At the heart of it all, Nil Admirari no Tenbin: Teito Genwaku Kitan (or The Scales of Nil Admirari ~The Mysterious Story of Teito~) is a visual novel, otome-game, but don’t let the entire setting fool you that it’s the typical otome style show, because it doesn’t present itself as is, and as a guy, I do appreciate this show becoming something more special at the same time.
If you haven’t known about it yet, Nil Admirari no Tenbin plays a lot of history, replicating the settings of a bygone-era (the Taishou era) where democracy in Japan is just starting to be taken over from old political statuses of power, nobility and the like. And much of it plays out in the characters that are borne out of this situation. Kuze Tsugumi is the equivalent of a family generational noble-class family, that has started to fall from greatness from politics in the country, such as her role to be married that sets off the catalyst for what is about to happen to her own brother, who tried to commit the mysterious suicide that is through cursed tomes, hand-written books that display the affections of the writers it originates from, to suck its victims into the vortex of suicide. And due to such incidents, she is then referred to the Imperial Library Intelligence Asset Management Bureau (or Fukurou for short), an organization that’s dedicated to finding out the true meanings of the cursed books that cause people to wreak havoc, and with her abilities to see the cursed tomes, sets off at the later point, a pivotal and political shift against powers and humanity.
It is there that she faces the team of boys that are responsible and hold much regard to solving the various cases of the cursed tomes:
Hayato Ozaki, presumably the main hero to the heroine, standing up for justice as the leader of Fukurou. He poses a no-nonsense attitude and will go to lengths to help protect anyone that is in the line of danger.
Akira Kougami, who seems like the mysterious person, but still takes his work very seriously, and will try to draw lines between him and his relationship with the rest of the cast.
Hisui Hoshikawa, the boy with the duo-colored eyes, even though his looks may pass off that he is (presumably) the youngest of the crew, his deal-breaker always lies with reprimanding Hayato for his over-the-top, insane actions that cause the group some discomfort. But other than that, he is the well-mannered person that due to his past complications, has a dislike for women, and his powers come into play as the series progresses.
Shougo Akai, the son of the prime minister, the typical shounen who’s necessity was borne out of politics, whom has the same circumstances of external forces assassinating his father, and is forced to stay at Fukurou for safety, and overtime, comes to mingle well with the group, not by much but bit by bit.
Shizuru Migawa, often the titular player of women, he is an accomplished writer, in which one situation foresees that his books are part of a series of murder-serial killing sprees for the tragedies he has laid out in his books (his books are not cursed tomes). And due to certain complications, he resides in Fukurou to help out the main cast from time to time.
Rui Sagisawa, not part of Fukurou, but one who always chances Kuze by coincidence, and that with the over-arching story of the cursed tomes, has become engaged in a heated battle, but subsequently gave in to the cast’s demands.
Unbeknownst to the main group, a secret organization by the name of Karasu, which exists as the indication of black bird feathers, is out there to retrieve the cursed tomes to override the political statuses of the Taishou government, from the failed assassination of the prime minister (Shougo Akai’s father) to the abduction of Kuze Tsugumi for her powers to help the people behind the whole movement be realized of their dreams, mainly Takashi Shiginuma for his active role in pursuing Kuze to conquer the world to Professor Mozuyama, who is the creator of the false, cursed tomes, to capture more victims to his orthodox experiments.
If for the characters alone, you can pass it off as the generic otome-game features, but with the story setting and storytelling, comes a dimension of history so awfully maintained (just as in real-life) that it sets the course of the situations on hand to a more sinister but typical fashion move that is just jarring, but it works tremendously well here.
The art and animation by studio Zero-G, trying to replicate the Taishou era by using closer-to-history art and consistent animation is a definite plus. When this series first started, I can tell that it was going for the more opaque, historical art choices for explanation and further-setup for the story that is about to be realized, and what it does, it does its job to a T. In the history of otome games I have watched, this is as close as it comes to realizing the entire story setting, and everything meshes as well as it should be.
The music…it’s really something else. I’d expected a visual novel adaptation to have decent, if not mediocre music, but this show just made me throw all expectations out of the window, because this is the highlight of the series, so much so that it’s one of my favorite OSTs of this season and is worth listening to on its own. The music of kradness in the OP and one of Hiro Shimono’s debut songs in the ED just strikes and screams quality unimaginable to the naked ear.
In the end, this may be an otome-game adaptation, but honestly, I’d recommend this insanely obscure series that nobody cares for, even if slightly obliged to a niche audience. Yes, you do need to know a bit of the history which the story stems along, but when all is said and done, it’s a good series to watch, and trust me, the experience after just won’t shake it.
