Weiss Kreuz is certainly a flawed anime and I won't deny that. Heck, it is an anime that I wouldn't have bothered watching or would've dropped if it wasn't for a few factors.
The anime, or well, the franchise came about first from a series of radio drama CD's. The brainchild of Takehito Koyasu, who voices Aya, the character front and center in the main cast, it was purely a passion project, who invited three of his best friends to also take part and voice characters that were designed specifically for them. It didn't take long for it to be a hot property, and the anime
...
came about to further extend its reach.
The Japanese voice acting and the music are the two things that make the anime enjoyable. Even if the animation is limited and therefore not as visually appealing as other anime, the amount of passion the Japanese voice actors put into their characters will make me forget or let the flawed animation and writing slide. Both OP and ED's are both catchy enough that I'd be also willing to drop a decent amount of money to procure the soundtracks for this anime. I even liked the insert song as well.
The story-line is not too bad either. It's not the best, but it's decently structured in a way. The first four episodes are used to establish the characters and the setting, so it takes on a 'target-of-the-week' format first, but the second episode begins Aya's story arc (and the antagonist of the first half), the third with Yoji's arc, and the fourth with Ken's. Now, Omi's story arc doesn't really get into focus until the seventh episode, so there's two episodes in between the fourth and seventh that serve as a breather to the main storyline (the sixth is slightly different for reasons I'll touch upon later).
The rest of episodes up to fifteen are dedicated to the main storyline. In those episodes, we come to learn that Weiss is not the only assassination group out there, but there are also rivals, including an all-woman assassination squad and another squad that serves as the rival and the ones who do the bidding of the main villain, and how the Takatoris play a huge role in the first half. In particular, the main patriarch of the Takatori family, Reiji Takatori, has a role, no matter how indirect, in the four protagonists' lives and their motivation into joining Weiss.
It all leads up to a climatic three-episode arc in which Reiji seizes power in the Japanese government, institutes martial law which Weiss have to deal with in addition to being hunted by the main villain's goons, to a very climatic, but entertaining fight in which Reiji is slain by the one person he most played a role in his past. At this point, you might be wondering, "If he's dealt with in episode fifteen, who takes the reins as the main villain to be vanquished in the remaining episodes?"
Good question. There's a six-month time skip where there seems to be a peace, albeit one with the crew separated and tending to their personal lives, until circumstances bring them back together and face their rival assassin squad once again. As it turns out, they weren't just doing the bidding of Takatori, but they serve a shadowy group with an interesting goal. Somewhere at this point, is where it started to feel like the pacing was off and was subsequently dragging the story, which is something I don't like when it comes to watching anime. It did lead to a pretty decent climatic fight and payoff, but the second half isn't as good as the first.
Now, the four main protagonists get the most amount of character development (and I thought the character development was pretty good), but the thing that surprised me the most, is that while the supporting cast is a mixed bag, there were a couple of characters that had a surprisingly decent character development arc and play a bigger role in the story.
First character I want to highlight was actually introduced in the first episode. Ouka Sakaki at first seems like a frequent customer at the Weiss' cover of a flower shop. She comes off as initially haughty, spoiled, and thinks she has a claim on Omi. She could've been that, but the writers had a plan for her. We come to learn that she's actually more intertwined with Omi than previously thought. She does eventually get Omi and dates him for a brief time, but with this being Weiss Kreuz, unfortunately she had to learn the harsh truth and faces a tragic end. I thought her development was decent because at first I didn't like her, but I eventually changed her my mind and started to like her once I learned more of her character depth.
The other character is Sakura. She initially comes across as a victim of the target-of-the-week, being introduced in episode 6. The four save her from the target and would eventually seem to be one of those victims that'd disappear and play no further role in the story. But this was not the case, and she plays a big role in Aya's story, and eventually, a monumental role in the anime's second half. She went from minor character to major character.
This is why I don't think the writing of Weiss Kreuz is bad. They knew where the story would begin and end, and they planned it out decently. There was enough foreshadowing that it didn't feel like they were writing by the seat of their pants. That being said, I did not care for the Weiss' rivals that much...
Of course, since Weiss is slightly overpowered, their rivals had to be more powerful than them to keep dramatic tension. So while Omi might have excellent skill in marksmanship and aim, it is no match for his villainous counterpart's psychic powers. That's one example, but I felt like that their character arcs were not as good as the protagonists. The other antagonistic assasin squad, the Schreient, had their quirks but they too lacked a lot of depth.
All in all, I'm probably more forgiving of Weiss Kreuz's flaws and choose to look more at what the anime did right. Knowing how the anime came about, I'd definitely be more forgiving of stuff where other shows wouldn't be able to get away with.
I also have all of the show on LaserDisc, even the Kontakt release that was only available on VHS. All of them have bonus content, such as the Radio Weiss segments that appear at the end of each volume, where the main cast talks about the show among other topics. It was there that I learned about how the franchise came to be as an anime version of Hissatsu Shigotonin, a period drama about professional assasins who go after the bad guys.
To end this review, I was indecisive about whether to rate this a 6 or 7 on the MAL rating scale. I usually rate based on ultimate enjoyment of the series. It was good for the most part, but as said before, it started to drag during the last half of the show, but I ultimately settled on a 7 for what it's worth.
Sep 8, 2023
Weiß Kreuz
(Anime)
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Weiss Kreuz is certainly a flawed anime and I won't deny that. Heck, it is an anime that I wouldn't have bothered watching or would've dropped if it wasn't for a few factors.
The anime, or well, the franchise came about first from a series of radio drama CD's. The brainchild of Takehito Koyasu, who voices Aya, the character front and center in the main cast, it was purely a passion project, who invited three of his best friends to also take part and voice characters that were designed specifically for them. It didn't take long for it to be a hot property, and the anime ... 
Sep 8, 2023
Chou Kidou Densetsu DinaGiga
(Anime)
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Dinagiga is the epitome of wasted potential.
The entire franchise (yes, this OVA didn't come out of nowhere) was the brainchild of Takeshi Doi. The franchise came about with the release of three drama CD's (which I own) that introduced the characters and the setting. I assume that those three were successful enough, and was planned as the starting point of a profitable mecha franchise with probably the most cute and adorable MC for a mecha series that had not been seen since Gunbuster. Unfortunately, and I can only speculate, there did not seem to be enough money or sponsors for this anime television series of either ... 
Sep 8, 2023
Kouryuu no Mimi: Mina no Shou
(Anime)
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I enjoyed the anime for what it was. It's a decent two-part OVA that was geared to those who read the manga. That being said, there isn't a big learning curve, so anyone who doesn't know of the manga can kinda get a feel for the plot and characters.
The main character is an affluent descendant of a powerful family with two sides. His public side is charming and boyish, but when the golden earring is off, he becomes a powerful man with his most potent ability being his luck. It'd be an overpowered ability that would quickly remove dramatic tension if this was a standard ... 
Sep 8, 2023
I don't usually leave reviews, as I don't usually have much to say in regards to something I just watch. My ratings usually suffice for how I feel about a given anime.
But I had to write this just to say that this anime... well, to put it this way, if you haven't read the light novels, you'll be lost and confused. In addition, there's a decent amount of wasted potential. The end of the first episode hints at a battle that is never covered in extensive detail in the second volume (it's actually skipped over), and how the OVA is resolved in the end is ... |
