Hidan no Aria

Hysteria Mode... It's like 'Pervergy' (pervert energy) but doesn't make your hair spike up in such ridiculous proportions.

Joining me for today's review and providing commentary is none other than Master Yoda. Great to have you with me here today Master Yoda.

"To pleasure with you, it is my work"

Umm.. I think you mean "It is my pleasure to work with you" but somehow that came out wrong... Anyways, onwards to the review!

Hidan no Aria, or by it's English title Aria the Scarlet Ammo was one of the many anticipated anime this year. Heck, even some fanboy/girl even created a page for the series on facebook ... even before it started airing, while other fan claim it as "One of the Best Anime of all Time"
Even Master Yoda took the liberty of contributing by subbing a few of the episodes for the series.

"Subbing the anime, enjoy I have..."

Well I'm sure you do. But I can't say much for the audience though...

The concept of the series is quite popular among some factions of the audience in this modern era. An academy for training Butei (mercenaries but with a code of honor). Girls falling from the sky. Strong heroines. Absurd gun fights and explosions. And last but not least, HAREM! Everything an average youthful men wants but fail to achieve due to our constricting ties to reality. The premise itself made an interesting core for the story. But the question is, did it live up to the light novel's expectations?

Art wise, it is far from being perfect but nevertheless is sufficient to provide detail on the author's perspective of what a world that is run by secret organizations, mercenaries and assassins. I have no problem with the sound as well as the BGM composed was befitting of an action genre anime with a tint of comedy.

"Not if anything to say about it, I have! Seen better animation for action I have"

For the last time Yoda, you can't compare your movie animation to an anime animation. That's like comparing a light saber to a banana. But gives you heartburn but a different kind.

List of Characters

Aria H Kanzaki..
Contrary to popular beliefs, the H in Aria's name is Holmes NOT "H" for ECCHI! I'm saying this for the first and last time. I mean, what parent would give their daughter the name, 'Aria Ecchi Kanzaki"? And Holmes is spelled H-O-L-M-E-S not `Olmes. She's not a gangsta. You hear me Yoda?

"Your mother, word to.."

You know when you mix gangsta talk and Yoda talk, it just makes no sense..

Aria is supposedly the 4th generation descendant of Sherlock Holmes. A generic Tsundere (of course will come with an iron board chest) I find nothing particular interesting about her character in the anime. She's as generic as it gets when it comes to Tsundere female lead. Ok, so that covers the Tsundere Flat Chested Girl Fetish audiences. Treating the male lead as a slave, calling him 'idiot' for no apparent reason and of course being such a huge cock blocker. But she is, not, without some positive values. She is portrayed as strong willed and independent. She goes out of her way to prove her mother's innocence as well as following her advice on finding her "Watson" or in other words a partner.

And thus we have Kinji Tooyama, the Watson to Aria's Holmes.
Kinji Tooyama is conditionally weak and a coward. Oh no. Well this isn't really new. If you're a proud owner of a harem you should be prepared to be stripped of all your dignity and strength. That's the basic foundation of a "Class II Harem" But I said "conditionally weak because he has Hysteria Mode! His urge to protect women causes him to awaken to his the manly and elegant side. He chooses to escape from the Butei world after his elder brother was killed performing his duty but was badmouth by the community. Thus it would take a bomb on a bike, a bomb on a bus and a bomb on a airplane to change his mind and decide to serve as Aria's partner as a Butei.

And what Harem wouldn't be completed without a neglected childhood friend. Shirayuki Hotogi, she's sort of like a miko so yeah I guess that covers the audience with a miko fetish. She is one of the very few characters that possess psychic abilities.

"Within this young one, force is strong..."

Right... So Shirayuki is of course portrayed as the one who showers her unconditional love to our male harem lead. Which could only mean one thing. YANDERE!!! It's been a long time since I've seen a Yandere in a harem. Yanderes serves as an important mechanism in a harem.
It is indeed refreshing to see someone who could do the job for me, killing the main harem lead if he becomes such a nuisance.

So that's it for some of the main characters in the series. Wait, I know what you're thinking..

"THIS ISN'T TORADORA SEASON 3???!!!"
What gave you the slightest idea that it was, Mr.CAPSLOCK Warrior?

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID THIS WAS HAREM ANIME! THERE'S ONLY TWO GIRLS. YOU LIED TO ME! YOU SUCK AS A HAREM KING! STOP TRYING TO BE FUNNY! IT'S BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT!!"
Well, I wouldn't want to spoil the best moments in the novel and anime so I guess you have to figure out which other girls are in his harem. But I'm telling you it's not that hard to figure out... Basically any girl who had more than 3 conversation with the male harem lead in a harem genre anime will be automatically (and magically) fall in love with him.

So did the anime live up to it's expectation and hype? I would probably say no. However, it doesn't mean it was a failure. The novel had great aspect and content that if utilized in the anime would make it worth while to watch. Even though the whole youths in combat, mercs and assassins, ability users concept is pretty used many times.

Another interesting aspect about the series is that it follows a common trend in animes is to cameo famous historical figures names as characters. Well I won't spoil to you who appears and not.
But I will tell you who doesn't
-Georgia WashMyThongs
-Christy CallMahBust
-Napoleoni Bonerpart
And other ideas names on historial figures being girly-fied? Feel free to comment on my profile.

"Girl version of my name, Yodarina, it would be..."
I wouldn't be interested in a girl version of you anyways yoda

If you like gun duels, explosions, destruction and of course a follower of the Way of the Harem, all sandwich in supposedly labelled school life type genre? then you might find Hidan no Aria worthwhile. And if you like Yoda's fansub you could also request him to sub other animes.
Thanks for reading!

Haremu Kingu,
Singing Off!

Not the best anime, but Hidan No Aria was to me an enjoyable one, and since it is highly criticized, I decided to write a review.

The background of the story is attractive, I mean, studying in order to be able to fight criminals sounds nice, and it leads to some nice action scenes. Although the plot isnt that convincing, it is not a boring one. The beginning of the scenario is a commonplace, it starts with a highschool student, at the beginning of yet another year. The highschool not being seen as a true highschool, it can help to forget the number of anime possibily ... seen starting like this.

As for the art, it is a recent anime, so it is pretty good overall. For the soundtracks, the openingending, I found them pretty catchy (the singer for the opening is May'n, also known for the opening of Accel World), especially the opening.

And now, the part that contributes the most (as well as the storyline) to Hidan No Aria's bad reception, the characters. Basically, the story revolves around two main characters, one guy (Kinji) and one girl (Aria), a tsundere. Obviously people who dislike the basic concept of tsunderes will probably dislike this anime, since there is a non negligeable part of it around her. She has everything to fits the cliche, she is even voiced by Rie Kugimiya, so your point of view will also depends if you got bored of her tsundere voice or not. Kinji, on the other hand, is less of a stereotype, and is entertaining to watch. He displays ... quite a unique trait.

So, overall, this anime is more of a good distraction than a breathtaking anime, but still, isn't that the point of animes? From my point of view, if you are fine with tsundere/gun or sword fighting, give it a try, in the worst case you'd lose an hour or so.

If they decide to make a 2º season (they should, because the 1º season has lots of material to make a 2º) I think it will have some development on the romance area.

But still, I shall say this anime was entertaining, was it worth watching? Yes, because 12 episodes isn't that much, and the anime has its original side. Famous people references, gun / swords fight, great art and motion.

But for me, a LovCom fan, I still enjoyed the anime, but was a bit sad at the ending, because the ending its like: "Wait for the 2º Season"


Story 8/10: The Story...a School for ... some kind of "SWAT" students, to fight crime and escort civilians, those kinds of stuff. But the catch comes when most of them have special powers, or important grandfathers. You will get some kind of romance, but nothing special, why? Because of the power of the main character, where he gets on rampage/boss/assassin/master mode (its the best side of the story, where he gets f*cking badass) when he thinks/makes dirty stuff, or (OFC) when he looks to Aria (main female), here it starts some kind of "romance".


Art 10/10: The art/motion its the best on the anime, you can see the really good drawn action time, the fights, the reload animation, the characters and the ambient.

Sound 9/10: I normally don't mind about the sound, but when I do. Are on the fight scenes, I don't understand much about music, but it made me pumped while I watch it.


Character 7/10: Well..You have one guy that gets OP when he gets excited whit girls, one girl (secondary) that doesn't talk much but its OP :D, another girl that gets embarrassed when he thinks about dirty things, another that only loves dirty things, and for the last, (drums) a girl that wants to marry the main male protagonist. Nothing from another world. In my opinion this is a typical Harem.


Enjoyment 9/10: Yes, this is f*cking funny, and awesome. Nice gun/powers/swords fights. And yes, there are some echii sceens. Nothing too much. Light Etchii.


Overall 8/10


----


So my opinion about the anime:

1º Watch it if you like funny/harem style

2º If you like Light romance between 2 main characters

3º If you want an Harem where the male makes something useful for the girls (not a useless f*ck)

4º Its small, easy to watch, and it doesn't need to much brain effort to watch it

The only bad thing in the anime was the first episode, it was too GOOD, why? Well when he gets on "Hysteria Mode" it was f*cking badass (best hysteria mode you will see on the anime), the way he talks to the girl, the way he "kills" the enemy...too Good for a first episode.

Story-6
Art-9
Sound-7
Character-6
Enjoyment-8
____________
Overall-7


Now, I've read some of the reviews before watching this and after reading some of them they basically left the impression that this anime is really bad. Now that I've finished watching it I have to say this anime really is bad. It did have some very good potential but the creators couldn't quite grasp it. Hidan no Aria had a good foundation, which is a high school that changes its students into mercenaries, but even though they had a good foundation in the end they didn't build the house as nice as they should have been (I hope you guys get this analogy).
...
There was a lot of foolish mistake made in this and for starters there was no story. The episode started with action right off the bat, with little explanation, then the creators decided to let the main character/narrator explain what was going on.
Another mistake they made, which was really bad were the characters. There was little character development and a few of the characters for some reason had nicknames of Historic people, for no apparent reason. I honestly don't even know where the creators were going with this, but I think it was supposedly suppose to contribute to the 'story' some how.
I noticed while watching this, the characters repeatedly kept referring to an article that I guess the school came up with. I think it was Article 2, "Trust your friends and help when they need it". Lolwut, is this the best they got? I honestly feel that the creators came up with the mercenaries idea, and after that they just rushed into it. Also the whole bullet proof clothes thing really did ruin this anime. If the creators allowed wounding and blood, this would have been a whole lot better. Hidan no Aria really suffered because of the creators, the name doesn't even have any meaning!
One thing I noticed some people were throwing around in they're reviews was that there was a harem going on throughout this, and I have to say I completely disagree. I feel people feel if there's even one girl that likes the main character for no apparent reason then that's a harem, wrong!
Here's the definition that I strongly believe in for a Harem; Harem= when 3 or more girls have been confirmed to like the main character or have a strong fascination over him for no apparent reason or a not good enough reason.
Two girls liking the main character at the same time is just coincidence and not a harem, so in Hidan no Aria's case, there was no harem, there was only one girl that confirmed she liked Kinji.

But aside from all that, the art was pretty good, the characters were drawn well and so were the guns. The background were also drawn well, the art is probably one of the only good things about this show (yikes!).
The sound was alright, the opening and ending themes could have been better. As for the voice actors, there were probably only two I felt fit the characters they were voice acting, which is Aria and Riko.

Despite all that, I did enjoy this show. It entertained me, despite the nonsense it had. I really feel this show should be given a chance by everyone, although most people who reviewed it either said "it sucked" or "it's okay", I think everyone should give it a shot.

I've seen many "this anime is crap" reviews for Hidan no Aria, and felt that I, as a person who enjoyed this show should give his point of view about it.

Before I start...
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who enjoyed this since the average rating for this show is in the 7s

This can be seen as a typical harem anime at a few glances, which is true. However, that's not all of it. As you can predict from all the guns, this does involve a lot of (gun) fighting too.

Story: I think the story line is great (note: I have no problems watching ... same things over and over). The problem might be for some people is that this is a typical harem anime with all those typical females and the "I avoid girls" male.

The setting is a bit unrealistic, involving high schoolers who carry guns and swords with them during school (also note that on average, 3% of the students die during their courses (only for the harshest course, but I mean, highschoolers dieing??)) However, this slight unrealistic part of the setting really does allow all of the crazy things to at least fit in (still sticks out like a sore thumb in my opinion).

The second problem I had with the story is that the story is too spread apart, such as psychic abilities, a special item that artificially creates psychic abilities, and most of all, the characters (which I'll explain later)

tl;dr?
1.This is a typical harem anime with all the typical females.
2.Setting unrealistic (which I really enjoyed)

Art: I'll keep this short since I'm not an art critic, and I personally don't see that much of a difference of art in most animes.

Since this anime is already unrealistic, the art does fit well with Hidan no Aria.

But I do see many problems with it: (naming the major ones)
1. Too unrealistic (people manage to hide a gun about 1.5x their hand under their very short skirt.
2. Again, too unrealistic (their hair moves really awkwardly in mid-air.
3. Many Unnecessary ecchi moments which is not in the light novel

Sound: I enjoyed the sound, that's all I can say.
all the voice actors fit in with the character, especially Shirayuki.
I loved the OP, and I skipped the EP, so I don't know.
I felt that the bgms fit in with the situation, since I didn't realize of the BGM's presence until I looked back.

Character: The characters itself are so good I might of rated it a 9 or 10... if not for the random historical/fictional names that usually makes no sense.

The main character, Tooyama Kinji is a Butei that no longer wishes to stay as one, following an incident regarding his brother, who is also a Butei being bad mouthed by media after "losing" his life while saving the passengers on a cruise "accident".
He carries this special genetic trait,"Hysteria Mode" that allows him to be about 30x stronger and smarter when he becomes sexually aroused, but tries his best to avoid "using" it(hence avoiding females).

The main female character, Kanzaki Holmes Aria is one of the top Buteis in the school. She is the typical tsundere, cruel character who treats Kinji as a slave and decides to beat him around when she is mad or when she sees Kinji with another girl.

Another important female character, Shirayuki is a shrine maiden (miko) with psychic abilities. She is a great addition to Hidan no Aria, and helps create many comedy moments. She is the childhood friend of Kinji, who basically is in love with him. She is a yandere, nuf said.

Now the part which I mainly dislike, the naming of the characters:
Tooyama Kinji: I'm actually fine with this, but some of my friends aren't. He is based off Tooyama Kin-san, a historical Japanese cop (I think) in the Edo era.

Kanzaki Holmes Aria: This is obvious, she's related to Sherlock Holmes. She is the Fourth Generation Holmes. The problem is that she has absolutely no deducing abilities, unlike Sherlock Holmes.

Mine Riko Lupin (4th): Lupin the Fourth. I think her character fits Lupin, but the part that I don't get, is that she is sort of friends with Aria. Lupin and Holmes as best friends anyone?

Joanne the Arc (twenty-something generation): This naming has nothing to do with the character, so I dislike this.

It's getting long, so I'm gonna stop here, but there are so many historical character's decendents gathered in one highschool, which makes it really awkward and forced.

Overall: I liked the anime, but I felt that the anime should of been a little more loyal to the light novel, since I felt that the light novel is better. If you enjoyed the anime, try reading the novel (not sure if there are english versions, but if you can read Japanese, go for it) and you will enjoy it.

If you can handle all the contradictions and unrealistic things in the anime, go for it. I'm pretty sure it'll be worth your 6 ~ 7 hours.

If you read the whole thing, thanks!

Hidan no Aria ...
Aria the Scarlett ammo ...

In my opinion this has been a very enjoyable anime.

The story revolves around our male protagonist Tohyama Kinji.
The events that happen are in a good and logical sequence, very similar to the light novel. Also in my opninion the story of Hidan no Aria (I like the name better in Japanese) is not just an ordinary story. Yes of course, it is about a dude attending a high school, but that's not what this anime is about. Especially when you have read the light novel you know this is true. Also for the people that have read the ... light novel, I do recommend to watch this anime :) .
So, if you are interested in Action and Comedy you should definitely watch this anime! The balance between Action and Comedy is very well done (I think more animes should balance their genres better). . . . (8)

About sound and art ...
Let's just put these subjects together.
The art good. But I mean, come on, who cares that much about art if you just have a nice story with good development?
The sceneries are always well done, but are not really the parts you need to worry about. Sometimes the backgrounds are a little empty and need more people there, but that's all, really.
The sound fits the sceneries and the voices fit the characters, which of course is always hard to decide ... I think they thought this out pretty good. . . . (7)

On to the characters :)
The characters are very surprising, really.
They definitely are not the kind of characters you would expect in these kind of genres. But putting the expectations aside, the characters do fit the events very well and I very much enjoyed the personalities processed in the characters.
In the beginning there isn't much character development, but as the story progresses also do the characters and they start to mature a little bit more after each event. This is what I liked very much. . . . (8)

I don't think I have more to tell about the story, sound and art and characters

I really enjoyed the anime and the light novel so I recommend both of them, though I know there are people out there who don't like reading :P.
I you really don't like reading, try the manga, that's also awesome.
I definitely liked them myself and told a lot of my friends, who also watch anime, to watch Hidan no Aria.

But in the end this is all my opinion, haha. If you want to confirm my opinions you should watch the anime yourself and submit a review for other potential watchers!

But long story short:
Good anime, nice balance between genres, nice story, good art and sound, unexpected personalities and good development. Very enjoyable :D
. . . (8)

Now this anime isn't anything particularly special, but I wouldn't dismiss it easily. This is a very cliche Shana (main female protaganist is a loli tsundere with powers basically) lesque harem anime, but it has its good points too. There are a few twists and turns and the anime is kept at a brisk pace to back it up as well.

The story is an albeit comicly overcomplicated world that isn't very well gone into detail. It takes place with the protaganist, who when sexually aroused changes from an introverted weakling to ... the opposite in so called Hysteria Mode, extroadinary powers, control, and well basically he can do everything humanly possible. Yeah, see that target 300 yards away? It now has a bullet hole in it's center. He leaves his house with breakfast prepared by the obvious childhood friend flag character, Shirayuki Hoto, to a military school described in little detail where he then would resume training for, uh capturing criminals and stuff (bear with it, the anime gets better!). Anyways, suddenly he then gets attacked by a thingy ma bobby contraption best described as a machine gun on a scooter where he frantically tries to avoid losing his life (don't worry hes the main character he's probably not dieing in the first episode), and dadadada! (Stein's gate reference) he is saved by a myserious short underdeveloped character with bright pink hair that is safe to assume to be the Shana character of this anime otherwise known as Aria Kanazaki. He then goes into hysteria mode when fanservice is accidently given to him and he then shows off to the girl with a few impressive moves and a cool attitude. She of course gets interested in him, and the rest is history they team up, meet a few more interesting characters, have little tamper tantrums where she beats up on the protaganist throughout and the anime continues from there. 6

I can't say too much about the art as it is decent quality in 2010 with maybe wanting a little more on the backgrounds and perhaps some of the city strips, but otherwise it is just what the anime needed. A nice, smooth, relaxed art that is to show all of the Tsundereish things Aria does.9

I liked the sound alot as well, if your a Rie Kugima fan you will probably like the main female character. The rest of the voices are pretty average especially the main character who sounds all depressed if hes not Mr. fantastic mode. The opening(s), I don't remember if it had more than one, were great and fitted the anime well. The ending had a beautiful tone to it as well and contrasted the sunnier opening well. The bgm throughought was used appropriately, but sometimes felt you wanting more. Either way it was better that most anime of this genre. 9

Okay, well the characters did get a little annoying. The main guy protagonist, Kinji, is kind of a depressed guy who only slowly starts to realize what hes got (the imaginary harem none have). I have never been a personal fan of the loli tsundere chacter really but if that is your thing Aria is the eptiome of it and you will love her and the gun's she produces at inappropriate times when she is embarassed. The childhood friend Shirayuki has some pretty funny lines and is very likeable, as long as you can tolerate the relationship she has with Kinji where she literally throws herself at him. A happy go lucky girl character,Rico, is very interesting and develops pretty well as the anime goes on. My favorite character and the saving grace of this cast of misfits is Reki who is a sniper at the military school/ cop school/ everything.whatever who is a quiet shy little girl and you only barely see her start to come out of her shell, but when you do it is rewarding. In total the characters blend averagely and form a pretty varied cast, hopefully some don't get too much on your nerves.You will also join some later characters whose names I am not going to spoil, but aren't gone into depth much anyways. 6

For some reason, despite all these flaws, I really did enjoy this anime. When there was a funny scene it was downright hilarious. I encourage you even if you don't want to watch this anime to youtube Hidan no aria- I didn't get pregnant! because its one of the funnier scenes in anime I've scene and doesn't really need to be seen too much in context. Also, I plainly enjoy watching the girls fall over a guy like this in different ways that he doesn't deserve even if it is really unrealistic, it is just entertaining, and better than I think most harem portray it. The fight scenes were pretty average and relatively short, but it did shine a better light on the characters and their personalities under pressure. Also shows that the main character's two sides in contrast rather well ( if you can stand either side that is). Either way I enjoyed this series more than I expected with the combination of awkward bits of romance, comedy, stiff battle scenes, and well fan service. 8

Overall this anime is a worthy watch, but I wouldn't make it a top priority, Take a break watch some TV finish that really good series you haven't had time to watch yet and when a break comes, try to fit this series in comfortably because it will be worthwhile to do so, hope you like bright pink hair and a bright red face with twin guns because you will be seeing a lot of it. 7

This is a 2-episode review. Let's dive straight into this.

[6] Story: Basic. Mainly, I don't like it because it seems dull. From the looks of things so far, I can guess that the tsundere girl and guy with hidden potential are going to fight against something, together of course. I've seem too much of it. And of course, there is cliche moments...the guy sees the girl naked. Big woop.

[9] Art: J.C. did well here. As expected. I haven't seen anything outstanding though, so I'll leave it as a 9.

[9] Sound: Voice actors and actresses, amazing. Opening ... and ending themes were outstanding, I thought they fit the anime well.

[5] Character: Here's where I rant. If you don't know or haven't noticed, the characters are UNORIGINAL. Ever watched Shakugan No Shana or Toradora? The voice actors are the same from Toradora main characters to Hidan No Aria main characters. Sure, they're amazing VA's, but what hurts the most is the similar personalities. Aria strongly resembles both Shana from SNS and Taiga from Toradora. What makes me mad the most, is that in episode two, Aria is saying 'URASAI URASAI!". I MEAN WAHT THE HELL. THAT'S SHANA'S LINES. THAT'S JUST A NO NO. Aria's personality is generic too. She's tsundere, raging and hitting and yelling before slowing revealing her soft side. Frankly, she's annoying. She beats up the guy for no reason sometimes. Also, she tells the guy to be his slave. Strong resemblance towards Toradora. This guy, I don't even remember his name, but I said before he had hidden potential. Just like Yuuji from SNS. I suppose it's a bit different, but all this unoriginality is messed up. I hate it.

[6] Enjoyment: Idk. I felt like it was a 6. Mainly because of my favorite voice actress

Before writing this review, I've already read many other reviews saying the show was bad, sucks, not worth the time, etc...but (if it doesn't sound too cheeky), I'd say the show ain't half bad so screw the what they said!

Personally I enjoyed the anime. The foundation of the story are strong, the characters design are good, the art are well-drawn (especially the weapons), the sounds are fantastic.

The settings are: students went to a special school in Japan which trained mercenaries. A lot of people are, well, not pleased with this saying it's too unrealistic. Lemme remind you guys that this is fiction, it's fictional! Where ... the hell in the world that have a school, training high school students to become mercenaries?!

The main characters are basically the descendants of all the famous families in one way or another.

-->The male lead which have a certain circumstance called "Hysteria mode" which turn him into a super whenever he's sexually excited, this plot, some says cliche which the protagonist gets power from something perverted, there for, he's a pervert. But actually he's not a pervert at all since the beginning he already state the fact that he had a hard time dealing with girls and they overlooked that.

--> The female leads, which are descendants of Sherlock Holmes, Arsene Lupin and a long line of Miko(s). As for this, they says it cannot be related since the design are much too different, well, I've got a thing or two to say about that. Originally, both Sherlock Holmes and Arsene Lupin are fictional character which were created by Conan Doyle and Maurice Leblanc so what's wrong with creating the descendants which are different from them?! Not always do the descendants have to be better than the head of the family. As for the Miko(s)'s descendant, this character is totally fictional so I don't have anything to say.

For the storyline, they says it doesn't fit. I'm not trying to offend or anything but I don't think you guys have brain if you says it doesn't fit. It fits perfectly and may as well remind you what I've already said at the beginning, this is fictional!

And one more thing, if anyone interested in watching this, the original light novel series are definitely the thing for you!

P/s: I'm deeply sorry if this review offended anyone, I don't have any intention of sort so I hope you guys can forgive me if I did.

If you dont want to read skip to the LAZY REVIEW at the bottom:

This anime starts out pretty great. Guns, Girls, and protagonist on a bike. Usually i do a "One episode trial check" when i just watch the first episode before watching an anime. it passed the trial test with flying colors, and i decided that it is going to be a good anime.

The story is an interesting twist on the generic "girl meets boy, girl decides to live with boy, other girls dont approve" harem setup. The powers of the characters are pretty well distributed, and have an interesting activation for one ... of the characters. there are quite a few different plot twists that surprise, but the story ends in an cliffdrop "to be continued" type ending with no definite ending.

the visuals are great, the girls are pretty MOE, and the overall art style is great. the characters look nice, with good facial features, and the explosions and action scenes are well drawn.

The sounds are pretty good, with pretty good soundtrack.

The character development is great, the characters (although visually generic to anime) are well developed and unique. the character traits have interesting twists, and there might be a few unexpected character changes.

the story is enjoyable, the characters are fun, it is not a very serious anime at times, but at others it gets very "edge of the seat" serious. this whole anime was great, and the only thing that puts a damper on the story is the lackluster ending.

Overall its a good and interesting anime, with fun, slightly ecchi, haremy, action, shooting and very serious bits at various points. just when you think you figured the story out, there will be a twist that will surprise you.

LAZY REVIEW: Good Story, Fun and Action with some dramatic bits. Interesting anime, that will appeal to many different types of people. Highlight: characters, Lowlight: Wishy-Washy inconclusive "to be continued" ending.

I'm probably going to receive a lot of hate for this review since the voice actor that shall not be named is voicing her common tsundere role, but anyways, I'll continue.

First of all, you have to realize that reviews on MyAnimeList can be, at times, very unreliable, due to the fact that many people say. "I love this anime, omg this guy gave a review criticizing it, better criticize his/her review by clicking not helpful." I'm always like: It's called Helpful or Not Helpful, not Agree or Disagree.

Moving on, Hidan no Aria is another tsundere, romance, action, fantasy anime done by J.C. Staff, so no ... surprises that there is harem in this anime. Personally, I don't care if there's harem in an anime, so I couldn't care less, but I've always had a soft spot of harem romance animes, especially with this one. Hidan no Aria was one anime I was very excited for, since it included my favourite genres, and it look like it had a promising story line and stares a cute anime girl as the main character.

If you've seen Zero no Tsukaima or Shakugan no Shana, you'll probably get a sense as to what Hidan no Aria will present you with. A guy doesn't want to do this or that or get thrown into another world the doesn't want to be in, and falls in love with a girl and bam, you have a tsundere romance + harem.

For some reason, I particularly enjoyed watching Hidan no Aria. The story and plot may have not been the strongest suits in the anime, but I found the animation to be very fluid. Here and then, I see reviews saying "Oh the animation isn't realistic" Well a couple years ago everyone fell in love with Dragon Ball which compared to now has crappy animations and those other animes, but no, today it's all about realism and how realistic the drawings or character movements are. Personally, the animation in Hidan no Aria for me was very fluid and eye-pleasing, and I would give it a solid 10 in Art.

The soundtrack for Hidan no Aria is definitely not the strongest soundtrack J.C. Staff has done, but it's above decent. I liked it, and found it often set the atmosphere very well for action scenes. I give Sound an 8. The opening is kind of catchy, but it's really a matter of your own personal taste.

The characters in Hidan no Aria are not very unique, in that there are similar to the past tsundere romances J.C. Staff has done. However, they od have likeable personalities and not to mention the multiple cute anime girls this anime throws in. In terms of character development, well, there's not much room for character development in 12 episodes, which is why I want this series to have a Season 2. You obviously see a change in the way Aria (the main character) treats Kinji (the main male character) since it is a tsundere romance. Other characters also develop somewhat, but are otherwise not as noticeable. To me, character development didn't really matter because I watched this with the mindset of this being a cutesy tsundere action romance anime, so I give this section a 6.

Overall, even though the anime may not have been original, I would say its definitely worth your time to check it out. If you have disliked the past J.C. Staff tsundere romances such as Zero no Tsukaima or Shakugan no Shana, this one probably won't be any different. For some inexplicable reason, Hidan no Aria is an anime I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would based on my impressions from the reviews. I give enjoyment a 9 and overall rating of 9. It may not have been ground-breaking or moving or a deep plot, but it had all the elements that I was watching for which was basically action, romance, and just that kind of casual anime to watch for the cutesy stuff and comedy. Comedy is very well-fitted with this anime.

Alright, this is my first review so here goes nothing.

I for one actually liked Hidan no Aria. I have watched many anime in my time, from ghost in the shell to sailor moon to zero no tsukaima and while it is generic, there was something different about it that drew me in.

Let's face it the story wasn't particulary inspired and the art was not the standerd i'm used to and the charecters were completey unlikable.

And i think thats why I enjoyed it as twisted as that seems. Aria is a spoiled brat which is why I like her, she isn't the typical hero i'm used ... to even though she could fall under your typical tsundere. She treats people like dirt at all times though I ended up feeling sympathetic over her mother. You can see how she ended up so uncaring and bitter.

The male lead Kinji also falls under the unlikable category and yet once again he makes interesting for me. His casual, frustrating sarcasm is so different from what i'm used to in this sort of anime. His hysteria mode is obviously of multiple personality disorder and uninspired and yet I'm greatful for that. To often advance modes and forms take over an anime, completely smothering it.

Riko is manipulative, impulsive and sadistic, but I couldn't help but narrow my eyes with Kinji when she acts innocent. Its generic, she has to be up to something, but what next, how will she betray them next because she has to. I can't help but smile when I realised how right I was.

All and all the story is not complex which is perfect for some light viewing though it occaisionally requirs comedy relief to keep you interested.

I rarely if ever care for an animes art work though it can add a little bit extra to the experience. Though I wouldn't let that take away from my own viewing experience.

Music is important in anime. I have been known to acquire GB of official soundtracks and I was disapointed by its soundtrack which was a blur, you could not careless as one track went to another.

As may have noticed I like the fact that the charecters didn't have to be likeable which I enjoyed immensely. It was one of the none generic parts of this anime.

Overall, It was an enjoyable viewing experience which I would recommend to anyone who wants a change of pace in an action and comedy anime that still manages to be light viewing, even if it does have an unique sense of humour.

I'll admit something, Hidan No Aria had an interesting concept and setting, a mercenary school with multiple fields of expertise to master and learn. However it is let down by its mediocre story and characters.

Story (6)-
Ever wondered what it would be like to become a mercenary and save the world? Well I have and I was quite interested in the plot synopsis, so I watched it and I wasn't disappointed. The action was solid throughout the whole thing and so I enjoyed it, however the plot couldn't be more generic. Bad guy, mystery, Big boss , beat big boss, The end. That's basically the ... plot and so it was a bit of a let down in total.

Characters and Art (7)
Well the characters aren't flat so its good, however they do fall into some stereotypes, the protagonist being strong only when it counts, tsundere partner, the innocent looking bad guy and etc. They're quite well designed and their animation is quite good, so it was well above average. There were a few flaws in the fight scenes, but nothing to hate.

Sound (8)
Better than most, fitting music and OP, ED aren't totally generic and are quite enjoyable

Verdict
It's a 7.5 for me, its interesting and I believe that the light novel develops the plot into something much more exciting, however that may be due to the allowance of length. Its enjoyable and the setting is unique, so if you're looking for a good action/bit of romance its not a bad one to look into.

I don't know why many people are complaining about the AA version. I see people crying a lot about this only because it's not a sequel of the first anime.
Why would you want a sequel of the first version of this? I see people saying this is kinda 'cringe' because they're lesbians (i don't see anything wrong with it, but idk, just otakus averages being that) and ironically the first version was even more 'cringe'.

An Aria who gets shy about childish things, having a virgin protagonist and a basic trama that is even less interesting and more predectible than AA.... that's what is the first ... version of the anime.

AA not just has better characters, it improved the personality of Aria, she is much better, mature and individual in this ainme, and it's the same for the ex protagonist even if he is a secondary character here.

I defend this anime, I will give you an advice: Don't let comments from silly kids with average tastes affect your view of an anime / game.
First look at it, then justify it for yourself

So yes, Hidan no aria AA is better than the original.

This anime has received some very harsh and negative reviews, which i cannot agree with at all, to be perfectly honest i would definately put this up in my top 10 animes.

To start off i am a guy and from the get go you will notice this anime has been made with the focal audience being male, although many females will still enjoy this but i know some people do not like the 'fan service' (although its not that frequent or mature), and some of the themes and references to do with some of the story and interactions between characters.

The story itself may not be ... 100% original and i have heard it has borrowed alot from 'Toradora' but to be honest what is completely original these days? if it aint broke dont fix it right?, ...
The story is original enough to enjoy it without having feelins of any dejavu, although the main story plot isn't exactly the most compelling piece of fiction you will ever watch/read it is enough to keep you interested and entertained throughout the entire anime, not 1 episode went by where it though if i didnt watch that, id be find following the story because every episode has little key bits of information that are used in later episodes as you will come to find.

Art and Sounds are clean and crisp, nothing out of the ordinary but that isn't saying they are bad, It looks good and suits the style of anime they created and the sound is great to, sounds like this kind of anime should.

Characters in the Anime are diverse and deep, you will more than likely find yourself a bit attached to one or another, As the characters are your typical characters thay have features and such that will have you second guessing some of their motivations, wanting to know what could have happend if and things like that, as they are deep enough for you to understand and get a pretty good feel for them but still mysterious enough to create twists and turn though interactions with other characters throughout the anime, and i think they found a great balance and it works very well.

My overall enjoyment would score 8.5/10 this anime is great and i would recommend it to anyone who wants to watch an Action/Adventure with a hint of romance chucked in, It is also available in english dub.

Would also love to see a second season of this!

Hope this helps :)

I must say that I am not quite the regular ecchi watcher, so my opinion will be stated from the viewpoint of a regular otaku, gomen.

This anime bases on the existence of the Butei, a society of private detectives that function like a creed of law enforcers. I find such plot idea to be really interesting, and the anime explores it with adequate measures.

Now, the male main character, Kinji, is the regular kind of apathic guy, that seems to be almost a cliché on ecchi animes, this attitude of his annoyed me at first, but on the roll of events, he becomes a better person, ... and this is quite pleasant to see.

Saa, I would enter in details regarding the girls involved, but I think it may be better if I refrain myself from doing so and just give a quick insight on her personalities to avoid spoilers. There is, in order of appearance: Shirayuki, a gentle, seemingly innocent girl. Aria, tsundere, loud mouthed and the main character. And, last but not least, Riko, a perverted and twisted girl. They are quite interesting counterparts and all of them have their interesting points... On a side note, Shirayuki is my favourite.

The overall plot is interesting, but gives me a feeling of being far too hurried up, and the ending gave me a feeling that a new season is yet to come, otherwise, this anime leaves many questions in the air, the excess of special powers here and there seems to be a bit too much, I wonder if there should be so much variety for such a short anime. But, all that aside, the anime offers lots of fanservice and many comical scenes too, that gives a good atmosphere between the action packed fight scenes.

What I really feel obliged to compliment, though, is the sound. The music is great and is applied on just the right moments, it fits on the atmosphere swiftly and the participation of May'n is really something else. But, I can't rate it a 10, because I still have this weird feeling that something is off, it is a slight, subtle feeling, but still relevant.

On a final note, the art is very good, I admire the style of the author not only for the characters, but the ambient and guns. Nozaki-san deserves a pat in the shoulder.

This was my first review, I hope it was useful and I am sorry that it turned out to be so long. I appreciate your interest in reading it, domo arigatou gozaimashita.

Note: I may possibly be overrating this anime since it is the first one of it's type that I have watched. Take this into consideration before deciding if my review is helpful or not.

Art (8/10)
Just what you would expect from an anime in 2011. Nice detail and color used in virtually all scenes. With this being the first anime with guns that I have watched, I may have overrated the art a bit. Despite this, I truly do believe that the guns and bullets were animated quite well. The way they bounce off and hit objects looked real for the most part. Solid artwork overall. ...

Characters (8/10)
At first, I thought that the stars of the show were only going to be a loli tsundere female and a useless male protagonist. I'm glad that I was wrong. With the addition of a yandere (Shirayuki) and a kuudere (Reki), along with the seemingly bipolar Riko, I found the nice variety of personalities extremely interesting. For the most part, I found all the characters likable in one way or another. Yes, even a yandere like Shirayuki (whom I hate) had at least one good point in her character. With each of the aforementioned females having at least one episode that centered around them, the series became more interesting. Although they had limited screentime, I felt that the other side characters (Mutou and the rest of Assault) didn't get enough character development. However, I understand that since time restraints may have been the cause for this.

Sound (7/10)
This time, I'll focus on the voice acting first. With Kugimiya Rie and Majima Junji (Taiga and Ryuuji in Toradora!) pairing up once again, it felt a bit nostalgic when I heard Aria and Kinji speak. Aside from the excellent voice acting, the other sound aspects of this anime fell short. Although the OP and ED are not terrible, they are certainly not memorable. The BGM felt like it wasn't even present with the instrumental version of the OP being played at the most critical scenes. After accounting for all of this, the voice acting by itself wasn't able to impress me enough to increase my score for this category.

Story (9/10)
After reading the synopsis, I was given a brief idea of what this anime would be about. The idea of a loli twin-tailed tsundere wielding pistols and fighting against evil with the help of a "sometimes skilled" partner sounded generic but interesting. However, I was quite surprised at how the story developed. Yes, there were some really predictable and lame scenes but I was quite forgiving since this was my first time watching this type of anime. According to others, this adaption was done poorly but since I haven't read the LN yet, I'm basing my score on what I saw, regardless of what happens in the LN.

Overall (8/10)
A decent anime overall. Nothing too spectacular but it didn't bore me to death either. With a great variety of characters and a interesting story, I enjoyed watching Hidan no Aria. As for a second season, I don't really mind if there is going to be one or not. If there is, I will definitely watch it since this season met my expectations. The somewhat cliffhanger ending was a bit annoying though. If you got nothing better to do, just give Hidan no Aria a try. There's a chance that you may like it despite what many critics say about it.

I think people are being way to harsh on this anime. Because I enjoyed it pretty much. I'll explain thoroughly. Check the overall review for just a quick explained one.

Story: 7/10 Butei's. An Martial Art Orginations that train High School Students to masters of weapons. These students are trained into something like an "Super Police Force". The butei's works like a police force, and throughout the series the act like one, including arresting people and have the same basic rules as police enforcements.
It's just that Butei's are trained to an unnatural level. Some students have got some supernatural powers through Blood Genes and families who ... often relate to famous people like Jeanne d’Arc 500-2000 years back, Which persons they are blood related to have no bigger difference. So the writer have had a little fun, took our world, throwed in guns weapons in a High School making it kinda a Training Facility, also alternating the past for Blood Genes Powers.

And we follow mainly 2 people, Kanzaki, Aria H, and Tooyama, Kinji. Kinji have a supernatural power to kinda, "super heightened" all senses to a supernatural level. Making him one of the best Butei's in the school. The school also have the Butei's in ranks, S-Rank, being one of the highest. Which Kinji is better then the most powerful S-ranked, Aria, in his Heightened State called Hysteria Mode. This mode activates when he basically gets enough turned on by a female body. Mostly, Aria activates it the best for romantic reasons.

So! :D
Mostly all side-plots relate to the main story.
I, in no way can say if this is Original or Not. But it's a new story with different settings and I found it very unique to my watching experience.
You get to see a lot of perverted stuff and comedy. The main plot can be deceiving what it is until maybe half the episodes. But none the less, the side plots are good action, good comedy, slightly ecchi feeling, but it's not ecchi. If it ever comes to boob action, the sometimes have censored with big annoying white beams. It's just perverted comedy.
It somewhat like an police serie, (but don't think its anything like one) where you have your side plots that revolves mostly in-front, while the main plot hangs in the back, continuing little by little in between until the end of the series.

Art: 8/10
The art is not great, but absolutely not bad. Everyone resembles High School Students, the school uniforms does suite the idea of an High School Training Facility, as I would call it. I've noticed a little that it's cheap at some points, but very rarely. The models of the eyes (especially the female ones) are new to me, which gave me a more unique feeling to this anime.
Not in any way, should you have problems watching this art. I enjoyed it a lot. It's great, but in ratings in terms of detail and time put down to the art compared to masterpieces. It's an 8.

Sound: 7/10

The opening is really discussable. It's not original, but it has a nice flow to it. I don't like the gunshots in the opening music. It totally ruins the feeling of a good music. Especially when the gun shot sound is awful just by itself.
Background music, I honestly say, it's not much focus. It gets the job down and it's good. But I can't remember anything of the background music. (even now after writing this review, i watched the final 5 episodes) The Opening is to me very remember-able though.

Voice acting.. Personally, when I started watching this series, I didn't want this High School loli type because I have seen a lot of these, and I liked it in the beginning, now it's just annoying. OfCOURSE the voice actor for Aria is Kugimiya, Rie, if you don't know who she is and the kind of voice she does the most, she voices the heroine, main female character for Toradora, Astarotte no Omocha!, Hayate no Gotoku!, Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima and many more. All of these have a very similar heroine in matter of personality. It's like they took the same girl, and put a different set of clothes on her.

Character: 7/10
This Anime is a harem even though it's not in MAL details. You have one guy, namely Kenji, and he is the only guy you will see. One or another guy comes in rarely.
Aria, as explained before. Nothing original at all. But fitting. Kugimiya, Rie is a excellent voice actress regarded highly in the industry. But these loli, short-tempered, small breasted heroines are not fun anymore. But that does not effect the ratings in my opinion.
They are more main characters, Mine, Riko. Hotogi, Shirayuki.
The characters all have unique personalities and everyone gives you different laughs. Riko is the girl who likes kinji in a perverted way. Shirayuki is the one that loves him and protects him with her life. One great harem.
You will get conflicts between the girls because everyone want Kinji for themselves. I personally love these kinds with conflicts of love in all ways. Perverted, funny, and so on. And it is what you will get.

Enjoyment: 8/10

Even if this series had some downers that is not even worth mentioning, it was a great series and I expect a second season. I laughed a lot, this is comedy mild-ecchi and super funny. Good action with martial weapons and guns, good side plots that turns out to all be a part of the story.

Overall: 7/10
Overall, it's a well deserved 7. Could easily be 8. You will get Action with martial weapons and guns. Comedy revolves around a harem type where all the girls like the same guy (funny girl fights that get really serious and conflicts), mild ecchi-comedy, you wont see underwear frankly anything, just a little bit, then it's censored. Side-plots that revolve around the main story, all good and funny. I enjoyed it a lot and I'm looking forward to the second season if one is to be made.

I would recommend this to people whom like action and harem. If you don't like ecchi, i would say don't watch it. This is more a guys anime then girls. But it's also up to the individual.

Ok, this is my first review so keep that in mind. the main reason why i'm writing this review to question why people dislike this anime so much, i don't think is all that bad, if u're looking for the reason why skip to the last paragraph. It's not the best anime ever but it was defiantly enjoyable. i get how the world/setting doesn't really make sence the some people with a school full assassins, thieves, and super powered shrine maidens who carry guns and katanas. but i think u can over look that, i mean i didn't even think about that when i started ... watching the show.

some people think that the Sherlock Holmes, Lupin IV, Jeane of Arc, and Dracula stuff is totally unrelated, stupid and shouldn't in the anime but so what if aria and riko are ancestors of Sherlock Holmes and Lupin i didn't care about that at all. i guess they could have named the antagonists something else instead of Jeane of Arc and Dracula. but again, i just overlooked it.

i can understand why people didn't like the characters too well they did some pretty stipid things like ordering people to be their slave, locking the door and asking to have sex in the school grounds, putting a penicle in ur breasts etc but isn't that what a romantic comedy anime suppose to be like, i mean i could name so way worse perverted stupid scenes in other animes like Seikon no Qwaser, Sora No Otoshimono and high school of the dead. i do agree the Hysteria Mode thing was pretty stupid though.

there was one character that i hated and that was kinji, i mean seriously, they drawn him so badly to the point where it really didn't make any sence for any of the girls to go for him. he is totaly incompetent and a total idiot, except in Hysteria Mode but even then he's pretty bad.

But overall i don't think this show is all that bad, really. Reason being i like the action/romantic comdey genre and i liked the characters Shirayuki, Riko and Reki. i like how riko says her name, her recklessess, her unpredictable character and her combat skill. i like Shirayuki because of her combat skill and her emotional character and i like reki because of her emotionlessness. so that's the reason why i don't hate this anime. it certainly keept me entertain which is the main purpose of any anime. And i think the action scenes were done very well.

This is a good anime that has an unexpected story, with the main characters it adds a great flare to it.

The male protagonist is a person who you can really understand, not wanting to experience the issues that come with the job. With his 'ability' (keeping it vague to not spoil it) he can easily accomplish many things but he hates it and how it activates that is what you have to admit and say sucks. Though some people would love it as well.

The female protagonist has issues with connecting with people which can also be understood. "The strong are alone" though i cant remember ... where i heard this it really comes to mind when watching this anime and seeing her relationship with her fellow butei.

You can really connect with the main 2 characters and with other characters it adds a funny flare to it as well it also allows more interesting things to happen.
No one wants something where the same people do the same thing over and over again. Thats why this anime is so good you only have the male and female protagonist in each 'mission' that way the 3rd character is someone different which allows a person to keep interested it whats going on.

I recommend this anime to people who like lots of action with surprisingly lots of comedy mixed in.

Sometimes you just have to feel sorry for the male protagonist but on other occasions you just want to be in the same boots too.