Hitsugi no Chaika

On a sublime outlook, anime that have been inspired from medieval, or let's say "dark-age" theme or plot has been more of an affection or a hype ever since SAO was broadcasted and went even more evident when Shingeki no Kyojin aired in 2013. Nowadays, we get more of them than we get quality and reasons worth the watch that even as I type this review, I don't want to be bothered looking at the list at livechart.me. True enough, I enjoyed Shingeki no Kyojin before it went cool. I moved on when the fandom shifted to Levi-X-Eren instead of what the magnum-quality of its ... story thought to have delivered. Not to worry, because fandom thought of that as "cool", and fandom dominate MAL.

It's now 2015 and we're still waiting for the SNK's next season, which I hope to watch before it went cool and farfetched-shipping happens. I'm bringing SNK to attention because people or otakus around seem to relate every dark-age-inspired anime from SNK. Which brings me to the thought that, as dark-age-inspired anime do come from all qualities and nature, SNK should NOT be the yardstick (or the basis) of it. That's like telling Porsche that the Panamera needs to drive like the 911 in every detail.

So here, I'll review one of the recent dark-age anime: Hitsugi no Chaika.


STORY: 7
Chaika: the Coffin Princess, is about a goth-loli princess with a coffin as a backpack, who's looking for her father's, the dead emperor's, mangled remains. Set in a world where magic is present and buy-able, she got assisted by saboteurs on her quest in a world that has surfaced from the 200 years war, with a supporting reason that saboteurs don't betray their employers (and that's a good plot device). And the world doesn't want to have another war trouble (where have I heard this before?), thus being the daughter of the man who started the debacle, is what you'd entirely expect to be the villain of it all. But no, as Chaika is the protagonist, then she's suited to be the antihero, but isn't. From here on you can follow how the story will look like, even if you haven't seen a single episode out of it. It's like watching an RPG, actually.


CHARACTERS: 7
Chaika, Tooru, Akari, Fredrica (Dominica), at least they're about 3/5-star rating memorable. Chaika has the personality: her broken-Japanese, her overall good-nature, and being a ditzy-moe at times, all part of the plot-elements, but it worked good enough for the story not to be as ludicrous as it could have been. What's more, some characters are named after cars (and a plane manufacturer), so I'm guessing the creator did have some flair on them:
~TRABANT (Chaika) = a relic equivalent of the VW Beetle that was very useful on East Germany, only because there probably isn't any car around inside the Berlin Walls.
~ACURA (Tooru, Akari, Shin) = the luxury division of Honda; it's like what Infiniti is to Nissan, and what Lexus is to Toyota.
~BOMBARDIER (Karen) = okay, this is not a car, but a plane manufacturer from Canada.
~LANCIA (Grad) = unless you're British, you really wouldn't know that the Brits claimed this car to be better and stylish than Ferrari.
~SKODA (Dominica) = Czech automobile manufacturer, good quality and good cars.
~KOENIGSEGG (empire) = a Swedish hypercar (high-performance car) manufacturer in which their products are really not my fancy, but I have a sheer respect to them, especially their Agera, which can rival the Bugatti Veyron.

At most, these kind of (car) trivia does contribute me to keep on watching HNChaika. It may or may not make your care, but it made me do a little bit of caring as what and how will the characters pressed on episode after episode.



ART = 10
As I've said on my Kimi ni Todoke review: "When I watch anime, I'm not really particular about the art because being particular at it is like being particular at what box your mind wants to be comfortably snuggled in. But I never stay inside the box. Never."


SOUND = 8
A bit on the aggressive-side of opening and ending songs, really dunno if that would work as there are a lot of compositions that are the same as these. Still, good tune all throughout.
As for the seiyuus, yep, they've done a good job, Chiwa Saito is still on her edge as Dominica/Fredrica, and a newer seiyuu (Chika Anzai)is admired well as the voice of Chaika. Overall and for the rest of the seiyuus, they're good enough for their corresponding roles.


ENJOYMENT = 7
There are ups and downs, maybe the same feeling will linger if you've driven a 911 and sat immediately on a Panamera. Somehow, the enjoyment will grow on you.


OVERALL = 7
I did enjoy it, but there are times I did not. There are plotholes, the author doesn't want to expand more of the characters' personalities--and that makes the characters a little-more extra nicer than they should have, a rifle that takes more time than MegaMan's X-Buster, and in hindsight, it's somewhat predictable on every episode's progress. Now, I can't tell you more of this because that's borderlining spoilers already. What I can say is it really isn't that sparking or involving to watch, and yet, getting to see Chaika's ordeals up to the season two's 10-rushed episodes, you just have that feeling inside that you want to cheer for her to go get those mangled remains and perform that proper burial, and hug her when the unveiling of events come.

VERDICT = A quite good dark-age themed anime with magic, broken-Japanese, and RPG-esque sequential shifts.

What is Hitsugi no Chaika? It is another "modern anime" of course! It has plenty of cute anime girls with too much personality; and other edgy people. I can't say that it is bad, it has a pretty good character development. The story isn't anything special, but it is fine and pretty fair. It's about a cute girl wanting to gather her father's body remains with her comedic and edgy companions. The anime has a fair amount of comedy, though it is mostly about Chaika's (the main heroine) plot development. It keeps you going and wanting for more, the plot is predictable, a lot of ... the times generic, but it is not totally boring.

The artstyle in general felt really blunt, although really cute for some of the female character, it felt too forced and just "too cute" for others. The coloring also felt really simple. But in general it was fairly good. In my opinion the producer should have made a lot of the character more serious looking, since there was a fair amount of more mature content. The main guys were drawn too skinny and little again; I don't know what is the hype with characters like that these days, but ok. Toru's development was really good especially, at least I liked it. You get that he is not exactly what he seems.

The background music was too much too, I imagined a lot of scenes with less of it and they seemed a lot better. Not every comedy scene should have goofy music. The background music during the fighting scenes wasn't anything new or unique either. Just typical for shounen. Why do so many anime force so much background music these day? Anyway, the opening and ending weren't really interesting either, again just typical for their genre.
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Overall, I rate it based on personal enjoyment. I would say it was good. The story can keep you going, and asking for more. Although its fairly predictable you still ask yourself "What is going to happen next?" sometimes. It's a really comfy anime and I recommend it to those who just want to sit, relax and watch a generic shounen with cute girls.

By the way, it was really not cool ripping off a certain character from fate/zero.

My abridged review of *Chaika - The Coffin Princess,* a fun fantasy adventure from Studio Bones, the studio that brought us such classics as Fullmetal Alchemist and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie.

*Plot: 6.7/10-* Chaika's plot is relatively simple, at least in the first season, and the beginning of the second.
For the first 14 episodes or so, it s a character driven story with the MacGuffin being the Emperor's remains. What makes this premise work is that story progresses because of the characters actions. On their journey, the characters encounter different parts of the world, and try to take back the Emperor's remains. Along the way, some ... plot twists are thrown in, which makes you question the original goal. Season two gets off to a strong as it unravels the mystery behind Chaika's origins and forgotten past. Unfortunately, by the halfway mark, the series shifts to a plot driven narrative as it charges towards the rushed finale. As far as rushed finales go, Chaika's is far from the worst, but its lack of focus on the characters is disappointing considering that the characters are the best aspect. Due to said ending, it really soured my initially positive opinion of the series.

*Characterization: 8.0/10-* What makes The Coffin Princess so much fun are the characters. Chaika is an adorable young girl, who does not know why she must find her father's remains, but is nevertheless driven to give him a proper burial. She also talks in adorably broken Japanese, and she has an innocence about her that you cannot help but love. However, she is given enough character development to prevent her from being a moe-blob, and she is almost never used for fanservice.

*Season 1: 8.0/10_Season 2: 7.3/110 = Overall: 7.7/10-* Ultimately, Chaika - The Coffin Princess is a tale of two seasons. Season one is a fun fantasy adventure with the type of lovable characters and fantasy adventure that is reminiscent of Bones' past work. On the other hand, season two is an unfortunately rushed conclusion to the story, even though it still contains a few of the highlights of the first season.

Well the synopsis sounded interesting so i added this to my show to watch in the spring, so i decided to watch it, and after the first episode i was pleaseantly suprised, i actualy thought this was going somewhere, and for awhile i kind of did, but later on i thought the story went downhill got repetitive, and somewhat annyoing, but after reading this review you should still give this a shot regardless.

Story - The first episode you are introduced to three characters, chaika, toru, and akari. At first glance this seems like one of those cliche stories where a guy encounters a girl and ... helps her out, but later on i thought i kind of went away from the cliche and was a little more original but not much, and we see throughout the anime the three's adventures and who they meet and what they encounter. I thought in the first few episodes the pacing and consistency was good, but then after that i felt there were some boring filler type epsidoes which they werent but felt like, and i felt the different adventure spots i guess felt kind of repetitive and boring, there were some good fights here and there though so it wasent that bad, and chaika's sentence structure after awhile might get annoying for some viewers, i myself didnt mind it that much. But the story here is somewhat cliche and nothing really new that jumped out to me, but i mean for some it might feel opposite of what i thought of the story. There were also many plot holes i felt like. They would bring out a new character and just kind of throw them away the next episode and not get much development.

Characters- Nothing really here actually, akari is that sister that kind of will do anything for her brother with some kind of love into it also, and the brother has to clear misunderstandings sometimes, toru is a pretty laid back kind of guy but if he makes a contract with someone he will always follow through with the plan, then chaika is that airheaded kind of girl that doesnt know what a sentence is and has little vocabulary, but is a very nice and sweet kind of girl that most viewers will end up being in love with her. And there are many other side characters that just kind of get thrown away except for a few, and didnt have that much of an impact in the story. Also the evil blonde kid at the end of the story was just downright stupid and im glad he died, he was a masochist or something like that. Some decent development here and there from the characters, could of been better

Animations - Not a huge fan of the art style, but i didnt really mind it. Animations at times felt rugged and undetailed, but definitely was beautiful at times. Not much to say here, i guess some characters had the pink cheeks default set on at all times.

Sound - I did enjoy the op and ed fit the series pretty nice, osts had a nice mix of guitar and other instruments when the action battles were going on. Probably could of played songs more or had more variety though.

Enjoyment - Throw away all the bad things i said and not expect too much out of this and just watch it, it could be quite the enjoyable ride, i actually thoroughly enjoyed this anime throughout the series, i definitely liked chaika and how they made her, little romance here there with toru which was nice, also i had some nice laughs (and scares), this can be a very enjoyable series if you are not expecting it to be something amazing.

Overall - I would recommend this to anyone that likes the adventure and action scenarios, also has some comedy and romance, pretty decent anime this spring. The technical things of this anime werent the best for me, but just sitting back and relaxed and watching this defeinitely was fun and entertaining for me.

Hitsugi no chaika, an anime I thoroughly enjoyed up until the end
The story and art is what I really appreciated in this anime, because unlike some anime that was released in 2014 this is one full of vibrant colors that complements many scenes in the anime itself.

On the other hand Chaika's companions ( Toru and Akari ) are kind of annoying, saboteurs are supposed to obey their masters at all cost, but at some point Toru was just an immature dude who couldn't understand what was going on in Chaika's mind. And Akari a glorious imouto like no other. She's hilarious and ... beautiful, although I hated it when she cockblocked Toru.

So in conclusion Hitsugi No Chaika is a great watch, but be sure to watch it carefully (You'll understand when you finish it). It'll make you want more.

Hitsugi no Chaika is a show that is very atypical of the anime scene. You have real death, that isn't tasteless but keeps a measure of realism that doesn't throw you out of your suspension of disbelief.

It has characters that are confident, they don't analyze the situation and have a 5 minute internal dialogue with themselves. They just act. They have a set goal and they move forward.

While that seems fairly logical, its a massive breath of fresh air for me. It's hard to find something that doesn't make you say "wait...wtf" every episode. If you don't find that ... intriguing enough to jump in, i shall continue with the exposition.

The Story is about a girl who carries around a coffin for a very good and very interesting reason. While it sounds like the typical loony premise of japanese animu, it certainly makes alot of sense when you find out why. And they don't belabor the explanations, there is a very nice progression of mysterious elements along with a no nonsense approach to the story telling. And at this point, even if the story were bad, it would tick all the proverbial boxes for me.

Fortunately, the story is interesting and engages you right from the start. It might not float everyone's boat, it might not be the most original idea, but as you well know yon animu frens, that is not what is most important. It's the execution, and I believe this show does that very well. With only 13 eps and a crazy storyline, they don't waste time, it doesn't drag out, they get to the meat fast and often. The content is extensive and well paced and even after the 13, there is the upcoming second season.

Art was fantastic for me, clean lines, a slightly different approach to most of the more popular design ideas in anime. So it kept up with the freshness of the story and its delivery. If there was poor elements to the art, i must have been too engaged in the action, suspense, clever plot revelations and the comic relief of the two sibling characters.

The music didn't float my boat, i didn't find it particularly powerful or moving, but it got us through the intro and took us out just fine.

I think some of the characters could be called cliche, but i will certainly go to bat for a few of them. Not because of their pure originality, but because of their depth and ability to question, reason and act upon circumstances. Rare!!! So without a doubt i found much to be liked in this show, and i hope you find something to be liked by my review.

This is definitely one of the most underrated Anime and one of the best (for me) ever.
Anime that involves a lot of magical stuffs (spell casting, staffs and such) always excites me and what Hitsugi no Chaika got me going was the incantation of spells Chaika did at the very first episode. With so much delight, I finished this series (up to the next season plus the OVA) for almost one whole day (started at around 10am? or afternoon) and finished the series around 7am the next day. Then the story went well as I was also looking forward on how they'd gather up ... Chaika's father's remains. Overall, everything is really well appreciated!

Amazingly average, saved only by a charming female lead that talks like Yoda.

★★☆☆

It’s amazing what a cute girl will get you to do—even watching a very mediocre show. I’ve noticed a personal trend that I’m willing to put up with a lot of shit just to see more of a cute Chinese cartoon girl. I really need to get outside and talk to more 3D women.

Let’s start with the show itself. There’s nothing memorable about it, but the thing is...it’s not bad either. Average, mediocre, ordinary, so-so, middle of the road. It’s inoffensive. Doesn’t really strike at you. No lasting impressions. It’s like going to ... a Ben & Jerry’s and picking vanilla.

What I’m trying to say is that it’s “okay.”

The show is carried all by Chaika, the female lead. She’s adorable. She talks like a retard. Her grammar is criminally bad—but charming as fuck. She talks with incomplete sentences. I don’t care. I just wanna pet her and feed her and tell her nice things.

The action, the characters, the fantasy setting, the story: it’s just whatever. If it didn’t have Chaika it’d be given a 3 for being so ordinary. As vanilla as it felt, I still enjoyed it.

[S1 & S2]

Hitsugi no Chaika is a rushed anime that I oddly enjoyed watching a lot. There's nothing special about Hitsugi no Chaika other than the female protagonist's eyebrows. Everything else feels generic. But for some reason, watching this show felt way more fun than watching a simple, generic anime.

I guess sometimes you just come across something like this. Something plain and basic yet you still find it entertaining to watch regardless of its ordinariness.

I... I don't really know what to write for this review. The anime ended so fast, I'm still astounded and speechless.

I'd say that Hitsugi no Chaika is a ... really good simple anime. People who enjoy watching ordinary and plain stuffs should watch this show. It's really good. Really, really good.

Hitsugi no Chaika or Chaika - The Coffin Princess may at first seem like your typical "Action, Adventure, Romance" but for those who are willing to stick through, it becomes a very intriguing tale about a group of characters on an adventure in quite an expansive world with many mysteries.

Story: 8

The story of Hitsugi no Chaika at first feels like one of your typical adventure anime which arrive every season but while going through the series, the story is much more immersive and interesting than what you may think. The story also has many more dark elements than you may imagine but dwelling into those ... goes into spoiler territory. Overall, I feel as though the story is well paced regarding the adventures and development of the main three characters. Even though the plot is very simple, I feel as though the world of Hitsugi no Chaika in itself is quite interesting regarding its pasts and functioning and the show has done well into dwelling on these topics in the right amounts.

Art: 7

The art of Hitsugi no Chaika was quite average and there honestly weren't any moments during the anime where the art was exceptionally good. But this doesn't mean that it was bad, more like the anime did its job and nothing more. The fight scenes were animated well enough to be deemed "cool" or "awesome". The character designs were average as well except for Chaika who I felt perfectly fit into her character design. The thing that dissapointed me the most was the design of the weapons which could have been more magical or cool since it was a fictional anime.

Sound: 8

The sound tracks were above average but the reason for me to give sound such a high rating was the voice acting for the characters which I felt fit their roles and personalities perfectly especially Chaika whose form of speech was perfectly executed and was one of the most unique forms of speech I have ever seen in anime. "DARAKENA" the OP of the show was also very good and quite like your usual OP which stick in your head after a few listens.
The ending "Kairaku Genri" also did its job but just not as well.

Character: 8

One of the strong points of the anime. Even though the main three characters Toru, Akari and Chaika had one of your typical anime personalities with Toru being the lazy but talented guy whose smart and good at the one thing he was made to do, fight.
Akari, the younger sister who is a bro-con but a strong female character in both body and mind throughout the series and the way she showed affection for her brother was quite unique but I was unhappy with her not getting as much screen time as the other two even though she was a main. And finally Chaika, the main female lead who is the innocent and happy type who is loyal and caring to her friends and even strangers but has huge resolve when needed to complete her objective or protect her friends. These characters are quite typical in anime but the studio did a remarkable job in making these typical characters at their best. But other than the main three characters, the other characters didn't really leave a mark on me as these did but I guess they were average.

Enjoyment: 8

Personally, the show was very enjoyable leaving me wanting more after every episode with a few plot twists here and there and may not be as good for beginner anime viewers but will be a good watch for those who like adventure action anime with a decent plot.

Overall: 8

Now go and watch Hitsugi no Chaika my fellow anime lovers!

I am very satisfied with Chaika. I watched Scrapped Princess by the same author years ago, and I thought- what a shame, the story was a bit wonky, but it was really fun! Chaika too does not disappoint, except the story was very good!

Not all episodes have fighting, but if you want a adventure, this is a great anime to watch! As a warning, it can be a bit graphic at times, especially towards the later episodes, but I deem that you as the reader can make the judgement yourself. Well, there's not that much blood anyways.

Art is consistent, ... sound is fine nothing groundbreaking, characters are decently fun, I for one enjoyed this beyond what I was expecting.

The story is about how the daughter(s) of an Emperor who is considered vile by the humans search far and wide in the fictitious world for his remains in order to perform a genuine funeral for him so that his soul can reside in peace in the afterlife. At first, when I saw the word “Princess” in the anime, I thought that it might turn out to be an out and out kingdom-ish anime which I am not good with and when I saw the genres and themes, there were magic and fantasy involved. On one side of my mind I thought that this might ... not be worth watching and will end up wasting my time as I am not that good with putting up with magic and fantasy themes. On the other side, few weeks into the Spring ’14, I saw memes of Chaika and her freakishly thick but cute eyebrows making waves for all possible reasons and BONES were animating it. So I made up my mind to watch this anime once it ended.


For a 12-episode anime, the storyline and the plot might feel satisfactory at first glance but for me it was anything but satisfactory as the sudden surge in the pace of the anime at the last few episodes felt disappointing. There was this mini-arc at the end where Chaika Travant, who is endowed with long silver hair and purple marble eyes (typical to an anime character) and her thick eyebrows that exceeded the thickness of her eyelids when her eyes were closed along with her saboteur companions Tohru Acura, the male protagonist with a weird hairdo at the forehead and his not blood related hot younger sister with whom he grew up together in their village Acura, Akari Acura, adorning a long emerald green hair who is madly infatuated with Tohru and loves him the most; enter into this particular kingdom hoping to collect more of her father’s remains. The story suddenly picked up its pace abnormally and the ending was rushed with very little explanations given. There was this episode where the Chaika legion come face to face with the self-proclaimed Neo Gaz army/faction which seemed to be a filler episode. That could have been neglected with more attention provided to the main plot. I do realize that it is very tough to stuff all the necessary elements into a 12-episode anime which completely makes sense but still, they could have thought up to make the ending somewhat different.


Coming in to the animation, BONES did their homework mightily well especially with those magic circles and incantation circles that was a visual treat. The one that stood out the most was the action sequences. The hand to hand combat that were encountered mostly by Tohru and Akari were put forth really well and seemed realistic considering how magic played a major role in this anime. Action and fighting were in abundance and so was the enjoyment derived out while watching the fights. The only disappointment was how prematurely the fights between our protagonists and their adversaries ended prematurely either owing to the quick ending of the fights and smoke bombs with our heroes triumphing most of the times or how there were barging of noses by external agencies. In one particular episode, Zuita’s two eyes were facing in opposite directions which might be considered as a glitch in the animation that normally occurs and can be neglected without second thought. All In all, the animation was very good which accentuated the plot and provided some gripping moments through and through.


The music was scored by Seikou Nagaoka, who is unfamiliar to me, but he did a pretty good job. The music played during battles was exhilarating and was nice to listen to. There is nothing better than a good music to complement a battle and the anime remained faithful to it. The opening theme is DARAKENA, performed by Iori Nomizu, who is the CV of Vivi from this anime, suited magnificently to the main theme of the anime and the visuals provided in both the opening and the ending was suitably crafted to perfection. The opening was good, the ending was satisfactory and the OSTs were great. Nothing more to be told.


There are volumes to speak about how diverse the voice- crew for this anime was. Let me start with how catchy and cute Chaika Travant’s split Japanese was and how godly Fredrika’s seiyuu is. Chaika who is voiced by Chika Anzai could not form up proper words to finish the sentences. Instead she speaks with split Japanese which provides cuteness to her personality but at the same time, as the episodes wind down, this form of speech can produce traces of annoyance among us. Akari’s seiyuu who I believe is a new entrant, has this deep voice which suits her personality with ease. Then there is Yoshimasa Hosoya (CV of Arata Wataya, Junpei Hyuuga) who voices the character of Alveric Gillette. We all know how capable Yoshimasa is. Finally, Fredrika’s voice, who joins the Chaika legion around the 4th episode, undoubtedly provides inexplicably mammoth gallons of eargasms. Fredrika is voiced by the veteran Chiwa Saito (CV of Aida Riko from KnB), who happens to be my favorite female voice-actor. In the anime Fredrika takes many forms such as a matured, beautiful woman; a beast named dragoon that is as tall as a 3-storey apartment, a young girl and finally a chibi version of that young girl which you may or may not call as loli. In other words, Saito-san had to vary her voices according to all the four characters while portraying all the emotions of them respectively. She seemed to achieve this with considerable ease although it is evident that the voice for the dragoon might have been synthesized. The amount with which she had to vary her voice was innumerable and was always succulent to listen to. Out of the 4 personalities that she had to voice, my favorite one is that of the young girl who is of the same age of Chaika in appearance. Fredrika has a very vital role to play in the latter stages of the anime. I apologize for this huge paragraph regarding the voice-crew as I could not control myself when it comes to Chiwa Saito-san.


Overview:
Hitsugi no Chaika might not be an anime that satisfies everybody who like fantasy and magic and it might not be an anime that people who keep away from magical shows will watch. Although there is an involvement of sufficient amount of magic and spells, the action scenes negate the magic so that a balance is provided. If you are more inclined to the voice-crew side of the anime rather than the plot then this anime is crafted definitely for you. Beautiful voice-acting with correct portrayal of emotions and joyfulness is always at most times a good sign that the anime is not a horrible one. Many say that this anime is underrated but in my honest opinion it is definitely not. Just because it was overshadowed by No Game No Life and other anime, it does not become underrated.

My rating would be 7/10 if I consider all the factors and elements that make up an anime. Since I pay special attention to the voice-crew for almost every anime, I would rate this show 8/10 if I am inclined to the side where the performance of the voice-crew interests me instead of the main story and plot.

PS: Hitsugi no Chaika is getting a sequel which is slated for release in Fall 2014. This anime deserves a season 2 as many aspects of the story were left unattended and not explained properly. Also, will try to rectify any mistakes that I made while typing this review.

Hitsugi no Chaika is about a group of adventurers on a quest to collect various relics. Though somewhat straightforward, there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the audience guessing. Rather than infodumping all sorts of information, the show informs the audience about the setting organically, while leaving enough mystery to create a sense of exploration as the story unfolds. The tone of the setting is reminiscent of old Dungeons and Dragons adventures, where a diverse group of heroes set out on a grand quest. Unlike similar shows though, the line between heroes and villains are a bit more blurred ... than you might expect.

Art is fairly good overall. Some of the character designs might be odd at first, but adjusting to them doesn't take long. Fight scenes are choreographed wonderfully, and the fights themselves involve degrees of tactics and team synergy that are fairly uncommon in anime. Compared to Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, the visuals are definitely a step up in every department.

I can't recall anything about the sound, which most likely means there was nothing to complain about. I found the OP grating, but that may just be a personal preference. The ED isn't bad though.

Character motivations are a bit simplistic, but most characters have a reasonable justification for that, so it works out. The personalities are fairly fresh and most characters avoid neatly falling into obvious archetypes. The siblings play off each other in an enjoyable way, and their pragmatism is refreshing when compared to the constantly optimistic protagonists we commonly see. So while each character might not seem terribly deep on their own, they fit the story well and work together to become a cohesive and interesting whole.

Overall I think this is a very good show for fans of fantasy, especially those who enjoy their protagonists a bit more Lawful Neutral than Lawful Good. Though I went in with reservations, I ultimately found the setting compelling and the characters enjoyable.

Summary: If you like a fighting anime with intriguing concepts, some moments of comedy, tons of unique and likable characters and a plot that seems to building to something great, you're going to love this!

Story: 9/10

The story is interesting. A pair of saboteurs with a renewed interest in life because they have found someone to work for. A quest that is filed with twists and turns, and tons of different sets of characters each trying to accomplish their own mission. By the end of the 1st season, several plot points have been developed and the semi cliff hanger ending makes me excited for the next ... season. Unlike several other anime that have been cancelled, this got a second season so the slow playing of several plot points actually enhances the experience. There is a fair amount going on but it is easy to understand and fairly straight forward, making it far more appealing to me.

Art: 9/10
The artwork is well done. I like the character models and Chaika is very cute. There is a descent mix between very bright and dark colors giving it a good overall mix.

Sound: 8/10
The sound track is solid. It enhances the emotional and chaotic moments in a nice way. The OST is pretty solid and I added the opening theme to my anime playlist after hearing about 30 seconds of it, which is rare for me.

Character: 9/10
This is where the anime really shines. You get a solid buildup of each of the main characters, along with only a slight build up of other characters which will likely play a more prominent role in the second season. There is a complex issue being dealt with (I won't go into spoiler territory) but seeing how each of the main characters handles their "mission" is interesting. Even some of the evil characters had nice moments and their motivations were understood even if they didn't necessarily get redemption.

Enjoyment: 9/10
It is rare for me to binge watch an entire season of an anime without a break. This anime is something special, as it captures you right from the 1st episode and constantly feels like it is building to something exciting.

Overall: 9/10
There isn't much more you could want out of this anime. It has interesting concepts, comedy mixed in with serious moments, solid music and art and has enough likable and relatable characters to keep you interested all the way into the 2nd season!

Bad not. Anime part good. Toru agree?
Okayyyy I'll stop...in summary before I go into sections: pretty linear storyline, typical party adventure, pretty dark themes towards end, little hype but not bad.

Story: As I said, very linear. We follow one group, which grows in number as typical in travelling adventures like Inuyasha etc. Bit of side interest with the generals in the Kleeman agency and Six Nations treaty. Searching for parts of a puzzle (in this case a body!) pretty typical...

Art: Not bad, obvious black outlines everywhere on characters and horribly animated dragoon (in 2D apparently not that I noticed). A cool looking unicorn episode 1 ... though and animation was smooth in general.

Sound + Character: Opening by hummingbird from Deadman wonderland- coolfact, but is kinda okay, better than a lot in it's season (not rising hope though!). Actually really enjoyed the classical bground music. Ending theme okay not bad either. Voiceover for Chaika was kinda funny :P thought she was well portrayed, her personality made me laugh at times getting annoyed at Toru!

It's been said that the worst thing you can be is average. And that sums up Hitsugi no Chaika pretty damn well.

Hitsugi no Chaika (or "Chaika -The Coffin Princess-") aired from April 10, 2014 to June 26, 2014 and was based on the titular novel from 2010. It stars Chaika Trabant, a young wizard who carries around a coffin; Tooru Acura, a saboteur and former soldier; and Akari Acura, Tooru's adopted sister. The story is more or less a big McGuffin quest to find the remnants of Emperor Gaz. That's really all there is to say about Chaika because that's all that's even notable about ... the show. Hitsugi no Chaika is one of the most painfully average shows I have even seen. It starts average, ends average, and never rises above the middle ground. It does just as many things right as it does wrong.

Story: [5/10]

For starters, the story is average. It is, as I said, a big McGuffin quest involving the remains of the deceased Emperor Gaz. It's difficult to even say more than that because the story and writing are so bare-bones that there's basically nothing left for me to talk about. The biggest problem here is the tone. The tone of Hitsugi no Chaika is pretty much boring. This is one of the most tone-deaf shows I have ever watched. It is played completely straight with light-hearted moments sprinkled in, but at the same time there are several moments of heavy violence and gore. This is a huge problem when it comes to tone. Chaika swings back and forth from light-hearted to flat to dark at the drop of a hat. The show doesn't really seem to know what it is or what it wants to be, and the outcome of this is a show that lacks any real identity. It does not feel like a naturally progressing plot; it feels more like a semi-related string of events. It's like a box of candy. You open it up, and from start to finish what you expected is exactly what you get. And when you get to the bottom of the box, you eat the last piece of candy and soon forget you even consumed it at all. That's what Chaika is like. It is a series of incidents that start and end; with no build-up, no clever twists, and no climax. Generally speaking, if your audience is having thoughts such as "wait, that was supposed to be the climax?" or "it's already ending?", you probably didn't pace your story very well.

Art: [5/10]

As for art and animation, it is average. All the character designs are completely average, and for good measure they went ahead and used the "only main/supporting characters and villains get unique hair" trope, which of course means that you know exactly who you should pay attention to and who will contribute little to the story. Once more, another element that makes the show very predictable and uninteresting. The animation is nothing special. There are moments where it is pretty good, and many moments of incredibly laziness.

Sound: [5/10]

The sound and music is average. The sound design is middle of the road as well, as there is an even mix of good sound effects and bad sound effects. The music is...does anyone even remember the music? I can only remember the opening theme. I don't remember a single track from the score that stuck out as memorable. Overall, a forgettable effort from the sound department.

Characters: [5/10]

And as you could probably guess, the characters are average as well. Outside of Chaika, there are no memorable characters whatsoever. Akari and Tooru are horrifically boring and monotone, and not once did I really give a crap about what happened to them. All of the villains are terrible and cliche, with no effort put in to subvert your expectations. All of the supporting characters are uninteresting as well, with the possible exception of Fredrica. To be honest, Chaika is really the only thing that keeps this show afloat. Answer me this: if Chaika was absent, what would be left? There would be absolutely nothing for the audience to latch on to. Her cuteness and bubbly personality is the only source of life and personality in the entire show. If it were not for her, I honestly think this show would be completely unwatchable.

Enjoyment: [4/10]

I was bored out of my mind for most of Chaika. The characters were bland and uninteresting, the story was too predictable and tonally inconsistent, the art was uninspired, and the music was completely forgettable. It would be a miracle if I remembered anything from this show 6 months from now.

Overall: [5/10]

And that's Hitsugi no Chaika. There is nothing remarkable or noteworthy in this show aside from Chaika herself. If you like middle of the road action/adventure fantasy shows, then I suppose I could recommend it. Outside of that, there's no real reason you couldn't just pass on this one.

To avoid giving everyone an annoying "wall to text," I shall start my take on this show with 4chan's popular "What You Watched / Expected / Got" meme:

I expected "Scrapped Princess" with the female lead being a middle-school version of "Gungrave's" Brandon Heat. What I've gotten was "Scrapped Princess" with "Little Miss Gungrave" featuring a "Claymore."

The show, in order to reach out to the useless otaku-base, tries to make the token male lead, Toru, into another one of those useless and crapped upon self-inserts. But, with him being a former soldier and demolitions ninja, that's kinda hard to do. Akari's incest-dar is strong in her, ... despite being stronger than him and having "booty for days." Chaika's just cute and a creation of memes, even though she's the "daughter of the demon lord."

This is one of the few shows I like where there's no character I truly hate (unlike the lot of other animu titles currently being made). The art IS a little on the messy side and there are no upskirt panty shots, though.

This review will be split into two sections; the first, being brief and spoiler free, the second, being longer analyzing specifics where spoilers are unavoidable (this section will be clearly labeled).

Story: 6, Chaika has a story with a decent design, that is thought out, and makes sense, but ironically the major problem with Chaika's story is due to its characters--our ability to understand other people ultimately boils down to how well we understand what they want, and that is where this story fails. Tooru choosing to help Chaika in the first place is a great example, while there is the argument of, "he needs work", ... he is clearly overly attached to Chaika for no reason. These loose character motivations make the story (despite feeling well-planned) feel overly orchestrated and unrealistic--it seems like characters are walking down paths, not because they wanted to, but because it was necessary for the writer to get the ending they wanted. Lastly, the world of the story seems to have a rather unique lore, but not enough time is spent developing it.

Art: 8, The overall quality of the art is pretty good, and it manages to be consistent with that quality. There's a few scenes that are especially good. Also, this kinda ties into what I just mentioned about lore, but some characters have unique designs that you would think have some kind of lore-driven reasoning behind them (like the guy with the weird face tattoo/marking)

Sound: 6, None of the music was bad, but none of it was very noteworthy either. The main issue here was the English VA cast--most notably Fredrica and Akari, both of whom I wanted to gag.

Character: 4, This score is highly reflective of what I mentioned above (lose character motivations), but another massive problem here is that the majority of the cast members can't even be described without mentioning their appearance, because that's how little personality they have (the members of the Clemen agency are a great example of this--there are too many of them, and they have too little screen time to actually have complex personalities, or personalities at all in most of their cases).

Enjoyment: 8, You might be surprised with this, but I actually liked Chaika a fair bit, it was only when everything came to a conclusion that the problems with it became so obvious.

Overall: 7, Chaika is a story with a deliberate design, that unfortunately was overly concerned with its design, and not concerned enough with its characters' abilities to fit that design.



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First and foremost, let's address the well-designed story I mentioned before--ultimately, the entire purpose of everything that happens in this anime, is all apart of a machiavellian plan by Arthur Gaz to reincarnate into a stronger body, and honestly, I don't think this is bad. Gaz is shown to be truly obsessed with magic, to the point of doing countless inhumane experiments, so the idea that this guy would purposefully die in the exact way he did, so that his remains would become super-enriched with magic, that way when he reincarnated using parts of other creatures and his old remains, he would reach unforetold levels of strength that basically no one could stop. Up until this point, I think everything about Gaz makes sense, but then he did something that was so clearly just a way for the writer to kill Gaz--the writer added an insanely strong weapon that Gaz created (ya know, the kind of weapon that is of course strong enough to kill Gaz, but is completely unnecessary for him to have because he's already the most powerful living being). This is the first glimpse of the inconsistencies in character motives, and unfortunately it is merely the tip of the iceberg...

Let's rewind slightly to the beginning of the final arc of the anime--basically some nut job(one of the former heroes) decides to throw a massive death battle, with the prize being a piece of Gaz's remains, to use as bait to get the owners of the other pieces to come to him. I don't have an issue with this, what I have an issue with is the fact that the main characters (who possess the majority of the remains) decide to partake in this event... Why do I see this a problematic? If you know that there is a giant death-bout that ends with a winner walking away with the prize you want, what would you do? Go risk life and limb for that reward, or wait until after so you can steal it from the winner? (Also, let's not forget that the MCs aren't above stealing, and also have already tried to steal this specific reward before entering the competition). However this isn't the worst of it...

Remember how Gaz orchestrated everything? Yeah, so he's not actually Chaika's dad, and her entire identity is just a fabrication--which she learns, BEFORE the final arc. A guy, who worked for Gaz, literally tells her how they made countless Chaika's all who were given various reasons to attempt to gather the remains, but for some reason she presses on with finding the remains. The biggest problem here is that, ultimately what Chaika is told is "you're a tool for gathering the remains" and she insists that she isn't a tool, and how does she prove him wrong? By continuing to collect the remains... (I wish this was a joke). I will say, I'm not sure how the anime would've continued if she gave up on the remains, but it simply doesn't feel genuine in its current state.

Ultimately, Chaika was an anime whose narrative works well, and the ending makes sense. However, when analyzing the legitimacy of how genuine the characters act, it falls flat on its face. Despite this, I would recommend Chaika, simply for the interesting narrative, if nothing else.

Story 8/10
The setting of the story in the Hitsugi no Chaika universe is happening five years after the war against the Gaz Empire.At the beginning , the story follows a good for nothing , unemployed 20 year old soldier or more precisly a sabotager named Tooru Acura.He has an younger sister who is obsessed with him.Later on he meets Chaika Trabant , a fourteen year old girl who is on a quest to find the remains of her father Arthur Gaz the leader of the Gaz Empire.After being hired by her in order to help her find her fathers remains the three of them ... begin their quest.
The plot is not really original and it consists of them going from a place to place gathering the remains from the so called heroes who slaid the Emperor Gaz. Even though the story is nothing special it keeps you from getting bored and later on you will find your self trying to solve the mistery around Chaika.
The plot is one of the leading parts of the anime.


Characters 7/10
At the beginning of the story we don’t see much character development , but that changes as we go through the episodes. Little by little we get to know the characters past by various flashbacks. Later on we get interesting development of Chaika because of certain circumstances but I wont spoil that.
All the characters are entertaining especially Chaika with her cute style of speaking. The main character has guts and is ready to take life in order to accomplish his goals often using underhanded means to do so.
Tooru is serious and can give nice advices to Chaika when he needs to. He respects Chaikas wishes and will do anything to fulfill them. He was trained since childhood resulting in his speed and strength and ability to make quick decisions.
Akari is the younger sister of Tooru. She gets angry at Tooru and hits him when something annoys her.She often makes assumptions about Toorus so called lustfull side and does anything to stop him from commiting wicked deeds on Chaika or other females.
Chaika is the fourteen year old daughter of the Emperor Gaz whose memories are missing.She has a very strong wish to gather the remains.She has a good honest nature and is the only one that can use magic in the group.


Sound 9/10
The music of the opening was excellent even though I didn’t like the animation that went with it. Both the ending and the opening fitted this anime.


Art 9/10
The character desings were very good.I really liked Chaikas desing.The battle scenes were also good.The movements of the weapons and combat techniques were very smooth. The animators werent afraid to show blood which made it even more better.

Enyojment 8/10
Every aspect of the show was enyojable , from the plot to characters interaction. Watching this show made for a very relaxing and interesting expirience.

Sorry for the gramatical mistakes in the review and thanks for reading.

Not too bad, it's a fairly interesting anime. I like most of the characters and it made a good job of keeping itself interesting. It's just that there's a lot of flaws, if it wasn't because of my enjoyment reaching a 7/10(not getting bored enough to lose my desire to keep on watching throughout the entire thing), I would've rated it 5/10 thanks to the many flaws and feeling of mediocrity in what could've been awesome if the author had done it right.

The world it's set in isn't bad and the settings of magic and its tools are pretty cool. The powers of the mc ... is also not bad, but it's a pity almost nothing is ever properly explained in terms of powers and how things work, it's shallow. The harmony between the mc team is fairly good and I especially liked the dragon girl, oh, no, the "dragoon" girl, gotta keep it "unique", right? (laugh)

So, well, I don't feel like explaining much more about what I like here, because honestly, there isn't that much, I just enjoyed the mood and developments to some extent, it had a relatively nice flow despite its shallowness and plot holes. Therefore, let's get on with some of the flaws that I noticed and which heavily impacted my score.

First of all, I can't say the characters are that realistic, even for a fantasy anime. Their motivations are weird and it often feels unreasonable. I also can't say I'm that fond of chaika unlike most other people, she's too innocent and "pure", by which I mean that she's quite honestly not cut out for this kind of anime. Her idiocy and quickness to believe anyone she meets and inability to be merciless and cruel turns me off completely. She's a liability, yet she gets her way because the mc can't say no properly. She's essentially going on a huge battle adventure where everyone's out to kill her, yet she keeps on with that stupid crap where she trusts people too easily and doesn't want to kill humans. Come on.

Then we get to the mc, his sister and their powers. I am over and over again surprised at how they never actually seem to use their powers until it's way too late. It's obviously not that they can't, it's just that they decide not to and it ends with them getting defeated. As skilled and experienced warriors, they should know their own limitations and when to activate their powers, yet they don't and this happens so many times. Even if they need a few seconds to stand still and chant their little "magic spell" with their eyes closed, there are many times where they clearly had enough time for that and other times where they could've easily done so while being protected by their teammate or run away to do so. This can be quite frustrating when they get captured or defeated without fighting all-out. Well, it's even more annoying when they do power-up yet get f*cked in the a*s, excuse my language, by some random dude without power-ups, I mean, this guy trained since birth(well, since he could walk) and has all these special skills and even power-ups, yet he got easily owned by some guy that had no real training, at least nothing that could ever hope to come even close to the mc. That he's "tired" and that one of his arms had been stabbed just doesn't justify it, sorry, that's just not good excuses and it's just illogical and stupid, a cheap move to get more "drama/suspense"(which this series is extremely bad at in the first place). Well, sure, he turned the tables on the guy quickly with what was more of a low-blow than proper fighting(sacrificing an arm and pretending to be completely exhausted so that the guy let his guard down), I just don't feel like it was satisfying. Not asking for an OP mc, just one that can fight within the parameters he was assigned without getting weaker or stronger when the author wants him to.

Now, I can't keep on writing, so let's finish up with the general setting. There are a lot of settings I don't agree with or like here. One thing is that you can turn memories into magic, it only feels stupid and unlikely. There being a lot of chaikas and whatever else is really irritating as well, how can "our" chaika feel special if there's dozens people with the same role/appearance but different personalities out there? Hell, there isn't even any moving or good reason as to why they should gather the body parts, it's obvious from the very start they're just being used by someone and it's not hard at all to correctly guess who it is, it's way too obvious. The mc is just kinda bored so he decides to tag along while being with his brocon sister, that's the whole idea. Then they set out on a journey where their main opponents seems to be other chaikas and their teams, which is just boring, very boring. I can also tell you that the ending of this whole story was extremely bad as well, but that's not really season one so I won't go into detail.

Well, so that's it. Kinda average anime, nothing much, but it's not a bad watch even so. The settings are uncomplicated and quite dull, there's lots of plot holes and the characters feel relatively shallow despite having their good parts as well. I just don't feel much spirit/zest here and the story is flawed at best, it's not a good thing when you honestly don't care enough about the characters to get affected when they, for example, get captured/mind controlled, when you don't even care if the villains to die or not even though they're obviously disgutsing human beings because you honestly don't really feel that much for the main characters. Giving it a 5/10 seems pretty reasonable, but I'm going to give it a 7/10 because that's what my enjoyment was overall, it managed to make me keep watching without feeling like it was too boring and stopping, and that seems to be the only important thing for everyone voting, otherwise there's no way the scores would ever be so high. Come on, almost every show is above 7/10 and so many votes you see rate it at 8, 9 or 10/10, there's just no way shows could deserve that if they didn't completely ignore whether it was truly a good, well-written story without flaws etc.