K - MyAnimeList.net

"Kings" are individuals who have been bestowed with incredible supernatural powers and granted the ability to recruit others into their clans. Protecting the lives and honor of their clansmen is an integral part of the Kings' duties. After a video depicting the heinous murder of a Red Clansman spreads virally, the unassuming student Yashiro Isana is accused of homicide. Now, a manhunt is underway for his head, bringing him into contact with the infamous "Black Dog" Kurou Yatogami—a skilled swordsman and martial artist determined to follow the wishes of his late master, the Seventh King.

Meanwhile, the current Red King, Mikoto Suou, faces his own imminent demise as the search for Yashiro narrows. But during Yashiro's struggle to prove his innocence, a greater conspiracy is unraveling behind the scenes; clouds begin to appear in his memory, and close friends start to question his very existence. What began as a simple murder is now leading towards a full blown war between Kings with the very fate of the world at stake.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	K: Memory of Red, K: Stray Dog Story, K Side:Blue, K Side:Red, K Side:Black & White, K: Days of Blue, K: The First, Gakuen K, K: Lost Small World, K: R:B
Sequel:	K: Missing Kings
Other:	K: Seven Stories Movie 1 - R:B - Blaze

Sakurai, Takahiro
Japanese

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Staff

Nakanishi, Go

Producer

Simone, Jamie

Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo

Producer

Suzuki, Shingo

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Layout, Animation Director, Key Animation, Character Design

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Opening Theme

"KINGS" by angela

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Ending Theme

	1: "Tsumetai Heya, Hitori (冷たい部屋、一人) " by Neko (Mikako Komatsu) (eps 2-5, 7-12)
	2: "Circle of Friends" by Tatara Totsuka (Yuki Kaji) (eps 6)
	3: "To be with U!" by angela (eps 13)

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Reviews

Jan 1, 2013

Tatatatara

Recommended

You're probably aware of the fact this anime is gettin' pretty low scores and most of the people who review it keep complaining about same stuff. No coherent plot, weak character development, rushed storytelling, blah blah blah.

Well, well. That's all cool and stuff, but why don't we show the other side of the coin, too. By the way, I'm a guy, straight and all. K is manly stuff, k. (fakken pun)

Story: 9 Simply put, this story is great. It's not the most original story of all times, but it isn't a complete cliche either, as many would like you to believe.

See, the thing ... about K is that it sells a really TRAGIC, DARK, DEEP and SOUR story of betrayal, friendship, and sacrifice, in a shiny package so that the general audience would be satisfied with 'hot' bishies, tits and cool animation, while some people, like myself, can still enjoy it for what it really is.
I won't say anything else about the story's content, since you can clearly see it in the series description.

People complain about not knowing what is the sword of Damocles, or where the King's power come from and what not. Those same people give Evangelion a score of 10 even though it's full of randomly chosen cool sounding terms from Bible and what not. Compared to Eva's sea of dead scrolls and Lance of Longinus, K's sword of Damocles is much more relevant to the story and actually serves as a foreshadowing to the show's overly dark culmination.

Do note however, that the pacing in the beginning is rather weak, which is completely understandable considering the character cast and time frame in which the story had to be presented. Pacing improves in the next half of the show, leading to ones of the most epic scenes of this season.

Art: 10 One word, gorgeous.

Sound: 10 Outstanding, fits the mood perfectly, and overly improves the viewer's enjoyment. Not much else to say, except that this series has one of the greatest ED songs in last few years, not counting Fate/Zero's endings, of course.

Character: 100000

Look, don't trust people who'll tell you that this show has weak character development or that the characters are generic. Considering that K has only 13 episodes, and it's cast is freakin' huge, the characters are pretty much the soul of this show. Their interactions, personalities, lives and motives, ability to make you both laugh and cry, all that makes them pretty much the most memorable characters I've seen in a long time.

K's characters are not the fanart you see on Pixiv and Zerochan. They may look gorgeous, perfect, flawless and shallow, but actually, they're just flawed, tragic and ultimately human reflections of us all.

Enjoyment: 10 Obviously.

Overall: 10

Get mad all you want, but K gets a pure 10 from me. This anime is not what it looks like at the first glance. It's not what you think it looks like under it's shiny package either. It's a tragic tale of a group of people who share a bond thicker than blood, a bond that will eventually lead them into becoming more human than humanity itself.

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Dec 29, 2012

thewinrar

Mixed Feelings

K can be best described as a poorly baked cake covered with an excessive amount of icing. One can look at this cake and view it to be extremely succulent and sweet on the exterior, but after tasting it, one may find dissatisfaction from cake's lack of quality. Just like this cake, K attempts to attract viewers with its beautiful visuals and flashy soundtrack like icing, but the poor quality of an inconsistent story that felt rushed can dispel the exterior beauty and leave viewers sick to the stomach.

Upon viewing K for the first time, it is hard to disagree that it looks beautiful. K ... perfectly portrays the gorgeous aesthetics of an urban city landscape with tall majestic skyscrapers, bustling pedestrians in every street, and an abundance of detail in every nook and cranny. To add to K's beauty, is the addition of a very refreshing and versatile soundtrack that perfectly captures the emotions of each scene. The music in K includes a large range; from soft melodic piano pieces, to intense electronic beats and mellow hip-hop. The music is implemented in a very sophisticated manner and never feels out of place or repetitive. This wonderful combination of visual and audio appeal reinforces the sense of beauty of K.

Although K looks beautiful, one must be cautious of its beauty. The beautiful appeal of K is only icing on the cake and the actual quality of the cake itself may be a different story. K's biggest drawback would be the attempts to implement a wide cast of characters. Since K revolves around the theme of gang rivalry and leadership, the multiple characters from the different clans carry a large focus within the story and although this can be very exciting, the attempts have gone to waste due to the short time given in the space of thirteen episodes and lack of definition. The many characters are given many scenes such as flash backs or fan-service that attempt to reinforce their personalities and shine them in a likable manner. This is possibly the strongest element about K, but this turns out messy as many characters that are given lots of screen time hold no significance in the story whatsoever, leaving the story to be rushed and full of holes to fit the span of thirteen episodes. K gives side characters a chance to shine, but these efforts leave viewers wondering why these pointless characters are given so much screen time when the time itself could have been used to improve the story.

As stated before, K is extremely comparable to a cake. Too much time and effort was spent on trying to sweeten the cake, but the limited amount of time has left it undercooked. One may think that this cake is a failure, but in absolute truth, it is not. An undercooked cake is not ruined and can still be enjoyed, this is very similar to the essence of K as it all comes down to one's sweet tooth. Although the story of K felt rushed and messy, the character interactions and personalities truly sweetened this anime and the excessive amount of icing on this cake can also add to the appeal. If you're interested in an anime that not only looks and sounds beautiful, but goes in-depth of exploring different character relationships and personalities, this anime is for you. However, if you're looking for an anime with a consistent and well written storyline, you should look elsewhere.

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Mar 20, 2013

SeitenSoushi

Recommended

First review coming up, K?! (pun intended)

Story: 9
At its core, K is a story about finding the identity of a murderer and its implications in an ongoing war between superpowered clans. Elements of sci-fi, fantasy and mystery are combined to make for a very appealing package. In my opinion, the first few episodes don't really explain much, but they leave enough questions unanswered to make you keep coming back for more. I suppose it may be to give the viewer the same feeling that the protagonist Yashiro would get from having his daily life changed so suddenly. However, the story really ... picks up in the latter half and overall was simply very exciting to watch.

Art/Animation: 10
The animation for K is absolutely amazing. GoHands really impressed this time. The backgrounds are highly detailed and the setting allows for some beautiful shots of the city and the island. Reflections and lighting are done expertly, even if at times it looked a little too bright. I also really like the character designs in K - everyone looks great and the SCEPTER4 uniforms are a notable highlight. Additionally, the OP and ED sequences are highly stylised and great to watch, meshing well with the songs chosen.

Sound: 9
K has fantastic music - among the best I've heard for a while. There are many great tracks and they are used well to enhance the feelings of the scenes. Some of my personal favourites are the main theme, which was also used in one of the PVs; and the ED song, performed by Neko's seiyuu. I think having the character songs play in the background for the next episode previews was a particularly nice touch. The voice acting was top notch, with plenty of big names such as Sugita Tomokazu and Ono Daisuke, to mention a few. Across the board, they really succeeded in bringing out the characters' personalities and emotions.

Characters: 9
The characters in K are one of the main driving forces of the series. Much of the plot revolves around Yashiro, who at first appears to be just another happy-go-lucky high school student thrown into the midst of a gang war he knows nothing about. Kuroh is more tough and composed, and his seriousness is a nice contrast to Yashiro's carefree personality. K also presents us with an interesting dynamic between the Blue and Red Kings - they fight on opposing sides, but seem to be more than just simply enemies. The only possible flaw I found was that Neko's character didn't really get enough elaboration; it almost seemed like she was just included because her powers were needed for the story. The focus moves between the various sides so we get to see events unfold from several perspectives. The characters do develop well throughout the show, with some interesting revelations, though due to the 13-episode length, some may find that not everyone got fully fleshed out. However, the manga prequels make up for this.

Enjoyment: 9
K was a very enjoyable series. There weren't as many fight scenes as I would have liked, but every time I did see some action it just looked incredibly cool. Whilst the premise may not be entirely unique, K had more than enough flair, intriguing story and compelling characters to keep me hooked until the very end.

Overall: 9
For me, K was an amazing series that just got better and better with every episode I watched. If you like supernatural action with an interesting identity mystery attached - you should definitely watch K.

Thanks for reading! Please give feedback if you found it helpful ;)

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