OP Sequence

OP: 「Scarlet Ballet」 by May’n
Watch the OP!: Download, Streaming ▼

「La Bambina」
“The Girl”

J.C. Staff is back with the Toradora duo of Majima Junji and Kugimiya Rie in their latest light novel/manga adaptation, except this time we have a bunch of armed detectives in training known as “Butei” (Busou + Tantei). As I described in the Spring 2011 Preview, the attention to detail with the Butei specializations and the weaponry they use is one of the highlights of this series. What I didn’t mention then was how the lowly rank E protagonist Tooyama Kinji is actually a rank S Butei in disguise due to his Hysteria Savant Syndrome, a.k.a. “Hysteria Mode”. Supposedly a genetic condition, when Kinji gets sexually aroused — even if it’s by rank S Kanzaki H. Aria’s unbelievably soft A-cup breasts in a push-up bra — he turns into a “mega playboy” with superhuman judgement and reflexes. The end result is an extremely suave change in personality, which comes off incredibly lame with Kinji cutting the cheese pretty thick on everything he says to girls, but extremely enjoyable to me as a longtime fan of DNA².

I suspect most readers will be too young to have read/watched Katsura Masakazu’s early 1990s series, but the similarities in the main protagonists are uncanny. In DNA², Momonari Junta is literally a “Mega Playboy” when he transforms, winning over every girl who basks in his good looks and chivalry, and causing a severe population problem in the future with his children, his children’s children, and so on. Much like Kinji’s Hysteria Mode, it’s completely absurd and activates involuntarily, but when you throw in a “DNA Operator” from the future and the fact that Junta has a condition where he throws up when he’s sexually aroused, you get one of my favorite romantic comedies of all time. (Puking anime yay.) In Hidan no Aria, the time-travelling DNA Operators and population problem are replaced by Butei and the criminals out to kill them before they graduate, but most of the same appeal remains intact.

While the production is fairly top-notch and there’s reason to believe this will turn out to be a relatively good series, I’m inclined to call it a guilty pleasure of mine since there’s very little it can do wrong in my eyes. I’m more than willing to overlook how Aria’s short skirt can defy gravity while she’s dangling upside-down just because it looked cool. Some of the best fan-service came from Kinji innocently slamming into what’s arguably the best airbag in the world, and winding up in the always precarious north-south position. The two female support characters introduced thus far, childhood friend/model student Hotogi Shirayuki (Takahashi Mikako) and “big-busted loli” otaku Mine Riko (Ise Mariya), served as great polar opposites in making Kinji’s desire to keep his Hysteria Mode under wraps even more difficult, be it wearing lacy black underwear or sharing wild sexual delusions with the entire class. You can never go wrong with Ise Mariya in these wacky breast-hugging roles either. I just love the goth frill accents Riko’s added to her own uniform too.

Story notwithstanding, the real question is how bearable Kugimiya Rie will be in another outspoken, lolita-type role. There’s definitely a heavy dose of all things Rie from Aria as she goes all out with her signature tsundere voice, but the difference from characters like Shana is that Kinji can sit her down and leave her humming and hawing as he takes care of business. Had it not been for his Hysteria Mode, there’s a good chance that this series would’ve gone down an all-too-similar path of an elite heroine dragging an unwilling male protagonist along for the ride. However, with Kinji’s god mode to balance out his unwillingness and most of all, to keep Aria’s haughty attitude in check, it’s a whole different “beast” of a high school romantic comedy. The gun-touting, knife-swinging armed detective premise simply serves as a distinguishing aspect to make all the quirky scenarios work. And work they do, if this first episode is any indication of things to come.

At the moment, I’m so sold on the character interactions and wanting to see more of the all-mighty Kugimiya Rie tsundere brought to her knees that the plot is completely secondary. I still want the progression to be somewhat sensible and have its climactic moments, but my tolerance level is pretty high for blunders along the way simply because I enjoyed this first showing even more than I thought I would. That’s coming from someone who was looking at Hidan no Aria to be the replacement for Infinite Stratos too, which as most people will know, was my favorite new show last season.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「カメリアの瞳」 (Camellia no Hitomi) by 中野愛子 (Nakano Aiko)
Watch the ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

Eat your heart out SHAFT. J.C. Staff’s countering with some extremely tantalizing jailbait of their own this season. Fresh off of Yumekui Merry, they’re now masters of the midriff too.

Preview

113 Comments

    1. I’m sold because of the guns. They’re animated so well and I haven’t seen an anime with guns this detailed in a long time. Nichijou is an exception because weapons aren’t part of the story.

  1. Like the general story, so it’ll be a pretty good series I think. Not an amazing one, but a fun watch- almost like a better Dragon Crisis.
    Maybe it’s because when in comparison to Denpa Onna, Iroha, AnoHana, ect. it loses some of the impact for me.

    I’ll stick it out though. Aria looks really cute in that white dress <3

    Aisu
      1. Just peeking at the manga, they basically covered the first 3 chapters and a little bit of the 4th in the first episode, minus a few scenes and the addition of new ones.

        At that pace, they’ll either start taking material out of the original light novel, or just make their own material, though they might slow down their pace.

        Soiyeruda
      2. Knowing JC Staff, they’ll probably making their own stories… and a sucky one. But I do hope they’ll stay true to the light novel. The stories are very deep and interesting, which I doubt JC will be able to do if they decide to make original content of their own.

        Serapita
  2. First episode was pretty much faithful to the manga so far.I’ve been keeping up with the manga way before this anime was even announced.Can’t wait to see a little catch up.

    anishuma
  3. COME ON, seriously how many of yall also thought that that bubbling pressure screen meant he was about to pop a Boner..RIGHT?! RIGHT?!!!……………………..just me?

    BROOKLYN otaku
  4. School Uniforms now come equipped with para-shoots, guns, & double katanas?! Betcha ya won’t see that on J-List!

    After all the ludicrous obento we’ve seen from Haruna, there’s literally nothing that can surprise me in that department. What did surprise me was how cool Kinji was. Reminds me of Ayumu. I like him. And his gun. Speaking of which, I think it’s pretty cool how people are thinking of new ideas for “school codes”. I haven’t seen anything like this before.

    Oh and if Ayumu doesn’t score with Haruna before the end of the show, I’m dropping this! >:1

  5. Isn’t her name Mine Riko? Probably just a typo though. I’m primarily watching for Shirayuki and Kinji. It will be a few eps until we get to meet Reki who I’m also looking forward to. Aria just doesn’t stand out enough for me.

    Ys10
    1. Same here! I am looking forward to Shirayuki X Kinji the most and Riko x Kinji a whole lot more than with Aria cuz she gets a bit annoying later on for me. While Shirayuki and Riko moments with Kinji are always a blast and always worth it to look forward too, the only reason why Aria gets a great appeal for me is when she gets caught up in the jokes with Shirayuki and Riko.

      X
  6. Here hoping Kinji doesn’t turn into another “Touma”.
    I had fun watching Kinji(Hysteria) VS Aria.

    Thanks for the post, Divine. Hope someone from the team will continue blogging this?
    Filed under First Impressions, Series Introduction.

    FlamingYu
  7. Definitely looking forward to the hero-heroine interactions, but based on light novel spoilers, there’s one part of the plot that sorta puts me off. Can someone tell me if this has been true for all the light novels so far:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Lee
      1. Well, I took your advice, and I have to say that I don’t know what to think now. The mystery is getting thicker and thicker, so I’m really hoping that this anime gets a continuation to eventually cover all of the light novels.

        Lee
  8. Ugh… Although the episode is good, can anybody tell me if this will become a harem series later on? Or are the three girls-one guy just for an ongoing gag for him trying to repress his hysteria mode?

    Justin
  9. [x] Short
    [x] Tsundere
    [x] Flat chest
    [x] Making the male protagonist her dog/slave
    [x] Kugimiya Rie

    Wait.. I’ve seen this before…

    I’m a huge Kugimiya Rie fan, but I still can’t help being baffled at how closely this follows her previous characters. xD

    1. I, for one, will be boycotting J.C for a season, …. and if they’re doing one of the shows I’m already watching, crap.

      The animation looks great, but I’m not sold on the premise :/. <-This, and the fact I'm trying not to watch 10 series again this season after watching about 10 last season @_@….. guhhhh need to find series to drop T__T.

      Kumakaori
    2. If JC Staff pull another ending like Yumekui Merry I’ll stop watching their shows. I’ll only watch after last ep is aired and ppl confirm that they didn’t screw up.

      Tiberium Wolf
  10. Usually I can tolerate and often love this kind of stuff, but this episode gave me a migraine. It feels like I’ve seen this kind of stuff a million times ._. Each of the characters so far are total cliches and… I just don’t feel that there is anything special in this series. I read a few chapters of the manga and the first two chapters of light novel and I still disliked it 😛 I mean, the setting is a bit interesting, but I didn’t really get why a bunch of robots had to go outside the gate and retreat, then come back three minutes later >_>. Plus the characters seem really, really, static, though you can’t really know that for sure until you finish the series.

    tl;dr SEGWAY GUN-BOTS RETREATING IS POINTLESS.

    Click
  11. I spent two year waiting for this to be animated ever since I first read the light novel two years ago.
    I pray for this to be done right, especially with my favorite loli + tsundere + Rie Kugimiya combo inside.
    Oh, loli with big bust in Gothic Lolita style and Childhood friends/Mikos wearing black are fine too.

    Kaiser
  12. 1911 is single action, how can it be fired without the hammer cocked back before first shot.

    Uzi barrel and receiver is robust, I know because I have one. When a bullet pass throught the barrel it would act like squibb load, it will not blow up. If the uzi fired, the bullet would stack behind it one after another. It still won’t blow up.

    Beretta M9/fs 92 uses 9mm parabellum 1911 use 45 (acp) browning auto pistol not interchangable.

    dh19440113
  13. Aria exercise very bad muzzle control, very bad example of how to own and use a firearm. blued 1911 is lighter than stainless and if you double weld a stainless and blued steel you will have different recoil action throwing off your shot. Basically you can’t hit nothing. Both stainless or steel, a pair of pistol must be balanced with same weight.

    dh19440113
  14. Anyone thinks that J.C. Staff is running out of ideas? I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again: “They can’t make something that is not Toradora/Zero no Tsukaima/Shakugan no Shana-based.” However, I’ve been proven wrong like in Infinite Stratos one too many times so I’ll give this a shot. After all, I did say that I’ll be anticipating this one.

    Razgriz
  15. So who’s the hotter jailbait, Denpa Onna or Rie voiced Tsundere # 45267? I have nothing against Rie but I’m still waiting for the fifth Tsundere Warrior. Will Aria be able to achieve this? Will her presence outshine Denpa Onna or not? Will this series be popular enough for another Rie warrior?

    Will Aria join the ranks of Taiga, Shana, Louise and Nagi? I’m doubting it a bit but who knows?

    It seems though that no one cares about the story. I mean talk about unoriginality. Well there is butei thing but I’m not liking this at all.

    1. Lol, you’re not the only one =03. He was THE first ‘mega playboy’ I can remember, with lines so cheesy, you could have a heart attack. Glad to see I’m not the only one who instantly thought of DNA^2 when I watched this =03.

      frubam
  16. I read the manga and I have to say I hate the main character of this show, he is one of those spineless coward who act like the guy in kampfer that when ppl push him around, instead of beat or kick their ass his attitude is you can do whatever u want I am too lazy to bother. I hate that type of character the most if someone is forcing me to do something and I don’t want too, you can sure bet we be trading blows before u think I do what they want. Those that refuse to stand up for themselves are just plain pathetic especially when is a guy that let ppl walk all over him, he might look cool and all when he transfer but his normal personality need to grow some balls.

    Mike
    1. Are you calling him a spineless coward just because he wouldn’t stand up to Aria and refuse to be her slave? There’s a reason why he agreed, which you should know, if you really did read the manga.

      If I’m mistaken, then I’m sorry, but I’m following the novels and the manga, and I don’t recall any occasion where he seems like a coward and refuses to fight when an opponent presented himself. Maybe if you can clarify a bit on which incident you’re referring to, then I might be able to understand where you’re coming from.

      Dusk
      1. K this is a spoiler from the manga
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Mike
      2. OK, I see what you mean…
        Show Spoiler ▼

        So, keep watching if you’re willing to bear with it. It only gets better, in my opinion.

        Dusk
  17. You actually noticed the goth frill on Riko’s uniform? I didn’t even noticed until it was mentioned by Kinji, which should be in the next episode. I must say, very observant, Divine. Are you a descendant of a certain British detective?

    Dusk
  18. Awesome OP is awesome. Can’t wait for the OST to be release.

    lol at Hysteria Mode, why can’t they call it chou ikemen mode? :p

    So, there’s only 12 episodes?

    Ah, DNA². How nostalgic, been 11 years since i watched it.

    Omega
  19. I for one really liked this episode of Hidan no Aria, definitely continuing!

    Tsundere characters = win!

    I found it absolutely ridiculous how Kin-chan changes into a wannabe-BAMF through hormonal excitement. The fact that he walked out in the open while still talking to Aria was ridiculous as well! To top it off, he dodges bullets and shoots down the barrels….ugh. Guess that’s anime for you ey? :

    Surprisingly I enjoyed the entrance Aria made by falling down with dual pistols! Now THAT was BAMF!

    I’m also watching this show because Kin-chan has the same voice as Ayumu from Kore wa Zombie~!

    The OP and ED were GREAT!

  20. shoot down a gun barrel isn’t impossible, some very famous gun slinger is able to shoot down barrel and shoot holes in quaters. To do that you need have a custom pistol, custom 5 inch barrel, drilled compensator, tigger job of crisp 3 lbs and match bullets.

    dh19440113
  21. looking for some comedies for my aching heart and i found 1 actually 2 series to watch. thnx for the blog it helps me alot on picking some shows to watch. having kugimiya rie voicing the lead female that got me wanting to watch it cus i luv the character she portrays even though its about some loli type figures which i dont like, but interesting nontheless

    biribiri
  22. If you look at JC Staff’s history, they were very much a hit and miss 2nd tier company until the latter half of the last decade. Kugimiya’s massively successful trifecta with them in recent years (Shana, Zero, Toradora) brought them a lot of success, income, and reputation. I can only assume that JC Staff invested those resources into production because their animation/art quality has improved perhaps more than anyone else in the last few years.

    And good for them, because JC Staff has made some great shows and is in a very broad sense deserving of their success and reputation. But that shouldn’t mislead viewers to think that every thing JC Staff touches will turn to gold. I’ve only seen 1 show in recent years made by JC staff that didn’t star Kugimiya that I can say I really loved, and that was Kaichō wa Maid-sama!.

    And that’s fine. JC staff is still one of my favorite companies, but that doesn’t mean I will like everything they make, the same way that I highly appreciate Christopher Nolan as a director but didn’t love every movie he made.

    Kip
    1. As far as “Aria of the scarlet ammo” itself-

      As said by others, it is kind of amazing how such stale and cliche concepts can still be fun when the production is good enough and the chemistry really is there. To me, the critical ingredient that keeps this show from becoming as base as its parts is the “007” aspect to the main character. Maybe this changes later, but his hysteria mode didn’t turn him into a mack-daddy, just an amazingly suave badass with all the right moves.

      I don’t have to tell you that they have been making James Bond movies continuously for nearly 5 decades now. Its a formula that literally never gets old or grows tiresome. And like Divine, I’m VERY interested to see how this element plays out with a very typical (yet still awesome) Kugimiya tsundere.

      In short, the story is going to have be really awful to get me to stop watching this, because in a show like this, plot is secondary to fun. And that’s much harder to pull off than it sounds.

      Kip
  23. https://randomc.net/image/Hidan%20no%20Aria/Hidan%20no%20Aria%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2014.jpg

    I LOL’ed.

    Upper left – Honnino Kibou (Personal Wish) Line – Line which Aria wishes her boobs would grow into

    Lower left – Zankoku Genzitu (Cruel Reality) Line – Current size of Aria’s chest

    Upper right – Petanko Heiman (Plain) – Pretty much speaks for itself

    Bottom right – Happiness Graph – No further explanation needed

    https://randomc.net/image/Hidan%20no%20Aria/Hidan%20no%20Aria%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2014.jpg

    OK, hands up if you’re annoyed by these unnecessary black censorship thingies covering her bra. 🙂

    Kinny Riddle
  24. Hysterical Savant Syndrome, more like Hysterical Badass Syndrome. lol

    Though I’ve also seen that series long ago, the comparison with DNA^2 didn’t cross my mind. Rather, I was thinking of something more recent – Nurarihyon no Mago – where the protagonist also has an alternate badass personality that allows him to pwn everything in sight.

    While Kugimiya Rie and Majima Junji reuniting since Toradora was a draw for me, if it wasn’t for Kinji’s badassery, I think I would’ve given this a miss.

    After Ryuji in Toradora, Majima Junji has shown he is more than capable of “taming” a Kugimiya Rie girl just as much as Hino Satoshi (Shana and Zero) or Shiraishi Ryoko (Hayate no Gotoku). 😀

    Kinny Riddle
  25. a gun & sword wielding A-cup, twintail, fang tooth, tsundere loli……………and a big boobed, deredere childhood friend (whom i suspect to be the person planted the bomb on the protagonist’s bike)… along with a split personality male lead……. cliché? kinda….. watching it? obviously.

    p.s. i thought divine was taking a break?

    n0216332
  26. to be honest, this was completely unexpected. i don’t feel it’s up to par with any of the other Kugimiya Rie roles previously, surprisingly it doesn’t have me sold.

    thenewhorde
  27. Guys lets not get to excited just yet, just remember what J.C staff did last season.

    Anyway, with that in mind. It wasn’t a bad first episode. They more or less stayed with in the first few chapter of the manga, except they cut and add a few bits. Not really a big deal, Show Spoiler ▼

    However, given J.C. Staff’s last series, i’m a bit reluctant to get into this one.

    Snicket
  28. I HATE Kugimiya Rie. She is the WORST VA ever and she should quite VAing before someone beats the shit outta her. Seriously I can’t stand her voice, and it nearly ruins every anime she’s in.

    NOW with that out of the way this anime More than makes up for the short-comings from her VAing. I love this anime. The actions scenes in this episode, “God Mode”, plot, and other characters more than make up for it and i can happily say i will be sticking with this anime for the rest of the season. 🙂

    Mad_Dog
    1. Dude, u mad?

      If you think her voice is annoying to you, there a lot of seiyuu that are more annoying. The only difference is that Rie Kugimiya delivers her roles effectively, and it shows on her previous voice roles on big-time anime shows. That’s why she’s one of the notable seiyuus that are on top of the industry.

      You are annoyed at her voice because she delivered her role so great that instead of hating the character she voiced in, you instead hating the person behind that voice. That’s what I like about her, pure effectiveness of her every role she got. And you got sucked in.

      Kekeke
  29. sigh. Why can’t we fans just enjoy the show instead of harping about “such n such characters are cliche and the premise is generic”. I mean who cares? really? this is why pretty soon anime going to be lost in the US because every single show out there has to be new and exciting for us american fans to like it, but different and original doesn’t equal better. Example school days that was suppose to be an “original” take on the harem genre and most people hate it myself included. sorry for ranting a little there

  30. I’m liking what I’ve seen so far.

    The Junji x Rie combi is a very welcome addition to the already great anime IMO. I like both of them for their respective roles in Toradora, and it still got the same vibe in Hidan no Aria. They carry their roles really well from beginning to end. Mikako Takahashi did well too as the voice of Shirayuki, as she used almost the same voice set she did on voicing Ayumu of Hayate no Gotoku. Mariya Ise did well on voicing Lucia on To Aru Majutsu no INDEX II, and more so on voicing Sena Akagi on OreImo, but I didn’t expect for her to have such a cute voice for her role as Riko Mine. It’s pretty much like Eri Kitamura in terms of versatility of her voice.

    As I already read the manga, the main characters are very likable, and it shows on the first episode. Aria is so damn cute, and so is Shirayuki and Riko.

    In terms of story progression and faithfulness to the source, I say JC Staff is being faithful to it. Everything seen of the first episode is from the manga. But there are some scenes from the manga not seen in this ep, notably on the 3rd chapter when Show Spoiler ▼

    , but that’s just it. Although it would be great to have it animated, so I hope to see in in the next episode.

    Kekeke
  31. things to expect everyone’s reaction here if Kinji’s bro shows up… and Shirayuki’s uhh… yandereness? yeah… pretty much that god damn it kinji what have you gotten yourself into

    Algester
  32. So far much better than expected. I’m in love with Kinji’s “Hysteria mode”. Watching him leave Aria and go to fight alone made my day. 😀 Hopefully this won’t disappoint.

    PerlaNemesis
  33. In episode 3:
    The helicopter scene, the weapon used was ishmash dragonov svd chambered for 7.62×54 Rimmed. The scope used was a IOR PSO-1 scope 24mm.
    The problem of the scene is the fact that when you shoot from a helo, you lag your shot by first firing to estimate the minute of lag from crosshair, then you compensate the lag and aim for the target.
    Secondly, the target is on a bridge and there is no way the helo is within 100 meter of the target. Since PSO scope is not aligned with the barrel she would have to use the teardrop on the bottom left to compensate for the cosine relationship between scope and barrel.

    For example, if the distance was 200 meters, then you aim for the bomb at the 2 teardrop position. If the bus is faster you lead by a few mm and if the helo is faster you lag the scope by a few mm.

    dh19440113
    1. It’s called willing suspension of disbelief. Later on in the novels, Reki displays more impressive feats of shooting, such as Show Spoiler ▼

      CarVac
  34. In episode 4:
    THe final fight scene is a misinterpretation of close quarter pistol fighting. When assailant is close you pistol whip, pull pistol close to your chest fire point blank, step back assume firing position chest, chest, head. Only an idiot would use a pistol as blunt weapon cause 1911 slide can be pulled by the attacker rendering the weapon disabled.

    Don’t take my word for it, look at what DEVGRU six did in abbottabad to geronimo.

    dh19440113

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