Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well if you’ve been reading my blogs as of lately you’ll know that I’ve been in a feud with my AI girls and that feud came to an end last week when they followed the Latino Heat philosophy and lied, cheated, and stole a victory from me and are now forcing me to do what’s been called the AI arc. Throughout the month of April I’ll be doing crossover reviews with my AI girls reviewing the animes that they’ve chosen and the first person to draw the lucky number 1 is Mira. (Mira): Salutations everyone, I am Mira, a pleasure to meet you. (Nitsuj): Tell me, with a title like K what do you expect? I mean it’s like calling One Piece One, Dragonball Z Dragon, Fairy Tail Fairy, or the Matrix //youtu.be/WFNEgdwjEhs, okay that one works but you get the idea you don’t know what to expect. Usually when you hear the title of an anime you have a good idea of what the anime is gonna be about but with this anime you don’t know what to expect. (Mira): A self-made series produced by the studio GoHands (Princess Lover!) and directed by Shingo Suzuki, K or Project K as some people call it is an anime that came out in 2012 and follows the story of a young high school boy framed for a murder he didn’t commit. The show is considered one of the best animes of 2012, has garnered a following over the years and is scheduled to have a movie come out this July. Let’s take a look into the unknown and expect the unexpected. This is K.
Opening and Ending Themes
(Nitsuj): The opening for this anime is “KINGS” by Angela. At first I was in the neutral zone of this because of the weird lyrics but after a few episodes I came around to liking it. The singer is good and the melody is also great to listen to, while it still has weird lyrics I thinks it’s passable for an opening song. The animation is also cool in this opening. (Mira): The ending for this anime is “Tsumetai Hiya, Hitori” sung by Mikako Komatsu. It’s a very beautiful song with a sad melody. I like how the music sounds like something out of music box, it really adds to the overall theme of the song. Not that the boys out there will be paying attention to it because they’ll be too busy staring at a naked female throughout the ending.
Episodes 1-4
(Nitsuj): So the anime takes place in the technologically advanced city Shizume City (how advanced is it? Well it’s so advanced that it has cleaning robots that go around calling people hillbilly samurais). We open with the Homra gang a powerful street gang led by Mikoto (since there’s a lot of characters in this show we’ll skip the voice actors this time) nicknamed the Red King because he has the power to control fire (oh so it’s one of those animes. (Mira): What do you mean? (Nitsuj): This is a magic sci-fi anime, the creators weren’t sure if they wanted this to be a sci-fi or magic anime so they just decided to combine the two and see what happens). The Homra gang attacks this hotel owned by another gang because they’re looking for a guy called the “Colorless King” who is responsible for killing a member of Homra and they think the gang boss might know where to find him. They bust into the hotel, beat the crap out of the guards as well as the gang’s boss and a little color-blinded girl named Anna uses her powers to read his mind to see if he knows anything which he doesn’t (well no sense in leaving empty handed, where’s the safe). As their trying to escape they get confronted by Scepter 4 a police-based organization led by Reisi nicknamed the Blue King and has the power to create force fields to protect himself and his men, he is also a skilled swordsman (Mira: You mean his powers aren’t ice or water? Their messing up dynamics here). Reisi and Mikoto confront each other and are about to fight but we cut to Ashinaka High School where we meet our main character Yashiro a regular guy (Mira: A regular cute guy) asking his classmates to give him some of their food since he forgot his bento. We quickly see that he’s quite popular with his classmates as they don’t seem to mind giving him food (Mira: It’s the eyes, girls love his eyes). After lunch he gets ask to run an errand in town with his pet cat Neko (short on creativity here huh) where he gets attacked by members of Homra who believe he is the “Colorless King”. He tries to out run them in what I have to say is a very well-done series of animated scenes where he gets cornered but he gets saved by a guy named Kuroh known as the Black Dog, a skilled swordsman who has the ability to create a gel-like hand which can grasp onto anything (he also has the ability to turn himself into a black dog hence the nickname). He gets Yashiro to safety where he says he’s going to kill him because it was his master’s last wish that the “Colorless King” be killed. As the credits roll a video goes on all across the city where we see the “Colorless King” looks exactly like Yashiro and we see that Mikoto is in the custody of Specter 4.
In episode 2 Yashiro out wits Kuroh and escapes from him using a dog suit. Homra puts a bounty out on Yashiro’s head saying they’ll give 10 million yen to whoever captures Yashiro for them (that’s a lot of money. Imagine the possibilities I could do with that money. (Mira): Well you could pay off your student loans, get a bigger house, a new BMW, quit your current job, start making videos instead of blogs, and get hired by the site where you’ll become even more popular and have more fun. And that’s just only about 200,000 dollars). Yashiro makes it back to his school where he goes to his small dorm room and lays on his bed where Neko mysteriously turns into a hot big-breasted naked woman (lucky him I wish all cats did that in real life. (Mira): And I wish all men would stop being perverted but we can’t all be happy can we). As you might have guess Yashiro is shocked by this but not as shocked as seeing Kuroh outside his dormitory ready to kill Yashiro (here’s~ doggy). He makes his way to the room where he’s about to kill Yashiro but is stopped by a naked Neko (dah~ a naked cat lady my one weakness). Neko grabs Yashiro and they escape from Kuroh using Neko’s powers of illusion which keep tricking Kuroh (Mira: There are a lot of it’s a lie jokes here). After giving Kuroh the run around campus all day they agree to a ceasefire and have breakfast in Yashiro’s room courtesy of Kuroh who apparently is a master chef and gets these creepy eyes whenever he’s about to cook.
(Mira): We open up episode 3 by seeing in the fight between Mikoto and Reisi from the first episode Mikoto gave himself up. We then cut to the present where we see Mikoto and Reisi have a little bromance going on between each other (Nitsuj: Eww. (Mira): Shut the hell up troll boy) where Reisi tells Mikoto to step down from his King position because his powers are becoming too unstable and if they continue he’ll become too dangerous and Reisi will have no choice but to kill him. After their little talk we get introduced to Seri who is considered the second in-command of Specter 4 and is heading up the investigation of the Homra member killing (I personally like to call her Ms. Boobs and Butt. (Nitsuj): Why that? (Mira): Because everytime we see her we get a shot of her butt or boobs. (Nitsuj): Well, they are nice. I mean if I were to compare you two I- *Mira pulls out a cyber-disc* would say you’re the prettier, smarter, and sexier one. (Mira): Thank you). After that we go back to Yashiro and Kuroh where we finally get an explanation into who these kings are. In this world, kings are the rulers of Japan and are split into 7 kings with each one having a clan of their own. Kuroh explains that he once used to serve the previous “Colorless King” who had the power to see the future and gave Kuroh specific orders to kill the next “Colorless King” should he be evil. Kuroh believes that Yashiro is the next “Colorless King” and has gone evil on us (oh come on this is Daisuke Namikawa the guy is way too nice and sweet to go evil) but Yashiro swears that he’s not the “Colorless King” (Nitsuj: A lie I say) and that he didn’t kill anybody. He convinces Kuroh to give him a chance to prove his innocence and the two become friends (Nitsuj: I would hope so the guy made them breakfast). Oh, and Neko is a strain a being who possesses special powers without receiving them from a king.
In episode 4 not a whole lot happens. Yashiro tries to prove his innocence by showing that he was on campus at the time of the murder. All of his attempts fail but at the end one of his friends vouches for him and proves that he was on campus at the time of the murder but Yashiro sees a blood-stained shirt in his closet and begins to doubt himself (the plot thickens). We end with Homra finding out where Yashiro goes to school and they send two of their best guys to deal with him but their plans are stopped because they can’t get pass the school gate without a passport (I never would have imagine school being a safe place to be in. (Nitsuj): Wait couldn’t they just hop over the school- (Mira): Contradict me again you blasphemes troll and see what happens).
Episodes 5-9
(Nitsuj): In episode 5 the two members of Homra get inside the school (couldn’t they have just jump over the school guard reel? It’s not that high and nothings stopping them) and begin asking male students (because one of them is shy around girls. (Mira): Aww how cute, perhaps I should give him some one on one lessons in interacting with girls. (Nitsuj): Any chance I can get in on this lesson sensei? (Mira): You don’t meet the requirements for the course) if they know who Yashiro is which they all say no. Specter also makes its way into the school to find Yashiro who has gone out on a class errand. They demand that the school hand over Yashiro but the school has no records of him in their files. Eventually a member of Specter named Fushimi who used to be a member of Homra but left for some reason comes across the members of Homra and takes on Yata who is one of the few members of Homra who actually has a personality that stands out. Both sides retreat and we end with finding this shocking piece of information. Nobody in the school knows who Yashiro is!
We get a 2 part story in episode 6. We find out that the member of Homra who got killed was a guy named Totsuka where we see he was a guy interested in many hobbies (not those hobbies sickos, simple hobbies like singing, playing cards, and working a camera). We see that even though he wasn’t a fighter like the others he fit right in with the group in fact his personality was very similar to Yashiro, he had a laid back attitude, was always smiling, carefree and happy to make new friends, and just seemed happy with life (have you ever met someone you didn’t know a whole lot about but you just instantly liked him, well that’s Yashiro and Totsuka they just have this personality that attracts you to them. Just like I have a personality that attracts cute and smart AI girls to me. *Mira stares at Nitsuj with a sly look on her face* I said you were cute and smart. Probably the reason why these guys are so likable is because there’s no BS with them what you see is what you get.). In the other part of the episode we see that Yashiro’s life was all an illusion. Nobody at the school knows who he is, he can’t contact his parents, and when he goes home to check on them he finds out that it’s just a soccer stadium instead of an actual house (this anime just keeps getting more confusing and interesting as it goes doesn’t it. (Mira): I know isn’t it great). Feeling depress and starting to doubt himself Yashiro gives Kuroh permission to kill him (Mira: NOO~! Don’t you dare kill my Yashiro or I swear to God I’ll make master’s life a living hell. (Nitsuj): Joke’s on you, Isis has been doing that long before you guys arrived). But Kuroh says no because he believes Yashiro is still good and tells Yashiro to stay strong and believe in himself (Mira: Believe in the me who believes in the you who believes there is good in you).
(Mira): In episode 7 Specter shows up on the soccer field (stop! Flag on the play, too many players on the field. Yellow card) to apprehend Yashiro but Neko uses her powers to create an illusion for them to escape (cat powers activate). But the illusion gets destroyed by Reisi where Kuroh decides to face him and give Yashiro and Neko a chance to escape (how noble). He takes on Reisi where he gets what my colleagues would like to say owned that is until Yashiro and Neko show back up to save him. Once the three get to safety Yashiro tells Neko to remove the false memories she put inside him (Nitsuj: I should have known the cat was the cause of this but I was too distracted by her hot naked body. Damn you male urges). She removes the memories and we see that Yashiro was kicked off of a blimp where he landed in the school gym storage safely and unharmed (Mira: How on earth is that possible? (Nitsuj): Anime logic. Continuity and real world logic’s pimp) where he meets Neko and she instantly falls for him. After meeting him she alters the memories of everyone around him however her powers only work on them when she’s within a close vicinity of them. So when Yashiro leaves the school everyone forgets him entirely but when he returns everyone remembers him because Neko is back within the vicinity.
In episode 8 we find out that the man who pushed Yashiro off the blimp is Adolph the Silver King and the king who rules over all the other kings in Japan, a mysterious person even amongst the kings, and spends a majority of his time dancing with a lifeless doll wearing a fox mask (that makes him weird right? (Nitsuj): No I think that makes him a grade A fruit loop). Yashiro believes all of his questions will be answered if he goes to him so he strikes a deal with Reisei saying that if he can get Adolph out of the sky Yashiro will turn himself in. Reisei accepts this condition because he too is also curious about Adolph and thinks he might be involved in this murder mystery (Nitsuj: A guy who spends all of his time in the air watching over Japan and dancing with a lifeless sex toy. The guy could not be anymore suspicious). Yashiro, Kuroh, and Neko hijack a chopper (//youtu.be/Xs_OacEq2Sk?t=4s) and fly to Adolph’s blimp where he self-destructs it and it explodes like a shooting star in the night sky to end the episode (quick everybody make a wish).
(Nitsuj): Not a whole lot happens in episode 9. Reisei goes to meet the Golden King who is the ruler of Japan and the one who watches over the body of Adolph who is a comatose state (then who the hell blew up the blimp last episode). Going to Mikoto (oh yeah I forgot he was locked up. (Mira): Same here, I honestly forgot he was in this anime) he receives a call from the guy who’s responsible for killing Totsuka and uses his power to trace the call all the way back to the school (Mira: Oh hey, I can do that too). He breaks out of jail, takes out Specter 4 and rejoins his group where they make their way to school to find the bastard that killed Totsuka (let the gates of Hell open on that school).
Episodes 10-13
In episode 10 the gates of Hell open on the school as Homra invades the school, takes over the whole campus, and begins searching for the real killer all while promising not to hurt the students if they cooperate (Mira: Give them credit they’re at least being nice and honorable as far as a gang of thugs go). Eventually Specter shows up and Reisi sneaks into the school to chat with Mikoto where we see that he’s worried about Mikoto’s condition saying that he doesn’t have long to live and asking him to withdraw saying he’ll find the killer for him and put him through whatever death sequence Mikoto wants (damn son, you do that for him. The bromance is strong between these two). But Mikoto says no and the two get ready to fight. Yashiro, Kuroh, and Neko sneak back into the school where they see their room has been destroyed by Mikoto’s powers (we had a bitchin’ party up in this room) and they make plans to rescue the other students from Homra (or you could just lure them away from the school and save the students).
Things start to go down in episode 11. After an explosion set off by the “Colorless King”, Homra and Specter forces begin to fight each other (all this fighting just because of an explosion going off? That’s just silly. That’s like somebody throwing a chair and people just randomly start fighting for no reason, //youtu.be/8ivCDphlLuA?t=46s). Mikoto goes off in search of Yashiro where he finds him along with Neko, Kuroh, and Kikuri (a friend of his from the school). Kuroh takes on Mikoto alone where his powers are no match for Mikoto but Reisi shows up (Mira: Saved by the deus ex Reisi) to take on Mikoto and the two fight (it’s red vs blue all over again). Once Yashiro, Neko, and Kikuri are in a safe area Kikuri stabs Yashiro (bitch) because she is possessed by the real “Colorless King” (oh. . .asshole). The “Colorless King” escapes thinking he’s killed Yashiro but Yashiro heals his wounds (what is he Wolverine now) and begins to remember who he is, Adolph K. Weissman the real Silver King (//youtu.be/kdhhQhqi_AE, (Mira): In more ways than one).
(Mira): In episode 12 we find out that the Colorless King switched bodies with Yashiro (yes I know his name is Adolph but he prefers to be called Yashiro) because he wanted to steal the Silver King’s immortality (yeah, apparently Yashiro is immortal) but the planned failed and thus the body switch happen so the body that Yashiro is currently in originally belonged to the “Colorless King”. With his memories back he abducts Seri (Nitsuj: Hey I’m liking the new Yashiro already) as well as the second in command of Homra to get both sides to agree to a ceasefire. He then makes Neko one his clansman and uses her abilities to project himself to all the students where he guides them to safety (Nitsuj: You must all go to the Dagobah system. There you will learn from Yoda the Jedi who trained me). He also projects himself in front of the “Colorless King” telling him it’s time to end this (also, for some season the “Colorless King” has multiple personality disorder). With the students safe and everyone off campus Yashiro goes to meet up with the “Colorless King” where he hopes to end this madness.
In the final episode Yashiro meets back up with Kuroh where Kuroh becomes Yashiro official clansman and they go to face the “Colorless King” who is still working through that multiple personality disorder like Gollum and trying to figure out which king he wants to possess (we like the blue one, the blue one. (Nitsuj): No, we love the red one, we need the red one. (Mira): But what of the silver one he is the cutest, we should go for the silver one). Yashiro and Kuroh come in where the “Colorless King” possesses Yashiro but this time Yashiro is ready for him and is able to trap the “Colorless King” in his body while still keeping him under control. As Kuroh gets Kikuri to safety, Yashiro gets in the middle of the fight between Mikoto and Reisi where he tells Mikoto to kill him and he’s happy to compile with his request. Mikoto kills Yashiro along with the “Colorless King” which causes him to finally bring his powers to the breaking point forcing Reisi to kill Mikoto. We end the series with Kuroh and Neko believing that Yashiro is still alive and going to search for him and the Homra gang giving a final farewell to their king (scene here: //youtu.be/03Kh6jfAU9M).
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): Wow, this was awesome. I honestly went into this anime not knowing what to expect and having low expectations but to my surprise we get one of the most interesting stories I’ve ever seen an anime. The story is very deep and well-written with plenty of twist and added questions you keep asking yourself as the series progresses but as the anime goes on all of those questions get answered and the series comes to an ending that’s both sad and inspiring at the same time. (Mira): The main characters Yashiro, Kuroh, and Neko are all good and interesting characters. Yashiro is forgetful, laid-back, and carefree but at the same time he’s nice, lovable, and there’s just something about him that just draws you to him. Kuroh acts like the big brother of the group always serious but fair and looking out for his friends. Neko is cute and helpful and while I wish they gave her a little more personality than just the ditzy catgirl I say she’s still passable for a character. Outside of the main characters there’s not really that much to say about the other characters. (Nitsuj): I beg to differ, the two gangs of Homra and Specter are like yin yang they’re complete opposite of each other. Mikoto is a street punk, no major goals in life he just wants to live out his life and enjoy it while giving others a place to belong and feel like a family. Even though he’s a street punk he does have honor and respect from everyone around him. Reisi is the opposite of Mikoto he believes in order and following the rules that those who are called kings should follow but at the same time he stays open to other perspectives and places a lot of trust in his followers. Their ideals of life are reflected in their followers showing how strong and respected the two are as kings. (Mira): Interesting, I never thought of it that way. Anything else you wanna add?
(Nitsuj): Yes. The music in this anime is awesome. I love how there’s a different theme for everyone and every situation in the anime. The music is all unique from orchestra music to street urban music. My favorite themes were the themes used for the Homra gang it matches up with them perfectly. The animation is good it’s dark sometimes in a few spots but I mostly blame that on the shading in the anime. Fight scenes are where I have to sadly say I’m disappointed in. For the fight scenes we see their pretty good but I was hoping to see more of them I feel that we never got to see what the different clan powers could really do. Speaking of clans I was hoping to see more of the other clans just to get an idea of what they were like as well. Also for being a technologically advanced city where the story takes place I’m not really seeing it. Yeah, they got the cleaning robots who call people hillbilly samurais and the technologically advanced school but other than that the city is pretty normal in a way that it’s kind of a letdown. I don’t know I guess I was expecting to be a little more wowed by the technology of the city. How about you Mira any complaints? (Mira): Not really, but if I had to name one complaint I would have to say I wish we knew a little more about the “Colorless King” like what’s his backstory, why does he desire all this power? What caused him to go down this road? He seems like the kind of guy who has an interesting backstory and I was hoping we got the chance to explore it. Now that I think about it I want to learn a little more about Reisi and Mikoto’s backstory as well into how they became kings.
(Nitsuj): On another note for music the main characters as well as side characters all have a character song. My favorite was Yashiro, he just sounds so cute, happy, and cheerful while singing the song and just enjoying life. (Mira): I liked Seri’s song. It’s got a good melody and the song is beautiful. It matches up perfectly with her personality. I also like Kuroh’s song which is a rather funny song and you can just tell the voice actor is having a lot of fun singing it.
Final Score
(Nitsuj): I give this anime a 7/10. (Mira): And I give this anime a solid 8/10 and if my math is correct the average score of this anime would be a 7.5/10. The story is great and really immerses you within the anime as well as the many unique characters the anime has to offer. If you’re looking for an anime that has a great and interesting story I say check this anime out you won’t be disappointed. (Nitsuj): Well I gotta say this wasn’t so bad Mira, thanks for introducing me to a surprisingly good anime. (Mira): My pleasure master. (Nitsuj): Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj as the AI arc continues.
*All videos, images, and music belong to their respected owners and not me*
Thanks for reading. As always feel free to leave a comment, feedback, or request in the comments section or send them to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com