For a 12-episode anime, the storyline and the plot might feel satisfactory at first glance but for me it was anything but satisfactory as the sudden surge in the pace of the anime at the last few episodes felt disappointing. There was this mini-arc at the end where Chaika Travant, who is endowed with long silver hair and purple marble eyes (typical to an anime character) and her thick eyebrows that exceeded the thickness of her eyelids when her eyes were closed along with her saboteur companions Tohru Acura, the male protagonist with a weird hairdo at the forehead and his not blood related hot younger sister with whom he grew up together in their village Acura, Akari Acura, adorning a long emerald green hair who is madly infatuated with Tohru and loves him the most; enter into this particular kingdom hoping to collect more of her father’s remains. The story suddenly picked up its pace abnormally and the ending was rushed with very little explanations given. There was this episode where the Chaika legion come face to face with the self-proclaimed Neo Gaz army/faction which seemed to be a filler episode. That could have been neglected with more attention provided to the main plot. I do realize that it is very tough to stuff all the necessary elements into a 12-episode anime which completely makes sense but still, they could have thought up to make the ending somewhat different.
Coming in to the animation, BONES did their homework mightily well especially with those magic circles and incantation circles that was a visual treat. The one that stood out the most was the action sequences. The hand to hand combat that were encountered mostly by Tohru and Akari were put forth really well and seemed realistic considering how magic played a major role in this anime. Action and fighting were in abundance and so was the enjoyment derived out while watching the fights. The only disappointment was how prematurely the fights between our protagonists and their adversaries ended prematurely either owing to the quick ending of the fights and smoke bombs with our heroes triumphing most of the times or how there were barging of noses by external agencies. In one particular episode, Zuita’s two eyes were facing in opposite directions which might be considered as a glitch in the animation that normally occurs and can be neglected without second thought. All In all, the animation was very good which accentuated the plot and provided some gripping moments through and through.
The music was scored by Seikou Nagaoka, who is unfamiliar to me, but he did a pretty good job. The music played during battles was exhilarating and was nice to listen to. There is nothing better than a good music to complement a battle and the anime remained faithful to it. The opening theme is DARAKENA, performed by Iori Nomizu, who is the CV of Vivi from this anime, suited magnificently to the main theme of the anime and the visuals provided in both the opening and the ending was suitably crafted to perfection. The opening was good, the ending was satisfactory and the OSTs were great. Nothing more to be told.
There are volumes to speak about how diverse the voice- crew for this anime was. Let me start with how catchy and cute Chaika Travant’s split Japanese was and how godly Fredrika’s seiyuu is. Chaika who is voiced by Chika Anzai could not form up proper words to finish the sentences. Instead she speaks with split Japanese which provides cuteness to her personality but at the same time, as the episodes wind down, this form of speech can produce traces of annoyance among us. Akari’s seiyuu who I believe is a new entrant, has this deep voice which suits her personality with ease. Then there is Yoshimasa Hosoya (CV of Arata Wataya, Junpei Hyuuga) who voices the character of Alveric Gillette. We all know how capable Yoshimasa is. Finally, Fredrika’s voice, who joins the Chaika legion around the 4th episode, undoubtedly provides inexplicably mammoth gallons of eargasms. Fredrika is voiced by the veteran Chiwa Saito (CV of Aida Riko from KnB), who happens to be my favorite female voice-actor. In the anime Fredrika takes many forms such as a matured, beautiful woman; a beast named dragoon that is as tall as a 3-storey apartment, a young girl and finally a chibi version of that young girl which you may or may not call as loli. In other words, Saito-san had to vary her voices according to all the four characters while portraying all the emotions of them respectively. She seemed to achieve this with considerable ease although it is evident that the voice for the dragoon might have been synthesized. The amount with which she had to vary her voice was innumerable and was always succulent to listen to. Out of the 4 personalities that she had to voice, my favorite one is that of the young girl who is of the same age of Chaika in appearance. Fredrika has a very vital role to play in the latter stages of the anime. I apologize for this huge paragraph regarding the voice-crew as I could not control myself when it comes to Chiwa Saito-san.
Overview:
Hitsugi no Chaika might not be an anime that satisfies everybody who like fantasy and magic and it might not be an anime that people who keep away from magical shows will watch. Although there is an involvement of sufficient amount of magic and spells, the action scenes negate the magic so that a balance is provided. If you are more inclined to the voice-crew side of the anime rather than the plot then this anime is crafted definitely for you. Beautiful voice-acting with correct portrayal of emotions and joyfulness is always at most times a good sign that the anime is not a horrible one. Many say that this anime is underrated but in my honest opinion it is definitely not. Just because it was overshadowed by No Game No Life and other anime, it does not become underrated.
My rating would be 7/10 if I consider all the factors and elements that make up an anime. Since I pay special attention to the voice-crew for almost every anime, I would rate this show 8/10 if I am inclined to the side where the performance of the voice-crew interests me instead of the main story and plot.
PS: Hitsugi no Chaika is getting a sequel which is slated for release in Fall 2014. This anime deserves a season 2 as many aspects of the story were left unattended and not explained properly. Also, will try to rectify any mistakes that I made while typing this review.
