Akuma no Riddle

Seen through English Dub.

Lovely everything to be honest. The story did raise confusion in some minor ways and a little bit more in the 'fighting goal' but loved it from the intro song down to the end.

Some animes do a crappy ending not this one... Not only that but there is a chance i can have some of my questions answered. For there is a continued 13th episode. sadly, i know only of the eng sub so may put off my viewing.

Moral of the story in my opinion...life has many faces as it does turns, not all are what it seems and no matter what ... will end.

f*** me sideways, i was writing a review for 20+ minutes at 2:30 am, time to do this again...

For a short review- A lot a cliches, amazing characters, predictable, cliffhangers, good animation, good sound system, very good 9/10

For a longer review....

:Note: I did not spoil, but some of the things will make the predictable even more predictable and less fun... so i suggest you drop on the characters part if you haven't seen it.

Story-
Well, as i said, it had a lot a cliches, which were sometimes an annoying "bug" to the story, and after every episode, watching the preview, made everything predictable, and the way ... the story was going episodes 3-9 were all predictable and in the same style, just with a different character.
It was a good setting- School girls (mostly) battling each other, trying to murder one, and... eh i can't spoil ._.
It was all sunshine and rainbows until the cliches came and disturbed the sunshine.

Art-
I'm not the one to judge, but it was smooth, very well done, and the battle sequences were epic and enjoyable, very entertaining to watch, same would go with just normal conversations... and bath scenes, with a cliche fog over the fun parts of a woman.
This anime could have used a bit different animating style doe.

Sound-
Everything was amazing and well done
*Voice actors
*Soundtracks
*SFX sounds and effects
Everything was so suited, and the voice actors were just, uguuuu! A very big thumbs up from me!

Character-
Well, it comes with my favourite character ever created, so all i can say is- good job!
The characters were suited with each other, each one had their own cliche to do, but sadly, around 10 had a purpose of 1 episode... and then the others were either 2 eps or the whole anime.
It has characters like the main (Tokaku Azuma) which was really well done, and (Haru whatevertheheck) which was also done well, but with tons of cliches, and she receives my thumbs down, because, go see for yourself... If you're not a fan of the f***ing cliches, jesus.
Then comes my favourite character- Nio Hashiri, silly, cute, serves nearly no purpose, but to prove she does, well... ergh, go watch.

Enjoyment-
Well i had plenty of fun, and i didn't waste or regret any of the seconds that went into watching those 12 episodes of girls battling and shiz... I do recommend you watch it.

Overall:
Lets go over with pro's and con's

PROS:
+amazing characters
+well made story
+Amazing soundtracks and voice actors
+Very good animations
+surprises served the "purpose of surprises"

CONS:
-Too much cliches
-way too predictable
-Too clingy with all the "happy ending" theme
-cliches
-cliches

overall, well, i put a 10 out of 10, but if i wouldn't have enjoyed the anime, it would have been an 8.5/10 maximum. But, it is fun, go see it, now!

Buh bye people...

This show was good, I enjoyed it, not a masterpiece and not great but very good!

See, most of the aspects of this show are good, but the characters are where this show gets very fun. I highly enjoyed the show, although it did not end strong.

I would recommend this if you don't mind it when a show gets strange towards the end, even though the ending was satisfying it certainly was strange. I couldn't say much about art but I didn't mid the style, certainly no Bakemonogatari but good enough for me!
___________________________________________________________________

TLDR
Good wacky show with a strange concept but decent excecution

I will warn yuri aspects in this show, for you who don't really like any stuffs related to yuri maybe you can ignore this one. Tho' the yuri scenes aren't much and not-too-yuri. Take place in Myoujou Academy, the private boarding school. In the surface, there's nothing different from this institution, know deeper and you'll find it that the 10th Year Class Black aren't filled with normal students. They are all assassins.
Haru Ichinose is one of the Class Black student, regrettably she is also the target of other 13 assasins. Slowly but sure, one of em, named ... Tokaku Azuma begins to protect Haru from assassination by the unexpected feeling that grows towards her. The awful secret of the academy, resolve of each assassins, and the numerous attempted murder to Haru.

The show is quite good, I like it even every ep seems episodic because of it shows us one by one assassination the students try to attempt. They need to success in order to get the prize from killing Haru. The school offers any wish they want to get, there's also consequent for those who fail, which will be dropped out of school. Everyday school life is stained by the intention to kill and tension of each other. Talk about the fighting, it's good but not superior. The killing intention vibe raises up and the whole mess starts.

Since there are so many characters, these assassins have their own uniqueness. They stand out in their role but not developed enough, except the main characters, Azuma and Haru. We will get explanations of each character and their changing, still those words and few scenes of all of 'em won't satisfying just by 12 eps. I don't mean to extend the series here. Azuma x Haru's relationship (friendship) is somewhat complicated (in this circumstances, they aren't the one to blame). Azuma tries her best to not let Haru get killed whilst wonder the true purpose of school and who is Haru to be targeted?

The suspense feeling will raise from the songs too, they are various songs here, especially insert songs of Akuma no Riddle series. Just for your information, I do think that most of character songs are very well too aside from the OP & ED theme songs. OP theme song is "Sōshō Innocence" (創傷イノセンス) by Maaya Uchida, I like the beating of it. ED theme songs are the songs from each seiyuu, it's different for each episode (character song).

I give Akuma no Riddle series 7.5 ✧ It's good to have series which the characters are female and they are trying to kill each other lol
Pros:
Theme songs! The first impression that hype me up
Various characters

Cons:
The characters can be developed more but they didn't

"Akuma no Riddle", being about assassins, is hard to tie down to a particular genre. However, it is widely considered a Yuri series; even though there's nothing explicit and no real talk of love, most fans interpret the two main girls as romantic partners. They can also be interpreted as close friends. Whether you think it's Yuri or not, "Akuma no Riddle" will probably delight anyone who likes assassin stories, well-animated combat sequences, and of course pretty-but-deadly young women.

The art is great, the story is interesting, and the main characters are unforgettable. However, "Akuma no Riddle" is certainly not perfect. The worst flaw ... in the series occurs at the end, and while I won't tell you what happened, many fans were upset with it. Yuri fans like me were also disappointed to see so little physical/romantic affection between the two girls. Also, the music isn't really memorable, and the opening song is just plain annoying. These are the kind of flaws that prevent "Akuma no Riddle" from being rated any higher. Still, I think it's good overall and I encourage you to watch it.

Personally, I loved the character Tokaku Akuma. Her fighting skills are amazing, she's emotionally strong, and she is loyal almost to a fault. Whether she is a lesbian or not, her devotion to the other main girl is outstanding. She reminds me of myself, except I'm not that great with knives and obstacle courses. If you don't like Miss Akuma, don't worry: there are many assassins to choose from, each with their own histories and their own kind of charm. I encourage viewers to check out "Akuma no Riddle."

So I just finished this anime a few hours ago, and I have to say it was a lot of fun. But in terms of actual substance, it had many weak points.
Before I get into that, though, I just want to comment that, for a show in the yuri genre, there really wasn't a lot of yuri. Plenty of female characters, sure, but not a ton of romance. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it might be something you want to consider, if you're looking for yuri.
The story was very basic. For the majority of the episodes, you know exactly what's going to ... happen, because they all follow the same set-up. No real plot development happens from the first two episodes till the last two. The ending almost surprised me, but then it concluded in a very trope-ish way, unfortunately. But the story creates a great premise to showcase the characters, which are the real highlight of this show.
There are so many characters in this show that I can guarantee you that you'll find one you love. Part of the issue, though, is that each character gets pretty much just one episode, so you don't get a lot of time with them. But each episode focuses so much on each character that it feels like enough. The EDs are a testament to how much thought is put into each character's personality and story, and they provide for a lot of great music. And they fact that they chose to produce new, fantastic art for each ED is also really impressive.
Overall, I'm pretty confident in the 7 I gave this show. The plot is repetitive, the romance is barely there, and each character besides the main two is only given around twenty minutes of screentime (one gets none at all). But there's always great action and fight scenes, a new character to get to know, and a devil's riddle to keep you wondering well after the episode is over.

Let me start out by saying I have mixed feelings about this anime, the plot was muddled and confusing at times but something kept me watching til the end. I watched the whole series in one day and if I don't like something I usually put it off or eventually drop it but something was different about this one.

Story: 5/10

I don't even know... It was strange to say the least. If it was just a story about finding a new top assassin by eliminating the others that would have made more sense. But it wasn't really about that exactly. Something about primes.. and bees.. and ... I don't even know. But I found the eliminating part entertaining I liked how each character had their own episode and even their own ending theme. I like focusing on one character at a time with big casts like this until it gets narrowed down. But there were some plot points I found confusing and weird. All in all if it wasn't for the full cast of female characters which I'll get into later I'd drop it after 10 seconds.

Art: 8/10

Nothing groundbreaking but oh lord the girls were so freaking cute. Every single one of them were just so nice to look at. I liked the colors and the backgrounds and the shading of the hair and everything. The character designs were just awesome. All the girls looked so cute especially Isuke lemme just fangirl for a sec she was cute as hell. Anyways the art wasn't really groundbreaking but it was nice to look at. I liked it.

Sound: 6/10

Like I said I liked all the music except maybe the opening it got old after a while but the ending songs were different each episode and I liked that. The sound effects themselves were passable and fine. I had to watch the dub because it's all Funimation had. I feel like the score would be higher if I watched the sub because the dub voices were not my favorite except for maybe Tokaku. Haru's voice got kinda annoying near the end. So probably go for the sub if you want to watch this.

Character: 8/10

Now other reviewers say they're bland stock characters but I don't fully agree. While they are "types" I feel like they still stood out and were original. I loved the robot arms on a certain character and all the girls were just CUTE AS HELL. I have a soft spot for all of them. I wish this was more of a yuri but it had the shoujo ai elements which kept me focused as well. It was super cute. I liked the dynamic with Tokaku and Haru and the whole "I'll protect you" angle. And let me say again Isuke is my WIFE.

Enjoyment: 7/10

I know I won't be rewatching this one but it still kept me entertained to the end and will probably stick with me. I loved the characters and that's the most important part for me of any anime. I found myself rooting/yelling at characters etc so I was really kinda into it.

Overall: 7/10

Seems high but I still liked it although the ending could have been a lot better seemed too abrupt for my liking. I'll probably watch the OVA soon.

All-in-all I recommend this if you want something easy to watch with lots of cute girls fighting in skirts while being tough and most importantly no male characters to pause the plot.

Akuma no riddle isn't a smart show with in-depth characters or anything like that.
But I still enjoyed it for what it was!

If you're someone like me who enjoys happy endings, yuri and edge, this is a super fun watch.
The drama in the story is pretty straight forward too and the show flows very well, though this also leads to its biggest flaw of being too formulaic, but for a simple brain like mine, I wasn't bothered at all.

The yuri was also very interesting since most of the roomies are definitely fucking, including our main hero Tokaku, who acts like a possessive girlfriend ... the entire time.

Jokes aside, the most refreshing aspect of the show I thought was our heroine Haru, whose probably the strongest heroine I've ever seen, despite her looking and acting like a super helpless character.
Its kind of like if Madoka, from Madoka Magika, was helping out the magical girls barehand from like episode 1. But with Haru, the whole show.

This creates a surprisingly interesting dynamic between Tokaku and Haru, we see Tokaku vulnerable as hell almost trying to control Haru to hide this vulnerability whilst Haru grants her this validation Tokaku desperately craves for own safety, consciously or unconsciously? Idk.

Anyways, its edgy, fun and has lots of yuri; so much to enjoy!

[Story] 6/10
It's fine. Despite its premise, pretty okay.

[Art] 5/10
Not amazing, just passable.

[Sound] 5/10
It wasn't bad but I can't remember any of it.

[Character] 7/10
Except for the main 2, the super gay ones and the cyborg, they were pretty forgettable.

[Enjoyment] 8/10
I liked its little quirks and the overall coherence in the show. Characters are consistent with their personalities and backstories etc.

[Overall] 7/10
It's not great but still pretty fun. I ended up buying the manga too!

Akuma no Riddle is a really great Assassin Anime, everything has the feels, but the end was kinda.........not spoiling!

The art is great, the story is really nice, and I love all the characters so much!

Can't really remember which character I like best though.

This was the time when I decided to watch more serious Anime, with blood and stuff (like 1-2 years ago), I couldn't really handle Anime like that, since my mind couldn't really handle that kind of stuff, so I decided to watch this, and this I really liked!

Overall, i'm gonna give this an 8/10, well I would like to give it an 10/10, ... but the ending kinda made me say......okay......and still not spoiling!

I recommend this still!

Akuma no Riddle is a great anime for all those who like assassins. The girls might seem a little cute and ditzy, but when it comes time to do their jobs, they will drop the act and go full killer mode! Also, while there are certain antagonists,some of the girls in Class Black aren't actually evil. It's just that they are fighting for a certain cause which some can see as just. It is why for this anime, viewers can't help but sympathize for them. The Opening and Endings are awesome. I particularly love the 9th episode's ending the most. Also, This anime is more ... PG-13 than R, as it isn't very violent as some say.

This anime is really quite easy to watch, as the plot is simple and (not counting five minutes of the last episode) the characters are believable for the situation they are in. It is those five minutes that has me refraining from giving the anime a rating of ten, as the main character nearly goes and ruins everything up for near to no reason. However, unlike most anime that has it's last episode as the weakest, it's repaired (although weakly) before the anime ends so it only subtracts minimally.
As I already said, the anime is easy to watch, and most of the characters are given ... enough time that you begin to understand them, something that's rare in a 12 episode anime containing this many characters.
The anime is brilliantly written, with the exception of the aforementioned scene, and is definitely worth checking out.

So a class-full of assassins assigned to kill one of their own? How in the hell is a premise like that supposed to work?

Answer: with outstanding visuals, mesmerising combat, great characters and a story that will tug at your heartstrings from beginning to end.

So the story begins with Class Black, a special little group of 13 girls gathered together for one purpose: 12 of them are supposed to go after the 13th. And the brilliant thing is everyone is aware of the status quo. Well, except the teacher - how quaint - for whose benefit the whole "pretending to be a real class" thing is. ... Poor clueless sensei.

So, enter our main heroine, one Azumi Tokaku. She is an emotionally challenged bad-ass that, given the tools, would give any would-be assassin a run for their money. And she is totally hot in a tomboyish sort of way. She comes into the whole thing on orders of her superior - one very f*ked and crafty psychologist named Kaiba who pesters her with unanswerable riddles throughout the seires - with nary a want or goal of her own until she meets...

Ichinose Haru. Oh man. This girl. Even if you didn't know the premise beforehand and even if somehow you missed the first intro - which totally would give it away - she is. from the moment she comes on-screen, most obviously the target. She is the friendliest, most open girl there with her only goal being to graduate. You know, without dying.

So the two meet, their personalities clash like fire and ice, one assassin gets a tad greedy and rushes in for the kill, Tokaku busts her moves and bim bam boom! the ball gets rolling.

What follows can only be described as a roller-coaster. The action is top notch and the characters, who at first come off as practically cliche show most amazing - if sometimes subtle - depths to them, as their images of heartless killers are washed away like tears in the rain. Half-way through the series... I... I...

And so, the ride continues at its perfect pace until the glorious conclusion that resolutely flips the whole thing on its head, while tugging at your heartstrings as if attempting to pull them out.


"But if Haru was allowed to decide the answer, "forgiveness" would be nice"

Alright, I'll start off by saying that I really enjoyed this series. It really was worth watching!! Rather than being an esoteric anime with rubbish character development and plot, this anime actually showed you the lives of the people that are usually written off as the "Bad Guy", making you have sympathy for the characters. If you really love the series and wish there were more, Yun-Sensei definitely answered you're prayers, because there is a 13th episode coming out in December.

Saucinator review 7.

The concept of the story is simple yet due to some plot twists the understanding of the story might be in jeopardy. I like the dedication of the animation to dedicate the ending song animation to every characters that attempt to kill the target but of me its too sudden.

Having 1 or 2 characters per episode is quite fast for the story. They should make the story quite longer so that they can portray every character in the manga as the way they've should be

but the romance spice to the story is too bland. No kiss nor any confession ( ... if there was one I'm sorry). If the genre of this anime is a Shoujo Ai then they should make the romantic scenes more intense than being soft to the center.

Akuma no Riddle, alternately Riddle Story of Devil, is a rather refreshing deviation from your typical super moe "cute-girls-doing-cute-things" genre of yuri anime. The concept of "assassin yuri" insinuates that Akuma no Riddle would mix the genres of suspense, drama, action, and yuri efficiently; I'm glad to say that it was executed rather decently. Of course it is not without its flaws, and to be frank, is just as easy to pick apart as it is to find enjoyable.

Plot: 6/10

As you would expect, this premise requires the "monster of the week" format, and it does get predictable very quickly. Not to mention there ... are quite a bit of plot holes, and there we're a few instances where Tokaku and Haru should died without their plot armor protecting them. The pacing also feels a bit rushed and cut for time in a few instances. However, it does deliever some twists here and there to keep things interesting. The action does not dissapoint, and I was actually surprised at how dark it was. This is no Sakura Trick (not that Sakura Trick was bad, mind you.)

The yuri aspect of AnK was a bit lacking though, as there was hardly anything explicitly yuri-ish (kissing, holding hands, etc.) but there is a lot of subtext and there's little doubt as to who's paired up with who.

Art/Sound: 9/10

Rather impressive. The animation was smooth, the art was pleasing to look at and the contrast in some scense doesn't strain the eye either. The soundtrack was bizzare, but in a good way, and helped to create a gritty and mysterious atmosphere. The OP is one of my favorites of any anime, but one of the best points of the soundtrack would have the the many EDs, each sung by the character's voice actress after they are expelled.

Characters: 7/10

I'd say the anime's biggest focus was on the characters rather than the plot. Interesting characters overall, as they didn't stick to typical architypes for the most part. Each assassin does have their own backstory though, which makes them redeemable and gives a reason for their actions. My biggest qualm with the characters however, is that some just didn't have enought screen time to fully give them depth and make them really believeable; they are more developed in the manga though, which is to be expected for a 12 ep anime, to be fair, as there were most definitely time constraints regarding the characters considering just many of them there are.

Overall enjoyment: 8/10

As an impartial reviewer, I give an 8/10, but personally I rank it as 9/10. Each week I found myself anxiously anticipaiting the next episode, and was overall impressed and found Akuma no Riddle very enjoyable. If you feel stuck in and endless rut of moe and are looking for an entertaining, more character driven action/drama, then Akuma no Riddle is definately a breath of fresh air.

Let me start by saying an article in Otakuusa convinced me to watch this series. I don't know, it's like it has everything I could want in an anime and yet it still left me wanting. It's devoid of the anime cliches I dislike (save the high school setting but I won't knock it for that). It lacks many cliches others tend to dislike, fan service and no strong female characters. I like the premise, story and characters. The art and action was good, and the story has sufficient twists. But the whole thing is just too predictable. Maybe had I watched it as it ... aired I would have liked it more. But knowing it was only twelve episodes creates a villain of the week formula that gives the story predictability.They say it's about the journey not the destination, but I've always disagreed. If it was about the journey you wouldn't care where you ended up, that's my problem with this series. The destination is kind of important here as it completes the story. The journey seems routine, a simple formula to follow just to get to the end. It was cool to watch and I really enjoyed watching it but eleven assassins in twelve episodes...you can kind of see where this is going fast. I like how the story incorporates the incompetence of some of these assassins into to it. There were several times I questioned why these trained assassins are struggling to kill an ordinary high school girl. Also the end. I'm not a big fan of this style of ending. I know why they do it but it still change the fact that...I do not like this style of ending. A detailed expression on this would contain spoilers so I let it go at that. In summation I'll recommend this series with a "but". BUT, don't expect to be blown away for find your new favorite here, (far be it for me to dictate the tastes of others, it's just my psychotic opinion) you'll watch it, it'll be over and you'll move on to the next series.
One more note: I think it's important to point out the difference between "good" and "great" and that's what I'm doing with this review. Riddle Story Of Devil is a perfect example of how I separate good from great.

well thats an yuri anime SO basically my opinon on this one matters alot bcs i am popular for that i am mainstream yuri fan for almost 8 years and am a male that watches yuri animes yes laugh all you want its my favorite genre and no its not bcs there are girls that kiss you assholes i am a true fan <br>now with the review Akuma no Riddle was one of the yuri animes that i didnt expect to be a romance overall and wanned to see if it will be amazing anime well it was actually if you are into good fights ... that anime had it the story it had an intersting one the main characters were as well a good couple overall but that anime isnt only about those 2 girls there are couple of 2's that every and each one of those couples were amazing combination of killing machines and had big level of friendship partnership and they were all good together as a whole the anime is a shounen thriller <(i say its a thriller not mal) yuri anime the anime overall was pretty intersting to watch i would deff recommend it to alot of non yuri fans in general bcs the anime was pretty good for the yuri fans tho that anime is something VERY Different from the yuri animes if you expect a drama love story its not about that its actually pretty intersting story about a class of girls that are figthing to survive and the main character choouses to protect the other girl that had no fighting skill what so ever bcs she wanned to and that girl was special to her as well she gave her all and did her best she is an amazing main character and thats one of the good yuri couples if are not a yuri fan tho if you are into pretty much yanderes kind of crazy girls and want to see alot of blood from fighting betwen girls i would deff show you that one and recommended it to you overall i gave the anime a (8/10)

Definitely not a masterpiece, but not bad either :)

Story - 6/10

The story was okay, given that Akuma no Riddle is classified as action, yuri and school. The progression and pacing is pretty good, despite some of the assassin characters having significantly less of a role to play in the story than others. Given that it's an action anime, I wasn't expecting too much exposition, but there's actually a decent amount between and sometimes intertwined with the action sequences. Why did I give a 6/10? Some of the story direction is pretty poor; mainly the ending, which I think would have been better left to the ... viewer's imagination, rather than the fairly cheap ending that Akuma no Riddle has.

Art - 9/10

One of the areas that Akuma no Riddle does really well, in my opinion. Not quite perfect, because of the occasional use of shark teeth, which I found a bit jarring, in relation to the generally serious and relatively dark feel of the anime. The colour palette works well for both light and dark scenes, but definitely seems geared toward darkness, which I thought complimented the generally tense atmosphere that a lot of the scenes are tinged with. The character designs are also really good, with a good level of detail being apportioned to each main character. The detailing also extended to the weapons (accurate depictions of modern firearms for example) and equipment that get used by the characters, which is always good to see. It's also worth noting that the interval artboards were a nice feature and were always interesting to read/ look at.

Sound - 10/10

The area that Akuma no Riddle excels in. In contention for one of my all-time favourite comprehensive anime sound sets. Each episode starts with Sousho Innocence, which (although I'm not a big fan of rock music) sets up each episode as being tinged with tension and danger. On a separate note, the track itself is (probably unsurprising from Maaya Uchida) really good, in terms of vocal performance and backing track composition.
The score/ scene BGM was not far behind, doing a great job at reinforcing the tension and danger associated with each action sequence and goes hand in hand with the art style. Oddly enough, there were a few tracks that also stood out and particularly caught my attention, which is never a bad thing, in terms of immersion or a metric of engagement. It's also worth noting that not many musical pieces get reused, which is good news for those who crave sound variety.
Each episode has its own ending theme, which was a bit hit-and-miss (personal preference really, as they use a variety of genres), but understandable, as they're each attributed to a character if I'm not mistaken. It's worth noting that some of these themes perfectly reflect the score in its creating an atmosphere of tension. In addition, all of the ending themes include vocal performances by the character VAs, which is always great to see, especially given how high quality they are as pieces of music, period :)

Character - 7/10

Somewhat unsurprising I guess, but each character is most definitely distinct and unique. Each having both a clearly-distinguishable appearance, but also signature weapon/ tool of the trade. VA performances weren't especially spectacular for the most part, but they do naturally fit the characters and are pretty good nonetheless. The combination of unique appearances, outfits and behaviour patterns (as well as the character themes) make for a pretty memorable character set, which is always a good thing. For an action-themed anime with so many different characters, I think they managed to fit in a good amount of character development (though more could probably have been done, I felt, with reference to time/ content being wasted on the ending). I think they could maybe have a bit more yuri involvement between the characters as well, though I will admit, there is a decent amount, given the context in which the characters interact with each other.

Enjoyment - 8/10

I came into Akuma no Riddle expecting it to be a run-of-the-mill action anime with little story content and not much underpinning motive to the action, but those preconceptions were destroyed fairly quickly. The anime progresses more like a thriller than anything, with most scenes being charged with tension, which kept me fully engaged at all times. Slower-paced scenes were interesting to watch, in that they helped explain out the background and gave context to the actions and events of the anime. Combat sequences were pretty good, thanks to the variety of weapons/ tools that are used throughout. The extensive use of handguns with only one hand was a bit weird though, along with the firing position of an SMG that appears at one point.

Overall - 7/10

Some areas were outstanding and others were just okay/ meh. In the end, I did really enjoy most aspects of the anime, but couldn't escape noticing some flaws with the anime, so 7/10 is a fair rating in my opinion :)

After a lot of back and forth, I returned to this series with a new perspective. Thanks to the fandom, I learned this anime came out plenty of time ahead of much of the manga. While that is no excuse, it should put into perspective the stark differences and the "stuff more people liked" being in the manga and not the anime. The anime started after the manga had just concluded around the third assassin's attempt, so everything afterward, the anime actually went on plot first. The manga chapters that came out after added to what the anime established.
With that out of the way, ... onto the review. The anime is solidly watchable. The premise is not that special, being a survival game with shoujo ai subtext (not really yuri). Only two of the seven relationships get any screentime and one character is completely thrown aside. Some early scenes that might have heightened character were lost in translation, though the characters and their varied personalities are still very prominent. Some are tropey-er than others, and some are better than others. The appeal is the wide range, I would say, in the girls in this class of supposed killers.
Mechanics and execution-wise, the anime focuses away from relationships and more onto the action and music. The soundtrack is stellar, though that can only cover for so much in a series where the relationships are supposed to be the mainstay.
The art is nothing special, but it's also not bad. It is augmented well by the lighting of their eyes, often.
Overall, I think this is fine and watchable. Over the years I came to appreciate this a lot more thanks to the VAs and the fandom. The anime on its own, though, can only please so much. It is more of a springboard into the fandom for the fish who bite, and a complete snooze for others looking for something more substantial.

It's rare that a standard anime can bring me to tears (hence its higher rating than my usual), but it is that good. The general concept of the anime, in which twelve female assassins are hired to an academy to pretend to be students while attempting to kill their thirteenth class member, Haru Ichinose, is refreshing, but the concept of the Queen Bee is confusing and ultimately irrelevant. Where this anime shines is in the romance that develops between Haru and one of the assassins, Tokaku Azuma. It's highly rewarding to see the character development Tokaku undergoes when compared to the other assassins, and how ... she goes from a bloodthirsty killer to devoted guardian (and potentially lover) of the hapless and cheery Haru, who may not be as innocent as she appears to be. Kudos to side characters Sumireko Hanabusa, a rich girl who has a horrific backstory that provides an interesting foil to Haru herself, and the au-pair Hitsugi Kirigaya and Chitaru Namatame, whose relationship mirrors that of our main characters, and prove as a foreshadowing of the danger such a relationship can hold. A worthy watch and a unique take on a high school anime. 8/10