Anime Review – Hina Logi: From Luck & Logic

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Hina Logi is an anime that wasn’t on my radar at all… until YR reader Daemul brought it to my attention. Needless to say, it probably should’ve been there all along, since there’s a surprising amount of gayness to be found here. Serendipity FTW!

Synopsis: Liones Yelistratova, a pure princess from a small country, enters a school in Hokkaido on a spring day. The school is a specialized educational institution operated by ALCA to train Logicalists, who maintain world peace. Liones enters class S, where she meets many classmates with unique personalities, like Nina. A lively and cute everyday life begins now.

Year: 2017
Length: 12 Episodes
Genre: Action, Fantasy
Studio: Doga Kobo

I’ll admit that I haven’t seen the original Luck & Logic, but from what I understand, that doesn’t appear to be required viewing to enjoy this spin-off, so it seems it’s all good.

Action may be listed among the genres, but that’s actually not true at all. The overwhelming majority of the action only takes place during mock battles, but that said, I didn’t really mind. If action were a major point of emphasis, I probably wouldn’t have high expectations at all, since that isn’t something that Doga Kobo is particularly known for. This anime is much more of a slice of life series than an action series, and it comes with all the expected scenarios we’ve come to enjoy from the genre. Exams? Check. School festival? Roger. Moderate amounts of needless fanservice? Affirmative. These situations may be cliché, but they’re still fairly entertaining in this anime, so it’s not so bad.

Since these are peaceful times, the whole angle of Logicalists and Foreigners is underdeveloped, with it increasingly becoming not much more than an afterthought as the series progresses. I would have liked to have learned a little more about this as well as more about ALCA (you know, without having to actually watch Luck & Logic), but it’s all right.

On a side note, Foreigners = evil? Donald Trump must love this anime, am I right?! *ba dum tss*

Lighthearted xenophobia aside, I can’t complain too much about getting a whole lot of cute girls doing cute things. Towards the end, the forced drama between Nina and Lion was off-putting and a little comical to me, but it did wind up strengthening their relationship, so you’re forgived this time, Hina Logi! 😛

“It wasn’t only learning that Hina Logi had its fair share of yuri that drove me to watch this, it was a yuri kiss that ultimately sealed the deal for me.“

So no matter how you look at it, a lighthearted and generally easygoing glimpse at the lives of some magical girls isn’t that bad, and the show had its moments where it’s a lot of fun (the Valentine’s Day episode immediately comes to mind), so if that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for, this anime may have you covered~

When it comes to the characters, I think this anime does pretty well for itself, and as a whole, they’re a cast that I felt was nearly comparable to some of the more notable cute girls doing cute things anime out there.

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Starting with Lion, our protagonist is pretty much your standard genki girl with a lust for life. There’s hardly a dull moment with her, so this princess is a ball of energy that makes for a pretty entertaining main character. Girls just want to have fun, and Lion is always someone who has a lot of it.

Contrasting with the extremely outgoing nature of Lion is Nina, who’s more of the quiet and serious type. While Lion is carefree and playful, Nina is solely focused on returning to her role at ALCA, so having these two disparate individuals as the main focus of the yuri makes for some cute times. Over time, Nina eventually warms up a little bit to Lion and their friendship improves as a result.

It wasn’t only learning that Hina Logi had its fair share of yuri that drove me to watch this, it was a yuri kiss that ultimately sealed the deal for me. It wasn’t exactly a romantic kiss, but on more than one occasion, Lion tells Nina that she loves her, so there’s more to it than just that once scene. Those two may get the lion’s share of the yuri glory (see what I did there?), but there’s some other yuri love to go around as well.

hina logi

One character that I greatly enjoyed was Mizuki, who’s the show’s resident yuri character. She’s madly in love with Yuuko, the other upperclassman among the girls, however, that love never seems to get returned. Often times, Mizuki serves as some comic relief, as we get to see her go to great lengths for Yuuko’s’ love and attention, but things just don’t go her way. Yuuko’s an entertaining character in her own right, and if there was a spin-off starring these two, I’d watch that in a heartbeat. On a positive note, after graduating, these two will be spending a lot more time together working for ALCA, so maybe Mizuki will get her wish after all~

Besides these two pairings, I guess you could also ship Yayoi with her two underlings, sisters Karen and Karin. Their family has protected Yayoi’s high-status family for generations, so they’re stuck to her like glue. Mahiro may have been the one to have had the yuri scene with Yayoi, but make no mistake, it’s these two that are the ones truly interested in her.

Lastly, all of the Foreigners shown are female, so with the subtle way that Foreigners and the Logicalists they’re contracted to enter a Trance together, those relationships can probably be viewed as having some yuri undertones as well. All in all, it’s surprising that there was as much yuri as there was. For me, it helped make a show that would’ve otherwise been pretty forgettable, somewhat memorable.

Unfortunately, not all of the characters can be called yuri characters, but that doesn’t make them any less entertaining. A perfect example of this is Mahiro, who was probably my favorite character in the show. She kind of reminded me of Satania from another Doga Kobo production, Gabriel DropOut, had Satania been a zany egghead with a penchant for building devices that have the bad habit of exploding…

The story may not have been particularly noteworthy, but with the help of some enjoyable characters and some good, old-fashioned yuri, I’m not lion when I say that this anime got those two aspects right. (So sorry for the bad lion puns, especially since her name isn’t even pronounced like that…) 😛

Something you can probably say about all Doga Kobo anime is that they’re all colorful and vivid, and Hina Logi is no exception. The handful of battle scenes are mostly unremarkable, and you’re definitely not going to confuse this for a serious action anime. Moe is the name of the game, and like most other efforts from this studio, this anime is certainly up to snuff. If you can overlook some occasionally rushed and inconsistent art, this is a decent effort that doesn’t try to be much more than your standard “cute girl” anime.

When it comes to the audio, there isn’t that much to say. This is a by-the-books effort that sounds like most other anime of its kind. The OP is fine, but the cardboard cutout look is really what made it for me. The ED was a little more forgettable for me, but I guess it makes sense that things worked out that way. Anyway, there isn’t anything surprising about the music, so let’s move on and wrap things up.

You’ll find plenty of other anime that do what Hina Logi does and do it better, but I think this was still a pretty entertaining little show. The fantasy/magical girl elements didn’t do that much for me, so I liked this show more when it was just a simple story of cute girls doing cute things. If you’re into that sort of thing, you might enjoy what Hina Logi has to offer, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that Lion and her mane girl Nina helped up the yuri factor quite a bit. 😛

Story: 5.5
Characters: 7.5
Animation: 6
Sound: 6
Yuri: 7
Total Enjoyment: 6.5

hina logi

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54 thoughts on “Anime Review – Hina Logi: From Luck & Logic”

  1. Those Lion puns… you need to be stopped smh

    I REALLY liked this show. I felt it was just cute and comfy and gooey and just so easy to watch. It basically just had cliches and tropes and archetypes followed to a T but it did it charmingly and I had a blast. It also helps that, IMO, it deserves some romance tags.

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    • 😀

      You know, I’m not the only one who likes to occasionally use puns. Collectively, L and I call ourselves “The Punishers”. 😀

      At certain points, I also liked it a lot, and I was really close to upping the score to a 7, but I held off on that. Still, I’d like to see a second season get made somehow. Doubtful, but it’d be nice~

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    • It seems that’s a popular opinion. On MyAnimeList, this one has a higher rating than the original, so it appears I’m not missing much by not having seen it~

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  4. “Wasn’t exactly a romantic kiss”
    “in my country, we kiss the person who we love the most on midnight new years”
    It was on the lips. It was based on a tradition that was obviously created by her dad to give him an excuse to kiss his wife…I don’t know what more you could ask for…

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    • It was still spurred on by a national custom (even if it was a flimsy one), so I don’t view it with as much sincerity as I would if it were completely unprovoked.

      And it never happened again in any other situation, so I think that played a part in my reasoning. 😛

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        • They are, but not to the extent that they would be if they did it solely of their own free will and weren’t compelled to adhere to tradition. 😛

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          • The “Tradition” is to kiss the person you love the most on the lips….She felt compelled to kiss NIna, because she loves Nina. She planned the kiss out, it wasn’t some last minute “oh no! I have to follow my tradition!” She purposefully got herself alone with Nina. She made sure the mood was right for it. I really really don’t know how you can continue to argue that Lion wasn’t serious about what she did.

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        • No, not yet, but that number of episodes already scares me away. 😀

          Thanks to that, it’ll probably be a while before we get to it, even though it seems to fit the bill (<– duck pun :P) of what we like to see~

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        • Smile Precure is actually one of the lower end shows for yuri. I love the show, but it wasn’t much in the way of yuri outside two characters. Also, Netflix’s version butchers things (though not as bad as Doki got butchered…). So if you do like it, definitely give the original a watch too later on.

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          • Ha, my siblings are obsessed with it. And it’s better than Teen Titans Go, so I watch it with them. I may watch the original at some point. But I’m pretty lazy. 😅

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  6. i just watched the first episode and so far i’m enjoying it. nina kinda of reminds me of miyu from fate/kaleid liner prisma illya.
    also, fun fact, nina’s foreigner or whatever is called “amor” right? that means “love” in portuguese. i found it interesting considering the atmosphere of it all…

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  7. I was actually struck by all the parallels/homages to Hayashiya Shizuru’s “Hayate X Blade” in this series. The art style, character designs, relationships and setting all feel like they call back to HxB. Oddly there’s nothing like that in the original Luck & Logic series (aside from the fact that the imouto character looks like her appearance was based on Sora from Kaleido Star ^^;;) that feels like just another dystopian shonen battle story with a male protagonist. I’ve been trying to figure out if the writers are lampooning HxB or saluting it. Hayashiya Shizuru is definitely known to be a nationalist and doesn’t believe her manga should be consumed outside Japan, so that would support the whole “Evil Foreigners” concept if it’s being done as a deliberate effigy. But it feels like Hina Logic borrowed all the best aspects of HxB, so I’m honestly not sure if that’s what’s going on…

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    • I don’t have the slightest clue about that series, but you made it seem infinitely more interesting to me. 😀

      I always wonder what creators think of other intellectual properties, especially ones that share similar ideas as theirs. Would be fun to hear more about that~

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  8. Everything I wanted to say was already said by cirnofan, word by word, so this post is practically pointless, but I have to say it again, that kiss was romantic. It literally went out of its way to clarify any misunderstanding about it not being one.

    Nina also made chocolate for Lion, and only Lion. She didn’t fall behind in reciprocating Lion for all those times she said she loved her.

    If this show gets a 5.5 in yuri, I don’t think anything in existence will ever get more than a 6.

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  9. What began as another enjoyable “all-girl” spinoff/sequel like Aria AA and Soul Eater NOT became something more as the show progressed.

    Nina X Lion is #TrueLove
    Mizuki looked like she was victorious.
    Yayoi unsurprisingly created a harem. She is best girl after all.
    Even the teachers might be going out.

    I hope this show gets all the support it can get and we get more like it…I suppose with more action scenes to please peeps who NEED more of those.

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  10. Whoo! That was cute and fun!
    It was really nice to see Nina and Lion’s relationship come into being bit by bit (maybe a little quicker towards the end). I do wish we could have seen more of that kiss though…

    And for some reason this really reminded me of Little Witch Academy, except with actual yuri in it.

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    • LWA is on on my “To Watch” list, so I hope I’ll get to it eventually.

      I have no idea what to expect, but Diakko seems to be a thing, so maybe that’ll help? 😛

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    • I used to be into AMVs, but I’ve yet to see a yuri one that’s really good enough that it wouldn’t seem out of place on TheBestAMVsOfAllTime channel.

      I know they had a really good Yuru Yuri one, but other than that, it’s been tough to find ’em.

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  14. Pingback: Luck And Logic | Anime Gauge

  15. Hi, I love your blog / website, it has excellent reviews and I always give a pass here since 2017 to see to be watching some yuri / shoujo there that indicate me. So thank you from the heart for the commitment and affection with which you do this excellent job. “Hugs” of a Brazilian fan and success. ❤ (Lion's father IS A CUTE, an anime that gives a happiness in the chest to watch, pardon me for the English half caught and too straight, I have to study a lot still, at last bye bye)

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    • Just wanted to second the opinion on Hina Logi. I found it to be fun, very warm hearted, and very yuri. The relationship between the two MC girls is intense in competition with each other but also in love with each other. And the dad is just so funny over the top with love ror his daughter. One negative: the kisses are behind a curtain?? Whats up with that?

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      • I’m missing this kind of show, right about now. Hina Logi was more fun than a show like Manaria Friends, and the yuri was more appropriate than a show like WataTen!. Why have you failed us so, 2019?

        Gotta leave something to the imagination, I guess? Seems kind of cruel, though. And a couple of years later, we’re still talking about it. Maybe that wouldn’t be the case if it did just show it all. 😛

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    • Thanks so much for the kind words!

      Seeing that we can be a little helpful to people who are into yuri means a lot~

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