English Dub Review: Kenka Bancho Otome -Girl Beats Boys “One Fist”

Did Funimation’s newest series deliver?

Kenka Bancho Otome -Girl Beats Boys follows Hinako Nakayama, an apparent martial arts guru. Nakayama delivers an opening monologue where she laments, “I never noticed how beautiful the cherry blossoms were.” Nakayama continues that she felt isolated until “that day.” Then she felt as if she could become someone else.

Throughout the intro episode “One Fist,” the story splits between following Nakayama in the present and flashbacks. There’s an “entrance ceremony” at Shishiku Private Academy. In the past, Nakayama is instructed by a yet unnamed person to attend Shishiku in their place.

The opening ceremony is less a ceremony and more a free-for-all of one-on-one dueling. It’s utter pandemonium. However, there’s a greater twist: Hinako is enrolled in Shishiku academy, an all boys school. As such, she must craft her own identity masquerading as a male.

The visuals are really pretty. Vibrantly pink cherry blossoms flutter about in front of the academy which is adorned with graffiti. The plot thus far is pretty engaging. Just enough narrative remains so as to set up a back story. Hinako was sent to Shishiku by a friend or relative, and here she’s concocted a male identity. Additionally, Nakayama is a skilled fighter, handily besting her male competition.

But while the plot and animation are solid, it’s the runtime that really hurts Kenka Bancho Otome -Girl Beats Boys. And I thought The Silver Guardian was short. The just over eight-minute runtime of Kenka Bancho Otome -Girl Beats Boys makes the 13-minute episode format of The Silver Guardian seem like The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings extended edition.

It’s difficult to set up a coherent plot with a cohesive narrative and character development in a half hour. Much less a sub-15 minute episode. Less than 10 is pretty skimpy. Considering the opening credits and end credits, Kenka Bancho Otome -Girl Beats Boys is probably around the seven-minute mark.

While I presume the remaining show will follow the same structure, I can’t say for sure. Overall Kenka Bancho Otome -Girl Beats Boys is entertaining, and “One Fist” leaves me intrigued. Mostly I just wish the episodes were longer as it’s incredibly challenging to build any momentum in such short time.