Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Let’s talk about the anime studio Bones. As much as I praise A-1 and Madhouse, Bones is a studio that I often overlook and it’s a real shame because the studio is very impressive. They’ve made very good anime such as Ouran High Host Club, Darker than Black, and FMA: Brotherhood my favorite anime of all-time. Even in 2014 this studio still continues to create hit after hit with animes such as Noragami, both seasons of Space Dandy and today’s anime Hitsugi no Chaika. Hitsugi no Chaika when translated simply means Chaika- The Coffin Princess, is the story about of a girl who travels the world looking for the remains of her father to give him a proper burial. The anime is based off a light novel written by Ichirō Sakaki in 2010 and still going on to this day. There’s also two mangas of the series written by Kadokawa Shoten in 2011 and a third manga that places the characters in a school-like setting. So far this series was one of the more overlooked animes of 2014 but those who checked it out were treated to something good and enjoyable. Let’s check out one of Bones’ anime. This is Hitsugi no Chaika.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening for this anime is “DARAKENA” by Iori Nomizu. I have to say I was impressed with this song. I went into the anime thinking I wasn’t gonna like the opening but to my surprise this is a very good song. Iori sounds great and the song is giving off this mixture of an opera/rock song as if the singer is on a stage with snow falling and her singing about the trails and pains she’s going through while her soul is crying out. The ending for this anime is “Kairaku Genri (Pleasure Theory)” by coffin princess. This was another good song and much like the opening the song gives off this opera/rock song with the only difference being is that this one is a lot more calm, slow-paced, and tamed than the other. Surprisingly I feel that this ending could actually work as the opening as well or at least a second opening.
Episodes 1-4
We start the anime off in the forest in the mountains where one of our main characters Toru voiced by Junji Majima (Ayumu from Is this a zombie?) is out looking for food and money (the food I can understand but why money? This isn’t an RPG, you’re not just gonna randomly fight a squirrel who somehow has money and a potion on it). As he’s looking he runs into a cute white-haired girl carrying a coffin on her back (well someone’s emo) named Chaika are other main character who seems to enjoy talking like Will Shatner when he’s acting (Hello. My. Name. Is. Chaika. And this. Is my coffin). She’s voiced by Chika Anzai (Kurt from Hunter x Hunter). Toru finds out that Chaika’s been lost in the mountains for 3 days and offers to escort her to a village in exchange for a meal (that seems fair). But before they can reach a deal a unicorn appears from behind to attack them (oh what’s the big deal it’s a unicorn it can’t be that- //cyclopsphoto.ca/temp/unicorn_closeup.jpg, O_O JE~SUS! Screw friendship is magic let’s go with horror is magic. Where’d they get the idea for this thing, was it a rejected character from Hellsing or something?). They escape the unicorn (if you wanna call it that) by jumping into the river and floating down stream where Chaika opens up her coffin to show that she’s a wizard who can use magic guns (oh man Chaika’s packin’ heat run for it). She says she can kill the unicorn but she’ll need time to prepare her attack so Toru does a chant which turns his hair red and gives him tattoos on his face and faces the unicorn while Chaika prepares her attack (scene here: //youtu.be/6xxSj0la-HI, death is magic motherfucker). After defeating the unicorn they arrive into the town where they get food and get approached by Akari, Toru’s sister voiced by newcomer at the time Yuko Hara who’s not to happy that her brother didn’t pick the edible plants and is instead dining with an underage girl (this kind of scenario calls for the police). She takes out her hammer and begins trying to smash him for being a useless big brother who does nothing all day until Toru is able to calm her down and explain the situation to her (Toru: She’s my potential love interest for the anime). While that’s going we meet a new group of characters being led by a young noble named Alveric leader of the Gillette Corps who’s duty is to capture criminals and bandits. He’s on a mission to recover an item that was kept by Roberto Abarth a hero from a war not too long ago but is told to leave by Roberto saying he has no intention of giving the item up to anyone (it’s mine! All mine). Going back to Toru, Chaika has hired him and Akari to sneak into Roberto’s mansion and steal the item themselves. They sneak into the mansion where Toru gets discovered by Roberto (you fail at being an assassin Toru) and gets into a fight with him where see that Roberto is also a wizard who has control over iron weapons (the Magneto of the show if you will). He corners Toru but stops once he sees Chaika a person who he says should have been died years ago (the stories of her death have been greatly exaggerated).
In episode 2 Toru, Akari, and Chaika use Roberto’s confusion to escape, regroup, and come up with a plan (burn the mansion down). They decide to split into two teams, Akari and Chaika will try to locate Roberto’s power source which is in the center of the mansion while Toru distracts Roberto. Akari and Chaika reach the center of the mansion which is Roberto’s bedroom (don’t look under his bed) and find his power source which is a severed hand that has unlimited powers and the item Chaika has been looking for (well this got creepy real quick). Once the power source is removed Roberto loses all of his powers and the group escapes from the mansion with the hand only to run into Alveric and his men who want the hand (go pull off your own handjob this one belongs to us. That didn’t come out right did it?). Toru takes the hand and runs through the city where he takes out Nicholai on the bridge, gets cornered, and finally finds out who Chaika really is. It turns out that the hand belongs to Arthur Gaz last Emperor of the Gaz Empire who ruled the empire for 500 years exposing many dangers to the continent until 5 years ago he was defeated by 8 heroes who tore off his body parts to inherit his great powers (that’s down right sick). Chaika is Arthur’s daughter and for the last 5 years has been trying to find all of Arthur’s part to give him a proper burial but Alveric and his superiors believe that Chaika plans to use them to restore the Gaz Empire and bring the world to ruins again (hey guys, how about instead of jumping to conclusions we ask her what she wants to do with the body parts and decide on what to do from there). They tell Toru to hand over the hand one last time but he refuses saying he wants war because he’s tired of this peaceful boring life (and just like that he became a badass anti-hero). With the help of Akari and Chaika he escapes and they leave the village with Toru promising to help her out on her journey (alright, let’s get this Castlevania 2 journey started).
In episode 3 they reach the next town which is said to be ruled by the female knight Dominica another one of the 8 heroes who has a piece of Arthur. The only problem is no one knows where she is or what she looks like, the only thing the townsfolk know is that she’s a dragoon master (and I’m a cyber wolf master. Plus, * grabs some sand, claps hands, and turns the sand into a small iron statue of Chaika* I do a little alchemy). Eventually Alveric and his man reach the city but lose track of the group and Alveric and his team begin to question if you want they’re doing is right because one reports of Chaika are vague, there have been multiple girls who’ve claimed to be Arthur’s daughter but all of them were false. Two, even if Arthur’s body parts can be used for the destruction who would want to use it, the world is in a time of peace so who would want to start another war? Finally, the most fundamental question of all, was it ever reported that Arthur had a daughter in the first place (all good questions. It’s nice to see officers of the law question what they’re doing). While hiding from Alveric’s men Toru, Akari, and Chaika meet Guy a mysterious informant who’s working for Chaika. He tells them that Dominica lives in the forest not too far from the city and that there are abandoned vehicles for the group to use as transportation. They go the forest, find the vehicles, and fix one up to serve as their means of transportation. At night they set out in search of Dominica where during the ride Chaika opens up to Toru and tells him that she was out of the country when Arthur died and that she has no memories of the war (dang girl you must have been partying like a rockstar to not remember a 5 year war). They get chased by a pack of Orthrus (man this show takes advantage of its mythical creatures doesn’t it?) and get saved by Dominica to end the episode.
In episode 4 Dominica invites them back to her place to stay for the night where Akari makes up a ridiculous story to hide their true motives (scene here: //youtu.be/uFRUj1cZ0vk, one of the funniest lies I’ve heard in anime). Once in the mansion the group walks around and discovers that Dominica is a narcissist having statues and paintings of her all around the empty mansion (boy this is more disturbing than that time my school sent me a field trip to that historical haunted hotel/restaurant). After exploring the narcissist’s home Chaika tells Toru and Akari that she doesn’t want to fight or harm Dominica since she’s help them out so much but Toru says that she’s the enemy and has something she wants so she can’t show mercy to her. After their talk we get a bath scene between Akari and Chaika where there’s no boob groping and the girls just talk about Toru being right about the situation (yes, I am happy for this scene. I know I’m usually the guy who likes fanservice and stuff but sometimes I need a break from it and just see a bath scene where the characters just talk). The next morning Toru just outright asks Dominica to hand over the body parts saying that he wants them because someone precious to him wants them which of course upsets Akari a little (scene here: //youtu.be/Gv9qOsywgT8). Dominica agrees to give the parts to the group but only if they can defeat her in a fight (well they’re gonna die). The fight between them ends in the group’s victory and we find out that the person they’ve been fighting isn’t Dominica but instead the dragoon this whole time. After the war Dominica died from illness and the dragoon named Frederica assume her appearance and covered the mansion in her image because she didn’t want to forget the image of the only person in the world who needed her (more like you developed a disturbing obsession over your dead master and wanted to be her). Keeping her promise Frederica gives them the body parts of Arthur which are his eyes and she decides to join them on their mission taking the appearance of a young girl and promising to kill Toru one day (so they have a dragon that can shapeshift into anything it wants and can heal the party. Ladies and gentleman we have are OP character).
Episodes 5-8
In episode 5 the group is traveling to the next city while being followed which shocks Chaika greatly (scene here: //youtu.be/qXiHWHLCjtU). Toru takes on the leader of the bandits who not only looks like but is actually named Chaika (except she has more of a bust size and might possibly be tsundere. Oh, and her color is red). The red Chaika’s bodyguards attack the car and capture white Chaika while Toru captures the red Chaika (alright who wants it more). Before the two sides can negotiate Alveric’s car appears on the scene and both sides are forced fall back. Toru and Akari interrogate the red Chaika who refuses to talk (thank God we already have enough Will Shatner impersonators in this review) so they decide to give her a name and subject her to torture (scenes here: //youtu.be/da3zkS3mDhI, love how serious they’re being here. //youtu.be/JtHVuu1jzac, okay that’s just wrong. You can insult her you can touch her but to eat right in front of her that’s just low). We also find out that unlike the white Chaika who wants to give her father a proper burial and move on with her, the red Chaika wants revenge on everyone who betrayed or ran away when her father needed them the most (//youtu.be/BUbbUMgvPPw, I’m beginning to think she would have been the more interesting person to follow but still you can’t beat cuteness and white Chaika is overflowing with cuteness). Both sides arrange for a meeting spot to exchange the Chaikas the next day near the waterfall not knowing that Alveric’s man are right on their trail and preparing to attack them.
The exchange at the waterfall in episode 6 goes south when a pack of wild cockatrice under the control of Alveric’s man show up to try and capture the two Chaikas (go for red. No, I mean white. I mean. . .I don’t know don’t go for any). White Chaika escapes with her captives and red Chaika stays behind with Toru and Akari and kills all the cockatrice (well I know what they’ll be having for dinner tonight). They cover their tracks and arrange for another trade in the city but before the trade red Chaika has developed feelings for Toru and wants him to be her bodyguard but he refuses saying that white Chaika needs him more than her (Toru: That and I feel I have a better chance at getting inside her dress). While that’s going on Alveric and his men are taken off the Chaika case by the Council of 6 nations who don’t believe in such rubbish fairytales and believe the group should be doing more important things like settling domestic disturbances in the nations (do it yourself you lazy bums. I got a girl with emo problems to deal with). They make their exchange in the city and continue on their journey where red Chaika and her bodyguards try once again to steal the body parts from white Chaika and kill her (there can only be one Chaika) but their plans fail and are forced to retreat to end the episode.
Episode 7 opens up with Toru over a sleeping Chaika (Do not do it boy! That girl is still underage! Scene here://youtu.be/RGB740bRRm0, I see you too). This talk of sexual desires gets interrupted by Guy who tells them that the next hero Simon Scania can be found in the Koenigsegg (good luck pronouncing that) Empire. The only problem is no one has seen the guy in over 4 years so where he’s at and what he looks like are shrouded in mystery. While at a town they hear rumors that a mysterious fog is covering a valley known as the Valley of No Return (not very creative on the name there huh guys?) that appeared 4 years ago and the group believes that’s where Simon is hiding (that or it could be a freezing lake in the valley). But before they can reach the valley Alveric and his men show up to apprehend them (weren’t you guys assign to farm dispute duty) and we get a quick but well done fight scene between everyone until Frederica shows up and flies the group to the valley where they fall in and we see a romantic illusion from Toru (scene here: //youtu.be/DPrpSpTodCs, you killed off your sister man. Cold man). We quickly find out that the fog gives people illusions when they inhale it luckily the girls are in a barrier protecting them from the fog but Toru on the other hand is the unfortunate bastard who has sweet illusions only to have them taken away from him (scenes here: //youtu.be/yGc4ZgETRQ8, wouldn’t exactly call this NTR. //youtu.be/NDhZ1quDXaA, let me get in on some of that action). Using Chaika’s magic they manage to navigate through the fog and knock out the device emitting the fog thus clearing up the valley. They then come face to face with Simon who has chosen to live the life of a hermit after being betrayed by his wife and best friend (it’s probably all because he never took a bath or shaved). They get the body part which is a leg this time and get out of the valley where Toru acts like a guy and screws up (scene here: //youtu.be/J2uYHHQw0zA, you dumbass).
In episode 8 the group come across a group of bandits calling themselves the Neo Gaz Empire who want to restore the Gaz Empire to its former glory and have a blonde haired girl named Julia posing as Chaika to fool people (your Chaika has a certain beauty to her but no one can beat the white Chaika in cuteness). While there Chaika and Julia become friends and we see them have a little girl talk (scene here: //youtu.be/1D7GBKAmrJY). Later that night Julia and another bandit try to sneak into a mansion to steal stuff but it turns out be (//youtu.be/4F4qzPbcFiA) and Julia gets captured. Back at Neo Gaz Empire the bandits try to rob Toru and the others of everything they have but are easily defeated by Toru and Akari (now tell me, did you bandits really think you could defeat are main characters?). As the group prepares to leave the one bandit with Julia shows up begging them to save Julia (you guys lied to them, took them hostage, tried to rob them of everything they had and now you beg them for help? Exactly when did you guys stop feeling any shame?). Toru and Akari are against this but Chaika says she wants to help them so they save Julia and continue on their journey.
Episodes 9-12
We get a calm episode for episode 9 where Toru talks about his childhood to Chaika. While looking for fuel for the vehicle he talks about how when he was a kid he was constantly being trained to be a saboteur but his mentor didn’t think he was cut out for the job (shows what you know mentor, look at him now). He also talks about his first crush Hasumin a traveling peddler who Toru wanted to impress but was killed by a group of bandits which changed Toru and made him the man he is today (poor kid couldn’t let it go could he? *Isis appears* (Isis): Let it go. Let it go. Let it- (Nitsuj): No! We’re not doing a Frozen joke. (Isis): Oh come on everyone has done at least one. (Nitsuj): Go!). After finding a shop that has fuel they find out that one of Arthur’s body parts is being kept by Duke Gavarni in Iveco (next stop Iveco).
The group arrives in Iveco in episode 10 where they see that the ratio of men to women is 100 to 0 (IHOS city). They find out that Duke Gavarni has taken all the women as well as the fossil fuel in the city to his flying fortress known as Soara (looks like Howl sold the rights to his moving/flying castle). Nobody knows what he’s doing or why he’s doing this and everyone is too afraid to ask. Believing that the body part is on the ship Akari disguises herself as one of the village girls, gets taken on the ship, and secures a spot for Toru, Chaika, and Frederica to sneak on board. While that’s going on Alveric’s men are also on board the ship investigating the Soara at the request of the council. They receive word (via owl) that the council has decided to take action and is sending an army to take down the Soara. They have until morning to escape or risk being blown out of the sky (better start making parachutes). Once the group is on the ship they quickly get surrounded by the guards and Frederica gets stabbed (scene here: //youtu.be/IrVswgUu_3I, dick). Akari gets captured and taken up to the deck where she meets the men running the show. The first is Grad Lancia a wizard who has perfected a spell to brainwash people and the other is Ricardo the youngest son of Duke Gavarni who killed his father, mother, and older siblings because he enjoys killing people as his hobby (okay, you’re a sick sadistic psychopathic psychotic little bastard in need of a good ass kicking). Grad Lancia uses his brainwashing spell on Akari (scene here: //youtu.be/xhZrwOaEECo, this looks and sounds so wrong). Toru and Chaika run into a girl named Layla who tricks them and captures Chaika leaving Toru to fight the brainwashed Akari.
Episode 11 starts off with Toru fighting Akari and not figuring out that she’s being controlled (and it should be obvious from the get go). He gets rescued by Vivi and Zita and escape from Akari where they tell him an army is on their way here to destroy the flying fortress (well it sucks to be them right now). They work out a deal where Toru will help them escape in exchange for them helping him rescue Chaika and Akari. As they make their way through the fortress to reach the top they find out that Ricardo has killed all of the women he bought aboard, tortured them, and is now using their bodies as fuel sources for the fortress (//youtu.be/EYWbatgKN4g). Why is he using their body as fuel instead of for the obvious reasons you ask? Well besides none of them wanting to sleep with his sick sadistic psychopathic psychotic little bastard ass, he needs there memories to power the fortress. In this universe we’re told that memories also act as an alternate fuel however nobody wants to use this method because you’ll lose that memory forever. This is why Ricardo kidnapped all the women in the village and tortured them, so that they would have bad memories that would run deep inside of them and help power his flying fortress (that, and I believe he gets off on it). Back on Chaika’s side of the episode she finds that Layla is actually another Chaika (and this one’s blue and a whore. Scene here: //youtu.be/WZEA7UwAMdk). Layla tells Chaika that she’s a wiz at using drugs and uses them to bend men to her will (you do know you don’t need drugs to do that right?) and that she and Chaika are just tools created to gather all of Arthur’s parts for some reason. They were all given different personalities and characteristics to fool people into helping them and use them as tools. However, Layla refuses to go along with this plan so she decides to team up with Ricardo and Grad and plunge the world into war once again (nice way to go against your destiny). Frederica hears all of this and tries to save Chaika (scene here: //youtu.be/9p7UUAll7OY, man this is not Frederica’s day is it? And what the hell was that thing a man-spider?). Back with Toru and the others they enter the vents but get attacked by that man-spider thing (seriously what the actual hell is that thing?) and get cornered in a room by Akari and the guards. Vivi and Zita volunteer to stay behind and handle Akari while Toru scales the fortress from the outside to reach the top (that is hardcore. Just don’t look down). Near the end Alveric goes to stop the punitive army begging them to turn around and not start up another war (move out of the way hippie) but they refuse to listen so Alveric pulls his sword out takes the ground leader hostage demanding to speak to the commander.
In the final episode despite Alveric’s attempt to stop the fight the commander of the army in his flying fortress attacks Ricardo’s flying fortress where the two fortresses fire at other back and forth with Ricardo’s fortress having stronger defenses but the other fortress manages to severely damage the cannon on Ricardo’s fortress and fires at the ground forces where it assumingly kills Alveric (scene here: //youtu.be/m9l8dpX3Nkk, noooo~, you were such an interesting character). As all of this is going on Zita and Vivi snap Akari out of Grad’s spell and make their way to the deck where they run into Frederica who seems different somehow, I’m not sure if she did something with her or if it has to do with the fact that she became a chibi (scene here: //youtu.be/fn_YyiS5im8, Alien reference ftw). So the girls fly up where Frederica gets her revenge against the man-spiders (scene here: //youtu.be/-E1mF-aiUzU, try and stab her now bitch) and Grad takes control of the fortress that is falling towards the lake because the other fortress is doing a kamikaze (or at least he was until he took a hammer to the head. Scene here: //youtu.be/x3NjlKhHfzw, now that’s what I call *puts on sunglasses* a headshot //youtu.be/6YMPAH67f4o). Back with Toru, he manages to make it to where Chaika, Ricardo, Layla, and Arthur’s body part are at and gives Ricardo his much deserved death (scene here: //youtu.be/xJ8-x5ciZWI, hey I said it was much deserved I didn’t say satisfying). Toru and Chaika retrieve the body part and make their way out but Layla shows back with a crossbow to the shoulder (scene here: //youtu.be/F062rQ01b6s, man Layla is easily distracted). Chaika dives in to save Toru where the two finally kiss (scene here: //youtu.be/O-JnVFISz-c, I hate you so much right now Akari) and they escape with the others while Richardo and Layla drown (scene here: //youtu.be/UQoZ-2hNlTc, if dying like a bitch was your way of going against fate and living the way you wanted to live then mission accomplished). Zita and Vivi return to the others where they find out what happened to Alveric and Vivi goes through a transformation (scene here: //youtu.be/yTIdZr_X9F0, did she just transform into a Chaika?) and Chaika tells Toru and the others who she really is and what she wants to do to end the season (scene here: //youtu.be/iFrCsrUNoh8, and thus the story continues).
Final Thoughts
So that was Hitsugi no Chaika and it’s a good anime. There’s really not that much to say about the series. It’s not a bad series as the story does keep your attention, have a good sense of mystery around it, and pretty good characters but at the same time there’s nothing in it that really makes the series great or standout all that much from other animes. Toru is a good character. A lot of people saw this character as a lazy person but I didn’t think so I saw him as someone who lost his purpose in life but now he’s found something to live for and do. He’s very loyal to his client keeping a realistic view on the situation but at the same time he has a good heart. Chaika was the character I didn’t like the most because of her speech it really does get annoying and her naïve nature can be her downfall at times. She also slips into that damsel in distress role a couple of times in the series but thankfully they balance it out with her actually saving the others a few times. However, I do like how even though she knows she’s a puppet in a much grander scheme she’s determined to do what she believes is what she wants to do. Whether that’s a good thing or not remains to be seen. Akari is probably the funniest person in this series. It’s hinted that she might also have a crush on Toru as they state that the two aren’t related and are just childhood friends who grew up like brother and sister. Both her and Toru are pretty badass and have likable characteristics. Frederica is as I said before the most OP in the series but I’m glad they make her lose a few matches to show that even though she’s OP she’ll still lose a couple of matches to keep the attention on Toru and Chaika. My favorite character has to be Alveric. I like how he’s not just some mindless foot soldier, he actually questions his mission and wonders if what he’s doing is right. He has honor, trust and respect from his men, and will gladly put his life on the line for what he believes is right. I hope he’s still alive because losing a good character like this would bring the anime down a notch.
The animation is decent there are only a few times where it really stands out and that’s with action scenes and the use of magic in the anime. Other than that the animation is just basic animation. Speaking of action scenes, while the animation for them is good with the 3D magic effects they’re either cut short or leave you wanting more. Music wise is mixed bag, the songs are alright but they’re not spectacular like I couldn’t see myself listening to the soundtrack of the series on a daily bases as I would other animes. The one thing that does save this anime is the story. There’s a good air of mystery around it that saves it from being mediocre or boring. So if you like a good adventure mystery I think you’re watching the right anime. A few complaints with this anime is the cliffhanger at the end which annoys me quite a bit and just a few things never really being explained like Toru and Akari’s powers, the body parts emitting magic, Guy, the government of the world and many other questions that the series leaves you with. A lot of questions that I felt the anime could have set time aside to talk about and explain.
Final Score
Hitsugi no Chaika earns a 6/10. It’s a decent anime with good characters, a good story, and plenty of mystery to keep your attention but just don’t expect to be blown away by all of it that much. I know there’s a second season getting ready to air next month, I plan on watching it, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next for these characters. In the end it’s a decent anime and if you like adventure animes I say check it out. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj for the return of Ani-ween. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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