K [Anime Review]

Original version posted in October 2105

Released in 2012 by GoHands Studio (of Mardock Scramble fame), the series was written by GoRa and has seen several prequel Mangas run in various Kodansha publications, as well as a selection of Light Novels. A sequel film was released in 2014 and a second series has also since aired.

The series is primarily about a friendly lad named Yashiro Isana. While he appears to have led a pretty ordinary life, the recent murder of Tatara Totsuka, a member of an infamous group known as HOMRA, flips that upside down. You see, the man responsible for the murder looks exactly like Yashiro. As a result, he ends up hounded by HOMRA, gets drawn into their conflict with another group known as Sceptre 4, and is hunted by a skilled swordsman known as ‘The Black Hound’ Kuroh Yatogami. Amidst all this, we also get to meet several powerful characters known as ‘Kings’ (each of whom has been assigned a colour), see a flashback to some secret experiments in World War II Germany, and watch a catgirl mess with people’s heads.

The first thing I want to mention here is that the quality of the animation in K is stunning. Even all these years on, it still feels just as good to me as when I watched it in 2015. It remains consistently smooth throughout and features an interesting colour palette that shares more with the works of Mamoro Hosoda than it does the mainstay long-running series like Naruto and Bleach. The overall quality could in part be attested to the short running time of the series: clocking in at 13 episodes, it’s entirely possible that GoHands had a healthy budget and were able to utilise that to its fullest potential as a result of not having to deal with another 13 or more episodes on top of these ones.

The story is enjoyable, and it plays out at a decent pace. The varied interactions between the different members of each faction help flesh the backstory out a bit, too. The whole concept of the Kings, while not fully explained, is given enough time to draw you in and keep you interested, which is no bad thing as their role becomes more integral as the series progresses. Action scenes seem to fly by due to their sheer speed, but remain thoroughly impressive to watch thanks in a large way to the slick choreography and ever-present animation quality.

The characters were quite a surprise for me too. When a studio focuses on style (which it is abundantly clear that GoHands did here), you can sometimes find that the cast is ‘cool-but-little-else’. In this case, the sprawling backstory and long-standing conflicts that play out around the central murder ensure that the characters are more rounded than you may expect. Most shocking is perhaps the catgirl, Neko. The combination of the end credits above and her general demeanour when we first meet her give the distinct impression that her existence is designed entirely to provide fan service and an atypical, bland cutesy character. As the episodes move forward however, you learn that Neko is not only quite sweet, but that her behaviours are actually fairly authentically cat-like. On top of that, her powers turn out to be an interesting little addition to her character.

Now, most of the character designs in this show are pretty cool. If you want proof of this, you need look no further than the opening credits, shown below. That said, you will likely find the same thing that I did while watching them: you’ll start thinking things like, ‘is that Kanda from D.Gray-Man?’, ‘isn’t that Shizuo from Durarara?’, and ‘hang on, is that a cross between Hawkeye and Oliva Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist?’ While cool, a lot of the character designs are kinda unoriginal. I can appreciate that there are a limited number of ideas in the world, but even a slight twist would have sufficed to remove this feel from the show.

It also feels like Sceptre 4 seems to be full of a lot of characters that fit the standard tropes idea of ‘hot’ anime characters. I had no idea that the police had an ‘attractiveness’ part of their entrance exams. Now, that isn’t exactly a negative, but it did strike me as a bit odd when HOMRA showed a much more varied mix of styles in its members.

There are certainly times throughout the series that you kinda wish that the team had maybe revealed a little bit more than they did, even if it is clear that there is more to come. Don’t get me wrong, the story is great and what they do show is done well, but you do end up wanting more at various points. The ending, at least, is fine insofar as it ties up some loose ends and leaves ample set-up for the sequel.

While there is an English dub of K Project, I haven’t watched this and so cannot compare the two forms. One look at the Wikipedia page for the anime will tell you that the English Voice Cast is a highly experienced one, so I don’t doubt the quality though. I can confirm however that the Japanese Voice Cast is very good. The main characters are lent a decent amount of charisma and I can’t think of any particularly weak performances.

K succeeds in being stylised and smooth, and is driven by cool concepts and a good story. The minor problems I have mentioned don’t really take too much away from the overall quality of the piece and the short running time means that it can be comfortably watched over a short period of time. In all, it’s well worth watching and manages to leave you hungry for more, which is undoubtedly a sure sign of a quality show.