K

By: Robert Murphy

Out of all the anime that I have ever wanted to watch over the years, K has been at the top for quite some time and due to lack of time and lack of me searching for a site that has it properly dubbed, I never got to watch it, until now. Yashiro Isana is a young student who lives in the technologically advanced city known as Shizume City, he is an extremely relaxed kid who doesn't have many cares in the world. His laid back demeanor leads him to be friends with just about everyone he comes across and on his way into the city one day to run some errands for the school's upcoming festival. This proves to be a fatal turning point as one after another he is attack by the infamous group known as HOMRA who believe that he is responsible for killing one of their most beloved members Tatara Totsuka. It is hard not see why they believe this though as they have video proof of the person killing Tatara and it looks exactly like Yashiro. HOMRA and other groups in Shizume City want answers to just what happened to Tatara Totsuka and they're all looking at Yashiro as the prime suspect to be taken in or more likely in HOMRA's case, killed. 

K is perhaps one of the better put together anime that I have seen in a long time, the effort that went into the overall production value is top notch. Action scenes are immense and well choreographed and when you put it together with the impressive art quality of the show, you get some amazing fight scenes. This goes double for all the characters you will see throughout the show, it is great to see so many characters for a show and to have them not only be unique in their presentation but to also have them all be engaging characters as well. Shizume City is filled with all sorts of characters and people but among them are seven individual groups that bare the most importance to the story. Secretly the city is run by the seven kings that vary their distinction by color and rank, such as the blue king and his rank of 4, they all rule over different factions and depending on their outlook they either fight or work together to run the city. I personally enjoy the fighting myself though especially when it come to the blue king and the red king who share a rough history together that leads to the shows most prominent action scenes. We unfortunately only deal with these two and three other kings but I found the whole thing very engaging as these god like beings and their followers work in secret without humanity even knowing about them.

As I mentioned earlier, there is a surprising amount of characters present in the story especially for a series that is only thirteen episodes long, most shows can barely handle five characters when it's that length. Yashiro, at first, wasn't all that compelling as a main character, but as he meets more and more of the people working for the kings, and the kings themselves, he became more interesting to me. He and his group work together to try and prove his innocence to the crime he is accused of although Kuroh (known as the black dog) only wants to know so he can decide whether or not to kill Yashiro in the name of his former master. Kuroh is a former vassal to the colorless king and wants to make sure that the next colorless king is not an evil one and he believe Yashiro is the next in the line. He is a funny sort of character with a splash of awesomeness and incredible power, he was extremely devoted to his last master and carries around words of wisdom that he use to say on a machine and listens to them at interesting times during the show. Yashiro's other partner is much more one sided in her admiration for him and her name is Neko, a sort of naked cat girl character who is rather unique and no not because she's naked or because she's a cat. Neko is known as a Strain which are beings that occur randomly in the world and are born with great power, unlike kings who attain power later in life from their individual power sources known as the Sword of Damocles. 

Now I just hit you with a lot of information there at the end and it comes out much more smoothly during the show so don't feel to lost. But, even though K has a smooth story pacing it doesn't always explain all that is happening in the world. Kings, Strains and Sword of Damocles? How did all these things come to be and how did all this start? It's kind of curious because it's never fully explained where or how these things began, how do you become a king is probably my biggest question because I want to sign up. Sure these are not super important to the plot of the show and it does help to not bog down the story but it leaves some holes in the plot that I would like to be answered but I don't think that will happen. 

In the end though, K was a show that was well worth my time and the wait that I went through before I finally got the chance to watch it. I do wish that the story had some more detail behind how the world of kings and creatures like Strain came into existence but there just wasn't enough time. I also would of enjoyed K without the unneeded upskirt, short skirts and naked cat woman aspects too. Still it holds a spot for me, the action and story move smoothly and it's just so darn pretty to look at everything in the world from characters to setting and incredible fight scenes. 

Good:

- An extremely well put together production

- Fight scenes are both engaging and great to watch

- The stories pacing is smooth and enjoyable

Bad:

- Unneeded fan service that ranges from pantie shots to the fully naked Neko moments

- Would have enjoyed some more meatier aspects to the lore of the world like where kings come from and so on

Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10