Rokka no Yuusha

The quickest way to pique my curiosity is with the ‘mystery’ tag. It often has me dusting off the magnifying glass and getting set to put my perception to the test. Rokka no Yuusha stepped up to the plate this season and its plot summary had me interested: A show where six heroes try to fight off a great demon but seven show up for the job instead. One character gets picked on early as the infiltrator and it’s up to him to prove his innocence. Rokka no Yuusha didn’t end up testing my intelligence though. Instead, it decided to insult it.

If there’s one ... big tip you could give to anyone writing a classic ‘whodunnit’ tale then do this: Give everyone a solid reason to be confirmed suspicious. If you start to abandon characters then the strength in your writing falls by the wayside. This lack of equal screen time and development made it incredibly easy to rule certain characters out as the ‘extra’. The show feels like it is written to cater for an action show, not a mystery one. The focus is on set pieces and not a study into its characters. That’s the fatal flaw. In a show that clearly tells us early on that it’s going to be show about catching the villain in disguise, it abandons even trying to be an interesting and challenging mystery. With paper-thin characters, convenient solutions, characters that scream fanservice over depth and a bizarre ending, Rokka no Yuusha will not be a show that hangs around in the memory bank for the right reasons.

I can understand those who enjoyed the anime because there’s some action, suspense and some passable characters to get you by. If you’re after an anime with some solid action, but nothing ground breaking, then this may satisfy you. I, however, felt betrayed by the show not living up to its potential and betraying the mystery path it started to construct in its opening half. A harsh sentiment? I maintain the show dug its own hole deeper with every single episode.

The story is focused around Adlet Mayer, the self-proclaimed ‘strongest man in the world’. He is one of the six chosen heroes to defeat the demon god. When seven people arrive at the meeting location Adlet quickly becomes the prime suspect in the hunt for the ‘extra’ person. We watch as he tries to clear his name. Adlet himself isn’t a memorable protagonist but he does have his moments. The way he tries to rally others to his cause is at least believable for the most part. His relationship with one character in particular is easily the most interesting part of the story, a relationship challenged by the other party’s motives and their background. It’s such a pity that this sort of development couldn’t be spared for all six other members of the group and actually go some distance towards making the mystery more engaging. It’s true that a 12 episode limit plays its part in limiting that but that’s no excuse whatsoever for not at least making an effort to improve in that area. There are some hilariously silly conveniences towards the back end of the show as well that don’t do any favours towards correcting the aforementioned writing flaws around the cast. For every logical deduction made towards finding the culprit another ridiculous one strikes back. Often the show misleads you into thinking it’s making progress when it’s really just creating vapid excuses for the characters to come into conflict with one another.

Given my sentiments at the start of this review, I’d be going into spoiler territory if I were to discuss the impact of the rest of the cast. What I can say is that it’s an eclectic bunch of characters who each bring a different ability and personality to the table. Some feel like they’re playing an active role in the story while others just feel like they’re there to make up the numbers. Some character dynamics exist but there aren’t enough connections established between the cast early on to keep me interested in the big reveal that lays ahead. As previously mentioned, you can feel that certain characters being named the seventh would be too underwhelming. Too much of the cast fit this bill.

Animation is a rollercoaster in the quality department. The show looks average as a whole but the early episodes certainly look the part. In fact, the first episode probably set the bar too high, especially with one scene which looks excellent. The variety in environments from the early episodes get lost as the show goes on and that’s a real shame. The story lends itself to this fact but a lot could still have been done to breathe a bit more life into the areas where the bulk of the series takes place. A lot of the CG also is jarring when placed next to the traditional animation (what a surprise).

Rokka no Yuusha treads this bizarre line between being an action and a mystery show and fails at succeeding in either genre. Tension in fights doesn’t exist because the show doesn’t give me a chance to empathise with or understand the majority of the cast. It makes the show very difficult to recommend. If you’re after a satisfying mystery, forget it. If you’re after some action, perhaps. Me? I put the magnifying glass away early on.

This review won't contain any spoilers regarding the series other than stuff that have already been written in the synopsis which is, of course, spoiler-free to divulge into. I should also note that this review is solely written from my anime-only watcher perspective, as I did not read the original material.

Story:

Rokka no Yuusha unfortunately does not give the best first impression regarding it's actual story line and genre for people that are looking for a series to start. It gives off the impression of it being your average demon-fighting fantasy anime, and it's understandable to think of it as such at first glance.

But that's not ... really the case. Or well, it's not really the case for the part that was adapted in this anime. The series is actually a niche mystery fantasy focused series that focuses into the vast Mesoamerican fantasy world and to find the potential impostor among them. As the synopsis for this anime points out.

At first, the anime may give the impression of being stale, or boring. But the suspense in it between the main characters is something that is not easily found in your average anime. The settings of the series may not be the most original out there, but it is without doubt executed phenomenally

Art:

The anime production is done by Studio Passione. As far as I am aware I consider this to be it's first major production. The anime has gorgeous colours and background visuals, especially at it's first episodes. Some of the background visuals could easily be considered to be put as wallpaper considering its exotic beauty.

Unfortunately due to it's lack of success and it being the studio's first true production, the quality of the animation and art drops midway during the series where it's quite evident that the animation feels sketchy or/and has a lot of cutscenes. The facial expressions proportions are sometimes off too. I wouldn't call it completely bad, I find it acceptable and in the important scenes it thankfully delivers great quality.

The biggest gripe about the visuals regarding the series is definitely the CGI. It is not very pleasing and they look awkward, thankfully the CGI usage is minimal halfway through the series except for select few moments.

All in all the art shines at the beginning, then decreases to being acceptable. I don't think a series should be completely judged upon it's production issues in certain episodes.

Please note that art in itself is a subjective matter, whether someone thinks X looks good, Y could see it as negative, so all of this is simply my opinion regarding the matter, it is not an objective fact. the only thing that can be considered as "fact" is that it have gotten inconsistent.

Sound:

I find the sound in the anime to be fitting to the theme that it presents. The first opening gives you the feeling of it being a fantasy show, not necessarily the best sound out there, but it conveys what the show is about at that time. While the second opening tries to fit into more of the dark atmosphere of the show at that point in the series. I don't have a solid opinion regarding the ending but I did definitely like the two other endings that are character-centric. It's a nice touch musically, especially that the characters themselves sing it.

The soundtrack is eerie at times, I never once thought that it wasn't fit. The music is done exactly where it should be done. It compliments the atmosphere that the show is trying to display. It's rare to find such a nigh-perfect placement sound for certain scenes, but Rokka No Yuusha implements that effectively.

Even if the sound is not outstanding if it's viewed on it's own, it's done in a fashion like it's an exclusive musical piece for the specific scene that is happening. And that is something that I personally respect from composers that pay respect to the art that they're working on.

The voice-acting cast does well for the the type of personality they're working on and there is no monotone voices, and the sound-effects are definitely well fit.

Character:

This field is definitely where the series shines best at. Despite the fact that the show is only 12 episodes long. The cast has a very distinctive personalities and roles that are easily recognizable. They're also for the most part all incredibly likable to the audience. Their developments in such a short period is amazing, and it's very evident as to how the characters changed from their first appearance.

This includes the main character. The main character is not your average lead hero. He tries to reach to the best conclusions in the most logical way, and he's humane. May be naive at times, but he looks past his naivete if the situation asks for it. The same falls for the rest of the cast.

It is not surprising that this category is the show's best field. Because the plot revolves around the cast, and how they act depending on the situation that is presented to them. All of the cast have their own motives and desires and are explored thoroughly. The designs are rather attractive as well, but aesthetics are completely subjective as pointed out previously.

Enjoyment:

Rokka no Yuusha is an incredibly enjoyable anime. It's clever. It never feels repetitive. Every episode has it's own new content for the watcher to explore through and think about the mystery surrounding it. It's very great at displaying suspense between every episode end for the watcher to watch the next. It's definitely a series that is worth watching in one-go.

If you like tension (edge of the seat feel) and character-centric fantasy show this is definitely the type of show that I'd recommend to watch. Unfortunately, this series suffers from the point that it will most likely remain incomplete (anime-wise)


Thanks for reading my review and any feedback is appreciated on my profile, as this is my very first review.

I’d describe Rokka no Yuusha (Braves of the Six Flowers), a fantasy show that’s more than just about swords fighting or saving the world. Well initially, it sets up it like so with its background story. Apparently, it’s revealed that a Demon God existed a long time ago whom annihilated humanity. And now, its return is imminent. Six heroes (or otherwise, known as braves) are chosen by the Goddess of Fate to apparently fight the Demon God. The catch is that there is a fake hero as the story introduces a “7th brave”. Main male protagonist Adelt learns the hard way of what exactly it ... means when suspicion falls upon himself.

Based on the light novels written by Ishio Yamagata, the series takes on an interesting approach at fantasy and adventure. Rather than the group traveling together to fight against enemies and reach the final boss, there’s inner fighting between the heroes themselves. The cause of this is because of the existence of a 7th hero whom the others label as a traitor or double agent. So in essence, the show follows more into a mystery genre as the story progresses. We meet Adelt, the self-proclaimed “strongest man in the world” in the beginning. Perhaps the cleverest of the heroes and we find out about his past based on his background story. His role in the series becomes prominent because others begins to suspect him as the fake hero.

As a show with such a colorful cast of characters, we are also introduced to the other heroes. All of them possesses their own unique traits, personalities, and abilities. These include Nashetanya (princess of Piena and Saint of Blades), Fremy Speeddraw (Saint of Gunpowder), Goldolf Auora (Nashetanya’s loyal follower), Chamo Rosso (the Saint of Swamps), Hans Humpty (the mysterious assassin), and Mora Chester (the Saint of Mountains). The show quickly establishes the fact that none of them can be trusted. Unfortunately for Adelt, he becomes a prime target after several implied facts labels him as “the fake hero.” It sets up a good amount of storytelling as the series immediately shifts into a fantasy/adventure/mystery hybrid. What I also find interesting is how we learn more about the characters including their reasons for being there along with the various hypothesis that focuses on the mystery aspects of the show. Initially, some people might misjudge Rokka no Yuusha and think it’s a typical fantasy story with plain swords fighting. But when it comes to the mystery elements, it’s where each episode begins thrilling enough to anticipate what may happen next. The episodes connects each other in clever ways because of the theories and implied facts. The mystery aspect gets more and more complicated as fingers are being pointed at each other among the seven braves.

The characters themselves are also fairly interesting by individual standards. Fremy Speedraw is the lone wolf with a cold heart and dark past. Labeled by others as a brave killer, she is also a prime suspect in the beginning until Hans begins tearing Adelt’s story apart. One of the most intriguing part of the series is her relationship development with Adelt. It’s hard to say exactly their nature as Adelt trusts her but she doesn’t in return on most parts. As they spend more time together though, some of this begins to change as Fremy wishes to learn more about him. Hans also becomes a character that will catch the audience’s attention. Not only does he seem to be the most mysterious but he is also very intelligent with his deductive thinking. The way he analyzes Adelt shows his wits as a critical thinker. This seems to contrast with characters such as Chamo and Goldov who seems to be only there for their own personal reasons. Chamo doesn’t even seem to care much about who the fake brave because of her childish and perhaps borderline insane personality. Goldov just seems to be there because of his undying loyalty for Nashetanya. Speaking of which, Nashetanya herself is also shrouded by mystery regarding her true alliances and personality. It seems that her personality actually changes depending on who she interacts with. Throughout the series, it’s hard to not also label her as a suspect of the fake seventh brave. Finally, there’s the level headed thinker, Mora. Becomes of her calm personality and age, she is seen in regards as the leader of the braves. Although as time goes on, she displays more of desperation to kill the fake hero. What to say about all these characters? They all seem so different but their common goal is the same: to get rid of the mole and kill the Demon God. The catch is that the show focuses a lot more on discovering the fake hero rather than their collective journey. As a show that present itself this way, it can be a hit or miss for certain fans. Personally, it’s something that I welcome with its refreshing concepts. It inspires theories from the viewers and let ourselves think who may be the fake hero. Additionally, the show does a fairly well job at establishing its world fiction and background history. What may be disappointing is the pacing as the show only adapts the first volume as a 1-cour series. In other words, certain parts of the original story is omitted while we don’t learn a whole lot about our main characters (example: Chamo, Goldov, Mora). Furthermore, the relationship dynamics seems to focus more on Adelt and Fremy than any other character in terms of depth. The others only seems to be there for their own reasons such as Goldov’s loyalty to Nashetanya or Chamo’s respect for Mora. It’s a bit of letdown for anyone who is more curious about the other heroes as their characterization isn’t as strong as Adelt or Fremy.

Passione is a fairly new studio as they’ve only recently worked on Rail Wars, a show that is easily forgettable. Taking that aside, I would say that the artwork aspects of Rokka no Yuusha exceeds expectations. The world fiction is fascinated illustrated with the resourceful mountainous regions. There’s also inspirations that are drawn from the Azetc-like architectures and gorgeous views of the dense forests. Temples are also decorated with high class fantasy characteristics and Kyouma (the monsters that are spawned by the Demon God) heightens the legitimacy of their world’s danger. Furthermore, the character designs of the main characters are all very distinctive with their combat gear, fighting style, and even animal motifs. The action of the show is also very well performed with good amount of cinematic body movements and clever camera angle timings. There’s little fan service although some of the CGI designs of the Kyouma can be distracting at times. But all in all, it’s a fairly well produced show that is hard to forget when its art department is mentioned.

Soundtrack is also strong enough to keep up with the rest of the series. The OP theme song has two parts – the first half gives off a general impression of the show while the second half is more symbolic of the main characters. Some of the ED theme songs are also performed by the characters’ VA themselves, something that I found quite unique. Speaking of which, the character voice mannerisms all are noticeable whether it’s Hans’ cat-like dialects, Fremy’s cold voice tone, or Mora’s commanding presence. The show also does well with its OST particularly when the mystery aspects kicks in with its more eerie coordination. Some of the underwhelming performances will probably be Chamo as her childishness can be borderline annoying or Goldov’s single minded role. Adelt is really also a character that people will find to like or hate just by his personality matched by his voice. But despite that, the soundtrack and voice performances still show of what Rokka no Yuusha is capable of. And that’s definitely not something so easily accomplished in a show like this especially with it being so talky and filled with dialogues.

What can be said about Rokka no Yuusha in the end? It’s a fantasy series but not one you will expect to be like from the beginning. Yes, there is still action and magic like the most of the typical stuff fans are used to these days. But unlike others, Rokka no Yuusha adapts with its premise that will hook the viewers into getting into the show more and more. Rather than just watching, it’s also anticipating what the audience will think who the fake hero is as the story progresses. With a good degree of high class fantasy setting and colorful characters, it’s also hard to also ignore those aspects of the show. No, it’s not Dangan Ronpa or Btooom that becomes more of a survival game. Instead, Rokka no Yuusha stands out on its own as not just a fictional fantasy/detective story but also a creative engine with all sorts of matching gears.

In the beginning of the anime, I'm impress with the mighty works of the main character. He proclaim himself as the Strongest Man in the World. Well it seems too odd but awesome.
In the mid of episode 5-7, the main character is seems to be treated as a traitor or known as the fake seventh. The graphics and the characters personality showed up and so incredible.
I put this anime to 10 means OUTSTANDING. Well because it has an originally. Nothing can compare to that thing. I hope that the case who is the seventh will be revealed.

If I told you guys that Rokka no Yuusha was a mystery show and you took a look at this anime at first glance without any background information whatsoever, you’d probably wonder if I was off my pills again. Well maybe I am, but the point is that yes, despite the fact that the setting, characters, and overall driving force are as standard fantasy as they come, Rokka no Yuusha’s plot belongs to the whodunnit side of the genre with plenty of suspects and a lot of circular logic to be had. Which doesn’t exactly change the fact that I’m still watching standard fantasy adapted ... by a studio whose last anime was freaking Rail Wars, an anime with so much false advertising attached to it that Burger King advertisements look truthful by comparison. But I do like mysteries, so this standard fantasy was worth taking a look at at the very least. See if this mixing of genres turns out an exciting combination or a generic kitchen sink.

Twelve episodes later and all I can summon for this show is a resounding “mrgh”, which is pretty much a combination of “meh” and “urgh” if you didn’t quite get that. A more common word to describe my judgement would be “mediocre”, which isn’t the worst thing to happen when it comes to the “LN adaptation” field, but you’re reading the wrong guy if you think I’m going to excuse a “better than usual” product from a medium whose very form of entertainment runs on poor working conditions and sex crime. Because there was potential for true greatness here with just a little more polish could have made a good mystery anime or even a good character study. Instead, Rokka no Yuusha is pretty much a bad anime made pretentious from its inability to execute its unique ideas properly.

So the show takes place in some fantasy land where six chosen heroes called Braves must vanquish a great evil called the Demon God, and said Braves are chosen by crests marked on their body from the Goddess of Fate due to their unique abilities. Our focus character is Adlet Myer, a guy who proclaims to be the strongest man in the world and resolves to prove said boast by invading tournaments and wooing ladies whom are more likely to kill him than they are to listen to his big mouth. After said shonen behavior combined with his skillful fighting gets him marked as a chosen hero, he teams up with a bunny girl princess - and I know some people have been praising the Mesopotamian symbolism that was added in by the anime staff, but it’s hard to take anything knee-deep in religious culture seriously when one your characters looks like she’s wearing an extra costume from a Tales game. It’d be like if Haibane Renmei made Reki wear a jockstrap and a beanie the entire runtime.

Anyways, he teams up with said princess and meets up with other Braves along the way before they all gather at a temple, only to realize there are seven of them. Naturally, one of them has to be an imposter working undercover in order to sabotage their mission, and when Adlet is suspected due to some circumstantial evidence against his favor, he must avoid the fighting prowess of his comrades whilst figuring out which one of them is trying to set him up. The fact that it takes four episodes to even get to the mystery plotline is one big point against the show’s favor, but whilst things start getting exciting afterwards, the show peters out of energy fast. Whilst I applaud the team’s decision to just adapt a single volume into twelve episodes because they realized that it can only go downhill from there, by the time the finale rolled around, I had long since stopped caring who the imposter actually was because this team doesn’t seem to understand how to make a mystery interesting.

The big elephant in the room is the production. I’m not going to mince words: it is freaking crap, with tons of bad CG and awful cinematography. Even with the studio’s clear lack of money and resources compared to the big wigs, it probably wasn’t in their best interest to hire a director who’s pretty much made a career out of nothing but borderline porn and a LN adaptation that most people consider to be a classic but I consider to be rubbish. There’s this one scene at the end of the fourth episode where the camera tries to build tension by rotating around the room for over a minute Sonic 2006-style to the point that it gave me nausea whilst simultaneously making me want to punch the person who approved that shot in the face. And it also doesn’t help there is quite a bit of fighting in this show, where the few scenes of decent choreography are let down by the lack of in-between animation during moves compounded with horrendously out-of-place CG monsters and magic make them incredibly unexciting to watch. Sometimes, the director shoots the action so close to the camera that I can’t even tell who’s aiming at who or whether someone got hit or not. This is far from the budget issues that plague Ushio and Tora. This is just incompetence that makes Gangsta look like John Wick.

But no amount of production issues can make me overlook how padded everything is. Once the mystery actually starts, too much of the runtime is spent on the actual deductions and getting from Point A to Point B rather than making said transitions meaty so I'd care about them. Very few of the characters are actually interesting because aside from Adlet and an eye-patched girl named Flamie, we barely get to know them apart from the fact that they come from some fucked-up places and have their own ideologies on how to kill, namely in how fast and cruel they want to do it. There's a little bit of the "clashing of philosophical conflicts regarding different ways of life" that made the author's last work, The Book of Bantorra, fun to watch, but it is very neutered here because it mostly manifests in lame action and circular logic that is repeated endlessly doesn't go anywhere rather than something actually challenging. I can't even remember what that knight who protects the princess actually does, let alone his name.

The development given to the more characterized of the bunch isn't so hot either, because it's mostly just flashbacks regarding racism or idealism that are incredibly hackneyed in execution before resulting in a token romance that is as believable as the scientific study that humans only use 10% of their brain in daily life. And to make it more frustrating, said token romance ends up as nothing more than an "I hate you. Well I love you" affair, which is pretty much the third-world country of romance all on its own. However it wasn't the worst thing in the world, so I gave it a pass. And despite the story having no rewatch value whatsoever because there's not much there beyond the actual deductions along with there being no point in watching a mystery again if you know the mystery, I was willing to give the show a "well it wasn't that bad" recommendation to people who have lower standards than I do. But then those last few minutes occurred and they ruined everything. Going to be mild spoilers here, but I can't exactly conclude the review without mentioning this, so if you haven't watched this show and take offense to learning anything beyond what's written on the synopsis, I'd advise you to stop reading right now. Also, those who can't handle my hate speeches should probably stay way too.

If you spend the entire runtime having your characters overcome a challenge, only to rehash that challenge for your sequel-hook ending without so much as a break in-between, all goodwill suddenly disappears when you realize that the authors weren't taking the subject material as seriously as the audience was. It's a cheap method of baiting your audience whilst ensuring that they have nothing to look forward to but the same old shit should they ever make more of it (and I very much doubt they will), and it didn't help that it just put further stakes into the token romance that it quite frankly didn't need. Nothing is more designed to aggravate the mind than substance-less stories with cliffhangers, especially ones that have had absolutely no foreshadowing whatsoever or so little foreshadowing that it doesn't matter either way. And seriously, a freaking cow uniform? You're jealous of a girl in a cow uniform? And cow uniforms are considered suitable fighting clothes in this universe? At least the bunny suit looked mobile, let alone like appealing eye-candy.

The first episodes where decent, but when the plot actually started I quickly realized that this was not going to be pretty, or good for that matter. The way the conflict was handled was straight out childish and badly thought out. All the theories being supported by baseless speculation and sircumstance, turning what could have been a more psycological mystery into a basic witchhunt.

Also you can not have a story where one out of 7 people is a traitor, and also have me care about them. By me knowing that one is a traitor I can't trust what anyone is saying. You never know ... if someone is lying or not, or if they have an ulterior motive. This resulted in me feeling uninvested and bored during what was supposed to be emotional scenes.

The last thing I want to bring up is just how pointless it all was. Wasn't this about defeating the Demon Lord or something? The whole anime felt like a sidequest that took up way to much time. Adding to the fact that the ending was incredibly unsatisfying, not only is the story unfinished, but they actually had the balls to pull the same plot twist a second time, right at the last second, meaning that we're almost back where we started.

Review Anime
Rokka no Yuusha

Review Text
Story: 9/10
The main plot is pretty simple, with six heroes chosen to defeat a great evil. So why did I give it a 9/10, instead of the 6/10 it "surely deserves"? That's because the author decided to add a twist to it: instead of six heroes, he added a seventh. In that case, one among the seven would forcefully be a traitor.The details added to each episode are all meaningful to the end of this series, which explains the slow pace. The slow build-up paid off big time by the series' end. It will keep making you think until the very ... end.

Art: 8/10
Just like my previous reviews, I won't bother with the art, since it's a very subjective category. However, I should note that the animation is on par with the standards, without CGI, and that the characters look quite different from one to another. I love the old Meso-american-styled clothing and environment though, it's pretty fresh and new. Aside from all of that, the camera angles were absolutely splendid.

Sound: 8/10
Just like Art, I won't bother, because these two are the most subjective themes ever, though I'll say that the main character's voice actor did a good job at handling the "cocky" and confident personality of Adlet Mayer. Fremy's voice actress made a very great portrayal of her character and sounded extremely realistic.

Character: 9/10
The character section is really the one thing that sets Rokka no Yuusha apart from a "regular" anime. Though Adlet looks like a typical shounen character on the first scenes, I'll assure you that he really isn't, following the gathering of heroes, with the tension building up around him. Also, Adlet, as a main character of a supernatural/fantasy anime, surprisingly does not harbour any magic nor superhuman characteristics, despite the magic-imbued/superhuman comrades. In this aspect, he represents the audience and is a character which all of us viewers are able to relate to. The other heroes do well in their own areas, complementing each others and Adlet himself as a character.

Enjoyment: 10/10
As I said, I love the old Meso-American civilizations-inspired environment, as it gives off that exotic look to soothe my tired eyes, usually staring at schools, classrooms, cities or wastelands when watching anime. And as I previously mentioned, I love the characters and their respective quirks, along with the tension built around them.

Overall: 10/10
Despite even being a completely truthful adaptation of the original light novel, Rokka's current rating on MAL (7.83/10) is pretty disgustingly low as of today, 20/09/2015

Both Rokka's and Mahouka's anime adaptations ROUGHLY HAVE THE SAME RATING (7.83 vs 7.80)
WTF
MAL, ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT WHAT SEPARATES A SHIT-TIER ANIME TO A GOD-TIER ONE IS BUT A MEASLY 0.03/10?!

Notice/Credentials: I read the novel version, so my knowledge on the franchise is rather extensive.

Alright - Having completed this great piece of Anime, I feel it's time for a review.

Right of the bat Rokka no Yuusha approached as solid anime for the Summer 2015 collection with episode 1 already leaving me in the wait for episode two with what was the start of a good story line, art which i found to be nice, music and an overall ambiance that suited well, characters that was lovable. So let's break this into individual segments:

- Story: Great - Not much more to say if you had to give it one word. Great suits Rokka no Yuusha's story as it is in ... no way original but the way they presented was glorious, and you kind of forgot how "straight forward" the story was in the middle all the tension this anime left you with for each episode after the middle segment. All in all the "uncertainty between peoples when there's one more than it should be" can seem flat-line, but not when executed like it has been done here. And then ONTOP of this - what that became the whole plot summary for this season, we still got the full story-line behind and in front us of regarding the original objective of the Braves.

The story for Rokka no Yuusha get's a 8/10.

- Art: Lovely, with all the different types of anime these days - breaking them apart eventually becomes difficult for certain people (Looking away from those who has gone over the edge to make a own special style) and in no way was the art of Rokka no Yuusha MINDBLOWING, but it was not this boring, dimmed down, bad colored type either. The art was just fine and lived up to the atmosphere that the anime gave us, remaining colorful and beautiful while at the same time having this grey stone strike here and there to remind us of the situation our heroes here are trapped within. A work of perfection presented in a decent manner.

Art style: 7/10.

- Sound: Oh the sounds, the music and the general layer of what they put in the background of this anime was part of what made it so great - Making sure that they properly match the music with the scenery (Which sounds weird to point out but they amount of animes I've seen f*** that up is mindblowing) and everything in the background during the slow and silent segments, it all created this passive atmosphere that followed me all the way from the first episode to the last, and it did a great job in doing so.

Sound: 7/10.

- Characters: How I loved them all, or well - Most of them. The crew of Rokka no Yuusha was put together in a great manner, it is not each day I see a team of seven people in this style of situation - that either goes along or fight's to death and still manages to maintain their individual characteristic foundation. Rokka no Yuusha delivered more than plenty in terms of characters, making them unique in such individual ways while still not going over the edge while doing so - and at the same time give some of them development traits that in no way damaged the show itself. I was taken away by all seven of them and that for a damn good reason.

Character(s): 9/10.

Enjoyment and the overall: If it has not been clear until now - I have absolutely loved this show. So much that it pains me to the bone knowing that the season is already over and that we don't ALREADY have a season two confirmed (As of this entry) scares me. A great anime with some of the better characters I have seen - not only in the year of 2015's anime round up but overall across the different anime's I have had the joy of watching, great art and beautiful music - Rokka no Yuusha is a work of greatness that everyone should see and I absolutely recommend anyone reading this to give this anime a go if you already haven't.

Enjoyment: 9/10.

That's it for my review, fingers crossed for a season two - thank you so much for reading and have a great time watching anime:

Total score roundup: 8/10.

Expectations are a very powerful thing. After all, whether you like it or not, this world revolves around first impressions. After reading the brief synopsis for the show and taking in the promotional art, I personally thought that this show would be the standard kind of fantasy adventure where a group of friends band together and use the power of their bonds to overcome evil. The first two or so episodes would have you believing that this was the case too. However, after digging through that first layer of information, Rokka no Yuusha reaches a point where it can develop what it wants and what ... it wants to develop are the relationships between each individual brave.

For all intents and purposes each of the braves that were selected by the goddess to kill the demon king are more or less strangers (with a couple of exceptions). Because of this unfamiliarity between one another once the big reveal that a seventh brave has been planted within their group is made known no one really knows who to trust. Adlet, our main character, has been traveling with Princess Nashetanya since the beginning but how much does he actually know about her. Maura is the leader of all the saints but who is to say she does not have her own agenda. This feeling of uncertainty permeates the latter two thirds of the show and creates a great sense of tension that feels natural and keeps the watcher engaged.

Initial suspicions on who the fake brave is falls on Adlet and, without a convincing means of proving his innocence, he escapes into the forest. From this point the show’s pace becomes noticeably slower. While the first three episodes had our heroes all making a long trek to rendezvous at a certain meeting spot the rest of the show takes place within a barrier that cannot be escaped until the seventh is identified. In one regard this kills all of the forward momentum that has been building up and anyone who came to this show with the idea of a grand adventure may be deterred. On the other hand this slower pace is what makes it feel like there is a lot at stake and what lets the writing shine.

Being a mystery show the writer needs to keep the final reveal a topic of discussion. Subtlety is key. After all, there is no fun in a mystery when the culprit is obvious. Rokka no Yuusha plays around with this by dropping facts that may seem rather arbitrary in the grand scheme of the story only to make you recall that fact when it plays a role in solving the mystery. This attention to detail and care is impressive. Very little was ever done in the show that did not have some bit of importance to the story, no matter how small it may seem.

To sum things up Rokka no Yuusha surprised me. I was surprised by the sudden change of adventure to mystery. I was surprised by how thought out this show was given the outward look of a typical shounen. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this show. The pacing of the show is a bit spotty and there are a handful of nitpicks I have that I will not go into detail about but I never felt that these factors ever took away from the experience.

This review contains no spoilers.

Many anime of this season had a gap between its first impression and its actual story. This is one of those anime.
When I look for anime to watch, I usually look over the covers, and if I like the art or premise, then I move on to read the summary. The cover art for this anime suggests that it is a fantasy action one, with a group of heroes fighting a demon lord. Just a normal fighting anime. However, the actual story was far more complex, and though that made me ... love the anime even more, some people may have found this disappointing.
The reason for this anime having a somewhat low rating is, I believe, because all the mystery lovers don't watch this anime while the action lovers do. And neither get what they want. Especially the latter, who saw this anime for some cool fights, and got a mystery and few fighting scenes.
Another confusing aspect was that the first 2 episodes gave off a "going to fight the demon lord" vibe. It got mystery fans uninterested and the action fans excited. It is such a shame, because the story is so good and the characters are interesting, but that aspect was only briefly shown in those episodes.

So in the end, what I want to say is, all you mystery lovers, go watch this anime. For those of you who like epic action scenes, this anime may not be for you.

(This is a spoiler-free review adapted for this site)

[Synopsis]: A thousand years ago the demon god appeared and began to take over the continent however was stopped by the legendary Saint of the Single Flower. After driving the demon god into a deep slumber she foretold that it would awaken again one day and that six heroes bearing her power would rise to defeat it and once again drive it into dormancy. Cycles of these Braves appeared to face the demon god every several hundred years after the Saint's disappearance and were all successful and now the demon god will soon rise again and so ... too must six new heroes. Adlet Mayer (Saito, Soma), the self-professed strongest man in the world, is chosen to become one of these heroes. After congregating with the other Braves it is discovered that they number as seven rather than six and the task of discerning the impostor sets them all at odds as each member grows more suspicious of the other and the demon gods awakening approaches.

[Characters]:

The cast of Rokka no Yuusha is fairly small as the story is heavily focuses upon Adlet and the six other Braves however this allows for the show to investigate each of the characters to a great extent in the absence of a larger number of characters. Adlet is certainly the character most worth talking about as he stands out distinctly even amongst the other Braves. On the surface is resembles a somewhat typical adventure fantasy protagonist - he is incredibly strong-willed, sincere, and quite ordinary in ability-set in comparison to his fellow Braves. That being said, he is highly perceptive and intelligent in how he fights and problem-solves - both traits lend themselves incredibly well to the story which at a basic level is a mystery. His fighting style is unique and his utilization of traps, crude sciences, and the environment sets him apart from most other characters, especially so from the other Braves most of whom wield powerful magics such as the conjuration and manipulation of swords, gunpowder.

Refreshingly, Adlet is by no means the only intelligent character within the Braves and each member has a strong sense of agency within the plot with perhaps the exception of Goldof. Despite the characters being perceptive and rational, each of them continuously arrive at different opinions concerning the seventh Brave and impostor and what makes them so compelling is that each of their conclusions are legitimized and well-founded. While their character designs are a bit outlandish at first glance they fit well within the aesthetic of the world and I found that I got used to them quite quickly. Rokka no Yuusha is one of the few shows that I can say kept me on my toes as far as which character I put my faith in and trusted as the dynamic of the group and the personality of each character all meshed differently as the plot developed and new information came to light.

The show takes the time to get to know each character and their reasoning both stays consistent with the characterization presented while also evolving as they do throughout the story which added a strong feeling of consistency to the show's underlying logic. The show is hardly all cold-logic and there are plenty are plenty of emotional characters like Fremy who keep the show engaging in that regard as well. I also can't underplay the uniqueness of each of the Braves in relation to each other as, beyond what they believe, they each come from vastly different walks of life, have distinct mannerisms and speech patterns, and interact with each other in different ways.

These traits and differences exhibited by each character account for my reasoning that their presence is definitely a strong-point of the show and its focus on character drama and interaction is well founded.

[Art/Animation]:

The art and animation was at first a pretty significant concern for me when the show started out however by the end I was quite happy with how it improved and ultimately handled itself. The initial 3 or 4 episodes suffer a bit from poor character designs and mediocre CG work on the part of the Fiends however after that point the show picks up consistency-wise a great deal - the character designs are far better represented and their animations as well as the movement of the camera become a great deal more smooth and dynamic as opposed to what was initially presented. Baring the first few episodes, the show is strong aesthetically in this area and though it falters at times I would say that animation shouldn't be a concern going in.

One thing that immediately caught my eye that I found interesting all throughout the series was the world and setting established which felt highly influenced by Aztec structures and buildings. It was an aesthetic I had not seen before in anime and Rokka no Yuusha did a great job bringing it to life. The influence present in the setting can also be found in the character designs which accounts for some of their flamboyant appearances however this too I found to be quite interesting and fun after a turn. The vibrant designs of the other Braves further set Adlet apart who's design is more typical and muted both alienating him on an aesthetic and often a cognitive level while also adding a unique flavor and style to the show that I can't claim to have seen elsewhere.
The show doesn't boast terribly great CG and the Fiends are both bizarre in appearance and execution however luckily we don't see them all that often after the central drama of the story begins and their later appearances in the show are handled slightly better. That being said the poor use of CG was one of my initial concerns with the show but luckily Rokka no Yuusha improved dramatically as time went on and while I would not list the visuals necessarily as a strength of the show, I would say so of the unique designs and aesthetic.

[Story]:

As I mentioned earlier, the first 3 or so episodes of the show came up a bit short and the actual premise of the story doesn't arrive until the 4th episode however I wouldn't say that it's plot was terrible beforehand. Rokka no Yuusha doddled a bit before arriving at its premise however once getting to that point it changed dramatically and what I first hard dismissed as a vanilla, demon-killing, action show turned into a mystery-centric, battle of both logic and physical prowess as the Braves clashed with one another. The early episodes also differ noticeably in terms of pacing and the show slows down a great deal for a few episodes midway as it unpacks the logic and implications of the Braves' dilemma however I found this to be far more engaging than what was present prior and the methodical pacing in the mid and latter parts of the show was highly enjoyable. The show does an amazing job juggling suspicion from what character to the next and I, as a viewer, found the way in which Rokka no Yuusha approached the mystery genre to be highly compelling in its presentation of developments and perceived facts.

Perhaps the strongest point of the story outside of the plot itself was its ability to first evolve into something far more cerebral than what was first laid out but also its ability to maintain the action and adventure feel established early on while evolving immensely elsewhere was impressive. Perhaps even more impressively - it never felt like the latter action was happening for action's-sake but rather it occurred quite naturally within the context of the situation and the intelligence exhibited by the characters and plot felt present within the action sequences as well through their strategic progression and execution.

The story is quite slow in how it unfolds as it is almost entirely focused upon its premise of there being seven Braves and one impostor and so it may disappoint those who were more interested in the premise in its entirety and its conflict with the demon god and the role of the six heroes. Hopefully the show receives a future installment however the point at which it ends gives a full and pleasurable conclusion to the events at hand, resolving both the mystery and conflict while remaining open.

[Music]:

The music was good all throughout and the soundtrack had a handful of memorable songs. The area where I felt Rokka no Yuusha succeed the most in a musical sense was in how its songs were diverse to the point that they lent themselves well to the heroic, action adventure setting present in the premise of the story while also presenting an apt selection of music to support the show's mystery themes and the many high-tension moments therein. The music matched the tone of the show well in each of it's endeavors and intricacies and was certainly one of the points of success attributing to the show's overall enjoyability.

[Final Thoughts and Rating]:

Rokka no Yuusha surprised me, plain and simple. What initially felt like one of the seasonal action shows where stereotypical heroes run around and combat monsters rendered in poor CG rapidly became something extremely engaging and special. It has its fair share of problems such as its lackluster animation and art early on and occasional quality drops throughout however these negative elements pale in comparison to the areas in which the show triumphed.

Rating: 8

I gave Rokka no Yuusha an 8 because of its compelling and self-involved cast of characters, its unique aesthetic and combat feel, and the intelligent nature with which it explored its own evolving plot in dynamic and rational ways. The missteps in the art and animation department hinder it from scoring any higher for me and some of the character interactions were not as convincing and well-conceived as others however the end-product of these things was nothing less than enjoyable.

[Recommendations]:

Anyone who finds themselves classically interested in show's that come off as well-figured, logical, or rational would like the manner in which Rokka no Yuusha plays out as the characters provide compelling reasons for why they think what they do and act accordingly. For the same reason I would recommend it to any purveyor of the mystery genre as it presents an engaging plot in this regard and the manner in which the show allows you to postulate yourself rather than keeping the viewer purposefully in the dark was a strong point of the show. The show has good action and should attract those interested in the more tactical side of combat however those interested in this category will have to find enjoyment in the rest of the show as the fighting intermittently takes a backseat as the show unfolds. To those who look into the show, I do highly suggest reaching at least episodes 4 or 5 before deciding to drop as that is where the show is most transformative.

Rokka no Yuusha is an anime which you can't really judge from its cover. The synopsis makes it seem like yet another generic fantasy anime about a group of chosen heroes trying to save the world from some evil Demon God, but in reality the story itself is totally different. In fact, Rokka no Yuusha is primarily a detective-style mystery anime about a group of people with a traitor in their midst where they have to use logical reasoning and deduction in order to try to figure out who it is.

In short, the story is about six "Braves" who are chosen by the Goddess of ... Fate. They're given supernatural powers and tasked with defeating the Demon God who threatens the lands. So they all set out on a journey to do so, but when they finally meet each other, they suddenly find themselves trapped inside a magical barrier... and notice that there are seven people in the room. It is impossible for there to be seven Braves instead of six, and thus they quickly deduce that one of them is a fake and a traitor. But who is it, and how do you prove it? Well, in a nutshell that is more or less what this anime is about.

Initially, the mystery is not much more than a closed room problem, but the scale quickly ramps up and over time there is more and more information revealed about the Braves themselves, the supernatural aspects of the world, certain scientific elements and more. This means that all the clues to the problem are not actually presented in the very beginning, but are rather expanded upon as the show progresses. Because of this, you're left with very little chance to try and solve the problem yourself as a viewer after the mystery is presented, and instead the anime just reveals the solution to you step by step over time. Of course this is nothing more than a different style of writing so there's nothing wrong with doing that per se, but personally I vastly prefer to be given more ability to think for myself when I'm watching a detective mystery, so I was a little bit disappointed by this.

Another thing that must be talked about is the pacing. Rokka no Yuusha is an extraordinarily rare case of a light novel adaptation which has an entire season covering just *one* volume of the source material. That's right, 12 episodes for 1 volume. That's about 3-4 times slower pacing than what you'd normally see. This comes with a couple consequences: the good news is that it's extremely detailed and never feels rushed whatsoever, and the bad news is that a lot of time is wasted on matters that feel rather pointless and irrelevant. For example there is a very forced romance subplot going on throughout the anime which really doesn't feel like it adds anything worthwhile to the story at all. There's also the simple truth that the plot doesn't really progress very much with every new episode due to how slow-paced it is. I didn't get the chance to do so myself, but I reckon Rokka no Yuusha ought to be a lot more suited for marathoning than watching weekly.

Unsurprisingly, the main character cast consists of the seven (supposed) Braves, including our protagonist Adlet Mayer: the self-proclaimed "strongest man in the world". Personally I don't really like him very much because he's extremely arrogant and constantly has to remind the audience of just how strong he is every five minutes, and it gets annoying pretty fast. The other characters aren't given too much backstory or depth simply because they have to remain "mysterious" so that they all will seem more or less evenly suspicious. And that's fine and all in theory, but it also renders them rather uninteresting and one-dimensional (at least as far as the viewers ever get to know that is). The most likeable one to me would be the human/kyouma hybrid Fremy, but even she can pretty much be summarized in a few sentences. So Rokka no Yuusha's character cast is fairly uninspiring as a whole, but on the other hand they're all more or less treated as plot devices for the sake of the mystery rather than actual people anyway so I guess that's somewhat understandable.

The animation is not very flashy, but it does its job and fits the tone of the series very well overall. However it's pretty obvious that this is a fairly low-budget anime, as the character designs are oftentimes rendered in very low detail whenever they are in the background of a scene, and the CGI doesn't always look as good as you'd like. But for the most part at least I think it looks fine. The OP and ED themes (it actually has multiple ones) are again nothing spectacular by themselves, but they fit very well with the overall atmosphere of the story.

As a whole, Rokka no Yuusha is an anime which is not afraid to break norms, and presents a type of story which is not only unexpected but also a rarity to see in anime. However it also feels a bit like an ambitious experiment that never quite manages to reach up to its own potential. But even though I don't think the anime turned out quite as good as it theoretically could have, it's still a lot better than most, and originality is always a plus in and of itself.

One final thing that must be taken into consideration though is that for anime-only viewers, Rokka no Yuusha might not turn out to be an entirely satisfactory experience. Like I said before, the anime only covers the very first volume of the light novels and nothing more, so for anyone who doesn't like to read books, you really don't get to see very much of the overall story at all. The initial premise was for the Braves to go out and fight some evil Demon God after all, right? Well that never happens, not even remotely close. Also as far as I've seen, the light novel sales boost from the anime has been rather underwhelming to say the least so I wouldn't put my hopes up for a second season ever being adapted either. However if you try to forget about the story of the world itself and instead focus solely on the detective game, then you can still consider it to be a somewhat conclusive ending. Despite that though, the final seconds leave you with a giant teaser for upcoming arcs, so you might have some trouble turning a blind eye to that part.

I have seen a lot of valid criticism here that I do agree with and a lot I don't agree with so im going to try and convince you that this show is worth a 10 despite its flaws. Before I get into the review I would like to say that the criticism that this show isn't what it was advertised as is true. This anime does not belong in the mystery genre but more the action genre.


Story: 8/10

Considering the way the anime was set up a story that was anything more than decent wasn't really needed as the story basically only needed to ... assemble the relevant characters in a certain area and then trap them with the idea that there is a traitor among them. I was pleasantly surprised when the story not only fulfilled this part of the story admirably but also added little parts of world history that were not needed but really created depth. The tales of ancient hero's who walked their path before them and the whole saints concept really created a much more interesting story than I had imagined and I really hope there is more anime set in this world. This said the story is of course not perfect and at times is a bit cliche. My main issue with the story is that instead of having some clever ending to the mystery of the traitor it just sort of involved magic whenever it needed to explain something difficult.


Art: 9/10

The bar was set high on the first episode with brilliant art, smooth animation and scenes that were an absolute pleasure to watch. This quality wasn't maintained at a constant throughout the anime but the whole thing was none the less a very beautiful anime.


Sound: 7/10

Not much stood out here. The music was good, the characters well voiced and the sound effects appropriate. None of it was overly memorable however.


Character: 10/10

I love good characters and thats what we get here. I found that the characters were refreshingly unique and didn't stray into the anime tropes. There were no harems, the females don't all fall for the main protagonist for no reason, relationships actually do develop instead of remaining stagnant etc.

I enjoyed seeing the developing relationships between close characters and watching new friendships get formed. I liked the quirky and original personality's of the characters that set them apart and made each one unique.

Most of all I loved the main character who wasn't some overpowered bad ass (despite his claims that he was the strongest man in the world) or some weakling who let others fight for him but a intelligent character who fought using every trick in the book. He never fought fair but used his array of tools and trickery to win the day (or at least try to win it anyway). The main character had the usual issue of being seemingly morally perfect but besides that I found no issues with the characters.


Enjoyment: 10/10

While this anime never lived up to its claim of mystery it did instead contain some of the most enjoyable anime fights I have ever seen. The hero's didn't always win and they didn't recover just from some moral bullshit. Not only was the action exciting but the entire anime was enjoyable to watch due to its great art and interesting story. Really I cant think of a single moment I didn't enjoy.


Overall: 10/10

This is without a doubt one of my favorite anime ever and as such you should remember that my review comes with just a little bit of bias. Nevertheless I will argue with anyone who puts this anime below a 7.

Into the Bullshit Fantasy Rabbit Hole: A Rokka: Braves of the SIx Flowers Review

Mysteries often work well in the form of a new mystery every episode or just one throughout the course of a feature length film. They are a lot harder to pull off when they’re stretched throughout entire seasons. For me to really look back at mystery and remember it fondly, it needs to keep me entertained and have an extravagant or well thought out conclusion. Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers did not have that. Instead, it had a litany of problems in terms of explanation and execution, plus a motley crue ... of characters that left my interest fading in and out.

Rokka kinda falls down the bullshit fantasy rabbit hole when it comes to explaining what the fuck is going on. Adlet tries to determine one of the numerous ways that the seventh brave used to trap them in the barrier. Most of the explanations are based around fantasy laws and most of those are quickly shot down by more magical rules. When your reasoning is created from made up things, instead of science and logic, then the conclusion is going to severely lack impact. “Why was there fog? Oh, because of the fog shrines. But wait! Fog shrines can’t overlap sun shrines, so that doesn’t work!” I’m para-phrasing, but you see what I mean.

Not only are these explanations total nonsense, they’re also a big waste of time! SO much time is wasted from boring exposition that there’s little left to actually enjoy. There are little fight scenes here and there, but they mostly don’t last longer than a couple minutes, which totally sucks because they have the strongest warriors on the planet (or wherever they live) and that would’ve made for some awesome brawls! But I shouldn’t judge something based on what I think it should be, but rather by what it is.

Moving onto the characters, um…what can I say? They’re underwhelming. They lack personality. And they’re all kinda stupid. Adlet’s stupid because he claims to be the strongest man in the world, then nearly gets killed over and over and over, without beating anyone in the process. Fremy’s hot and has cool gun powers and a fucked up eye, but she’s also a copy-and-paste revenge character. She doesn’t think past her weird plan for revenge, and, well, that’s it. Nothing new to bring to that archetype. Hans is something, and so is Chamot. Don’t really have much else to say about them. Mora turns out to be really stupid and a big, dumb liar that jumps to conclusions. Nashetania’s also attractive, and Goldof is her volunteer bitch slave.

So, uh, that’s that. A really bland and poorly constructed mystery that takes too long to get to the conclusion. An unsatisfactory conclusion, made possible by a lousy cast and nonsensical explanations.

Oh, and as far as the music and animation go? Meh. The animation was okay and the OPs and EDs were not memorable in the least. At least, they didn’t make me want to go to YouTube and listen to them on their own. But that;s just my opinion.

Story:
I'm going to say 9. The story is not nearly complete as it covers only the first LN. Anyone looking for a concrete ending will probably be disappointed. That being said, it ends after wrapping up an arc nicely.

Story is in a 'Werewolf' or 'Mafia' game setting. Immediately you know you're going to be treated to a lot of analysis, speculation, and lies. If you like that kind of stuff, you're in for a treat.

Art:
The background images are very pretty and character designs are creative. Combat between humans is clean and enjoyable. Non-humans ... are made from invasive CG and it doesn't mesh well. There are numerous animation errors and lots of still images.

Sound:
Nothing to complain about here. Music is well placed and enhances the atmosphere. Sound effects are clean. Voice acting is well done.

Character:
The characters are interesting and refreshing. They all have well constructed personalities and generally are not limited to a single archetype.

Enjoyment:
As someone who enjoys twists and well-developed characters, I found this show fantastic. If you are looking for combat heavy material however, you may be disappointed. The CG battles can be quite jarring and the art quality might dampen your experience.

Overall:
If you like dialogue heavy shows with lots of twists then this is definitely one for you. I was genuinely surprised by several things in the show. Some parts were cheeky enough to make me giggle.

The biggest surprise of the season for me.I went with zero expectations for the show because it was made by a studio that is pretty new in the business.Rokka with the low budget it had was simply amazing.The character design,the voice acting,the music,the animation was superb giving the amount of money they had for the show.Rokka no yuusha is a story about six people who are destined to save the world from the demon god.Those six people are branded with a flower with six petals and each one symbolizes a brave.Now after just a few episodes we get introduced to seven braves.Seven?!Isnt the anime about ... six braves,thats what its called right?Well yeah,techincally youre right,but there is a fake between those seven.The anime becomes a battle royale where each one of them fights to prove their innocence.Enter Adlet Mayer,the strongest man in the world!
Story:8/10
Art:9/10 I loved the character designs ,especially Fremy and Maura
Sound:8/10 very good BGM and openings and endings were good too.
Characters:9/10 great design,great voice acting,a lot of character development for almost every character in the show,tons of monologue,dialogue and brutal fights between them.
Enjoyment: a solid 10/10,the second half of the season had me at the edge of the seat all the time and the episodes felt like 5 minutes.Very enjoyable anime and I recommend people to watch it if they're into adventure/mistery genre

Honestly, I had high hopes for this anime after watching an advertisement for it. But a few episodes in, the enjoyment I had while waiting for what was going to happen next disappeared.

STORY
The biggest issue for me was that the plot changed, it seems like the producer went off topic.I did not read the original material so I don't know if this is based off what the author wrote or if the producer just made a mistake. Either way, it ruined the show immensly for me. The show was supposed to be about the "Heroes of the SIX Flowers" going to defeat the rising ... Demon God, yes? But somewhere along the way, the fact that people are dying just seems to slip their minds and the biggest issue becomes that there are SEVEN "Heroes of the SIX Flowers" instead. Seriously, what? Why does it matter if their is an imposter? Especially since it says near the beginning that only demons and the Heros of the SIX Flowers could enter the Land of Howling Wind (I don't remember if this is the correct name or not), so if there is an imposter they'll die anyways.

ART & SOUND
The art is mainly what drew me to watch this anime. The animations were great. Sometimes the background music did not match what was going on, but overall it was okay.

CHARACTERS
I personally like the character variety a lot. Each character has their own stories, some kind of motivation to defeat the Demon King. They don't share the same personalities, each character is unique.

ENJOYMENT
I actually did enjoy this anime, it's just that the fact that they dropped their mission to find an imposter was very annoying. If they had just ignored the fact that there happens to be an extra then I would have enjoyed this much more. But I guess it wasn't that bad.

OVERALL
It's a good show but I wouldn't watch it again. I would recommend this to mystery fans, since that's what this turns out to be.

(This has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

In the house I grew up in, we were always scarce for snacks. Chips, cakes, and cookies were difficult to come by, not because my parents and siblings were allergic or did not like such temptations. No, it was the opposite. Since we all loved them, they barely lasted more than a couple of days after purchasing. One of the delectable treats we usually bought were what are named “Grasshoppers.” Keebler – the cookie company that uses tiny elf labor – are the makers, and contrary to their name, they are delicious. They are tiny, about ... the size of an Oreo, taking up roughly the same diameter as a circle formed when you put the tip of your forefinger onto the tip of your thumb. Their outsides are slightly ridged so that, should you put two together, you could make your own cogged contraption. Most important of all, they have the perfect balance of chocolate and mint, their insides filled not with grasshoppers but with a fudge-filled wafer. Girl Scout Thin Mints are dirt compared to the mighty Grasshopper.

I loved these cookies growing up (I still do), and being the slightly selfish teenager that I was, I would make it my mission to sneak them up to my room during the night to have them all to myself. Sometimes I would confiscate the entire package and hide the remainder that I did not eat in one sitting under my bed, to be consumed at a later date.

This would come back to bite me because, one day, the Grasshoppers had gone missing and, my family knowing of my theft-like tendencies, immediately accused me. I had not touched this round of cookies, but it was all I could do to persuade them. I tried pinning it on my father, a famous late-night snack-eater. My mother “smelt it and therefore dealt it,” my sister was prone to sneaking food throughout the day, and my brother actually avoided them but we all knew that was the perfect cover-up. By the end of our meal I was still the prime suspect, the cookie culprit never discovered. I remembered this small snapshot of my life after watching Rokka no Yuusha, an anime centering on a potentially false accusation. But instead of about cookies it was about people and instead of a dull dinner it was instead a thrilling ride from start to finish.

STORY

Rokka no Yuusha, at its core, is not a plot-driven anime. An overarching and overdone tale of “good guys go to defeat the big bad guy” exists and is the underlying motive for the whole group, but the immediacy of achieving it is not present. The anime is not even character-driven. Due to the large size of the cast, little time is available to delve into the past of the people at play. Rokka no Yuusha understands this, therefore placing emphasis on the inverse of plot and characters. That is, the show focuses on everything else, the unknown elements and the mystery of the situation.

To be clear, a narrative and a set of people are around, but that is not what the anime is technically trying to target. One of the first signs of this seemingly misplaced focus is the dialogue. Rokka no Yuusha is heavy on the speaking, with characters entering monologues, longwinded explanations, and personal epithets. Considering that the majority of the events happen over the course of a day or two, conversations sometimes last hours, the cast exchanging ideas, anecdotes, and theories instead of worrying about the looming threat before them.

Despite the massive amount of talking that goes on, nothing is ever “said,” no important information is ever gained. Little is learned about the world, characters’ lives are rarely expounded on, and often times the words themselves are incorrect. The dialogue, coincidentally, is fog, cloaking the truth and veiling the answer to the mystery with lies and deceit.

But it is not all exposition. Truth be told, anime (indeed most narratives) are not keen on having solely dialogue. It can be done but it requires careful planning and the correct context. Thus, shows opt for a rising and falling of action, with Rokka no Yuusha being no different. It breaks up the potential monotony of continuous talking with action-heavy scenes. A brawl against puked up amoebas here, a chase through the foliage there. Action of this magnitude deviates from the norm, drama and tension replacing comfortability and familiarity.

However the fights, like the dialogue, do not contain a singular purpose. Their main goal is to once again cloak what should be made clear, heightening the mystery in an indirect manner. When a battle starts, the characters, and by extension the audience, are forced to keep the conundrum on the wayside, subsequently stopping the secrets from surfacing. This red light continues for the duration of the skirmish, at which point the green light is turned back on and everyone – the characters and the audience – are permitted to think about the solution. It is an artificial device in the sense that a fight can, and most often does, breakout at convenient moments, but it ultimately feels natural due to the gravity of the problem, the weight of the decisions made, and the force of the actions taken.

The combination of leveled dialogue and tense action is a roller coaster, the audience riding a sinusoidal wave, the crest a flurry of swords and the trough a detailing of magical wooden stakes. The cycle varies; battles, like their discussion counterpart, ranging in length from a quick knife throw to a prolonged feud. Sometimes the wave stands, with sentences becoming spears to insult or insinuate another and vice versa. But what happens during the middle section from high to low or low to high? Those transitional sections are as important as the exposition and battles, with “transition” the operative word: a transition in character focus. In other words, the anime mixes up the cast, providing appropriate screen-time for the people involved.

It is important to understand the allocation of screen-time varies and is not uniform, with the frequency of appearance different for each person. Visualizing a spectrum, Adlet, the star, occupies the top and Goldof, with nothing to his name but a crush, occupies the bottom, with everyone else in-between. Seemingly tangential, the screen-time of the characters finds relevancy precisely because it differs from person to person. Had everyone acquired similar time onscreen, such an aspect could be discounted, however since everyone had dissimilar time onscreen, it becomes yet another factor that needs to be taken into consideration when investigating the mystery.

Is it Hans, who was absent in the beginning but had a large presence in the middle of the season? Is it Flamie, who would switch in and out with the other Braves? Or is it really Adlet, whose massive amount compared to everyone else was meant to impose a false sense of security? Arguably it had to end up this way – the size of the cast demands that some characters will inevitably gain more screen-time than others. But Rokka no Yuusha uses this inevitable detriment to its advantage, propagating the mystery that much further.

The mystery is evidently and thoroughly supported – it is a motif that finds strength in nearly all aspects of the anime. But the thematic presence is equally as important, with the themes emerging from the mysteriousness of it all. A simple view would be that an action should not be undertaken until all possible angles are taken into consideration. The viewer sees firsthand how assumptions lead to infighting and incorrect conclusions when Adlet is blamed for everything unfairly before all outlets are explored, meaning that the mystery showcases a perfect example of what not to do in a similar situation. A better view builds off the previous: people are sometimes wrong.

People make mistakes, people are not infallible. Doubly so if the issue at hand is inherently mysterious. It is common for people to think critically about a problem, and even after considering every angle, he or she might still be wrong. Flamie, Hans, and Maura succumb to this reality when they admit their erroneous attacks. Interestingly, Adlet, the self-proclaimed “strongest man in the world,” encounters this notion as well, where his conjectures often led to dead ends. Granted this situation is direr than normal, with individual mistakes potentially ending in the loss of life, meaning it does not directly correlate to the real world. However it is still a nice guide for this type of thinking since it demonstrates why these mistakes happen and what these mistakes create.

The best view, though, is Rokka no Yuusha’s forte: the inverse. That is, people are sometimes right. It is surprisingly difficult to place trust in another person, believing what he or she has to say without reservation. Such difficulty arises from the inability to get inside the head of another person – an angle from another’s perspective is impossible – and from the inability to accept being wrong – people hate making mistakes. Together it means having less faith in others.

But sometimes that leap of faith has to be taken, gambling on the fact that the mysterious cloud that surrounds people is not always malicious. Adlet’s actions demonstrate this kind of willingness to find the good in others, with him aiding his comrades, falling in love, and protecting those close to him. The others do the same: Flamie starts to trust, Hans makes a friend, and Maura acts motherly. They all place themselves in danger by doing so, but the reward of tighter relationships and stronger answers proves taking that chance is no mystery whatsoever.

While Rokka no Yuusha purposefully avoids the meat of its narrative and its characters in favor of everything else around it, the mystery it manifests and the themes it touts contain more than enough sustenance all their own.

ANIMATION

The art for Rokka no Yuusha is does not change much. To be fair, it has a nice amount of variety in the beginning of the season, where Adlet visits the Aztec-esque town and where he travels the countryside with Nashetania, visiting plains, sunsets, and mountains. It is when the real journey starts that the locations and subsequently the backgrounds start to stagnate. In essence, there are two areas: the ritual tower and the rest of the jungle. Again, to be fair, there is no way around this considering the dilemma. But this is not just passable plot-wise but also thematically relevant. The tower is a hub, a metaphorical “safe haven” amidst the chaos around them. Its stark blue interior also contrasts heavily with the green of the jungle, giving it a larger feeling of safety. The fog is a concealer, hiding actions, persons, and areas, increasing the overall mysteriousness. And the jungle achieves this effect as well. A jungle blends together, with one spot pretty much the same as any other. It can start to get confusing, disorienting those trapped within it; the perfect place for a mystery. That is to say, the art, like the story, uses inversion – one or two locations are not boring but purposeful – to increase the total amount of mystery. In short, the anime continues to use its own predefined limitations to its advantage.

Sadly not every limit can be overcome. One of the show’s biggest grievances is the CG it employs. Simply put, it is awful. The Fiends – the natural enemy of the humans – are ugly, in both design and depiction. The former done purposefully to make them the ravenous beasts that they are and the latter done accidentally because otherwise it would make little sense. They stand out horribly in the world, their movements are choppy, and they look blocky rather than menacing. Flamie’s bullet magic and Nashetania’s swords use CG as well, however those instances are tolerable. For the Fiends, they are a blight, in the positive and the negative sense.

All positive are the character designs. In fact, the character designs are arguably the anime’s strongest facet. On the surface level, they are imaginative – a flurry of colors, a myriad of outfits, and a stampede of accessories donning each person accordingly. Going deeper reveals how the characters’ designs follow the mystery motif. It might be something simple like Hans’ hair covering his eyes. It might be something more complex like Chamot’s androgynous and childlike persona. Or it might be something esoteric like Nashetania’s mirroring set of colors, the white signifying purity and goodness and the red signifying evil and hate. At the deepest level, their designs correspond with their personalities and development throughout the season. Flamie wears a flower on her cap, symbolizing the growth and flowering she undergoes whereas Goldof’s helmet represents his hardheadedness, his loyalty, and his delusions. They are an amazing example of what thoughtful character designs are capable of.

Actual animation is unfortunately not amazing, instead a wishy-washy offering. At times, the action can pick up, with characters running, jumping, and falling throughout their battles. Choreography of the fights is standard, relying more on flashy maneuvers than direct impacts. Interestingly, Adlet’s fighting style allows the anime to avoidanimating, with his use of smokes and screens to evade and bamboozle his enemies. It is a clever trick, both literally and figuratively. Mostly, though, the show tends to lean on minimum animation due to the huge amount of dialogue that is exchanged and thus is subpar in this specific category.

CHARACTERS

To reiterate, Rokka no Yuusha is technically not character-driven but that does not stop the anime from continuing its upward spiral.

A correlation between the screen-time per cast member and the extent to which they are expounded can be established, with Adlet once again receiving the most attention and Goldof receiving the least. Even so, Adlet’s history is not wholly elaborated; the audience is shown his home village and small snippets of his training, but it is not enough to say that the viewer knows Adlet as a person. In other words, since little is known about Adlet – the star of the show and the one at the top of the spectrum – logic dictates that even less is known about everyone else. This is true: Flamie is a half-human, half-fiend with mommy-issues, Nashetania is a princess, Hans is a catlike thief, Maura is the Saint of Mountains, Chamot is practically Maura’s child, and Goldof listens to nobody but Nashetania. Hyperboles, but almost nothing else is given about the characters.

It is hard to say whether or not Rokka no Yuusha deters from showing much about its characters because it has to or because it wants to. The former is enticing since it is a natural byproduct of the structure of the cast. Its size, its diversity, and its need to center on Adlet would make it seem obvious that the majority of the characters would earn little focus. The latter, however, is not that farfetched due to the anime’s distinct pattern of refraining from detailing key information about the characters. Flamie’s origins and her mother are never shown despite her talking about them and being a large influence on her. The anime chose not to depict Hans, Maura, and Chamot’s trek to the tower, instead focusing on Adlet and his route, and in the process reducing explanations on the previous three. Goldof is no different, whose outing before meeting up with Nashetania is only described in words. Nashetania as well, her only non-Brave dealings occurring as a personal aside with Adlet very early on and minute conversations at a campsite. The pattern is an inversion – instead of the cast not having much about them because it was impossible to include it was done purposefully.

The legitimacy of this pattern is concerning, but not when it aligns with each of the other topics. The story uses inversion and the art uses inversion, so it is feasible to assume that the characters would use inversion as well. More profound is, like the story and the art, the inversion is another means to increase its mystery motif. A character is mysterious when his or her past is unknown, and since almost everyone’s past is, the mysteriousness ramps up further.

Mystery persists in the characters, so thematically something is going on with them. The cast is saying something without really saying it. That message: “do not judge a book by its cover.” Just because someone looks a certain way, acts a certain way, or comes from a certain background does not immediately make that person a stranger or a weirdo. Of course, this may be the case – Flamie fits this description to a degree, as does Hans. But it is like the story’s theme on people sometimes being right; sometimes, that person is not who they are perceived as being. The half-fiend is more human than anyone in the group. The sarcastic assassin is incredibly friendly. The small child is undeniably powerful. The leader-like lady is arrogant and stubborn. The guard dog is devoted yet extremely narrow-minded. The sexy, harmless royalty is the mastermind controlling the strings. The scrawny, slow, and smiling scientist is “the strongest man in the world.” The whole cast exemplifies the idea that a precursory glance of a person is not enough. It is unfair to judge someone based on their outer, public qualities when their inner, private ones reveal infinitely more about who that person happens to be.

That is to say, the biggest mystery in Rokka no Yuusha are the characters themselves.

SOUND

The main opening theme continues the mystery, with the start of the track an ominous set of tones. It morphs into hard guitar and hard note shifts to increase the foreboding sense. All the while the vocalist is working overtime alongside the drummer. The piece ends how it started, with a trailing tone that is simultaneously chilling and creepy. As for the main ending theme, it oozes regret at the start with the singer’s slow singing. However the piece gradually picks up in tempo and spirits, finishing happy where it began sad. Its visuals reveal the meaning: it is a piece symbolizing Adlet’s life. The track itself is strong but seemingly has no place among the mystery it touts.

That is, until the other OPs and EDs that Rokka no Yuusha incorporates into the mix are investigated. “Cry for the Truth” is adventurous, “Dance in the Fake” is, like Adlet, Nashetania’s piece and almost horror-sounding (relevant as more is discovered), and “Nameless Heart” is, like Adlet and Nashetania, Flamie’s piece and filled with longing and melancholy. These tracks as well fail to follow the mystery motif, instead aiming for separate emotions altogether. Remarkably, like the story, the art, and the characters, this is a type of inversion once more – not focusing on mystery actually gains more of it. To put it differently, switching between different OPs and EDs, each with various feelings and vibes, causes disarray, leading to convolution and therefore more mystery. Inversion is a technique the anime used throughout its other elements, so it being here as well is simply intelligent.

The remainder of the soundtrack is heavy on the violin, multiple different arrangements unified with other instruments to achieve the right effect of drama or tenseness. The byproduct per usual is an increase in mystery. Pianos and harps fill the rest of the gaps to accentuate the more depressing and more uplifting moments, offsetting the mysteriousness and thus accentuating it, too. So while many of the pieces lack strength or memorability, some at least find themselves fitting within the themes of the show.

Finally, voice acting sees above average performances across the board. Soma Saito as Adlet does well, giving Adlet a young yet mature voice that fits his mantras and passions well. Aoi Yuuki as Flamie hits the bullseye with her quiet voice, one filled with misunderstanding and pain, a perfect match for the broken woman. And Kenichi Suzumura as Hans nails the “Nyaa!” each time Hans opened his mouth, crafting Hans into the playful guy that he is. Together, the voice actors and actresses fit their respective roles nicely, thereby improving the overall execution of the anime.

ENJOYMENT

Remember those Grasshopper cookies? It turned out that there was no culprit, there was nobody to blame. The cookies were mistakenly misplaced in a cupboard, hidden away to prevent me from finding them in the first place. The cookie culprit did not exist to begin with. But those twenty or so minutes, where me, my parents, and my siblings were flinging accusations and fighting arguments felt real. It was an interrogation of familial proportions, with each of us throwing one another under the bus to escape scrutiny.

That is what this anime does so well, capturing the whodunit atmosphere nearly perfectly. It got me involved, shouting at my screen “Yea, screw him!” or “Do not believe her lies!” because I cared about certain characters, believing in them and their words just as I believed in myself and my convictions with those cookies. I was double-guessing, crafting theories, and collecting evidence, all in an attempt to out the seventh Brave, as a sort of redemption for how I failed those many years ago.

And it was fun. I tensed up when Maura was ganging up on Adlet with everyone else, I was pumping my fist when Flamie opened herself up gradually, and I was smiling right along with Adlet each and every time he called himself the “strongest man in the world.” I audibly laughed when Adlet kicked Nashetania square in the face, because I knew that that bunny bimbo had it coming to her. Watching Flamie blush because she was having trouble processing her own feelings was wonderful to see as well. But my favorite part was Adlet’s tiny speech near the end, because it is true: no other man but he could have done the impossible. Each episode had these small moments of triumph and turmoil that made the mystery not just something the cast was experiencing but I and the rest of the anime community were experiencing, too.

With Braves, Fiends, and Saints, Rokka no Yuusha leaves its mark. An interesting story, an intriguing bunch of characters, and an immersing set of sounds lay the groundwork for the show, but it is its ability to reach out and grab the audience, making them a part of the tale, that makes the anime as powerful as it is. And like a Grasshopper cookie, it is definitely worth a bite or two.

SUMMARY

Story: Great, exposition, intermittent action, and uneven character screen-time add up to a high amount of mystery, with its theme on trusting others growing from said mystery

Animation: Good, purposeful art makes more mystery, subpar CG, fantastic character designs, and below average to average actual animation

Characters: Good, while the cast is expounded on minimally, this increases the mystery levels once more while also providing a nice theme of “do not judge a book by its cover”

Sound: Good, a helping of good OPs and EDs that continue to increase the mystery motif, with an okay OST, and above average VA performances

Enjoyment: Good, the whodunit atmosphere, the smaller scenes, and the ability to rope the audience in make it not just an anime but an entire experience

Final Score: 8/10

Rokka no Yuusha was quite a enjoyable anime to watch each episode kept me on edge. There are a lot of twist and turns that go on through out the story that will send you in circles. The characters are also interesting they help to keep the story exciting, the action scenes are well done you will see a lot o f tactics which is what I like to see instead of the usual mindless charge at your enemy kind of thing. I strongly recommend this anime to anybody whether you are casual anime watcher or a hardcore one.

Rokka ni Yuusha
-This is one of the anime that gets my attention in 2015.This story is more to adventure type which I usually doesn't watch it.Okay, the story is about six heroes who is chosen to fight evil which is the world's Demon Lord.They have to gather all together before they can fight the Demon Lord.The story gets better when they gathered at the place and found that there are seven heroes instead of six.It gets really complicated when everyone started to accused each other that one of them are the fake.So in my opinion, this series needs a 2nd season because there is ... lots of misteries to solve and I think their journey is quite long before they could fight the Demon Lord.Overall 9/10.The character are made nicely and the story is full of misteries that will caught viewer's curiosity.And also forget, the heroes have quite awesome abilities as well.So watch it right now, if my review is not good, I'm sorry because this is only my opinion.