Friday, May 10, 2013
"See the world"
With these words, Rahzel, the daughter of a rich family, is kicked out of her house and sent on her journey. Along the way she meets up with Heat and Alzeid, two men with very different personalities but very similar journeys. Rahzel is a clever, stubborn, and confident girl, who, with the powers of her magic and mind helps the people she runs into on her journey to discover the world.
Hatenkou Yuugi, an anime that I coincidentally discovered on YouTube and an anime with a huge amount of potential that never really made it.
I feel that the anime didn't really do the manga justice ( because I discovered that it was based on the manga ) but in terms of the anime itself, it could have developed into something more. But with just ten episodes, one can only do so much.
The main character is a thirteen-year-old called Rahzel and she's kicked out of her house by her father to be independent and learn to survive on her own. On her way, she meets an albino threatening a man and weirdly intrigued, asks him to accompany her on his journey. He agrees, on the condition that she makes it exciting for him. As all main characters go, they all have hidden sides and for Alzeid, he's looking for a dark-haired woman with blue eyes who killed someone important to him.
The anime carries on in a very episodic manner, meaning that each episode has a different incident and doesn't really continue from the previous episodes. The duo meet Baroqueheat, a man who has take a liking to Rahzel but he, too, has a dark past.
I honestly enjoyed it. It had this deadpan comedy and also that element of subtle romance between Alzeid and Rahzel ( canon pairings exist for a reason ), as well as that adventure feel. While Rahzel has powers, it's not the main focus of the story and her character is something that's very interesting. Never once did Rahzel come across as whiny. She's always been a spunky character with her own style and decisions ( while she has her own share of insecurities, she's still a teenager for goodness' sake ) and I admire her for that. The unfortunate thing is that the anime wasn't staged in such a way that more of the characters was shown and there weren't enough episodes to bring out the actual plot.
It became an anime without a real plot and just an episodic adventure anime at some point but some of the events and incidents hint at something darker.
The opening theme is still one of my favourite OP themes and the ending was great as well. There was nothing that was really outstanding in the BGM or OSTs.
The animation was all right, not spectacular and I felt like there wasn't enough fluidity and consistency in the quality. Nevertheless, it's worth watching for the comedy and it will most definitely interest you in reading the manga which explores a much darker theme.
I feel that the anime deserves a seven because while technically, it didn't do well, the rate of enjoyment is high so you should give it a try if you're interested.
