Did Chained Soldier Deliver What the Manga Readers Wanted? Fans Are Conflicted

Summary:

• Chained Soldier is an adaptation of an ecchi manga written by Takahiro — and the author’s reputation alone made many fans excited for it.
• While the general direction of the first episode was praised, the animation quality was considered subpar by many viewers.
• The most important part of the anime is its fanservice — which was on point, much to the relief of the manga readers.

Chained Soldier (Mato Seihei no Slave) was one of the most anticipated anime of the season. While obviously not as big as something like Solo Leveling, it still had a dedicated fanbase waiting for the adaptation. When the first episode premiered, however, fans were left conflicted.

Why were people hyped for it?

Chained Soldier is adapted from a manga written by Takahiro and illustrated by Youhei Takemura. Takahiro is known for many other works that were adapted into anime — the most popular being Akame ga Kill!, of course.

The main selling points of Chained Soldier are its fanservice and, to a lesser extent, violence — which make the manga entertaining to read, if nothing else. The art is great as well, and many fans were wondering how it was going to translate into anime. The way that turned out is not satisfying for many source readers, sadly.

The animation quality is rough

The first episode of Chained Soldier was… rough in quality, to say the least. From bizarre use of colors and filters to low-quality CGI, the anime is not off to a good start — and many fans are worried that the action is only going to get worse.

It’s not all that bad, however. Many fans also praised how the anime adaptation approached the start of the story, saying that it feels less like modern anime and more like something made in the 00s or even before. It makes sense: the director of the series is Junji Nishimura, who worked on anime such as Ranma ½ and Urusei Yatsura (the original one).

At least the fanservice is on point

The main thing about Chained Soldier, however, is still its fanservice — which is very abundant in manga. It is way too early to judge the series based on that — after all, we didn’t get to the best parts yet — but at least the common consensus is that the anime delivered on that part so far.

The kiss between Yuuki and Hyouka was very well-animated, miles better than the rest of the episode. Seems like the staff knows what their target audience is.

There, of course, were concerns about the anime being censored. HIDIVE, however, acquired the uncensored versions for streaming, much to the happiness of the fans. Between Chained Soldier and Gushing over Magical Girls (Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete), it seems like HIDIVE is trying to make a name for itself as a platform with a selection of uncensored ecchi anime — and it seems to be a successful business tactic.