful woman so it makes sense for her. It felt natural and thought over at least a bit which is refreshing. It also helps setup the crazy ride in store.

Scarlett is the lead girl here. She is depicted as a warrior and someone who holds great power as well as beauty. In her bid to escape this town she trusts a complete stranger but also the only one who shows her compassion. Gustav Porter is the leading guy who helps Scarlett; he is honourable and seems a nice enough guy. That gets you nowhere in these worlds though and he is basically disposable, a simple cog in the machine to set up what happens to Scarlett.

The content here is has a nice if predictable mix of vanilla and darker content with the former coming early on in episode 1 as Scarlett shows her appreciation for what Gustav is doing for her. An enjoyable sex scene follows as they make love to each other whilst Scarlett begins to feel the pleasure derived from sex. It is standard fare here but still very arousing as Scarlett is gorgeous woman.

It’s the end of the first episode and the entirety of the second where the real excitement came for me. It was as Scarlett was subjected to an untold number of perverse acts. It starts with her having to prove her mettle as a prostitute to an overweight ugly old man and it only spirals from there. Seeing her beg and be honoured to have sex with this grotesque old man was just the start and after Gustav is forcibly taken away her hell begins anew.

She is held in a dungeon fully naked, she is teased mercilessly by the guards and those who have their way with her and when she resists they only become more eager. They attach clamps to her nipples and pussy, use chains to positions her helpless body in humiliating situations, give her nipple piercings, shackle her to a bondage like torture device, whip her into submission as you see the whip hit her sensitive areas all the while she is raped umpteenth times.

I have a particular liking of the gross man fucking beautiful girl trope as well as royalty being taken down a peg through sexual control so this felt like a match made in heaven and for many parts it was. Seeing her divine body set against the dark, drab backgrounds of the dungeon, seeing her erupt in pleasure as she is toyed with, humiliated and degraded until she can take no more is wonderful.

The acts that are present are suitably erotic and perverse but it didn’t quit go far enough nor did it do a great job of setting itself apart. The sexual torture scenes were delectable but there wasn’t enough of them and the acts never reached further down the lurid hole, there was little fresh in what was presented apart from the ending. Sure it was still very arousing but it treads the same path as many before it in many ways.

Visually the show looks fine. It doesn’t set the world on fire but does its job in presenting a suitably erotic, salacious yet dark setup in this fantasy world. Based on Himas art from the novel Scarlett translates well into the anime. As the only girl her focus is expectedly large with a near perfect and idealised figure with large breasts and accentuated curves, the dark and drab backgrounds contrasting greatly with her voluptuous body to keep your gaze on her.

The camera work always captures Scarlett succulently as she begs, pleasures other men and is sexually tortured / trained. While these camera angles may be well done the animation is a little basic. It gets the job done but little more with slow movement in sex scenes, a fair use of recycled frames and an awkward look of movement as Scarlett reacts to the pleasure. It matches most other Mary Jane work.

Colosseum no Senki is an entertaining and thoroughly arousing story if you like the more hardcore elements it offers. The story is tight and compact and ends satisfyingly and of course the sex scenes reach into the perverse nature I wanted. It may be limited somewhat by its lack of anything truly new and amount of hardcore scenes but does what it sets out to do and well.

Studio: Mary Jane

Release: 2015 - 2016

Length: 2 episodes

Availability: Amazon Japan

7.5/10