K: Return of Kings

Tensions are running high among the clans as the Green King begins making moves that threaten to drive the world into pandemonium. Following the death of the Gold King, the safety of the Dresden Slate, the source of power of the Kings, is under threat. Nagare Hisui, the sly and mysterious leader of the Green Clan Jungle, is determined to procure the powerful Slate by any means possible.

Standing directly in his way is Sceptre 4, the Blue Clan, headed by their unyielding King, Reishi Munakata. However, the grim sight of his crumbling Sword of Damocles leaves the stability of his clan and all of Japan in jeopardy. Meanwhile, still recovering from their tragic losses, Anna Kushina and her aggressive clan HOMRA find themselves caught up in the Green King's games. Amidst the chaos, Kurou Yatogami and Neko are left vulnerable while their beloved friend, Yashiro Isana, the Silver King, remains missing.

As the remaining clans struggle against the Green King's formidable forces, one final king appears.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Isana, Yashiro Main

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Neko Main

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Yatogami, Kurou Main

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Kushina, Anna Main

Horie, Yui Japanese

Munakata, Reishi Main

Sugita, Tomokazu Japanese

Suou, Mikoto Supporting

Tsuda, Kenjirou Japanese

Yata, Misaki Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Fushimi, Saruhiko Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Totsuka, Tatara Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Kusanagi, Izumo Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Kamei, Hiroshi Producer

Suzuki, Shingo Director, Character Design

Kanazawa, Hiromitsu Director

Yokota, Chikako Sound Director

Reviews

Dec 7, 2015

whorifying

Recommended

**UPDATED** Added a paragraph with my thoughts on the ending.

Honestly, I can't believe the negative reviews!

This anime is a rarity in my opinion. The first season of K was more of a mystery, trying to figure out who Shiro really was, this time it's about keeping the peace. It's focused on all of the groups as a whole rather than individually and explores a goal that all three kings share.

The animation is spectacular and far surpasses AoT, I particularly like the animation in scenes with Misaki on his skateboard, there has clearly been extra care into those types of scenes. There has been no ... major character development since the characters were probably explored to their full potential in the first season. The show is only three weeks away from its climax and I'm looking forward to it. I hope that this season doesn't have a disappointing finale, since the first season of K had an excellent finale, and as predictable as the show can be at times, it's thoroughly entertaining and I definitely feel like it's one of the best this year.

Okay, so the ending did not disappoint, I appreciated that it was left on a cliff hanger kind of and I appreciate that a lot of loose ends from the past season were tied up. I don't feel like this anime really NEEDS a third season, because everything has already been tied up with a nice neat bow already.
I didn't get the type of ending I wanted, but I'm not disappointed with what we did get either. It's a nice ending. It was built up climatically, and I would've been happier with a darker ending, but the one that we got was nice. That's really all I can describe the end of the show as, "Nice."

The soundtrack is also mind blowing, the soundtrack is actually one of the things that draw you into the show, as it compliments the colour pallet and spectacular animation and action scenes that the anime gives you in pretty much every episode.

I give this show a solid 10/10 so far, I may downgrade the review depending on what happens in the finale though as I definitely feel like a bad finale can let down an entire show. Hopefully it's good!

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Oct 24, 2015

Smugdear

Mixed Feelings

Superpower anime has been the main solution to attract many people in order to keep the Anime industry in balance. Since the success of such famous anime like the big three (Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach), there are dozens anime that uses the super power as an appeal and works as a direct jump to make profits. One of them are the K - project franchise, which has been ongoing since 2012. K Return of Kings is the 3rd project that exists in K Franchise. As the series go, K really didn't maximize any potential that it have.

The 1st season started the story while ... adding the mystery genre into it. While Return of Kings does a different thing, they're trying to build-up its world in this 13 episode. While doing that, the anime throw many flashbacks & scenes to build that, but they didn't succeed the 30% of it.

For about 8 episodes K: Return of Kings brings us an endless "information dump". The blank paper is filled, they fill it with many chit-chat and useless scenes and they just did the same mistakes once again. As the plot drive slowly, K Return of Kings really just wasting the time it has. The story can be described as 'disoriented' and didn't have a clear direction, it just floating in the air with unclear reasons.

As we expected, K strongest power is in the budget. The animation grows very colorful and beautiful. The town settings and the battle scenes are well produced. The character designs have hundreds of bishounen waiting for the fangirl to scream. To adding that, we have some useless fanservice scenes using boobs and many other round things to maintain the enjoyment of the fanboy. Well, those things remind me, "What if K animation similar like Ping Pong?", fortunately, the reality is not like that.

Sound settings are okay, the new Opening & Ending Song are not too bad either. The background music was still great like its prequel. Voice actors did a great thing in doing their job.

Another disappointment we have is there is no in-depth character development. They throw many flashbacks in this little amount of episodes but useless flashbacks indeed (especially the first 8 minutes of episode 1). The main character possibly didn't do as the main character, they just fleshed out by supporting characters, their role was actually minimum in this series. The green king's motive was relatively poor and slightly typical and we have the gray king in return. The problem is they unloaded a number of characters with not the right balance and I should say this "None of the clansmen has a particular role in anything...", they just as useless as ever and just filled the vacancy of the episodes. It's just so blank, useless, and ridiculous.

The useless scenes that occur in the first six episode really bring a bad effect to the enjoyment itself. Actually, the battle scenes are pretty cool and colorful. But it got such an unexpected downfall especially for the story section and character section.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 25, 2015

Stark700

Not Recommended

Watching K: Return of Kings is like running inside walls of a labyrinth, trying to find a way out. The confusion sinks in more and more and by the time you reach exit, it’ll be a relief. No, I don’t mean that the second season of K takes place inside a labyrinth. That would just be plain weird. What I mean is that K: Return of Kings lacks entertainment when it comes to storytelling. Each episode progressively makes the show more and more mind boggling. For a show that makes its big return, it’s also a big disappointment.

As the direct sequel of the movie, K: ... Missing Kings, this series also requires knowledge from the original season. Without it, watching the Return of Kings would be a dreadful experience. The first few episodes consists of setup that builds more and more for future events. Anna is now declared as the new Red King. She’s the little girl dressed in a goth loli outfit but has quite a confident personality when it comes to taking up the new role. Kuro also makes his return along with Neko and Shiro by his side as the original trio. Then, there’s new developments like the introduction of the Green Clan. Consisting of members with powerful abilities, they are labeled as the big bad of the season.

The structure of storytelling for the second season feels more like a car assembly. The first parts comes, then the building begins, and finally, we get the test drive. But unlike a car, it can get a bit confusing. First of all, the Green Clan consists of a prominent group of characters with ambiguous motivations. We don’t find out more about them until later on the season. But what’s interesting is that they treat almost everything like a game. What’s more is they use the social media to play out their plans through unpredictable strategies while causing confusion among the communities. In retrospect, the Green Clan is the big question mark fans will have for this season. Who exactly are they? What do they want? What’s their ultimate goal? Plot twists are also integrated into the story that makes them look even more deceptive. Unfortunately, it isn’t very interesting in the end. This is because there’s a lack of character growth and their role in the series seems condensed into more of their actions rather than real purpose.

Characterization for this season is also really a hit or miss. On a positive note, I think the show has chosen a suitable Red King and in this case would be Anna. She demonstrate her ideals, skills, and responsibility especially in her role against the Green Clan. In addition, she has earned the respect of her allies and is truly a character that is mysterious. The Green Clan also has some members that can be intriguing. Unfortunately, that’s really about it. The antagonists of the series are stereotypical and really lacks characterization. Shiro’s return to the show doesn’t bring anything special to the table. Not to mention, his sidekick Kuro still remains just as cat-like and almost lacks a personality. Her role is pretty much a cheerleader that again lacks any sort of prestige. And because the show has a large cast of characters, it’s really hard to pick out one to truly embrace.

If there’s one thing that is somewhat interesting is some of the morality and philosophical dialogues. While this does spark interest, most of it is masked by the frequent amount of generic content. Relationship dynamics are shortened with frequent mood changes and even the comedy feels dense with the die-hard dialogues. It sometimes feels like the show is mindlessly trying to appeal the audience through the rivalries of the colored clans. While this looks okay on the surface, it still doesn’t do justice for its execution.

On a technical front, the K franchise is a powerhouse. There’s a lot of emphasis put into the animation that is high quality with the setting. GoHands’ budget is put to use with highlighting the architecture backgrounds. The fluid animation also translates to character designs with their stylistic battle uniforms. While there’s lazy body movements at times, the action is mostly consistent with high caliber movements. The show is also known for some bits of fan service. While it doesn’t have the typical onsen or beach episode, there’s quite a decent amount of suggestive camera angles exclusively focused on Seri. It seems the cameras just love her.

Soundtrack is more or less easy to forget or take notice. The OP song is a downgrade from the previous season with the lack of feature with other characters. It seems like they are making Anna the poster girl of the show as she is exclusively focused in the OP song. The lyrics combined with the choreography is sub-par this season as well. The OST seems to have improved in some aspects in particular with the Green Clan’s battle theme. However, when it comes to adapting soundtrack, K is less about what it wants you to hear but more what it wants you to see in the end.

Return of Kings is really an underwhelming return. Storytelling is a weakness in itself combined with its lack of concrete characterization. While there’s an interesting amount of mystery developing for the story at first, its execution and inadequate timings are what keeps the show from excelling. If you’re ready for some porn scenery, coolness, and curiosity about continuity, then this might be a show for you. In retrospect though, K has lost its freshness and became a hollow shell of its former self.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: K: Return of Kings Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Oct 2, 2015	263 replies	by bigdmf »» Apr 2, 6:03 PM
	Poll: K: Return of Kings Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Dec 25, 2015	185 replies	by Karva1 »» Feb 12, 5:46 PM
	Poll: K: Return of Kings Episode 11 Discussion Stark700 - Dec 11, 2015	45 replies	by Karva1 »» Feb 12, 5:42 PM
	Poll: K: Return of Kings Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Nov 20, 2015	87 replies	by Karva1 »» Feb 12, 4:41 PM
	Poll: K: Return of Kings Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Oct 30, 2015	57 replies	by Karva1 »» Feb 12, 2:58 PM

K: Return of Kings Episode 1 and 2 Recap

A new season of K is here! This time around, the events of the first season seem to be the foundation, as past events are mentioned once more, while new kinds of trouble slowly arise.

by karuhigamiDURV

12,657 views

Spoiler

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K: Return of Kings Episode 3 Recap

In this week's K: Return of Kings, JUNGLE is on the move to create more chaos in the city. This time, a special place from the first season is revisited and a battle ensues among the clans. Did you know important clan members can have 4,000 Jungle Points?

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11,922 views

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RecapFirst ImpressionSupernatural