K: Return of Kings

By: Robert Murphy

Life in Shizume City is relatively normal to on the surface but right beneath the surface there are groups of people with magnificent powers given to them by their kings of various color. Despite their massive power though there is a relative peace among them all thanks to the overwhelming dominance of the Gold King and his control of the Dresden Slates that gives all of the kings their powers. This is all about to change however as the news of his death brings many powerful kings clamoring for a new world order and the return of the first and immortal Silver King Adolf Weismann must return again to stop them. But, most of you all know him as Shiro.

When I initially watched the first season for K the concept of what it exactly it means to be a "king" and where all their powers came from was a big mystery to me. Now however the story delves much deeper into these areas with the death of perhaps the most powerful king, the Gold King Daikaku Kokujoji. It has rested solely on the shoulders of this man to keep to power of the Dresden Slates from growing since they were discovered by Daikaku and the Silver King all those years ago. Without him suppressing the powers of the Slates new kings may spawn and many humans may develop their own powers and creating a new world order, at least this is what the formerly silent Green King Nagare Hisui hopes to accomplish.

Right away it was as if the show is filling in all of the pieces that were missing from it's story the first time around, it's not that the first season's story was bad it just focused more on the mystery and the situation at hand with who Shiro was and only briefly hit on the backstory. This was a solid move because side stepping in a 12 episode series would have eaten up valuable episodes and here there was more room to deal with the questions viewers had before while telling a new story with it by having the formerly forgotten kings return to action. K could also not have done a better job in selecting a character to fill the lime light either when they cased the role of "bad guy" on the Nagare.

His is a character that isn't necessarily bad, he just has his own ideas and wants everyone to share in the powers that only a select few get to have and really why should that be when everyone can have it. It's a good idea but these powers work well in small doses with Kings to dictate and control those they lend their abilities to, without that there would be mass chaos. Nagare though is just one of those idealist characters that I just couldn't help but love as he has amassed his army of green clansman in a unique way and has been planning to take control of the Dresden Slates for years, right down to the last detail. His clansman amount to nothing more than thousands of people in Shizume City that think they're playing a game. They log into a system called JUNGLE and gain points by performing missions and basically earn powers under the green clan. It's ingenious and leaves only a select few people with the rank of "J" to be close by him.

This opens up the docket for three other exceptional characters that join the cast of K too. The people closest to Nagare are Yukari Mishakuji who is a swordsman that is searching for a beautiful future and seems to have found it among the green clansmen. He also has an interesting history with Kuroh and studied under the same teacher years ago making for some interesting dynamics in the show. Then there is Sukana Gojo who is your average gaming loving kid with plenty of immense raw potential that is used well under Nagare to demolish anyone in his path, not that Nagare needs it as you will see later on. Finally there is Tenkei Iwafune who is a virtually unknown sort but seems to have been with Nagare since the beginning as a care taker but plays a much deeper role later on. 

The rest of the cast also returns to the series as well and are just as spot on as they were before and some breaking out into new better roles. Shiro for instance has much more screen time to show off the abilities he possessed all those years ago when he first discovered the Dreseden Slates as well as show of his powers as the Silver King. Anna too also gets a much more satisfying role as I never understood what she was really doing in the show, now it seems she may have been being groomed to be the next Red King. And while there was once again a multitude of other exceptional characters placed throughout the story there isn't time wasted on all of them, but enough time is granted to each to let you know about them as characters and just simply enjoy them for what they are. 

This cannot be said for everyone however as some ambiguous moments for the story still pop up at the most random times. The subjects of Strains and where exactly they fit in still doesn't quite get explained and there was a poor attempt to remedy that with the Nagare who has his own Strain companion just like Shiro and Neko. Nagare appears to have some understanding of Neko but when the time came to explain it all it was shoved in with a poor excuse in the very last episode. It would have simply been better to write off the fact that there are things called Strains rather than try to incorporate them in any further but the show made a point to bring it up here. Neko herself continues to be my only real issue as far as characters go, especially since she is just used for the minor fan service along with a certain blue clan member, but in the grand scheme of things she is completely minor.

Still there is a great deal of fun to be had mixed in with all the fights and seriousness of this season and that mainly comes from Shiro, Neko and Kuroh. Shiro had disappeared at the end of last season but with his return the three became inseparable from one another and share a great bond throughout the show. It is great to watch as they still all cram together into one tiny room in order to do all their business, especially since the Blue, Red, Gold and even Green King all have these grand hideouts and bases, even better when the Blue and Red King cram in the room to try and discuss battle plans. 

As for the animation and music, Return of Kings once again brings back the classic K art style that it had when it first started out. Everything is incredible sharp and detailed on the screen making it all a delight to watch especially when the battles break out and clansmen's powers start to fly this way and that. I especially enjoy the flame details on HOMRA's (red clan) abilities and each battle is capped off by one particular catchy beat that was impossible not to notice as I bobbed along, eyes glowing and mouth open.

By the end of things I felt wholly satisfied with the amount of story I received from yet another 12 episode season for the series. There was plenty of action, fun and excellent animation to keep me coming back for more and not only that but the story also delved further into the Dresden Slates and how all of these Kings, abilities and people came to be. Shiro and many others continue to be likable characters and along with the addition of the Green King and his clan I can see no reason that people will not continue enjoying this second season of K.

Good:

- Spot on animation and music

- New and old characters alike are stellar

- A much stronger story that delves deeper into the lore

Bad:

- The subject of Strains might as well be dropped at this point

-Minor fanservice

Scully Rating: 8.0 out of 10

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