Tokaku Azuma, the story’s main protagonist, is sent to Myojo Academy to participate in a competition between other assassins where the main objective is to murder Haru Ichinose (for seemingly unknown reasons). After vowing to protect Haru, both of their developments take a backseat to the side characters.
The show tries so desperately to cycle through each assassin within such a limited amount of time, that even the characters with the right potential just end up falling flat.
Not much is known about ANY of the characters until their designated episode comes up, and even then, it’s cut in half because the anime tries so hard to explain their back story. I’d say that there was SOME foreshadowing with a few of the later characters, but a lot of it felt so cryptic that the anime actually needed to hold my hand.
The show’s strongest character is Tokaku. Although her relationship with Haru felt forced at times, Tokaku really was the most consistent character of this story. Her motivations and development were at times overshadowed by the next punching bag’s struggle, but at least an effort was made to prove she wasn’t a completely 1 dimensional character. Aside from her, the only other notable characters are Haru and Nio.
Fortunately, the art was good. There were times where it seemed a little awkward, but for the most part, it was refreshing and clean. There’s nothing notable about it, but at least you won’t get eye strain just from looking at it. Some of the girls had a nice design, too.
The plot, much like the characters, is a bit rushed and sloppy. Actually, I would go so far as to say that the real plot ends prematurely. After a certain episode, it’s all exposition and resolution. This wasn’t really a bad thing considering how many characters it had to shuffle through, but I refuse to believe the last episode held any true significance due to how the story ended. In fact, nothing was terribly bad about the plot until the final episode.
As rushed as this anime was, it was extremely easy to watch. My interest was never completely lost, and the fast-paced action actually made it enjoyable to rewatch. The flaws are evident, but it never felt like a chore to sit through.
There’s also some yuri in it if you squint, but I wouldn’t watch it based on that alone as most of it is just subtext. That being said, there were only two actual relationships in the whole anime (three, if you actually care about poorly constructed back-stories).
Despite all these flaws, Akuma no Riddle is something you can pick up quickly. If you’re interested in lady assassins trying to kill someone, then this anime may be something to look into. I wouldn’t exactly recommend it, but it’s not something I would discourage against watching either.
