If I had to describe this anime in 3 words, it’d easily be “out of place”. It seems they tried to incorporate so many things into this short series, leaving you with a very fast-paced, poorly executed mess of out-of-place fanservice, actions, animations, and story elements.
Story: (4 / 10)
If you read the synopsis for this series, and you’re expecting an intense killing game involving these cursed “killing goods”, then you might as well leave right away, because this is not at all what the show is about.
Well, that’s not completely true as this deadly game is the underlying (or overlying?) plot for most things that happen in the series, but there’s no progression in the story, or any kind of wrap-up at the end.
In each episode, the two main characters, Kiri & Iwai, will go somewhere, be attacked by an author (an owner of killing goods), defeat them, and then it’s over.
The story is littered with plot-holes, and out-of-place events, but one thing that really bugs me is how all the authors talk about how they must be the one killing the Hair Queen (since killing her will grant you any wish), but none of them actually do anything...
There’s more or less one character in the entire show who actually tries to kill Iwai, but he has about 5 minutes of screen time, tops, and not a single line of dialog. All of the other characters just seem to dawdle, or just attack Kiri instead.
As an example, Byouinzaka and her sister took care of, and were the only ones (of the authors atleast) who knew the whereabouts of Iwai, yet for years they didn’t ever think about killing her, and when Kiri shows up they’re actively trying to protect her instead?
The plot is filled with things like this, and there were several times where the MC should’ve died, but he didn’t because then they obviously couldn’t continue the series...
Art: (4 / 10)
This series was at most pretty average looking. There’s really not that much detail in neither backgrounds nor characters, and for a show so focused on hair, it doesn’t feel like they put much time into making it look good at all.
Yet again, a lot of animations feel very out-of-place, and don’t fit in with the voicing or with what’s currently going on. In fact, it made for a pretty annoying experience, having these “off”-feeling animations constantly ruin any mood or tension set by the ongoing events.
Another thing that bothered me was the fact that every fighting scene in the first 3/4 would be saturated, with only a tint of color, which would vary from fight to fight. Then, when the fight was over, all color would return. Was this the effect of the killing goods, because if it was, that’s yet another thing that was never explained. However, it seems during the final few fights, they dropped this effect, and just kept all the color.
And then ofcourse we have the fanservice. Oh god, the amount of fanservice in this show completely ruin the notion of it all being a dark killing game, and it makes for pretty awkward situations.
Sound: (5 / 10)
The opening theme, “Unmei no Ori” performed by Aimi, would be perfect at setting the tone for the anime, if the show was actually as dark and sinister as it tries to be. The ending theme, on the other hand, is a rather happy song, yet it feels more fitting to the series, than the opening does.
As for the voice acting, I can’t really say it was very good, to be honest. As I mentioned earlier, a lot of the voicing didn’t fit in with the animations, but even at other times there were times when it would just feel off.
I think the biggest cause of this was that the voice actors were all very “stale”, as if they were actually trying to hold in the emotions that they should’ve used. There’s barely any emotion among any of the characters (with some exceptions, ofcourse), a lot of the dialog just feels dull, and coupled with the out-of-place animations, it all makes for an almost painful experience...
Characters: (4 / 10)
Honestly, the characters aren’t anything spectacular either. There’s barely any development, and a lot of interactions between characters are just weird. It seems they tried to give each character their own unique characteristic, and they really try to force it onto you, so that you’ll really notice it.
For instance, Kiri’s obsession with hair (and not just cutting it, as is first implied), is often forced into scenes, and he will kiss & lick it, among other things, which makes for even more out-of-place content. In fact, there’s quite a lot of random licking in this show...
It also seems like they wanted to fit in as many stereotypes as they could manage. Ranging from the lolicon professor, to the cold-hearted sister, to a cute and innocent police officer, as well as the tsundere classmate, just to name a few. The problem with this, is that most of them are so poorly done.
A perfect example is the tsundere classmate. At completely inappropriate situations, she will shout some generic tsundere line, with the most emotionless voice acting and most off animations ever, and it’s very painful to watch, every time she does this...
Enjoyment: (3 / 10)
I feel like the concept of this show really had potential, and it’s really too bad to see it ruined by the sloppy writing and execution. I think it needed to not be nearly as fast paced, and thus also be longer (~24 episodes), while also fixing much of the out-of-place stuff that plagues the series.
Granted, there were some characters (Emily) I liked, and some of the fighting scenes and abilities shown were pretty cool (Rulebook), but it all fell apart, sadly.
There were also a few funny moments for me, but unfortunately I can’t say these were probably intended by the creators, as it was more about the less than average execution of some scenes...
So, this is yet another show I personally wouldn’t even touch with a 10-foot pole...
