Code:Realize ~Sousei no Himegimi~ – 01

OP Sequence

OP: 「Kalmia 」 by Mia Regina

「ロンドン・スチーム」 (Rondon suchiimu)
“London Steam”

Code:Realize is a visual novel adaptation that takes famed characters of fiction, and transforms them into the most charming renegades of London. The story focuses on Cardia (Hayami Saori), a girl cursed with the power to make anything she touches rot or melt on impact. She is taken away by dashing renegades who aim to help her find out her father’s secret behind why he embedded her with the cursed heart-shaped diamond that the Royal Guard of London wants to extract from her. Yes, it is an otome game where Cardia can eventually fall in love with one of the men in her journey, but the first episode pulls its weight to create an experience that is engaging to any audience.

From the first episode, we can understand the motivations that Arsene Lupin (Maeno Tomoaki) has to assist Cardia, and assure himself that he’s living up to his mentor’s name. Despite being a charming goof who goes on about steal Cardia’s heart, he becomes empathetic to her struggles with her powers, and sees himself in her as he thinks back to his own feelings of loneliness as a lost child. Cardia is also very likeable as a heroine that we can sympathize with as her curse starts to hinder her, and her desire to find out the truth behind her father gives us a reason to want her to see it through. There is also a strong supporting cast with Impey Barbicane (Morikubo Shoutarou) as the screwball mechanic whose lack of charm is made up with his love for lightening the mood, and the group’s leader, Victor Frankenstein (Kakihara Tetsuya), who is unfortunately the kindest man to be on a wanted poster as a terrorist for spearheading the initiative to keep Cardia away from the Royal Guard.

The first episode is off to a slow start, but it is quite the good one if you are open to a wild adventure with attractive men, an elegant heroine, and a raging battle against the Royal Guard. Code:Realize‘s first episode doesn’t force fans to witness the poor representation of their characters nor does it alienate any viewers that would otherwise not be so open to otome scenarios. I haven’t played the visual novel so I’m not sure if they left anything out, but it feels good to say that Code:Realize is turning out to be a promising adaptation that’ll surely be a crowd pleaser. After all, how could an anime turn sour if there’s a dog with a top hat?