Hinohara’s struggles continue as events move towards another confrontation.
What They Say:
The stage is the world of Amawakuni, where mankind coexists with the many gods. There, a boy called Arata is wrapped up in a coup d’état led by the Twelve Shinsho, wielders of swords called Hayagami. When he is accused of murdering a princess, Arata escapes to a forest, where he finds himself transported to the modern world.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Events in the series had taken some interesting turns at times, early on and a bit more in the last couple of episodes when it focused on Kadowaki, but it’s also felt kind of listless in some ways as the core storyline hasn’t been really a part of the show. With Hinohara doing his journey thing here, he’s made some friends along the way which has helped to bolster his confidence some and to give him what he needs to deal with various threats, but he’s also waffled with his confidence level a bit and not hit the right mark regularly enough to be a truly engaging character. Crazy as he is, Kadowaki has been more interesting if only because he’s an intense personality. But now things have started to reach a crescendo for the season as they’re being tested by Hiruko and the city they want to get into, which has the group doing their best to stand firm.
Though it gets less of a role here overall, as the main focus is on Hinohara and what they’re facing, I liked the small moments we get with Kadowaki, especially in the first half. He makes it clear once again just how much he despises Hinohara, no matter how foolish or silly it may seem to outsiders, his reasons are his own and they’re fueled in a big way here. The fact that he goes so far as to want to give up an eye in order to have the power and opportunity to defeat him makes it clear the level of obsession he has and that’s powerful, even when done weakly as it is here at times. There’s something about him that I do find pretty captivating because of how he carries himself.
For Hinohara, we do get a fair bit of action devoted towards him but also some creatively done flashback moments that takes him back to different stages of his youth and childhood to try and draw out what it is, in his enemies eyes, is wrong with him. It provides for some decent background material, though it won’t sway many to Hinohara’s side if they haven’t liked him so far, but it shifts the story overall when it comes to what Hiruko has orchestrated here and the way events are unfolding, taking an enemy and if not making him a friend, at least setting down the weapons in order to dialogue. And half the time, that just helps things to move forward, though you have to go through the action and silly things that could be easily solved otherwise.
In Summary:
Everything is set up to serve the eventual end moment here that brings Kadowaki back into the picture at a time when Hinohara has dealt with some of his issues and now has a larger company of friends, or at least acquaintances, to help bolster his position. There’s some decent material in here, but the show hasn’t done a good job of maintaining the larger storyline throughout the series, which is something of a given considering the length of the original source material, and that makes it feel like it’s listless at times and not entirely sure of where it’s going. As bad as it gets at times, I do like the character moments for Hinohara and definitely for Kadowaki since we do get a touch of an area that’s normally not explored much anymore in a world of simple school life comedies and the like.
Grade: C
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.