The show takes you through the adventures of Chaika Trabant, Toru Acura, and Akari Acura to recapture the remains of a deceased, tyrannical king - Emperor Gaz. The king was a “bad guy” who loved war, and thus the question throughout the series is whether war is a positive or negative good. Don’t expect this to be investigated too much; this is not one of the better shows on the morality of war, like Now and Then, Here and There. But they do interesting things with the motif. Along with that, questions of identity begin to pop up, prominently for Chaika but also for others; the question of how we determine and relate our identities to what we think, or what history claims, us to be becomes a formative point for a variety of characters.
Many of the other reviews seem to praise the storyline - and I can see why. There is a sense of scope, of ambition, in the epic suggestions the story attempts to suggest. But to end a review at what the show attempts to do, and to forget how it actually turns out, does a disservice to readers. There are little interesting details, but Hitsugi no Chaika doesn’t do this particularly well. There is a vague alliance of nations - the Six Nations - that serve as the constant backdrop to the adventures of our hero and heroines - they really only come into play when the show wants to show how badass the villain is, who will inevitably destroy their slow fleet. They might be vaguely based on European kingdoms. That “bad” king? He ruled for a long time, did bad stuff with magic. Never really elaborated. You will never truly be invested in the world Hitsugi no Chaika describes, because we’re not really meant to be invested in it.
Rather, we’re drawn to the characters. Toru Acura is a lazy bum of a saboteur, one bored dry by the armistice with the Gaz Empire drawn up fifteen years prior. His passion for fighting and the saboteur lifestyle has led him to become idle in the era of peace. Akari, his sister, is...well, into her brother. That’s really her most important quality. The show plays up her fascination to outrageous, hilarious degrees. Chaika, with her adorably broken Engrish, grows and develops as a character during their adventures to retrieve Emperor Gaz’ body parts. Soon others pop up too, but the focus remains on the core three - for awhile, at least. Again, don’t expect too much here. The characters are nice, but nothing to write a paper on.
Peppered throughout are plenty of adequate action scenes - occasionally, they’re even awesome, though only occasionally. The fights are distinguished by teamwork and cooperation, which give an exciting and tangible feel to an otherwise confusing battle system. For example: Toru and Akari - both hired by Chaika as saboteur bodyguards - heighten their powers via the Iron and Blood Transformation, an unexplained technique that, well, makes them more durable. Why? Because lineage, one supposes. The music is decent, nothing extraordinary. Decent art - nothing to write home about.
Clearly I’m not enamored by the series - but I tuned in to watch it, and its sequel, every week. As long as you don’t expect too much from the show, I recommend it to everyone - especially to those who love a series that hints at a large, almost epic scope. I don’t think the series really keeps that hope alive for very long, as most of the promising things about the series fail to live up; they are, instead of becoming great, wholly adequate.
Chaika might be among the most adequate shows I’ve ever seen - everything is fine, nothing is particularly great. I don’t intend to pretend that this show is worth a particularly high rating - it simply is not relative to other anime series, and I think anime scores should be, in some fashion, relative to the quality of other anime. Don’t let the numbers deter you, though - we all easily gravitate towards 10s and the like. Sometimes a light, lower score is still worth a watch - often, in fact. Chaika is an instance of a show that does everything alright - sometimes bad, sometimes good, but rarely great - and can entertain you without blowing you away.
