Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna

Ayumu Narumi has lived all his life in the shadow of his famous detective brother, Kiyotaka. However, Kiyotaka disappeared two years ago, leaving behind his wife Madoka and Ayumu himself, along with a cryptic message about the "Blade Children."

One day, a girl at Ayumu's school suddenly dies. What seemed like a suicide at first glance turns out to be a murder, and Ayumu is the prime suspect. While investigating the person responsible for framing him, he discovers that the mysterious Blade Children are involved—and they somehow know Kiyotaka personally. Ayumu soon finds out just how dangerous the Blade Children are and learns that, in reality, he and Kiyotaka are intertwined more closely than he had ever believed.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Narumi, Ayumu Main

Suzumura, Kenichi Japanese

Rutherford, Eyes Main

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Yuizaki, Hiyono Main

Asano, Masumi Japanese

Takeuchi, Rio Main

Horie, Yui Japanese

Asazuki, Kousuke Main

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Hilbert, Kanone Supporting

Nojima, Kenji Japanese

Takamachi, Ryouko Supporting

Kato, Hitomi Japanese

Narumi, Madoka Supporting

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Shiranagatani, Sayoko Supporting

Nakahara, Mai Japanese

Narumi, Kiyotaka Supporting

Inoue, Kazuhiko Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Watson, Barry Producer

Katsumata, Hideo Producer

Matsukura, Yuuji Producer

Reviews

Feb 23, 2025

poutinerie

Recommended

Spiral was an anime I found to be immensely underrated, it told a great story of mystery and suspense in a well-thought out and meticulous way that brings you feelings of both joy and despair. It had amazing build-up and a well-written cast of characters that made every episode episode flow like butter.

[STORY] - 9

The story follows our main character Narumi Ayumu, he has an older brother named Kiyotaka and a sister-in-law named Madoka. One day he finds himself being framed for something he didn't do and we're given a sense of suspense as we slowly find out what his character is really like.
He meets ... a journalist at school named Hiyono, Yuizaki. Who attempts to interrogate him at first but turns out to be quite a lovable character throughout the events of the show. She kind of becomes a sort of sidekick of Narumi

We see Narumi get thrown into a various string of mysteries and events that happen throughout the show with each getting more and more intense as the episode goes on, these mysteries range from simple puzzles to life-or-death situations. However one thing I will point out is that the story unfortunately finished airing 3 years before, the manga stopped publishing, which leaves some questions unanswered, which is why I would say the story deserves a 9.

[ART] - 6.5

Okay, so that art and animation weren't very impressive, the show was from 2002 which means it will be turning 23 years old this year. What I will comment on is that the colour palette of the show did tend to look somewhat washed out and the animation was kind of inconsistent between episode to episode. Some scenes tended to look kind of choppy and some tended to look kind of smooth.

What I will say though is that the character design was pretty great, and the washed out colours did somewhat benefit certain scenes in a way, making them seem more mysterious and despairing.

[SOUND] - 7

The sound in the show was fairly good. The soundtrack did manage to fit the mysterious feel of the show, and the more comedic scenes also got some more happy and joyful music to go along with it. The voice acting was pretty good too and the voice roles did fit the characters they were playing as perfectly fine.
The opening song was okay, the opening "Kibouhou" was kind of infamous as some people really hated the singer but I found it to be decent, not something I would listen to on a regular basis though.
The ending song "Kakuteru" was actually pretty nice! It kind of gave you a small sense of joy to brighten the mood after some of the dark things that did happen in the show. The vocals were nice and I feel like I would actually listen to this song from time to time.

[CHARACTER] - 10

What I will also say is that the characters were absolutely amazing in this show, I loved almost all of the main cast and even the supporting cast as well. The show really knew how to build the characters through the mysteries and puzzles they encountered and they also did a really good job even with the more relaxed scenes where the characters would just interact with each other and you'd get to know more about who they are as people.

Some characters had major development throughout the show which you could really see, with some characters I thought I might've hated at first watch end up loving just due to the stories behind them and the spectacular character development. All-in-all I think this story did a masterful job and developing the characters and I just love them so much.

[ENJOYMENT/OVERALL RATING] - 9

Overall I just loved this show, it was suspenseful, it was mysterious, and overall it just had amazing writing, characters, and almost everything. I wouidn't say this show is a complete masterpiece as some things are left unexplained and the show does have it's faults. but in my personal opinion, it's very close to a masterpiece.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

What did you think of this review?

Nice 1

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 1

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by poutinerie (11)

Show all

2

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Nov 3, 2013

Marthgun

Mixed Feelings

Spiral has long since aired, but being into a mystery streak i figured i'd batten down the hatches and check it out.

It really gripes you at the starting line, its like getting groped on a train in japan, you dont want to love it. but you can't really break out of your moe character, so you secretly wait for some lesbian biker to come and save you, which in hindsight, only made it worse.

so you want to know if you should watch this show? That really depends on your expectations,

are you looking for a character driven story? Then this is a very ... unique, drawn out, expose of various characters with solid roles, even if they are extremely unconventional and hardly realistic.

Are you looking for a detective whodunit? Then you might like this as well, considering all the elements are there.

Are you looking for a good story to keep you engaged? Then make sure you never, ever watch this.

The story is that there is no real story, or rather the main story is so far in the background its buried under the words, blado chilldren. which you will hear 1000 times. What is the blade children? idk either and that's why this good anime losses on all marks.

what the #@% did i just watch? no. not in the psychological sense of being sent down a winding rabbit hole, more like, why did i invest my time watching something that pretended to have some direction but then had zero closure or explaination of any of the events.

had they just given a few hints, where you could piece together 20% of the story, then this show would be ranked much higher, its just that good episode to episode. but there is no point to this at all. and not being rewarded after 24 eps is a little absurd. drop a breadcrumb at least.

so my advice is just stay away

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 7

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Marthgun (55)

Show all

7

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jan 30, 2019

illuminatibg

Not Recommended

Spiral: Bond of despair... uhm, reasoning?! This anime has a shape of a spiral, one that starts as 10 (Masterpiece) and ends up at 1 (Pathetic) with average of 4 (the overall grade).

Story: 10 -> 3
I am big fan of detective stories. From movies I watched all possible variants of Sherlock and from anime, I am currently watching Detective Conan and Kindachi. So I got a big expectation of another detective story. And those expectation were fulfilled in the first few episodes of this anime. I was quite hooked by the series of strange incidents that occurs or are related to Ayumu Narumi's high school. ... The first few minutes of the first episode introduce the MC and a little bit about his background, which partly explain his strange character, but his deductive thinking is what I expect from a detective anime's MC.
Now considering that incidents and the story is not episodic, these are a premises for a MASTERPIECE detective anime. I was so hyped. But all my dreams were shattered. The story change the narrative of the incidents to the big mystery of the "blade children", which decide to test Ayumu with some kind of dangerous game. The thrilling effect of such an action kept me going, but the words "fate", "destiny", "hope" and "despair" started to find their way into the dialogues more often with more episodes. I should have seen the signs there, the signs of forced prolonged mystery like in Madlax, that could destroy a masterpiece.

Art: 7
The art is good. When I grade an art I always check the year the anime is made. The art is on the level of animes made 2007-2009, but this one is made 2003. Considering that, the level of detail is quite satisfactory.

Sound/Music: 7
Starting with the OST, I always skipped the OP and the ED. The music is not irritating, but it is not something that could satisfy me through the language barrier like the OP of Higurashi or the OST of Noir, Madlax or El Cazador. As for the background music, it never amazed me, but it was very well integrated. When there is an action, the background music is dynamic, playing its role very well. As for the voices and other sound, I usually do not comment about that, they are normal.

Characters: 3 (8 for Hiyono + 1 for Ayumu and the others)
In MAL 1 is called "pathetic", but what is pathetic. I have heard that term used for people without self-confidence. And the MC Ayumu completely matches that description. He is a guy that is able to find a killer, play a piano, safe people from a bomb, but when it comes to self evaluation he is just a mere shadow if his superior brother and this complex destroys his self-confidence. Nothing he ever do in all 25 episodes ever change that. But the more irritating and pathetic part about him and all the blade children is that in the face of a mortal danger, all they have to do is work together to overcome it. But instead, they do not talk to each other, they do not share.
And then there are the "blade children". If you are wondering what are they, you will need to watch this, re-watch/rethink on the time you spent watching 25 episodes and realize the "blade children" has only one purpose: to tell the MC that the "blade children" are not his business. After 10+ episodes like this, I started wishing the MC just says "fuck it!" and leave all the blade children to die, instead of saving them.
The only good thing that happened to this anime is Hiyono. I have never seen a character like hers in anime. She is smart and strong - she was able to uncover information about the blade children for the MC, device a plan to win the game when Ayumu lost confidence, etc. She has the resolve to uncover the mystery. But most importantly, she is fun and ironic, creating lighthearted moments that will allow you to laugh/smile. And she shows signs of liking Ayumu, but thankfully that story is never pursued, so the relationship between Ayumu and Hiyono feels like a deduction partnership.

Enjoyment: 10 -> 5
The only reason I enjoyed watching this anime episode after episode is Hiyono. The first episodes comes as a deduction focused mystery, which change to action-packed wicked game. Up until that point the anime is so enjoyable that it could have earned 10. But then it comes a series of monologues, useless speech and lack of any particular development until the ending. And I really felt like the script writer was mocking with me. Here is some of the dialogues (outside of the context to prevent spoilers), that feels more about the anime than to the context:
--
- Stop it this instant. What's the point in going through with this silly game? Do you even have a goal in mind?
- A point? A goal? I do not need you telling me how to do things!
--
- I have enough of this! I can only do what I can... and that's all!
--
If you consider this to be said by the script writer, not by the characters, you will have pretty good guess about the ending.

Overall: 10 -> 3
The incidents and the deduction at the first episodes was amazing. To create a detective mystery you need not only smart detective, but also a smart criminal. And the realism of the criminal's resources (you would not expect a high school students to have advanced weapons to make a crime, they must utilize what they have). Unfortunately, the story and the character development (except Hiyono) destroys everything build in the first episodes into a pile of some monologues about fate. And lack of conclusion, makes you wonder why you have spend the time to watch 25 meaningless episodes. The answer is probably, because Hiyono's jokes and irony. That kept me laughing and enjoying this anime until the (missing) end.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

What did you think of this review?

Nice 5

Love it 0

Funny 1

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by illuminatibg (20)

Show all

6

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Fun, Super Stylized 2000's Anime Aesthetic

by -Hotaru_

50 Entries · 19 Restacks

Dark/Existential Y2K Aesthetic (1997-2004)

by -Hotaru_

50 Entries · 23 Restacks

Best Of 2002

by azadoderso

50 Entries · 5 Restacks

	Poll: Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Episode 11 Discussion maruf92bisj - Jul 9, 2013	5 replies	by DOMA_9 »» Jan 26, 8:33 AM
	Poll: Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Episode 23 Discussion maruf92bisj - Jun 18, 2014	4 replies	by Dekom »» Oct 21, 2024 2:54 PM
	Poll: Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Episode 21 Discussion maruf92bisj - Jan 2, 2014	4 replies	by Dekom »» Oct 12, 2024 2:20 PM
	Poll: Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Episode 19 Discussion maruf92bisj - Oct 30, 2013	5 replies	by Dekom »» Oct 9, 2024 3:01 PM
	Poll: Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Episode 17 Discussion Mayuka - Oct 6, 2012	4 replies	by Dekom »» Oct 7, 2024 2:30 PM