Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. I gotta be honest, growing up I never was a big fan of spy movies like James Bond. It’s not that I didn’t like them, they just never caught my interest, I was more into martial arts and comedy movies as a kid and to this day I still am. To be fair spy movies are pretty cool, I’ve always wondered how cool it would be to be a secret agent who could do whatever he wanted to, go on action filled adventures, and in the end save the world and get the girl. In fact, if anything I’m surprise there’s not a school for training teens how to be spies. Well thanks to anime we now get to see that idea become a reality in today’s anime Hidan no Aria. Hidan no Aria which roughly translates into Aria the Scarlet Ammo is an anime based off the light novel under the same name by Chūgaku Akamatsu with a manga adaption by Yoshino Koyoka. The series follows the story of two students who are the complete opposite of each other but somehow become partners in their school and go on crazy missions with each other. I guess you could think of it as a CSI series only with anime characters and high school students. Now before we begin I would like to point out that I did watch the dub of the series so I’ll be using a lot of information from the dub but I also watched the subbed version as well so I’ll do a little comparison with the voice actors along the way. With that being said let’s take a look at Hidan no Aria.
Opening and Ending theme
Our opening for this anime is Scarlet Bullet by May’n who also sang the opening for Okami-san and Her Seven Companions which I kinda fell down the middle with that song. This song on the other hand I like it, it sounds like she’s putting a little more emotion and effort into this song then the other song. It’s got this opera like atmosphere to it that adds class and style to the opening. The ending is Camellia no Hitomi by Aiko Nakano. This is a rock song which doesn’t really make that much of an impact on me. I like the beginning of the song and the animation in the ending is nice. I like how it’s raining bullets in the ending and we get to see all the heroines who will play a major role in the love life of the hero.
Episodes 1-4
The anime opens up with a chase scene which I’ll get to later. We start the anime with our main hero of the series Kinji Toyama voiced by Junji Majima (Ryuji Takasu from Toradora) in Japan and Todd Haberkorn (Hikaru from Ouran High Host Club) in English. Personally, I like Todd as Kinji’s voiced more than Junji because I feel his voice matches up better with Kinji’s personality and character. In the anime Kinji for the most part is seen as a rather cold and anti-social person who really doesn’t want to go to his school and wants nothing more than anything to transfer out and live a normal life (You live in Japan dude there’s no such thing as normal for them.). He lives in the school dormitory where his childhood Shirayuki Hotogi comes to wake him up and serve him breakfast before school (Childhood friend. Check. Makes him breakfast. Check. Has a nickname for him. Check. Final analysis: obvious crush on the main character.). Shirayuki is voiced by Mikako Takahashi in Japan and Brina Palencia (Chopper from One Piece) in English, both sound very good and match the character perfectly so it’s kinda hard to say who’s the better voice of the two but if I really had to choose I would have to go with Palencia who makes Shirayuki sound cute and innocent but can also make her sound tough and dark when she needs to. After breakfast he grabs his bullet proof uniform, handgun, and butterfly knife and gets ready for school (what you never did this when you were in school? Boy, were you under prepared.). Actually, Kinji goes to a special school called Butei High a school where students undergo special training in which they become mercenaries for hire. While going this school they are permitted to carry guns, knives, and have the authority of special service in Japan (Where was this school when I was high school? I would have signed on in a millisecond.). He misses the bus to school and rides his bike but little does he know that his bike has a bomb on it and he’s being chased by a remote controlled Segway armed with an Uzi that warns him that if he stops the bomb will explode (Oh no Jigsaw is in Japan now. *Jigsaw impression* I wanna play a game with you.). With no escape and him getting tired all seems lost until a pink-haired girl falls from the sky and uses her guns which she shoots sideways to destroy the Segway and save Kinji (pretty cool but don’t hold your guns sideways and fire you’ll break your wrist.). It turns out the girl is our main heroine Aria H. Kanzaki a natural small breasted tsundere voiced by the Tsundere Queen Rie Kugimiya (Taiga from Toradora) in Japan and Leah Clark (Minami from Baka and Test) in English. It’s obvious that Rie is the better of the two, I mean its Rie she’s the Tsundere Queen; this character was practically created for her. However, I will give Leah credit and say she does a good job voicing Aria in the dub. The two awake in the gym storage after the bomb explosion (quite the blast to throw them into a building) where more Segway’s with Uzis show up and start firing on them. Aria fights back by holding her guns sideways again (would you stop doing that, it throws your accuracy off as well. I don’t care how cool you look it’s not gonna help you when your wrist is broken) but it doesn’t seem to be doing any good. While this is going on she keeps pressing her small breast in Kinji’s face which gets his blood boiling and wakes up the man inside of him. Kinji goes into a state called hysteria mode, whenever he gets aroused he turns into a total badass who no one can stop; he acts cool, he speaks seductively and flirts with Aria, and his skills increase 30 times over. He puts Aria in a safe place, goes out to face the Segway’s and fires a bullet into each of the barrels of the guns destroying them (Holy shit! I think I just got a boner from the awesomeness he just did.). After that scene, Kinji (still in hysteria mode) returns to Aria who accuses him of trying to grope her (of what I have no idea seeing as how nothing is there) and after Kinji mistakenly calls her a child she pulls out her guns and swords (Wait, what? Where did those come from) and tries to kill him but he escapes in a flawless style (absolutely flawless). He heads toward his class having returned and feeling embarrassed about flirting with Aria (Why you were cool. Hell, stay in that mode) where he sees that Aria has transferred to his class and is sitting right next to him. Ohhh, Isis! What does the awkwardness level say? (Isis): It’s 100. (Nitsuj): What! One hun. . . hey wait, you said it wrong. (Isis): It’s really not that awkward. (Nitsuj): She also gives back the belt she borrowed from him which he gave her earlier to fix her skirt in front of the whole class. (Isis): . . .Alright. It’s over 9000!!!! (Nitsuj): What! 9000! The episode ends with Aria moving into Kinji’s home and requesting that he become her slave (Man, you really are a Rie Kugimiya character!).
Throughout the first half of episode 2 we see Aria completely takeover Kinji’s home by bossing him around and completely ignoring his complaints whatever they may be (how is this different from any normal girl). We also get your usual fanservice shenanigans where the girl is taking the shower and the boy walks in while she’s getting out of the shower. In the second half Kinji takes up a mission to find a lost cat and Aria comes along with him. The two talk a little through the mission about how pointless rankings are in the school and how Aria doesn’t have any friends or boyfriend nor does she want one. They eventually find the cat at peer and rescue it (Mission complete! Will now detonate the peer.). After that scene Kinji goes to meet one of his classmates, a seductive beauty named Riko voiced Mariya Ise (Levy from Fairy Tail) in Japan and Luci Christian (Nami from One Piece) in the dub. Once again this is a tough choice because both sound good and match the character. I will say I like Mariya’s voice more for the character but I think Luci does a better job at sounding seductive and manipulated with her. Riko gives Kinji information on Aria in exchange for video games (a girl after my own heart). In the information on Aria we find that she’s half Japanese half British, holds the title of S rank in Butei, has been active in the field since 14, a noble of the Royal Family, and is known as Aria the Quadra because she uses 2 guns and 2 swords in battle (it also failed to mention that she has one hell of a singing voice). Aria wants Kinji to go back into Assault classes, the classes that train students to do field work, because he proved how skillful he was when he escaped her but refuses saying that it was a lucky break and that his high skills (hysteria mode) can’t be turn on or off. Aria asks what the conditions are and even says she’ll help him out if he needs her (alright, take your clothes off, lay on a bench and he’ll do the rest). Kinji gives in and agrees to go on one more mission with her and that he promises to give it his all but only his all in his normal state. We go to the next episode where we start off with anime cliché 147, the couple going to an arcade and the guy wins the crane game when the girl can’t and he gives the girl the prize. The next day comes and a bus carrying Butei students has been hijacked and Kinji and Aria meet up to save them. On the bus the students led by Goki Muto and Ryou Shiranui who are good friends with Kinji get everyone to remain calm and search for the bomb. I’m not gonna talk about the voice actors because they’re not in that many episodes but I will say that Muto is a vehicle nut and pervert and Shiranui is a popular guy at Butei High who carries an A Rank status. Also, it might just be me but the bus driver in the dub sounds a little like Christopher Walken (This bus it needs more cow bell!). The bus goes into a dark tunnel in which the students try to shoot down the remote controlled vehicle following them but it has infrared vision, sees what they’re doing and fires on them killing the Christopher Walken bus driver (This is not over. . . ANIME!) and causing the bus to start leaking gas. Aria and Kinji catch up to the bus in their own vehicle (yeah, they’re 16 so it works) and shoot down the vehicle that is being controlled by the killer who is known as the Butei Killer (I can’t take that name seriously. Also, I still say it’s Jigsaw.). They board the bus and Aria searches for the bomb outside while Kinji tends to the wounded and goes up top to remove the antenna that the killer put on top of the bus. Another car shows up and takes a shot at Kinji and Aria saves him but a bullet grazes her forehead and she faints. They make it outside the tunnel where a helicopter comes by carrying my favorite character in the anime, the emotionless but deadly sniper Reki. I swear, every time she makes an appearance the awesome factor in this anime just goes up by 100%. She’s voiced by Kaori Ishihara (Aladdin from Magi) in Japan and Jad Saxton in English. They both sound good and match the character well so whether you watch the English or subbed version I think you’ll be pleased with the voice. Although I will say that Saxton does a better job at making Reki sound emotionless, Ishihara kinda adds a little more emotion into Reki which isn’t a bad later on the story but as of right now kinda out of place. She takes a shot at the bomb knocking it off the bus and into the water where it explodes and saving everyone. Later on Kinji goes to deliver a report to Aria who is recovering in the hospital about the bus hijacking. The two of them get into a fight and Kinji storms out saying that he’s done being a Butei (so he’s breast man) and says that they are done.
Episode 4 opens up with finally explaining why Kinji wants to quit being a Butei. It turns out his older brother was also a Butei student who was killed by the Butei Killer on a cruise ship. While his brother got everyone to safety and there were no deaths he was stilled blamed for failing and after his death the media attacked Kinji like a pack of wolves (man, this anime does a good job at nailing real life stuff). He goes outside on his day off where he sees Aria and decides to follow her. She easily finds out that Kinji is following her and allow him to come with her to see her mother who is in prison. It turns out her mother has 8 life sentences for crimes she didn’t commit and Aria is trying to prove her mother’s innocence by capturing the real criminals (one of them being the Butei Killer) before the trail goes before the Supreme Court. Okay there are few things wrong with this setup. One, why is she in Japan if her trail is taking place in the Supreme Court which is a court run by the U.S government, shouldn’t she be within an American prison instead of Japan? Two, if she has multiple life sentences shouldn’t that automatically be the death sentence? Third, why doesn’t Aria look anything like her mother? She has pink hair while her mother has brown hair. Okay that last one has nothing to do with the mother’s situation but the first two still apply to the setup. The next day Aria leaves the school and is scheduled to take a plane back to London. While that’s happening Kinji meets up with Riko who gives him information that the Butei Killer is the one who killed his brother and he quickly pieces together that Aria is in danger of being the Butei Killer’s next target. He rushes over to the airport and boards the plane before takeoff where he meets up with Aria and tells her everything he knows. After his explanation the Butei Killer announces that he is on the plane and that he is waiting for any Butei students to come and stop him in the planes bar section (I don’t understand the layout of the plane either. It’s an anime just roll with it). They get to the bar where the Butei Killer reveals his true identity (It’s, old man Higgins the janitor). No, it’s Riko who reveals that her full name is Riko Mine Lupin IV. What! Lupin III had a child!? He married Fujiko!? Yet the child looks nothing like them!? She reveals that she’s doing this because everyone only thinks of her as Lupin IV (Lupin the IV) ignoring her existence. So she planned all the hijackings to get Aria’s attention because (you’re not going to believe this) she’s a descendent of Sherlock Holmes, her full name is Aria Holmes Kanazaki IV. Their great grandfathers battled each other but it ended in a draw and now Riko wants to defeat Aria to prove she’s better than the original Lupin. So Aria and Riko have a close range gun fight and with the help of Kinji Aria gains the upper hand but Riko reveals that her hair is magic, pulls out a knife with it and manages to shoot Aria in the chest to end the episode.
*Rant mode on*
No! Stop! Time out! I can handle Sherlock Holmes having descendants; I can accept Lupin and Fujiko getting together and having a child because I think every fan out there wants that, but you seriously expect me to believe that the girl has magic powers? HELL NO! We are in the fourth episode of this anime and we’ve established that this anime is taking place in a real world setting or as close to the real world as it can be. You do not just add this magic bullshit out of nowhere and expect us to accept it without question. You either have to show or explain to us at the start that magic is real in this world or leave it out altogether. Now I know what you’re thinking, don’t I have an advanced computer AI as my sidekick living with me and doing reviews by my side that I introduced in my side blog? Well yes, it does seem implausible at the moment but as we’ve seen in movies and video games that these things can exist in the real world. So yeah, I find the whole idea of magic being used in this anime to be complete bull.
*Rant mode off*
Episodes 5-8
With Aria shot and barely hanging on to life Kinji picks her up and rushes her into a room where he injects her with Holmes wedding gift to Watson from the second movie that revives her but worked a little too well as she has way too much energy and can’t calm down. So in order to calm her Kinji gives her a kiss on the lips which seems to bring her back to normal and sends him into hysteria mode (not a very high sexual tolerance with this guy huh?). And just in time because Riko comes into the room and takes a shot at Kinji who splits the bullet in half with his butterfly knife (I call bullshit) and Aria jumps out and slices off her bangs which temporary stops her. Just when they have her cornered the plane begins to lose altitude and Riko slips past them. Kinji chases after her but she escapes off the plane and returns to Aria who is trying to keep the plane steading which is losing fuel fast. They try to land at the airport but the government won’t let them because it’ll cause media attention and order them to land in the ocean or they’ll be shot down. With no options and running out of fuel they decide to land the plane on the uninhabited island which is right beside Butei High. But they can’t see the island so the students at Butei who intercepted their conversation gather all the lights they can find to light the island and create a landing area for them and they just barely land successfully. The next day Aria prepares to go back to London via helicopter but Kinji shows up saying that he’ll be her partner and she jumps all of the helicopter landing on him (ahh young love. Boy likes girl. Girl jumps from helicopter trying to crush him). They return to his place where Shirayuki comes by after hearing a rumor that Aria is staying with him. She slices open the door and tries to kill Aria (I’ve done my best to respect your privacy but asserting my authority as your childhood friend and love interest I’m coming in anyway).
Their fight continues into episode 6 where Shirayuki accuses Aria of taking Kinji’s virginity. Aria fights back and the two have an all-out brawl in Kinji’s apartment. While the fight is going Kinji explains that Shirayuki can use magic as well and that Butei has a branch for students who can use these special powers called Supernatural Selective Research or SSR (originally it was The Xavier Institute for Gifted Children but the name was too long and some school in America claimed the rights to the name. We were going to go to court but for some unknown reason we backed out). Our two ladies tire themselves out fighting and Kinji explains to Shirayuki that they’re just partners and haven’t done the dirty tango (yet), however it does slip that they did kiss but Aria explains that it’s okay because she didn’t get pregnant (scene here: https://youtu.be/Ylaxob615R8, somebody get this girl a copy of Baby making 101). The next day they take my advice and give Aria a book about making babies (and she response in the way any girl would who found a guy’s porn collection and saw all the fetishes he was in to) and after classes Aria starts to train Kinji how to do the sword catch technique while she practices cheerleading for the upcoming sports festival. While that plot will remain pointless for the time being Aria tries to find Shirayuki’s weakness because she’s been trying to kill her all day. She poured a bucket of water on her from a bridge, left a letter in her locker, and even placed a piano wire in her locker in the hopes of cutting off Aria’s head (Crazy. Suddenly she’s more attractive). They eavesdrop on Shirayuki talking to Umeko Tsuzuri an instructor at Butei who is worried about her because she is being targeted by a terrorist known as Durandal. The anime doesn’t go into the backstory of Umeko but the manga tells us that she’s a master of interrogation and the head instructor of Dagula the division in charge of interrogating criminals. Aria offers to be Shirayuki’s bodyguard free of charge because she wants to catch Durandal for framing her mom but Shirayuki refuses and says she’ll only let Aria guard her if Kinji guards her as well which means she’s moving in. They setup new securities in house and Kinji finds weapons of mass seduction in the hallway (scene here: https://youtu.be/t5mllkmR2-A). The rest of the episode becomes boring but we do learn that when Shirayuki was younger she lived at a temple that prohibited her from going outside except for school and temple chores and even now the temple still has a tight grip on her life. The episode ends with Shirayuki mistakenly walking in on Kinji taking a shower, Aria catching them in the misunderstanding and Kinji jumping from his balcony into the Tokyo Bay to escape Aria’s wrath.
Out of the entire episodes episode 7 is probably the most boring out of all of them. Kinji and Aria get into a fight leaving Kinji to guard Shirayuki by himself. The two go to a firework festival at the beach where Shirayuki receives an e-mail from Durandal saying that he’ll kill Kinji if Shirayuki doesn’t give herself up. So like an idiot she doesn’t tell Kinji about the e-mail and goes to face Durandal herself. With the help of Reki, Kinji calms down and finds Shirayuki in a warehouse by the school where Durandal captures her and plans to take her back to IU. Yeah, I forgot to mention earlier that IU is the central antagonist of the series, it’s a secret organization who’s agenda is unknown. We don’t know how many members there are but we do know that Riko is a member of IU and Kinji’s brother who Riko informs him is still alive is a member of IU as well. We’re also told that just knowing about them puts your life in danger. Kinji tries to stop them but Durandal has the power to control ice and freezes Kinji to the floor and throws a knife at him which is stopped by Aria. Continuing in episode 8 Durandal floods the underground warehouse with water and chains Shirayuki to a pole to drown (wait didn’t you want to bring her to IU? Why are you trying to kill her now?). Kinji stays behind to pick the lock while Aria goes after Durandal since she can’t swim (of course she can’t) but Kinji can’t pick the lock until he kisses her and goes into hysteria mode (he got sexually aroused from kissing her? Man, this guy is easily aroused, is the male population of Japan that easily aroused or is it just him?). They escape and reunite with Aria where Durandal reveals that he is a she and that she is the descendant of Jeanne d’Arc, Jeanne d’Arc the 30th. What’s that? Jeanne died as a teenager and had no descendants well it appears your history teacher was a damn liar because it turns out that that was Jeanne’s double that died and the d’Arc family has lived within the shadows manipulating history as tacticians. Shirayuki takes on Jeanne in a decent sword fight sequence with Aria and Kinji jumping in at the end to help out. Here’s the full fight right here: . So they arrest Jeanne and the sports festival ends with Aria and Shirayuki being cheerleaders in the closing ceremony (I like to call them the Butei leaders). After that they return to Kinji’s apartmen Aria asks Shirayuki to be one of her slaves (she’s too proud to say partner) and even gives Shirayuki a spare key to Kinji’s place but she won’t allow any illicit actions to take place which Shirayuki takes as an insult and reveals that she made out with Kinji and will take the lead in due time. This results in another fight breaking out and Kinji falling into the Tokyo Bay again to end the episode with a familiar face watching from another building.
Episodes 9-12 and OVA
Episode 9 is where we begin the final arc of the season where Riko disguised as Aria makes her triumphant return and tries to make Kinji hers since she has fallen for him. She took a plea bargain with the school so now she’s free to come back to Butei. Aria busts in through the window to stop the naughty play and we get a small cat fight on the roof until Kinji stops them and they work out a deal with Riko in which she’ll agree to testify in court for Aria’s mom if they help Riko get back her rosary from a guy name Vlad said to be ranked 2nd in IU. We also see that Aria is developing a bit of jealousy for Kinji now that Riko is back and flirting with him. In the second half Riko continues flirting with Kinji as training so that he can go into hysteria mode at will (again, take your clothes off, lay on a bench, and he’ll do the rest). She does this by laying on his lap and forcing him to get his mechanical pencil which has become lost in her Grand Canyon in the middle of a class test (woah! You are definitely Fujiko’s daughter). After that Shirayuki catches wind of Riko and the two have a small fight in front of the school where Shirayuki exposes her panties to Kinji. After the fight Kinji carries Shirayuki to the nurse’s office because she’s in shock of the humiliation she suffered where she uses her powers to lock them inside the room, finally snaps, and tries to make the sexy with Kinji by striping and laying on a bench waiting for Kinji to take her (Finally. Ironic how it’s the crazy girl who takes my advice). However Kinji bails out on the situation (No! Get your ass back into that school! Look, you be a man and you hit that supernatural ass!) and the next day he goes with Aria to meet Riko to discuss their plans. The next episode Riko tells them that her rosary is being kept inside Vlad’s mansion and the only way inside is to dress-up as servants. So they go to a maid store (yep, its right next to the nurse outfit store, and furries r us store located on We Have No Shame ave. look them up) where they pick out a maid outfit for Aria and Riko puts her rigorous training so that she can become a proper maid. The next day at school Kinji runs into Jeanne who also took a plea bargain and tells him the sad story of Riko’s past. It turns out that her parents were killed when she was 8 years-old (Bullshit! Bullshit! And in a million years I call bullshit!) and Vlad took her in where he locked her up and used her as a guinea pig to copy Lupin’s DNA. She also says that Vlad is an immortal demon that has existed for years and that the only way to kill him is by attacking his 4 weak spots simultaneously (sounds like a good boss battle for House of the Dead). The only problem is nobody knows where the 4th spot is (aim for crotch area that’s usually a good place to start). After that talk he goes to meet Riko in an empty room only to discover that it’s being use for a girls’ examination and he hides in a locker to avoid getting discovered. In the locker Muto is also hiding to get a peep show at the girls as they undress (you know, like a boy). It turns out that this is Riko training Kinji to control his hysteria in which he seems to be able to control himself until Aria walks in and sees her undress which sends him into hysteria mode (so. . . you like lolis, well at least she’s of legal age). Reki catches them peeping but before she can punish them a wolf comes end and wreaks havoc on the place. The wolf escapes and Kinji and Reki chase after it using a motorcycle Muto stashed out by the bushes to escape from the girls in case he was discovered (well give the guy some credit he at least thought this plan through). They track the wolf to a construction site where Reki tames the wild creature by firing a bullet that grazes just over his spine thus paralyzing the wolf and having it submit to her (my God she’s awesome!)
In episode 11 the day of the mission begins with Aria and Kinji infiltrating Vlad’s mansion as servants where the caretaker of the mansion is their teacher Sayonaki Tooru who uses the lab of the house to do research. Throughout the episode they do house chores, report to Riko of their progress, and eventually find and get the rosary that was being locked up in the underground basement. They return the rosary to Riko who in turn gives Kinji her first kiss (it’s okay, she’s like pregnant) and confesses that she used them to get back what was lost (she really is Fujiko’s daughter). In the final episode Riko and Aria are about to fight until Sayonaki shows up and reveals that he set the whole thing up to prove just how useless and pathetic Riko is and reveals that he is Vlad (*sarcasm* oh no I can’t believe it, the guy who was using Vlad’s house is really Vlad, I never saw it coming). He transforms into his true form which I’m not gonna lie is a rather terrifying appearance; it looks like something out a Legend of Zelda game. Aria attacks him but her bullets do no damage. After they rescue Riko she tells Kinji that Vlad’s fourth weak spot is located at the center of his chest and Aria and Kinji take the shots but it turns out they were wrong (sorry guys, but the weak spot is in another castle). Vlad knocks Kinji off the building where Riko rescues him and they meet back up with Aria where Kinji puts together that Vlad’s fourth weak spot is his tongue because in a scene earlier he blocked the bullets that were aimed at his mouth. So they kill Vlad, Riko agrees to testify for Aria’s mother, Kinji thinks he saw his brother at the end, and the season ends with Aria and Kinji going shopping for swimsuits.
The series also has an OVA. In the OVA Aria, Kinji, Shirayuki, Riko, Reki, Jeanne, Muto and Instructor Umeko go up to the mountains to train and bath in a hotspring village. When they get there mysterious things start to happen such as the village being empty, a boy watching them, each of them doing something weird and not remembering what happen, and the instructor and landlady getting tied up bondage style (okay that’s kinda hot, not really my thing, but if you’re in to that, you know). They chase after the mysterious boy thinking that he’s behind everything into a room where a ghost reaches out to grab Aria and Kinji but before it grabs them the screen goes dark and we find out it was all a dream (Really!? Come on! All this build up and it turns out it was all just a dream leading to nowhere, what a complete waste of time!). In all honesty I recommend skipping this OVA, it’s pretty stupid, the payoff is a huge slap in the face, and it doesn’t have as many fanservice moments as you would hope to see in a hotspring episode.
Final Thoughts
Hidan no Aria and is a great anime. It does a good job at managing their episodes not wasting anytime in establishing the characters and setting up the story and arcs of the season very well, something a lot of animes with a 12 episode season never really accomplish. The characters are great; Aria is your typical tsundere girl who’s been on her own for most of her life but finally meets a guy who she can open up to and depend on. Kinji is your troubled teenage boy who despite the hardships he’s faced in the past still presses on and even though he wants nothing more than to leave Butei at the beginning he slowly starts to develop feelings for Aria and just can’t leave her alone. The side characters are also funny and fleshed out nicely, each one having their own unique backstory that makes you care for them and get an idea of who they are. It also quite funny, every other minute we’re seeing Aria threaten Kinji, Kinji putting up with Aria’s spoiled attitude or Riko or Shirayuki coming on to Kinji. The action is done well, ranging from comical to intense fights, the animation is really nothing special to look at but it’s good, and the music is very good, some of the best music I’ve heard in an anime. There are character songs out there which are all good, my favorite being Aria and Kinji’s character song Bokura no Government.
If I had to name my one complaint it would have to be the magic aspect of the anime. While it’s not bad I just feel that they could have established that magic is real at the beginning of the anime instead of waiting to the 4th episode to reveal it and I feel that they rely on it a bit too much. Every criminal they’ve faced throughout the season had a magic power. Couldn’t the criminal had just been a normal person with special skills instead of just a magic user in which Aria and Kinji are able to beat using normal tactics. Another problem I have with this series is Kinji’s hysteria mode, they don’t use it as much as they could and it kinda of makes Kinji seem like a weakling in his normal state when we really know that he’s quite smart and talented, he just hasn’t unlocked his true potential yet. They could have used it to create comedic romantic situations with Aria and Kinji or with the other girls but instead it’s only used primarily for combat. Finally, the Japanese and English versions are both great, voice acting is done appropriately in each version but I like the English version a little more than the Japanese version I just feel that the English version nailed the voices of the characters for the most part better. If you prefer the original as compared to the translated stick to the Japanese but rest assure that the English version is very well done. And for those are you who aren’t into ecchi anime rest assure that this anime doesn’t have any real ecchi moments. If I had to rank the ecchiness in this anime I say it’s a 2.5/10, very little and kept safe without even attempting to go overboard. Probably the most ecchiest moments are in episode 9 with Kinji and Riko and Episode 10 with the girls undressing.
Final Score
The final score for Hidan no Aria is a 8.5/10 with a must watch seal of approval. If you haven’t checked out this anime yet definitely take the time and watch it, you’ll enjoy it whether it’s the Japanese or English version. I’ve heard talk that a second season might come out but I’m not entirely sure. However, as I said before there is a light novel out there which you can find here: http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Hidan_no_Aria I say start at Volume 3 5th ammo to pick up where the anime almost left off. The manga is also good but is very behind on the anime and light novel but if you still wanna read it here it is: http://www.mangahere.com/manga/hidan_no_aria/. I also found a spin-off manga of the series called Hidan no Aria AA which follows the story of a girl who idolizes Aria and becomes her apprentice; you can find that manga here:http://www.mangahere.com/manga/hidan_no_aria_aa/. Well that’ll do it for me, I hoped you enjoyed and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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