Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter

Season Overview

Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter (Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Dai Mankai no Shou / 結城友奈は勇者である 大満開の章) is the fourth season of Yuki Yuna is a Hero.

I’ve seen some sources refer to it as the third season, which I guess means they’re counting the original season, the Hero Chapter, and the Great Mankai Chapter. But, we shouldn’t forget that there was also a prequel season, the Washio Sumi Chapter.

Additionally, while I believe this is going to be the final main season of the series, I can see two spin-off seasons happening. You see, there were two groups introduced within this season, the Sentinels and the First Generation of Heroes, who could very well get their own seasons.

I’ll discuss the Sentinels and First Generation more in a bit. But for now, let’s take a look at the plot of this final season.

After the Heroes defeat the “last” of the Vertex and “save the world,” the Sentinels are sent out on a mission beyond the boundary. They’re tasked with planting a new divine tree so that the domain of mankind can expand.

However, this strains the original divine tree that was protecting humanity, and so the mission needs to be reverted. This causes the “gods” to be angered by humanity and decide to wipe them out once and for all.

The Taisha organization then concludes there are two options left. Either they can sacrifice a Miko or Yuna can be married off to the gods. The Heroes don’t like either of these options and so they fight back against the gods themselves over the fate of the world.

The Sentinels

I’m not a huge fan of the Sentinels for a few reasons. They’re just watered-down heroes, some of their character designs change drastically when in costume, and some of them are just annoying in general.

But, the Sentinels are still important enough that they get their own version of Yuki Yuna is a Hero (YuYuYu) called Mebuki Kusunoki is a Hero (KuMeYu). That’s why I can see them getting a dedicated season at some point.

As you may have guessed, Mebuki Kusunoki is the leader of the Sentinels. She was originally a strong candidate to become a hero but was beaten out by Karin Miyoshi. Now, she strives to prove that the Sentinels are more than just Hero rejects.

The other sentinels in Mebuki’s squad are Suzume Kagajou, Yumiko Miroku, Shizuku Yamabushi, and Aya Kokudo. I can’t remember anything unique about Yumiko, and Aya’s defining trait is that she’s the Miko of the group, not a combatant.

Suzume’s worth mentioning separately because she’s fairly annoying. She’s afraid of everything, and that’s her entire character. But, she does also use a giant shield in battle rather than a rifle. So I guess that makes her unique among her squadmates.

Shizuku’s also worth mentioning separately because she turns into an entirely different person once in combat. Normally she’s a quiet and reserved girl. But when in the heat of battle, she becomes extremely rough and aggressive. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of her personality swings.

Despite the fact that we do get a decent amount of Sentinel content throughout this season, I think a dedicated season would still make sense. There are some gaps in their story that could still be filled in, such as around the formation of the group and their final battle.

The First Generation

The First Generation of Heroes was my personal favorite part of the entire season. Unfortunately, despite these characters and their story being the most interesting, they got the least amount of screen time. For that reason, an entire season dedicated to them would definitely be appreciated. It’d probably be my favorite season of the series.

Also, just as the Sentinels have KuMeYu, the First Generation of Heroes have Nogi Wakaba is a Hero or NoWaYu. And if that name sounds familiar, it’s because Wakaba is the ancestor of Sonoko Nogi of the current generation of Heroes.

Along with Wakaba, the other original Heroes were Tamako Doi, Anzu Iyojima, Chikage Koori, Yuuna Takashima, and their dedicated Miko Hinata Uesato. Unlike the Sentinels, I think all of the First Generation of Heroes are pretty good characters. Though, they are all a bit too similar to members of the current generation.

Anzu and Hinata aren’t all that important from this generation, so I’m going to skip over them and just talk about the other four.

Wakaba is definitely my favorite of the original Heroes. She has a good design and I really like her personality. She’s just a better protagonist than Yuna in every way. Though, I’d also say Mebuki is a better protagonist than Yuna. But Wakaba is the best of the three protagonists of the season.

Tamako I like just because she has a great character design and she’s very similar to Karin, my favorite current generation Hero. And Chikage is cool primarily because of how her character arc differs from that of any other Heroes (or Sentinels) throughout the series.

Of course, the last one to mention is Yuuna, whose name I’m spelling this way to differentiate her from the Yuna we’re more familiar with. Yuuna Takashima wasn’t stated to have any relation to Yuna Yuki. However, they look identical, so I think that’s something that needs to be explored more in another season.

Oh, and I almost forgot, something that makes the original Heroes so cool is that they invoke the power of deities rather than using Mankai. For example, Yuuna uses the power of the oni Shuten Douji.

Conclusion

Yuki Yuna is a Hero: The Great Mankai Chapter is a 5/10 from me. Most of the plot really didn’t make sense and I’m still not entirely sure why the Heroes were fighting against the gods that they’re also protecting and receiving power from.

But, I also did like that we got to see other storylines within this season. The Sentinels and First Generation of Heroes broke the season up a bit and made it more bearable to watch.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of our community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.