Hamatora the Animation takes place in a world and time similar to ours except that there are people with supernatural abilities or "minimums". The story focuses on an odd jobs / detective group composed of minimum holders called Hamatora.
The series is mostly episodic following the adventures of the main protagonist, Nice, and his partner Murasaki. Majority of the episodes follow a format where each pair of Hamatora minimum holders take separate cases and as the episode concludes, it is revealed that all the cases are related. This would've been okay for the first few of the 12 episodes just to introduce what Hamatora does but it drags almost until the end. In my opinion, there were episodes which could've been better spent focusing on the main plot. If the series was longer, it would've been more acceptable.
There's a major plot in the story as we are introduced to the main antagonist, Moral, and it unravels bit by bit per episode. That was probably the only thing that kept me watching this show every week. Without spoiling, the main plot is nothing out of the ordinary but how each portion is revealed was satisfyingly done.
The show loves to drastically switch between absurd humor to shockingly tragic with occasional gore and violence. Prepare for your emotions to get toyed around.
I won't comment on the ending since there's a possibility of a second season or OVA.
ART (7)
The art of Hamatora the Animation is on par with most series nowadays. I love anime with very bright colors and this show is one of them.
There are scenes which felt under budget or poorly made. I can dismiss badly drawn parts but there are scenes in the show that they even skipped a few frames in the animation. Most of the backgrounds had enough detail which is probably the only saving grace in this area.
They also play around with textures overlayed on the screen. I thought my TV had some smudge because of this. They also used rainbow-like filters whenever a minimum gets activated. Whether you like or hate these is your personal preference. CG is decent in the show overall.
Characters are very unique compared to most animes, making each easily distinguishable and memorable. Aside from this, most of the Hamatora minimum holder have some kind of distinct element in their character design that's related to their powers (e.g. Nice and his headphones, Three and his lion-like appearance).
SOUND (8)
The show has a good sound track. Nothing that would make you wow but good enough to build up the scenes. The OP and ED tracks are likable as well.
The VA's did an okay job throughout the show. However, there's barely any scene in the series that drew out intense emotion from a character. And for those few scenes, it wasn't the VA that pulled me in but rather the shock of the sudden change in the plot.
CHARACTER (6)
There are so many characters in this show. The Hamatora group alone has 10 characters. You also have major characters like Art and Moral. And on top of that, you have supporting characters and not-so-significant characters that are shown even in the ending. I liked the wide range of characters. It reminded me of Durarara!! and Bacano! But this does not go without a toll for the limited 12 episodes.
There's no major development for any character. There's also a lot of imbalance as to who gets screen time. For example, Honey and Three gets a decent character background and revelation of
their powers whereas Hajime (whom you'd think at the beginning of the is the 3rd most important protagonist) is almost always shown eating and she's barely involved any of the Hamatora cases.
Nice, the main protagonist, feels too easy-going. And when coupled with him being a prodigy minimum holder, he's almost never shaken throughout the series.
The spotlight goes to the main antagonist, Moral. He's your typical psychotic bad guy who's obsessed with the main protagonist, Nice. But because the storytelling of Hamatora's major plot was executed well, you're most of the time caught off guard by Moral's schemes.
Characters are very uniquely named. Nice, Art, Honey, Three, Moral... This was very peculiar for me but it made remembering names easier.
ENJOYMENT (8)
I have mixed feelings for this show overall. For the story, I hated when the plot seems to escalate and then next episode, we're back to the slow-paced detective cases. Again, the only thing that kept me was my curiosity of the major plot that was unraveling. It's a show that's okay to watch but not too excellent that I'd re-watch one more time.
Despite everything, I continued to watch this show until the end and I'm looking forward for the next season or OVA as hinted by the last episode.
