The series continues to grow and change, slowly but surely.
What They Say:
Tamaki and the others, at the location where the items are sealed, encounter the mysterious group, “Logos”, who are attempting to break that barrier. Although the “Logos” were stopped, Tamaki, anxious about the approaching rematch goes to ask Suguru about the sealed items.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the show having upped the ante a bit in the last episode with the introduction of the group that’s in search of the Artifacts, Tamaki is being a bit smart in plainly asking to know more about the Seal and what’s involved with it. Rather than just reacting, she wants to be in a bit more on what’s involved with everything and to get it from her guardians if they know it. Of course, they know only so much, or let on about so much, and for the most part it’s life back to normal for them as Tamaki gets her school days going again while the guys continue to protect her along the way. It’s decently done when you get down to it, largely owing to the positive attitude of Tamaki and the fact that the guys aren’t really overbearing.
A lot of the episode is given over to this kind of slice of life side of the show, which certainly has its moments as we get to see how the group works together in casual settings and are always watching out for Tamaki. And it’s useful to see that Tamaki isn’t being overwhelmed by all of this and is still being a normal girl. But as they deal more with talking about the Artifacts and how the five items work to protect and enhance the seal, she does slowly learn more about it all. Understanding that the seal has weakened before as well is important since it shows that it’s not a constant and it’s not just something happening under her watch now, though things are definitely different as there is a group that’s after the artifacts.
Unsurprisingly, the show spends most of its time on this but knows it needs a confrontation in the third act to really tie it together. And like the last episode, it works well as this one brings in Aria Rosenberg on the Logos side as she comes off as the ostensible leader of things. It’s just enough to get things moving between the two sides in a powerful sequence of attacks. While the show hasn’t won me over with its story that is fairly predictable and with a cast of a similar nature, these segments have been quite captivating and pretty much better than the series deserves. Not that it’s a bad series, but the quality of the design and animation for the fight sequences are striking and very well done.
In Summary:
Hiiro no Kakera is the kind of series where while it does us predictable setup elements, it has the potential to go further because of its execution. Generally, even though the cast is not well defined with pasts, relationships and real uniqueness outside of their designs, they’re all generally likable characters with potential. Tamaki is included in that as well, though she has a bit more going for her as the lead character. The introduction of the other group did shift things into some forward movement, but it looks to be kind of running perilously close to an encounter of the week gig if this keeps up. The series continues to feel like it has animation and designs better than it does, but it also feels like it’s full of potential. But it needs to move a bit beyond the heavy dialogue and slice of life stuff that permeates a lot of it. It’s got the potential and the right elements to do it, but I get the feeling that it will fall short as many of these kinds of series do.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
