Kurokami The Animation

High school student Ibuki Keita has been haunted by misfortune for as long as he can remember. For no apparent reason, everyone around him dies tragically. Ultimately, he refuses to become too close to anyone, even his childhood friend Akane. This leaves Keita alone in a life full of misery and disgrace.

While eating at his favorite ramen shop one evening, Keita meets a strange young girl named Kuro. Possessing abilities that surpass that of a normal human being, Kuro classifies herself as a Mototsumitama. She explains to Keita about "Terra," a life-energy force split between three identical looking people; a global phenomenon dubbed the "Doppeliner System." As a Mototsumitama, Kuro guards the "Coexistence Equilibrium," the beings that protect the flow of Terra around the world. Keita refuses to believe her story, until he is caught up in the crossfire of this hidden world. On the verge of death, he makes a contract with Kuro, unbeknownst to its true meaning. Now he is bound to Kuro, and must be with her at all times. Could Keita's misfortune possibly get any greater?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kuro Main

Shitaya, Noriko Japanese

Ibuki, Keita Main

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Sano, Akane Main

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Steiner Supporting

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Reishin Supporting

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Excel Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Mayu Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomi Japanese

Yakumo Supporting

Nojima, Hirofumi Japanese

Punipuni Supporting

Touma, Yumi Japanese

Kakuma Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Sugiyama, Noboru Producer

Yukawa, Jun Producer

Satou, Hiroyuki Producer

Kobayashi, Tsuneo Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Jun 24, 2009

Retro8bit

Recommended

"Can you change a destiny that has already been written for you?"

Enter "Kurokami", a series that shows the struggle of two individuals, as they attempt to change their own path that others say can not be changed.

Story: 7/10
The center of the plot revolves around "the Dopleliner System". What this means is there exists three versions of the same person (2 subs and 1 root). Should any one of these three come in plain sight of the other, they will perish, and only the root will live, and thus will consume the energy force of them known as tera. Our main heroes are Kuro (a Tera ... Guardian trying to stop the Doppleliner system and defeat her brother) and Keita (an ordinary boy who unwillingly ends up becoming her partner). What interested me the most about the anime, is the way that the actual battles take place. It almost feels like you are watching a more mature version of Pokemon at times. Each Tera Guardian can form a pack with a human, and thus use their power in conjunction with their own. So fights take place with the two helping each other--ie: the Tera Guardian fights, and the humans remain on the sidelines channeling their powers to their partner. The fighting scenes are also quite good, because despite the characters featuring "power/energy" moves, the fighting scenes themselves feel very street brawling oriented, and stylized. It overall does a good job of mixing the super powers with more authentic looking moves. Now regarding the way the actual storyline progresses, here is where I feel Kurokami tends to miss the mark. There are enough plot threads going on, and many of them do evolve throughout the series. However, they end up happening few and far between. A lot of episodes play the role of fillers, and some fight scenes that take place seem unnecessary. This can make the plot a bit tedious to follow, as it can sometimes take many episodes for something simple to be made clear. Still, making your way through the anime just to see the last few episodes really makes things worth while, as the final episodes are exciting and fast paced, though I did find it a bit odd that episode 23 ends up being a re-cap of all the others, but through a slightly different perspective. Where this anime really shines through is with its actual ending. Everything concludes nicely, and feels very satisfying at the end. And some events even end up being a bit unexpected. As a whole the story is good, there is plenty of action and plot twists to keep things exciting. But due to the storyline tending to drag on, does hinder it as a whole, but nothing too drastic.

As far as offensive material goes, Kurokami does have a few scenes which contain gory elements where blood spurts and/or is smeared on the ground. These scenes don't happen very frequently, in fact only the first few episodes really have them, with it only happening occasionally after that. Some battles even end with little to no blood spilled at all.

Art: 8/10
The arts style to this is dark and moody, but not really in a creepy kind of way. The backgrounds come off pretty well detailed, with nice looking city designs and foliage areas. Even so, the overall color schemes tend to make the series look a bit washed out. The character design is good, all of them are well proportioned and have a good sense of style to each one of the cast. The super moves (also known as "Exceeds") are flashy and colorful, with each character’s move set differing from one another. The fight scenes are by far the best part in the animation. Character moves are animated smoothly, with every punch and kick shown off with just the right amount of impact.

Sound: 6/10
For me this was the weakest point in the series. The voice acting in both the English and Japanese version is very well done, I still feel the Japanese audio is better by far in the long run. However, a majority of the soundtrack seems to favor one style of genre in music...rock! The opening and ending themes change twice through out the series. The opening animations both play rock style music tracks, while the ending theme (surprisingly) plays soft lite hearted melodies sung by Yousei Teikoku. The background music it plays also consists of rock music. I can see where they are going with this, and while I don’t care for heavy rock music, I can at least appreciate it for this anime. If you like this type of genre in music then you will love the soundtrack, but if you’re like me and don’t care for it, then you will most likely turn the volume down during some of the scenes.

Characters: 7/10
The characters are hit and miss. I will go on record of saying that Kuro is one of the coolest female heroines to come along in an anime as of late. She has a sweet and funny personality, yet holds back a lot of sorrow in here life--she is quite the layered individual. Of all the characters in the series, Keita is probably going to be the one that is hardest to tolerate...especially during the beginning. He tends to complain a lot, and is unwilling to help anyone towards the beginning, and will most likely annoy many viewers. To his credit though, he does end up changing as the story progresses, and at least becomes more tolerable in the end. The supporting cast is also the same, some characters such as Excel, Reishin and Daichi do a good job off adding to the storyline. However, there are a number of supporting characters that just don’t make the cut. Many of them don’t really seem to have much impact on what is going on, and thus make some feel unnecessary to the storyline. They’re not a bad cast by any means, some of them just don’t seem to have a staple purpose in the anime. As a whole though, the main characters themselves do end up doing their parts well for the stories’ purpose, and in that regards it is done right.

Overall: 7/10
Despite some of its flaws, Kurokami is a good anime. If you can make it through some of the fillers, and don’t mind the story dragging on somewhat, then I think you will find this a deep enough series to check out. There is enough action and plot in this to keep both the Seinen fans and casual viewers satisfied. And as it stands, it’s a series I think anime fans should give a try.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 16, 2009

Archaeon

Mixed Feelings

I "love" it when an anime tries to ask deeply philosophical and ethical questions, only to answer them with fists, feet, and super powers. Personally I find it annoying when characters claim that they can overcome things like God, Fate, Destiny, Karma, etc, with nothing more than willpower and a kickass partner (since the main character so often is a complete novice in combat, or has no redeeming qualities whatsoever).

Enter then Kurokami, as a shining example of these things at work.

Now, when I started watching this I had no idea that Kurokami was originally a manga Sung-Woo Park (illustrator), and Dal-Young Im (story), and to ... say that the anime and manga are like chalk and cheese would be an understatement.

The story in the anime version centres around Ibuki Keita, a highschool student with a very similar isolationist attitude to Ikari Shinji from NGE. The reason for this is that, for no apparent reason, everyone around him seems to die. One evening he meets a young girl named Kuro, and it is from her that he learns the true nature of the world.

I'll stop there as the story is quick to hit its stride, however I have some big issues with the plot on the whole, the first issue being why Keita, who in the manga is a 19 year old games programmer, is suddenly a high school student in the anime. Now, many of you may think this isn't a problem, but in actuality it causes a major incosistency in the flow of the story and the development of the characters.The plot for the manga has been written with Keita as a 19 year old who is working. This means that many of the thoughts, feelings and actions he takes in the story are based on the fact that he has already completed high school and is effectively an adult. The anime, on the other hand, portrays Keita as a teenager, a "child" so to speak. The reason for this change is purely a marketing issue. The producers wanted this series to appeal to a teenage fan base, in paritcular the fans of shows like Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima, Fate/Stay Night, etc.

Imagine for a second the difference in your own thought processes over over a two year period, in particular, the difference in how you perceived the world, and more importantly, how you reacted to it. Beginning to see what I mean? The plot for the anime stays true to the manga for the most part when, in truth, it should have been rewritten completely.

Another big change is the fact that the manga involves transplanting an arm. The whole idea of transplanting hearts was, again, purely a marketing strategy. That change was made so that it would appeal to a more "romantic" audience, something which the anime could have done without.

Both changes (and they're unfotunately not the only ones), have severely damaged the flow of the plot and the development of Keita and Kuro as characters. The original concept was very good, and if they'd stuck to it instead of pandering to the audience in an effort to cash in on the Shana/Louise/Sabre franchise, then it would have been a much better show.

Animation is another issue I have with this series. Overall its not too bad, but Sunrise and Bandai really didn't seem to put any effort into this show on the whole. The animation is often jerky and confusing, especially during the action sequences. The studio has tried to make the show look "cool", with the proviso that this be done at the lowest cost possible. There's naked character transformation scenes in the style of the mahou shoujo genre, overblown, overpowered special moves with silly names in the style of Bleach et al, strange character actions (like running, eating, etc), and an overall sense that the animators really couldn't be bothered to get their fingers out.

The art for the backdrops is actually pretty decent on the whole, and is the main reason why I scored the art as mediocre instead of bad. Unfortunately, these backgrounds don't have the same kind of vitality to them that can be found in other shows, and are often there so that one of the characters can be sent crashing through it with a punch.

The characters have been designed along the lines of the manga, so no real issues there. I just wish they'd put more effort into the overall work though.

As far as the sound goes, the only reason I didn't give this area a good rating is because of the cumulatively annoying OP and ED, and the change of OP midway through the series only compounded this.

The rest of the music throughout the series can is generally okay, however there are points where the music and mood don't match. The voice actors are on the capable side, but once again there doesn't seem to be any real effort involved in their portrayals as the acting is sometimes very wooden.

The characters are, again, pretty decent on the whole. There isn't any real development that goes on with any of them barring the two main characters, and any changes in the persona of the sub characters tends to happen off-screen. As for Keitaand Kuro, the fact that Sunrise and Bandai's marketing teams got involved with production means that there's some annoyingly inconsistent threads running through their development, Keita's relationship with Akane being an example of this.

This is an odd anime. It's clearly influenced by the likes of Fate/Stay Night and Shakugan no Shana, as well as Bleach and DBZ (surprisingly). The confusing plot and the inconsistencies stand out so it makes suspension of disbelief more difficult. It's enjoyable in it's own way, but is still one of those "watch once and forget" titles that seem to be cropping up more frequently.

On the whole, this is not a good series, but it isn't bad either. The fact that it tried to include a complex plot with some deep philophical and ethical issues is one of it's few saving graces.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 24, 2019

mouthpiece

Not Recommended

Funny

Let me give you a description of a show and tell me which one it reminds you of. It is about your average teenage boy making a life pact with a supernatural fighting girl, which is responsible to maintain order in the world, and where there are copies of yourself as replacements in case something goes wrong, and everything is explained with a very weirdly named terminology… BZZZ, and no, it isn’t Shakugan no Shana but its lesser cousin, Kurokami. Sorry dear Kurokami, you do not have a loli tsundere voiced by Rie Kugimiya so you never stood a chance in succeeding from the very ... second you got green light for adaptation. Further more, you do not have 4 goddamn seasons of endless softporn and millions of otakus who are watching you for the sake of wasting their brain cells. And above all, you are based on a mahwa, and there is no such thing as a good mahwa. Sure, there are very good in terms of fighting but their storylines plain suck. So there you go, I just explained to you why Kurokami never had a chance of being a good anime.

Reader: That is the worst negative bias I have seen in my life. Won’t this guy talk about facts instead of straw men, or just say something about the damn show?

Sure, I was about to do that. The above was just an introduction to what you are getting yourselves into. Something NOT good. So basically we get this story where your typical/boring/overused stereotype Keita meets this naive/kind hearted/dumb chick/super fighter Kuro and learns that the world is not what it seems to be. Every person has two others like him as safeguards and in case one dies, the other gets his luck and whatever superpowers that comes with. It is a weird concept but does have its captivating charm; imagine one day that you learn you are nothing but a replacement and that when someone dies is not tragic because his copy will inherit his luck/powers. Scary indeed.

Otaku: WOOO! A show about a fighting chick and an intriguing premise. I am scoring it with a 10 right now and head to buy her figurine!

Sit down no-lifer and let me finish! The premise and the fighting are the only good things in it because everything else is pretty much a mess. And sure, if all you care about is brainless action and shallow philosophy, I am sure you are going to like it a lot. Yet the moment you try to reason the whole thing, it won’t take more than 5 seconds to realize it is all nothing but gibberish. Fighting your fate with punches and kicks? Since when can raw power and violence solve such existentialism issues? And why is Kuro so willingly explaining all these top secret stuff to a random guy she just met? And why is such a dumb naive girl in charge of such an important mission to begin with? It all happens in the most silly way possible and makes everything feel shallow and passable.

Action fanboy: Who cares about realism? Anime don’t need to be realistic, they only need to be entertaining. If it has good action and nude chicks, I have no problem with it.

Good for you my superficial no-brainer; but I am not you. I like when things are excused to be as such and to pass as probable based on their importance. If a bimbo appears out of nowhere and starts mumbling about invisible pink unicorns, I will not take her seriously, nor will I care to participate in whatever she plans to do.

Reader: Will this guy ever tell us anything about the ACTUAL show?

I thought I was already doing that. Hm, anyways, I guess I will talk about technicalities like the production values. Animation and artwork are ok for this sort of anime but they are not amazing. They have a fair amount of details and colouring but they otherwise lack the finer touches that would make it look special or awesome. For example, all the backgrounds feel generic, it is just schools and buildings and streets I have seen a billion times already and no amount of details can save them from feeling generic. Every time I look at such sceneries I always end up comparing them to the “5cm per second” movie, and Kurozuka’s level is plain ok. I could say something similar about the character figures, who also feel generic in appearance and are occasionally drawn with inconsistent facial structure. As for the sound part, it is very passable in overall as the characters usually don’t have much passion in their voices and the soundtrack is average songs you will forget very fast.

Action fanboy: Who cares about all that? Is the action good?

Yes it is my fellow no-brainer. There is a lot of choreography in it to make it look like a good martial arts series, plus it has several superpowers to offer variety in tactics and counters. And yes, it also has some basic fan service too, as Kuro is always fighting without pants and her clothes keep ripping. And there are other nude scenes thrown here and there.

Otaku: WOOO! Masterpiece! I will go look for her beaten up and in agony version.

Whatever no-lifer; I was more interested in if any of that make sense as a whole. And guess what, they don’t. It is just the usual shounen stuff we see all the time, where injuries mean absolutely nothing if the hero has enough resolve or if the script said so. It’s the same thing all the time, they just storm in and punch rapidly at the baddies until they are beaten. The premise of the story ends up being nothing but a poor excuse after awhile since all it matters is punching your way through any obstacle. It gets too fake to like it after awhile and the directing is not helping much because most of the action has unfit BGM or the duration of the attacks is usually too short or too long to like them properly. As for the rest of the story, most of the plot is either fillers or boring events. It does have a solid conclusion but by then I didn’t care in the least about the basic idea. It was barely looked into.

Reader: Just tell us a few things about the characters and be over with it; I am about to stop reading here.

Ok impatient reader, I will. The characters are standard stuff you can find in many shounen. As usual, only the main ones end up being interesting and developed, with everybody else being nothing but ephemeral opponents and cannon fodder. The thing is, their chemistry is nothing we haven’t seen before and it sure feels less captivating if you compare it with other famous boy-girl pacts in anime. The ones I can think of right now are Fate/Stay Night, Shakugan no Shana, and Birdy the Mighty. Heck, even lesser works like Zero no Tsukaima and 3X3 Eyes feel more enriched than this one.

Action fanboy: I don’t care if it looks like other shows, or if the story makes no sense. I am watching this for the same reason I am watching Bleach.

Otaku: And I just want to increase my waifus and this is a perfect opportunity.

Whatever you idiots; I told you it is not a good show and you are free to go waste your money/brain cells/time on it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you afterwards.

Reader: What an asshole… *downvotes*

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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