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“All human beings can only perceive the world through the filter of their values. Mediocre values may be harmless, but they are also utterly worthless.” - Moral

Story (7/10)

Hamatora is the collective name of a group of detectives, who solve various cases in order to earn a living. Sounds rather standard, doesn’t it? Well, not exactly. All the members of Hamatora poses some superhuman power, be it incredible speed, or inhuman strength. These are known as ‘minimums’, rare innate abilities which only a small percentage of humans can use. Of course, regular citizens have no idea of existence of such individuals, in order to protect the ... minimum holders from discrimination due to envy. A safe balance, allowing for a normal life for all humans. What happens when a certain someone who desires to tip the balance and send the established world into chaos appears? That you will have to see for yourself.

Mostly, when people speak of Hamatora, they mention the genres ‘superpowers’, ‘comedy’ and ‘mystery’. While this is true, I believe Hamatora deserves another tag, namely ‘psychological’. Once you watch a few of the first episodes and get down to the plot and the main villain, strong reasons for such a category emerge.

Though many accuse the series to be avoiding its own plot with episodes known as so-called ‘fillers’, this isn’t entirely true. Yes, there are quite a few episode which don’t exactly pertain to the plot, but there is a method in this madness. This is the producers’ sneaky measure of slowly revealing the plot to us. We are introduced to the characters and have some time to become familiar with them and the relationships between them. Meanwhile, as our brave detectives continue solving supposedly unconnected cases, all of them start to connect and suddenly the plot is right in front of our eyes. True, it may not be the most effective and interesting way of presenting the story, but in this case it works. Even during later episodes where some of them seem to have not much in common with the development of events, there is usually at least one connector to the main plot, which reveals more of the truth to us. Certainly, there were animes which have done it better than Hamatora, but this was a pretty good attempt at this strategy. Or at least, not a painfully bad one.

Art (7/10)

The art in this series is absolute eye-candy. The colorful character designs and the no less vivid backgrounds are simply pretty and enjoyable to look at, as well as serving the purpose of creating a certain atmosphere. The slight issue which I had with the graphics was the odd-looking gradient on certain objects and characters, but this is more of a personal preference. As for a low-budget series, the graphics are kept at a surprisingly high standard.

Sound (7/10)

The soundtrack may not be a particularly memorable part of the series, but it left me with a good impression. Sometimes cheery and invigorating, other times grim and eerie, the soundtrack reflects the atmosphere of the series in all aspects. This also goes for the opening and ending. They simply fit the style of the anime. I particularly enjoyed the ending “Hikari” performed by Wataru Hatano. It had a certain sense of power and intensity to it.

Characters (8/10)

These days it has become increasingly difficult to create a series with relatively original characters, but Hamatora seems to have done a pretty decent job in this field. Most of the main characters don’t fit into the standard archetypes we have become so familiar with. Moreover, the writers managed to keep all the characters varied. Whether it was personality, appearance, clothing or even attitude, they were all different in each of the main characters.

Many reviewers write about the lack of character development in the series. While this is true, it is also worth mention that with the amount of characters we were presented with and only 12 episodes to fit this part of the story in, this should be understandable, at least in a small extent.

As you’ve probably figured out, the members of Hamatora are our protagonists. I shall not go
into detail about most of the MCs, since it would take quite some space. However, there is one character I would like to present closer, as he may just be the trump card, which makes this series worthwhile – the antagonist.

Moral’s ideology is simple and straightforward, yet his means of achieving his ultimate goal are wicked, but logical in a way. But psychotic as he may be, he is relatable. He is by far, one of the best antagonists I have seen in an anime so far. Why? Any guy can do bad things for the sole reason of being evil, but Moral? Oh, no, he believes he is doing the right thing. He is trying to save humanity, after all. He is the best type of villain a series could get – a villain, who considers himself the hero.

Enjoyment and Overall (7,5/10)

I will admit, Hamatora is neither a masterpiece, nor a breakthrough in the anime world. Even so, it was an enjoyable series, which kept me curious through all 12 episodes. There were moments which got me excited, left me hanging or even made me shed a tear or two. It was a solid position, but also nothing that you would regret missing. I wouldn’t recommend this series for people expecting a fast pace and quick development of events . I’d say it’s more of a… reserved, relaxed series for watching during a longer weekend.

If you have the time and the patience, give the series a try. Who knows, perhaps you might turn out to love it?