“Yeah … We just messed up somewhere, that’s all …”
This interaction between two of the characters (and I won’t say which ones, so don’t feel spoiled; they are not the ones you’re probably thinking about right now) sums the whole thing up nicely. Because this anime is mostly about taking lives – in various ways: Take the victim that is shot. Or the assassin who is mourning for his lost innocence and feelings. Or the person who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets their life changed in drastic ways.
Story 9/10
The story is great. There is the perfect combination of action and characterization / character reflection. Building up tension works out nicely since characters and their motivations are revealed bit by bit, which leads to a complex structure that makes room for suspicion, manipulation and betrayal. Better not trust anyone too much, is what you think – and you’re still taken by surprise.
Plus there are two points where the plot changes its pace into a totally different direction – unexpected and absolutely surprising. Due to two time skips there are major changes in almost everything – character, setting, focus and apparently even the main theme. But it only takes a few minutes to make sense again, to fall together and to make you admire the diversity this anime has to offer.
Characters 10/10
This is the point were everything became really awesome – because for me characters are the most important thing of a story, maybe even a little bit more important than the plot. And the characters in this series had a fabulous way of developing. In the beginning they were just a bunch of people – most of them interesting, none of them likeable. There actually was a point to this story where I found myself sitting there, rolling my eyes and thinking: “Great, now I really hate every single character this series has to offer.” This was somewhere around episode 6, if I remember correctly. I felt like yelling at every one of them.
But they had their way of creeping up on me and before I knew it I found myself mourning their deaths. The way of introducing, developing and presenting the characters was just great. Everything was timed very well. Therefore you were able to understand each and every decision the characters made (although some of them might have taken you by surprise before that) and feel for and with them.
Art & Sound 8/10
The art was good. And it works out even more nicely, if you have a weakness for good looking characters ;)
The sound went well with the scenes, attaching the right feeling to every one of them – especially the soft gentle piano themes worked out nicely and Cals pocket watch theme was used in a very clever way.
Overall 9/10
It’s really great. I recommend it to anyone who takes a liking in mafia stories, moral conflicts, loyalty & betrayal, not overly emphasized but well paced drama, the crazy plans of a mad scientist or spectacular action scenes.
