Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge is a rather recent anime based on a manga by Hikagi Tatsuhiko. The anime was handled by Studio Gokumi, a studio I only know from their work on A Channel. They don't really have many works yet since they're a pretty new studio, their first work wasn't even four years ago. This will be the second anime I've seen from them. Let's see how it compares to the first.

Our story opens with Kiri, our protagonist, going to the house of a rumoured spirit with long hair because... that's his fetish. I'm not even kidding. He goes because he has ... a hair fetish. When he gets there he finds a petite girl roughly his age with hair down to her feet. He decides to stare at her, scissors in hand while breathing heavily. Contrary to common sense or basic survival skills, the girl, Iwai, decides that the best way to handle the situation is to invite him inside. Because in the land of poorly written characters, actions don't need to remotely resemble what anyone with a single functional brain cell would do. It turns out that Iwai has cursed hair that can't be cut. In spite of Kiri trying several pairs of scissors from her drawer. But that's okay because his pair is magical as it was a murder weapon at some point and it can cut her hair. The worst part is that that isn't even the stupidest aspect of this series. That's right, my friends, the idiocy escalates. It turns out that there are lots of people out there with magical murder weapons called authors and if any of them manages to kill Iwai, the “hair queen” they can get any wish they want and escape the spirit of the original murderer that still possesses the weapon. Kiri decides to protect her because she's surprisingly uncreeped out by him. The series from there follows the pair as they try to fend off a bunch of “authors” who either want to kill Iwai or Kiri. There are many problems that plague the narrative. The most obvious being that the premise is really stupid. Even if it was well-executed, which it isn't, it would still be just an absurdly stupid premise. Which might work in a parody but they play it seriously and try to play up the “drama.” Which is terribly written and the romance is cringe worthy to the point where it would fit into a Stephanie Meyer novel. I have nothing positive to say about the story. It starts out as mind-numbingly stupid and only gets worse eventually ending on an expositional onslaught about how much more there is to come.

The characters in this are horribly written. Their actions and motivations have no verisimilitude whatsoever. Kiri has a hair cutting fetish and protects Iwai because he's in love with her based on her hair. Iwai is an archetypal damsel in distress who spends her time either fixated on her love interest, crying or yelling for help. Most of the characters are defined entirely by exaggerated fetishes and the rest are just one-dimensional. The best characters are the dogs that appear briefly in two or three scenes. Just because they're the only characters who never do anything grossly stupid or incredibly annoying. To make things even worse, character motivations and actions change quite a bit in this for really flimsy reasons. They really couldn't use actual character reasons since the characters in this have less personality than a half leaf of lettuce so they have to resort to the tired “characters change because the plot says so.”

The art is meh. It's not as bad as the rest of the series, but it's nothing special. The character designs are pretty standard. The action sequences tend towards the slow, dragged out and uninteresting. They also mute the colours when things get violent. Having fetishy characters, including a pedophile, running around is fine, but showing blood would just be going too far. (Facepalm) There's really nothing visually interesting about the series.

The voice acting is pretty bad. Not because of the cast, I've heard most of them deliver good performances before, but because the characters have nothing to them. And actors can't make something out of nothing. As a result, the performances are pretty flat and the actors frequently just sound dis-interested. The music is okay.

The ho-yay factor is a 3/10. There are a couple homo-erotic scenes between two girls. Unfortunately, those girls are twin sisters. So it just ends up being disgusting. What is with creepy terrible writers and adding romantic subtext to relationships between twins? Looking at you too, Bendis.

This anime is horrendous. There's really nothing I can recommend it based on. The writing is terrible, the plot is stupid, the characters are bland at best and downright unpleasant at worst. I could only recommend this one to someone I hated and you're all such lovely people that I couldn't do that to you. Final rating 1/10. Next week I'll take a look at 5 centimetres per second. I know, it's not on my request queue, but I'm trying to finish Legend of the Galactic Heroes and it's quite long. Unfortunately, I don't have anymore requests that are short enough to watch in the meantime. Thank you all for being patient with me. This Friday I'll do a little something special for all of you. It's something I've wanted to do for a while and now seems a good time. And no, it's not images of myself in lingerie for Valentine's. I'm sure most of you would not be interested in seeing that anyway.

When you take bananas, macaronni and cheese, pizza, pinnapples, yogurt, carrots, and some jamaican patties put it all into a blender, what would you expect it to taste like.... well if your any person with a normal tastebud then you would say like shit yet this is what this anime blatanly does; Ladies and gents welcome to the anime called Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge other wise known as the severing and dismembering crime edge.

Kiri Haimura is a seemingly ordinary boy with one slight problem: he is obsessed with cutting other people's hair. One day he meets Iwai Mushanokōji, the "Hair Queen" who cannot ... cut her hair because of an inherited curse. Kiri finds out that his scissor, "Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge" is the only thing that can cut them. But little did he know that their meeting sparked the start of an old murder game to kill the "Hair Queen" using the cursed killing tools, the "Killing Goods"

This show feels alot like a mix between shakugan no shana, fate stay night, and mirai nikki but adds in its own twist with its obsession with "hair." Yes the hair is everything in this anime, the main character has an obsession with cutting "hair", the female protag is a shy loli with uncuttable "hair" however the male protag is able to cut this hair with scissors which he also uses to kill his enemies.... UNSANITARY

story(5) its really nothing new after the rise of the hunger games it seems like i've been seeing alot more death match styled animes for some reason from mirai nikki to higashi no eden, to fate Zero. There is a fundamental difference however to this style of "death Match" as everyone wants to kill "THE HAIR QUEEN" or in other words there is a focal point which makes this anime more like a good versus bad since the main protagonist is the "protector" while everyone else is an "aggressor."

Art (6) Decent artwork is done here buy studio Gokumi which isn't really well known for any other anime other than A-channel.... This is defintily a step up but there are very obvious cuts that are made such as the moments when there is about to be a fight scene the screen fades to a grey meaning there is no other color except for this gray hue that fills the screen which gets very annoying, its a very direct way of saying "HEY A FIGHT SCENE LOOK HERE"

Sound (7) soundtrack is probably the best thing about this anime as it has a very well done opening and ending as well as some good soundtracks sprinkled here and there. Nothing however was groundbreaking or blew me away. The voice acting is... okay feels like im watching an old shounen anime, something along the lines of inuyasha with devious character lines and laughter with the main character spending alot of time yelling, screaming, or screeching for more power.

characters (3) -sigh- A miss for me the characters are plastic and have no life to me, they feel like they've been taken out of other notable anime and simply injected into the storyline to fit there needs. Male protag is as generic as generic goes, hes one of those hero types who acts super normal and super bland but then action scenes start, snip snapadoodle he's a cutting machine able to take down legions of fellows just for the sake of being awesome. Main female protag (notice how im not using any names in this review) is simply a loli that plays the princess peach role I swear half of the seyuu's role is to cry out the male protags name 'KIRI-KUN" and sound like she's crying, she cries during every fight scene, looks at the stars like a good little girl, super wishful and kinda strong willed when the male protag gets hurt saying things like "YOU HURT KIRI-KUN I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU.)

Enjoyment(5) this shows is trying on to many different masks and doesn't know which one suits it the best as it goes for death match, romance, slice of life, comedy, with horror, fantasy, and mysterious elements. Its just trying to balance way to many things for a relatively new studio like Studio Gokumi to handle. Most of the enjoyable moments for me was when the girl's hair is being cut as i know that at this very second there are people watching this using it as masturbation material as the scenes which the girls hair is getting cut is highly sexualized and romanticized like to the point where you think the characters are about to bust a load if Kiri-kun takes one more snip of hair.

Overall (5) this is what i feel is a BAD anime that just tries on to many different things all at the same time without having an objective of what it wants to be.
This anime is nothing special and ultimately was destined to fail even prior to the release of its 3rd episode as it was imminent that the staff couldn't focus on a goal for this show.

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge by Studio Gokumi was springs 2013 attempt to create a horror-gothic action show with brutal murderers fighting over the death of the Hair Queen.

What sounds like a promising show turns to be a rather sad effort in making it as good as it sounds.
While I appreciate the goth-atmosphere the show had, it had some serious issues.

Story:

Dansai Bunri revolves around the middleschooler Kiri Haimura, who comes into contact with the so called Hair Queen, Iwai Mushanokouji. Kiri has magical scissors which allow him to cut the Hair Queens very long non-cutable hair. Through this they become a semi couple and Kiri ... has to protect her against her enemies, other people with so called Killing Goods, just like Kiris magical scissors.
Problem though is, that this game of hunters trying to kill the Hair Queen is presented in a very strange way, as Dansai Bunri switches from dark to light in a blink of an eye.
The characters do silly moe reactions, the overall tone is inconsistent and borderline retarded at times.
If this was some silly school anime with cute girls doing cute things it would have been okay.
But the themes in Dansai Bunri try to be more serious and on the darker side, so it utterly fails to create any sort of atmosphere.

The pacing is pretty bad, switching from very slow to very fast, but overall felt rushed by the end. The makers come along as amateurs who have no idea how to properly tell a story, stretching some scenes into infinite while rushing everything else as if they were in a hurry.

Not only that but they also have a hard time giving the themes and world enough time to sink properly in. Not that it would matter if we knew more about the lore behind it since the show throws it all out at any point in time they squeeze in slapstick and moe jokes...

Because of that the overall plot feels very weak and nonsensical. And not only that it also ends in a preview for a second season...

Good though were some of the darker elements of the show, it had plenty of blood and A LOT of sexual tension.
It was my personal guilty pleasure of the show, since it was pretty bold and would fit in into a gothic like show like Dansai Bunri tries to be. But as mentioned it couldn't really deliver in that department.

Characters:

Kiri is our protagonist, a middleschooler with magic scissors and a Hairfetish (how convenient).
There isn't much to say about him, we don’t really know much about his life or ideals, other than his past has something to do with the most brutal murderer of all history and he is love with the main heroine Iwai. His character is very childish and naive and I cannot say he is a good protagonist.

Iwai is the so called Hairqueen and besides being nice to people who try to kill her, she is also in love with Kiri. She is weak and never does anything throughout the show but being saved by Kiri.

There are also a bunch of different characters but I don’t really find it necessary to mention any of them, as they are all quite dull and only have their gimmicks that define their characters. Most of them don’t even show up more than 1 or a few times.
The entire cast feels very childish and panders to a younger audience, or mental children, since the themes of the show are not suited for kids.

It’s such a strange dichotomy. The show has all this sexual tension, gore and darkness going on, but is presented in such a moe, slice of life way. The cast is retarded and they all act so cartoony it’s really weird.

Art and Animation

The art in Dansai Bunri is nothing to be in awe. Everything looks very generic and bland, no great talents worked on this and Studio Gokumi isn't really known for their high profile stuff.

The animation quality isn't bad but also not great. It has some good action scenes here and there but mostly wastes its screen time on fanservice and silly chibi faces.

The backgrounds are all totally uninteresting and just blur in with the rest, no effort was made to create an immersive world with great gothic art that fits its themes.

The worst though must be the character designs. They all look really cheap. Their faces totally deformed and some of the look just atrocious.
Why does Kiri have such a bad haircut if he is into cutting hair?
I credit them for giving Iwai a different hairstyle every other episode, but that’s it. The character designs are really bad and childish looking. At least they are sometimes moe.

Besides the bad character designs, the censoring (in the TV version) is also terrible. Bloody scenes were in black and white, and the fanservice we got had “magical white light” shining over it so we don’t see what’s going on... sad sad sad. But I will check out the BD version to see if at least that one has no censorship.

Sound:

At least the sound department doesn't suck.

We get okay voice actors nothing great to mention here.
But the opening is one of my favorites of the season, it’s not great or anything but pretty catchy. The ending was also quite okay, but not as good as the opening

The rest of the soundtrack was neither bad nor good, it was quite solid but not really outstanding or worth listening to.

Enjoyment:

Though Dansai Bunri was a pretty bad show with a lot of problems I still could enjoy it here and there.
At one point I almost dropped it but the Loli Arc got me into it again.
The best was probably the fanservice and sexual tension it had to offer. Some really weird fetishes were going on here and the scenes were sometimes pretty intense. Too bad it was censored.
It was also quite reckless with killing people or at least injuring them really badly. For such a childish show it was pretty grim, I enjoyed that as well.

Scores:

Story 2/10

Premise and Setting 0 (silly premise with bad execution)
Pacing -1 (rushed)
Complexity 0 (so simple and unexplored)
Plausibility -1 (plotholes and overall coherent issues)
Conclusion -1 (No real ending just a preview for season 2)

Characters 4/10

Personality -1 (weak)
Behavior and Chemistry 0 (silly but sometimes enjoyable)
Development and Progression 0 (very undetectable, but not entirely absent)
Motivation and Backdrop 0 (also weak but there)
Likability 0 (no one stood out)

Art and Animation 3/10

Artstyle 0 (generic)
Quality 0 (okay)
Background -1 (so boring)
Character Designs -1 (really bad)
Visual Effects 0 (okay but censorship was annoying!)

Sound 5/10

Voice Acting 0 (standard)
Opening and Ending 0 (solid opening and ending song)
Soundtrack 0 ( not great but listenable)
Sound Effects 0 (average)

Enjoyment 4/10

Art and Animation -1 (too cheap to enjoy)
Sound 0 (too average to enjoy)
Story and Content 0 (mess but fanservice kept me going)
Characters 0 (so-so)
Value 0 (forgettable)


Conclusion:

Wasted ideas and themes is all that Dansai Bunri is. If you are looking for a good action show, turn away. If you want some weird fanservice you might get something out of this. But overall it was a pretty bad show.

Pros:
+ Bold sexual scenes
+ sometimes bad ass violence and action

Cons:
- weak story presentation
- amateurish production values
- bland characters
- no real ending

3,6/10
~4/10 (Bad)

Every few years there are anime that some believe revolutionizes the industry, some may even say that it "saves" anime. Case in point: Madoka (2011), Attack on Titan (2013), and Kill La Kill (2013). Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge however, is not one of those animes.

Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge was the least entertaining anime of Spring 2013. I will give the originality of the story credit, sadly though originality alone is not enough to make this an even decent anime. The beginning three-fourths of the show walk the line between entertaining and complete boredom. Only after episode 8 do you finally realize that you're ... completely tired of this show but your so invested in it that you can't help but watch it till the end. Besides for the execution of the story, the characters that are suppose to drive the story fail to connect emotionally on any basic level. The main hero of the show Kiri and his matching scissor that can cut anything bring nothing to the show but an example that even the weak can put up a fight when their love is in danger. When it comes to the Queen of hair her inability to protect herself plus her constant cries of Kiri Kun make you wish that writers will just get rid of her. It's rare that by the end of an anime I find myself wishing both the main characters would just die. The other minor characters, though far more interesting and less annoying then the two main characters, provide little to nothing to the story and after awhile become forgettable. The fight scenes, though animated decently, barely provide enough excitement to keep interest in the show. No matter how hard you try finding a good point about this show is almost impossible. If there was one good point about Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge is as previously stated is the concept of the show and the originality of the story.

The tragedy that was Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge is enough to temporarily turn anyone away from shows in which a scissor is used as either a weapon or a plot driver. For those who haven't seen Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge but are thinking of watching it I sincerely recommend watching something else.

This anime was the recommendation. I was sold pretty much by synopsis read on MyAnimeList and how my friend described it – along with a video excerpt. It looked and sounded like it would be a very interesting decent fantasy romp but it failed in all the right places in the wrongest of ways.

You've probably read the synopsis. Interesting, no? Well, that’s all Crime Edge has going for itself.

First of all, as interesting as the story is, it manages to seriously hamper it’s fresh plot with cliches and plot devices one can normally see in 3rd-rate Shounen anime and manga. The setting is basically for ... a ‘survival game’ so you know this is a Seinen production. Not only the characters but the plot devices also have some of the mos ridiculous names I’ve ever heard even by Japanese standards. One of the main characters’ name is Mushiyanokouji. Why? The weapons used by characters are called ‘Killing Goods’. Ew. And the Killing Goods have their own stupid names: ‘The Sledgehammer of Decomposition/Obliteration’, ‘The Fucking Name of the Anime’, etc. What is going on here?!

The concept of the show is interesting for a survival game but the plot is all sorts of fucked up and not fully thought out. Contradictions in the plot here and there are very obvious. Melodramatic scenes are shoehorned in for the sake of plot advancement but it instead just devalues the characters motivations for participation. My biggest problem with the show is that at many points the MC is shown to be having a conflict with his urge to kill (caused by his Killing Goods) but this is massively shat on in the second last episode when he powers up and gives in to his urges but… his new power is augmented pain. Talk about an anti-climax.

The characters also cast a huge shadow on the worth of this show. They feel like mannequins that are easily manipulated to go out of character to suit the show’s emotional ‘twists’. There’s barely any fleshing out of the characters and development is almost non-existent.

The animation is decent. Nothing special. Though I guess this is the place to voice some idiotic design concerns. The scissor the MC uses (his Killing Goods) has to be the lamest weapon I’ve ever seen. They are the bluntest sharp object I’ve ever seen. Making it scissor-COMB was also a dumb also. You’re telling me a murderer went around cutting up people with a damned scissor-COMB? What? And the MC is practically hopping all over the place cutting enemies up like a samurai.

Also, the fan-service is annoying. Jiggly breasts, domination, lewd blood transfusions, sensual hair cutting, LICKING HAIR, and a 5 minute scene with a bandaged naked loli playing around with a bare Mushiankhsadhkaswhateverthenameis. I don’t mind fan-service (and most of the time even welcome it) but this is just tasteless.

The music is also pretty meh. I guess. I don’t know. Half the voices in the show were as squeaky as a rubber duckling so paying attention to the background music felt like a chore.

Anyways, I rate this anime a 3/10. Except for it being somewhat interesting, it has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.