Lower your expectations, NOW. Trash the images my first paragraph produced. Reduce the dramatic impact you are expecting by about 50% and lower the charm of the romance you are picturing by about 80%. And were you expecting quirky, vibrant, enjoyable, and interesting characters that you could feel attached to? You are only kidding yourself. With all of the proper cuts applied and high expectations moved to the side, you have what Toaru Hikushii no Koiuta really is: an average drama story that had all the right tools to be excellent.
Story (5) Characters (5)
What is a drama’s primary responsibility? To make you cry and feel emotion, that’s what. How does Toaru Hikushi no Koiuta accomplish this? Well, I can say that the method it uses is one I find to be obnoxious: It spends six episodes focusing on a handful of uninteresting cadet characters goofing around until finally, by episode 7 or 8, it decides to start chopping off some heads. In other words, by the second half, war breaks out and about fifty percent of the characters die. Essentially the whole first half of goofing around is designed with the purpose of placing weight on the characters’ impending deaths, however this was accomplished fairly poorly due to the fact that the characters were so uninteresting that it was just unspectacular to see them dick off, cook food, and constantly mock each other. However, most of the characters do establish romantic ties (although very light ones) with each other. And although it seems like a cheap half-assed effort to throw some easy emotional weight onto some of these guys, the minor romances might just give you enough of a reason to care for the characters.
That’s basically it. The story brings up a handful of characters, kills a couple of them in battle, and makes an effort to hoard your sympathies by showing the survivors crying all over the place and mourning over their lost love ones. There’s nothing particularly excellent or enlightening about this story, its characters, or its emotion. It’s really just the typical second-class drama.
And where does the romance fit into all of this? Well, lucky for you romance fans, the first episode jumps right into it, and it is perhaps the only episode where you will get a look at some genuinely heartwarming moments between Kalel and Clair. You think it’s going to continue to be this sweet? No way. The romance just… I don’t know the words… loses its gas I guess? Kalel and Clair just begin to seem too close and too familiar with each other. The romance would have been more effective had Clair been more aloof like she was portrayed as in the first episode, and Kalel would have to work harder to get her. You think the anime would have gone that way considering how it underscores the class difference that separates these two lovers. There were just far too few genuinely charming moments between the two. Even a plot twist that could have brought this romantic relationship to a crazier level was not taken full advantage of.
Aside from all of these things, there are a few other elements to the story that aren’t necessarily important. If you hear any of this “holy spring” or “end of the sky” sh*t and can’t figure out what the hell any of it means, don’t stress over it. Understanding those concepts will do nothing to better your experience with this anime.
Enjoyment (6)
If you cry as easily as Ari (the redhead) does, this drama story might work for you. If you’re like me and are more on the insensitive side, this story will be a waste of time. The story, overall, turned out to be a LOT weaker than I expected. I had the willpower to finish this series only because I kept on expecting for something brilliant to suddenly happen. That’s because this anime’s themes and concepts WERE capable of brilliance. It is too bad that so many faulty decisions were made in the storytelling.
