K – First Season Review – Previously In Anime

Info

Episodes: 13

Aired: Oct 5, 2012 to Dec 28, 2012

Genre: Action

Haven’t Seen K?

WAOanime.tv and other streaming sites might have it but since it’s an older series your options may be limited to picking it up in your local store or ordering it from sites like Amazon so you can watch in the best quality at home.

Purchase it here if you want but let’s get to the review!

Plot

K takes place in Japan, where there are seven kings but in this season you’re only seeing 5 of them. What happened to the other 2? No idea! This short series is mainly focused on 4 of the 5. That’s the Red King (Mikato), the Blue King (Munakata), the Silver King (Adolf), and the Colorless King (Unknown).

Now all the kings not only have great psychic powers but also legal power as well. Things get a little funny when it comes to this cause the local police are still there but the Kings operate above them. Mikato doesn’t care about being a king so he never makes any moves as one and instead does whatever he feels with his gang/family, HOMRA. Munakata, on the other hand, is the captain of a government task force called Sceptre 4 that apparently handles all problems that have anything to do with the kings.

These two clashed when The Red King and his clansmen (HOMRA), started tearing the up the town due to one of their members (Tatara Totsuka) being murdered. They even released a video that displayed all over town of the killer they’re looking for. The odd thing about this is the murderer looks exactly like Yashiro Isana, an innocent, carefree high school student who is our main protagonist and is now being chased by both kings and a third guy, Kuroh Yatogami, the Black Dog.  

A servant of the former seventh king a.k.a The Colorless King whom you also see very little of cause he passed away but left Kuroh with one last mission. Kill the next Colorless King cause he foresaw him being evil. Now Shiro has to prove his innocence with the Red King trying to kill him and the Blue King trying to catch him with all their clansmen hunting him as well. Who murdered Tatara Totsuka? This whole series of K takes you on a ride to answer this question and then some while diving into the world of the kings and the people around them.

Characters

Yashiro Isana a.k.a Shiro is cool, calm, and carefree while Kuroh is the exact opposite. He’s uptight and a worrier. The same can be said for the kings Mikato and Munakata. K is filled with different cool characters under each king but none of them are really memorable. Let’s talk about just a few.

Misaki Yata (八田 美咲)

Yata a.k.a Yatagarasu is a member HOMRA with crazy fighting style which he uses his fists and his skateboard. He also possesses very good eyesight which allows him to see clear even at night. He’s also hot headed, stubborn, and is quick to fight when it comes to his family. An attitude that tends to screw up plans sometimes. I like him cause he’s always first into the fray and the last out, never backing down from anyone.

Anna Kushina (櫛名 アンナ)

Anna is a hunter of sorts. Through her red marbles she can pinpoint people she wants to find. The limits of this power is never really discussed. She also possesses power to sense the near future but not really see it. Anna is always by the Mikato’s side cause his warmth a beautiful red glow which only she can see attracts her. She’s very shy but her need to be by Mikato’s side has also made her quite fearless as well. A good thing seeing as many encounters with the Red King leaves the whole place a burning pile of rubble and blood. Fearless is kind of a prerequisite to be around him.

Izumo Kusanagi (草薙 出雲)

Kusanagi is the owner of the bar that Mikato named his crew after, HOMRA. It’s also there’s headquaters. Kusanagi is second in command and the brains of HOMRA. Most of the plans start with him and end with Mikato. He’s quite easy going and enjoys watching his family goof off in his bar. He’s also been Mikato’s friend for a long time though the depth of their friendship is never really talked about..

Seri Awashima (淡島 世理)

Cpt. Awashima is second in command under Munakata in Sceptre 4. Her huge chests doesn’t slow her down the slightest when cutting through her opponents but she only seems to have one main attack via her sword. Oddly enough, her and Kusanagi are friends even though he calls her “a heartless woman”. She’s also always by her king, Munakata’s side and always strives to be the most dependable person he knows. Due to this, Munakata trust her to take the lead more often than not.

Saruhiko Fushimi (伏見 猿比古)

Fushimi was a member of the red clan but deficted over to the blue cause he was bored of sitting around HOMRA doing nothing. He was also good friends with Yata but when he joined Sceptre4, their friendship became a bitter rivalry that Fushimi rather enjoys. Put these 2 in the same space for 2 seconds and an awesome fight shall occur! Fushimi is not at all hot headed like Yata though. He’s quite smart,  calculating,  and reliable but he’s always up for a fight.

Daikaku Kokujouji (國常路 大覚)

The King that you don’t get to see often but the anime does go into some detail about is the Gold King or 2nd King,  Kokujoji. The former Japanese Lieutenant is apparently very strong and manages the Scales which governs the distribution of the power of the seven kings. Through the Scales the Gold King keeps the power of the Kings in Japan and ensures that the whole world isn’t thrown into chaos with Kings running all over the world. He also holds supreme authority in the country to the Prime Minister’s dismay. Kukojoji and his clans men keep to themselves and never leave their base in a high skyscraper so not much is known about them at all and they are not concerned with others. Kukojoji is peaceful but stern. Yet, he always has a soft spot for his dear friend, Adolf.

The one character I have to speak in detail on is Shiro’s friend, Neko.

I have to say, despite her silly and pushy nature, I found this character most disturbing. She’s kind of annoying which is ok but her psychic powers allow her to create detailed illusions which helped Shiro and Kuroh out many times but her power also creates false memories on a MASSIVE SCALE. Because she liked Shiro, she gave him false memories in order to ensure that she can stay with him and also created false memories in all the students of the school so that they will accept him even though they’ve never met him. What the hell!? I had a hard time not seeing her as the one crazy b*** you don’t want any attention from! The thought that she might literally wipe out my life in order to accept her is FRIGHTENING to say the least. I found her more scary than any other character in the series and she literally was nothing but sweet, cute, and helpful the whole time. Madness!

That being said, my fav characters from this series is Yatagarasu, Mikato, and well….Neko. 😆

ARTWORK

The world of K was simply not exciting. The characters are drawn ok and that’s about it. Nothing really stood out to me from the inner city to the enormous school, to the fancy blimp in the sky. As slightly futuristic as everything was, it’s like everything was missing its last coat of paint to really shine except the swords. The artwork of the swords of the kings were quite nice especially, the one that belonged to the Silver King a.k.a the First King. What was also done nice was the animations for the fights.

ACTION

The fighting throughout the series of K displays great animations of each character’s powers and not to mention the different swords that shined or burned bright in the sky when the Kings fought. The fights themselves however, were just ok. I actually enjoyed when the less powerful characters like Yatagarasu and Fushimi fought more than the Kings. The action was high in this series and was definitely to my liking.

CONCLUSION

I started watching this series not knowing what to expect cause the simple title of K doesn’t tell you anything. I’m now glad I did. It was fast paced. However, despite the story being interesting, it does leave alot to be desired and that’s ok. I’m now pumped to watch the currently airing (as of this article) K: Return of Kings so I can find out more about the 2 kings we heard nothing about during this season which I recommend you checking you out!