(13 episodes)
What’s it about ?
Magic gang warfare in the future. With heaps of style.
Characters
Yashiro, an albino student who seems to have no care in the world. Friendly with everyone, but not letting anyone close enough to actually be his friend. An exchange student from wherever, he enjoys the heck out of living in Tokyo. He’s fun to watch, especially as it’s more than hinted that he’s got more depths beyond the cheery surface. He’s targetted by…
Mikoto and his crew of fire-magic users, last seen shaking some intel from some mafia-style group in the action prologue. They’re a bunch of tough guys with the token gothic lolita who has lie-detecting powers. Why exactly they’re after Yashiro isn’t clearly explained, but he may well be a key player in the gang war in disguise. Or they’re just framing him for whatever reasons.
Mikoto’s crew are chiefly opposed by the Blue Coats, a law-enforcement group that are trying their best to look half as cool despite only carrying swords. They’re not entirely unsuccessful, as they appear to have put Mikoto himself behind bars after the action prologue.
The wild card is some telekinetic guy called Kuroh, who saves Yashiro from Mikoto’s gang just to have a better shot at trying to kill him. That’s cold, dude.
Production Values
This is hands-down the best-looking show of the season by far. Not only has it got fantastic world-building with its city landscapes, and incredibly fluid animation that really shines in the action sequences, but it’s also served a colour palette which keeps shifting to better underline whatever’s on screen. This isn’t a realistic show by any reasonable measure anyway, so why not make everthing just pop off the screen through some carefully chosen use of bright pinks and blues ?
Everything here, from the shiny colours to the quirky soundtrack through the slow pans of people just walking ominously, obeys to a coherent aesthetic : making everyone look cool and stylish.
What did I think of it ?
It works. It’s very much style above substance, but the awesomeness of the presentation makes it a very fun ride. The characters aren’t very developped yet, and the actual plot remains obscure before the final twist, but the show has enough energy and charisma to let further depth slowly sink in between the fireworks.
We’ve got a winner here.
