Back to Prizem's Profile Prizem's Profile

This was one of the most confusing shows I've seen, and one that left many questions unanswered. Some things are given as facts, but there's no explanation as to why that's the way things are. Instead, the viewer just needs to accept everything at face value and try to enjoy it for what it is: yet another mecha anime. And as Trigger is wont to do, all things must involve giant robots.

Some spoilers:

So we've got people who fly into computers and get transformed into parts of a giant robot. Why? Who knows!

Where did the people with black suits come from? Who are they and why ... do they have anything to do with Gridman?

Who or what is Gridman anyways? Is it an AI, alien, other-dimensional being, etc?

Where did Akane get her powers? From Alexis? Where did Alexis come from and what even is it?

Where did the Kaiju girl come from? What's her deal here?

Is nothing actually real? Just some dream or simulation of an anxious IRL girl?

There's many more questions than that. But at least the art and music were generally good. Characters were pretty flat in the personality department. And giant robots fighting giant kaiju gets repetitive.

This show's story is set in a quasi-medieval period that ties in kings and knights with magic and unknown mysteries. If that's the sort of thing you're into, this anime definitely gets interesting.

Starting early on in the series, we come to understand that the protagonist is someone very special. While people in this world get trained in the use of various types of magic, a specially-born person with something called an alpha stigma can immediately copy any spell they see. But on top of that, when pushed too far, this person can go berserk and unleash utter havoc on both friend and foe. That's the ... burden Ryner Lute has to wrestle with throughout his soul-searching journey, and one that his friends struggle at times to contend with.

At the same time, the kingdom that Ryner lives in is one of typical social injustice as per the caste system. His friend, Sion Astal, seeks to change all that by becoming king from the ground up, a goal he accomplishes but then decidedly comes to odds with in his unending, escalating efforts to make the world a better place. The story unfolds between these two focal points, with superb dialogue fit for the age.

The art and sound are both decently well done. There are a lot of action scenes with plenty of violence and bloodshed. But scenery can fall flat and be generally uninteresting, and I would have liked seeing more of a variety of outfits on characters, especially considering that most of the ones we focus on are higher-up sort of people. The sound isn't terrible, but it does lack in faculty during battles. It gets pretty bad during the largest action scenes, where it feels like none of the explosions pack any sort of punch.

Characters are all very well done though. Ryner comes with a lot of depth surrounding his monstrous circumstance that pits him in a precarious position. He wants to be with people, but at the same time fears that he may harm them or that they may consider him just a beast to be killed. His companion Ferris, however, seems mixed but really pulls through to help show him that she's a true friend. Most of the time, she just calls him a pervert, and dreams up wild imaginings of him impregnating anyone he touches or teaching any young kid he speaks to the wicked ways of perversion. She's also monstrously obsessed with dango. But she cares more for him than she cares to admit. Sion, the other main focus, goes through a lot on the throne, which gets him in the end. Many of the supporting cast get some back story interlaced through the story, but there are still characters left out which could've used more supporting history.

This anime was pretty easy to watch! Everything was enjoyable till the end, which definitely felt rushed. It's also unfortunate that 4 years after this series aired, we still don't have a second season. Fair warning: a great story, with interesting characters and interesting building, but a bad cliffhanger ending that just begs for more. Things are just starting to really heat up by the time the end rolls around, and then it all stops.

This is not your average tough-guy anime. Not a typical comedy or coming of age. Kenichi uniquely blends together a variety of interesting aspects into a very enjoyable and well thought out series.

The story centers around Kenichi Shirahama, a mostly typical highschool boy who is unfortunately picked on and bullied for most of his life. But just as he's getting used to the idea, he meets a very unusual girl who changes his whole perspective. She does what he couldn't do: protect people. With that girl in focus, he determines he no longer wants to be pushed around and sets out to change himself through ... martial arts. But really, it seems that he bites more than he can chew, as he finds himself confronted with ever tougher opponents as things progress. But thanks to the girl, Miu Furinji, we find Kenichi training with five (sometimes six) of the best martial arts masters in the world.

The series does an excellent job building each character and makes everyone (besides random grunts) a joy to watch grow and open up as people. The masters are hilarious in how much they differ yet still come together to build something greater than the parts in Kenichi Shirahama. Even his former bully turned grudging friend, Haruo Niijima, is an interesting supporting character that provides exposition, builds situations, and offers comedic relief through a mischievous, methodical, ridiculous, self-centered, slimy persona that creates a real love/hate relationship for him.

Action scenes for this fighting-level anime are superb, not only giving intense matchups but describing a variety of moves and techniques that are pertinent to their respective styles. Seeing how things play out while learning some things along the way makes the fighting that much more interesting to watch, which reminds me of watching Initial D in that sense.

While being a comedy, with some romantic interest sprinkled in, Kenichi doesn't let that take him too far off track. Miu is really an amazing fighter, better than most of the enemies throughout the show, but is also a super nice, caring girl who becomes an excellent friend. This is a refreshing role to see a girl in, one that gets extended to other supporting rivals later in the series.

On top of all that, Funimation did an excellent job casting the characters and giving engaging dialogue that entertains all the way through. There are times when I do get tired of Funimation's recycling of their voice actors in all-but-typical roles which doesn't help with my suspension of disbelief. But I feel their choices here fit pretty well for the variety of characters they had to work with.

Overall, the show has great pacing, great comedy, great action and great characters. Although they do touch on some of the masters' backgrounds, I wish they had delved into some of the others some more. And I really wish weapons master Shigure was given more opportunity to show how she trains Kenichi. But the series otherwise pulls everything together thoroughly and keeps its focus on the battles to come.

Cute story about childhood friends reconciling together. Kyoto Animation does a great job on the animation of the water and biceps, and all the characters have a lot of energy throughout the show, making things fun and interesting to watch.

As far as the story goes, it's an understandable story, but one where the dialogue doesn't play out to its fullest potential. Several times, we see the characters talk about mundane things or repeat things in serious contexts that left me wanting more depth. People go to great lengths at times to do or say relatively simple things.

Like how Kyoto Animation's highschool K-On girls don't talk ... about boys, Free boys don't talk about girls. Maybe they're just too busy thinking about swimming with other guys all the time, but in both cases it makes it that much less believable for high school aged boys.

I really did not like the ending. Not to spoil anything, but it essentially felt like it was all about Rin, with Rei more or less just filling the space he left empty in their group. Everyone's considerate, but in the end I'd hate to be Rei.

But all in all characters were all fun (except Haru is almost like Mikasa from Attack on Titan, with a one-track mind on swimming Free to her one-track mind on Eren), the animation was great, and I enjoyed seeing a protagonist group of guys doing fun things (like Daily Lives of High School Boys). Can't wait for the next season!