Master of Martial Hearts

Zettai Shougeki ~Platonic Heart~ (絶対衝激〜プラトニックハート〜), now licensed by FUNimation and retitled Master of Martial Hearts, is a five-episode OVA.

Aya Iseshima is a schoolgirl who ends up walking into a brutal battle between a Miko and a flight attendant. After saving the Miko with her kung fu skills that her mother taught her, Aya learns from both her friend and the Miko (coincidentally named Miko) the story of the "Platonic Heart", a mythical jewel that can supposedly grant any wish to a girl who acquires it. Miko further says that she found herself entered into a tournament to acquire the Platonic Heart with a cell phone text message from an unknown source.

After saying goodbye, Aya then receives a similar text message saying that she has been entered into the tournament in place of Miko, and so begins her reluctant quest to defeat a handful of cosplay-themed Action Girls including the aforementioned flight attendant, a nurse, a policewoman and more. With clothes-destroying physics and kung fu skills at her disposal, can she overcome her opponents or will she fall into an inescapable world of darkness?

In short, think of this as a streamlined Ikki Tousen without the thin veil of a Romance of the Three Kingdoms plot behind it.


 * And That's Terrible: You know Female Fighting Tournaments Anime is a terrible idea because the loser.
 * Action Girl: All the girls in the tournament, though Miko is arguably a Faux Action Girl.
 * A Friend in Need: How Aya gets herself mixed up in the tournament.
 * Apologetic Attacker: Aya's teacher practically telegraphs all her moves while she begs Aya to either block or stay down. If only Aya studied her chemistry textbook...
 * Bait and Switch Credits: That opening is so charged with upbeat optimism, and the closing mellow and dreamy. You just know this tournament is going to end in a proud victory!
 * Berserk Button: Messing with Haruki or talking bad about him in Aya's presence will get you beaten like a rug in no time. Also, never try to dissect what makes Aya tick; it's not very conducive to living.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: And boy, do they enjoy rubbing it in Aya's face during The Reveal.
 * Bolivian Army Ending:
 * Calling Your Attacks: Suma-sensei calls out the formula of common chemicals; whether or not this is to add power to her attack, she also does it to purposely communicate them to Aya.
 * Catgirl: Aya out-Moes the Meido with a costume that adds cat ears and tail.
 * Chekhov's Classroom: Suma's insistence that Aya study her assigned chemistry lesson. Subverted; though it would've provided clues for the battle, Aya failed to study, and her confusion at trying to recognize the called attacks distracts her from simply reading body language.
 * Complexity Addiction: The entire tournament, is so complex, long and, in many ways holding itself in inane future predictions; it probably works in fairy dust and Bellisario's Maxim to its atomic level.
 * Clothing Damage: All women's clothes in this world must be made out of tissue paper when they fight.
 * At one point a girl gets punched in the shoulder and her skirt explodes.
 * At another point, Aya actually punches a girl's in the gut. Her butt actually rips through her pants as a result.
 * This might actually be a function of the tournament -- before Aya was a contestant, her clothes seemed a lot more durable.
 * Cute Mute: Natsume's mother
 * : The sole reason why the Martial Hearts Tournament was born and still exists.
 * Darker and Edgier: What less charitable viewers may see. While the work could be seen as a type of deconstruction, the fact that they use, it can come as an inmature "Deconstruction" of a typical Anime genre.
 * : Aya's mother.
 * Do Not Do This Cool Thing: If the entire idea of the series is that Panty Fighter anime are bad, then the sheer amount of nudity is probably the wrong way to go.
 * : And HOW! There's nary a character who is not dead, insane,, or worse.
 * Empty Shell:
 * Evil All Along:
 * Fair Cop
 * Fan Service
 * Gainaxing
 * Gambit Pileup: Infodumped in the last episode: A trio of sisters who helped organize the tournament wanted Aya to join them, but they were being manipulated by a man who looked like Haruki, a boy Aya liked. Except that boy turned out to be a who was working with . And they were trying to get revenge in the name of Natsume's mother, who lost her vocal chords when she lost the last tournament to Aya's mother, who in turn entered because Natsume's grandfather had started the whole damn thing.
 * Hand or Object Underwear: Aya covers herself while fighting at the pool after one punch takes off her bikini top.
 * Heroic Resolve
 * Hypocrite: Miko.
 * Hot Teacher
 * Idiot Ball: Well done, go in a fist fight with the near unstoppable Fighter...when you have guns.
 * Idol Singer: Rin-chan invokes Meido and Magical Girl in her act.
 * Insane Troll Logic: The explanation of for the Tournament is so mindblogging stupid it would leave you in the same capacity as.
 * James Bondage: Haruki held hostage.
 * Killed Off for Real: Everyone that appears in Fight 5, except . Heavily believed to be the case for, given her role in the series.
 * : Holy God does it ever.
 * Kimono Fanservice
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch: Really, you can't help but to cheer at.
 * Kubrick Stare / Slasher Smile
 * Love Triangle: A particularly cruel Type 4 involving Aya (a), Haruki (b) and.
 * Mama Bear: Aya's Mother, Suzuko Ichisima
 * Male Gaze: Yes. The shower scene in episode two, where the camera spends a full minute crawling up Aya's naked body so that she can say one word is possibly the best example.
 * Meido: At a theme cafe, no less.
 * Miko: Miko. No one comments on the unoriginal, Meaningful Name.
 * Misplaced Retribution: The ending.
 * Mood Whiplash: Back and forth and back and forth!
 * Naughty Nurse Outfit
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Carried to its logical conclusion by.
 * Not Just a Tournament: A big time (and convoluted as hell) case of this.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: for certain, as she remains just as lethal and unforgiving as stated, despite it being years since she had to fight.
 * Panty Fighter
 * Playing to The Fetishes: Every flavor represented. Lampshaded at a fast food McDonalds Bland-Name Product named "Moe".
 * Qipao
 * Retired Monster:.
 * Revenge by Proxy:.
 * Selective Obliviousness: When the villains appear, they reveal that
 * Sempai-Kohai: Aya and Natsume, with some Girls Love implication,.
 * Sexy Stewardess
 * Stepford Smiler
 * Surveillance as the Plot Demands: While Aya's is explained, it never makes sense how they recruit the rest of the girls, except for the Hand Wave explanation bellow. The requisites for enter are, after all, kind of limited for most of the population.
 * Talking Is a Free Action: Plenty of time for Trash Talk.
 * The Call Knows Where You Live" Apparently if there's an open spot in the tournament, any girl who has made a wish and can fight gets a text message inviting them. Subverted with.
 * The Power of Friendship: So subverted. And deconstructed in detail by the final opponent.
 * Actually, averted since.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Battle 5 is basically made up of this, from the lady in red who brutally strips Aya psyche bare . After Aya wins, she basically lives in this trope at the hands of, Aya's shows up to deliver a speech of her own, revealing the true circumstances of the Martial Hearts while.
 * Unperson: After withdraws from the tournament, the only people who seem to remember her existence are Aya and Natsume.
 * Villains Never Lie
 * : Yes, yes it was.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist:
 * Wham! Episode: Battle 5. Just... Battle 5.
 * Wrench Wench
 * You Bastard: Begins subtle, with the depiction of an Otaku audience at a Moe Idol show, watching the Panty Fight.
 * You Bastard: Begins subtle, with the depiction of an Otaku audience at a Moe Idol show, watching the Panty Fight.