Deatte 5-byou de Battle – 01

OP Sequence

OP: 「No Continue」 by (Akari Kito)

 

「詭弁家」 (Kiben-ka)
“Sophist”

Deatte 5-byou de Battle or “Battle game in 5 seconds” really lives up to its name, I mean, literally. The first few sequences alone were enough to establish what it’s all about, as the main protagonist Akira Shiroyanagi (Ayumu Murase) is attacked by a freakishly strong brute covered in bandages. Things transpire in an interesting way, however, as Akira shows his ability to outsmart the rampaging monster, albeit from his experience playing video games. The story doesn’t truly kick off until Mion (Mayumi Shintani) enters the scene though, and blasts Akira’s arm and hip off in a shocking turn of events. He awakes to find his body completely healed and his hands handcuffed. Let’s take a closer look at what unveiled in this opening episode:

Mion has an interest in Akira

Something about Akira has sparked Mion’s interest in him, and it’s still unclear what exactly that is. We know that this whole battle arena is an experiment being run by Mion, whose motives are still unclear. She claims the members chosen for this experiement were “picked at random,” but I suspect this is not the case, as she clearly ran a test of some sort when she sent that monster and analysed Akira’s wits to beat it. Mion’s interest seems to have amplified after seeing Akira uses the arm-cannon ability with the illusion super power he was given.

I also believe the powers were not distributed at random, and I have a strong feeling that Mion chose Akira as the holder of the “whatever ability your opponent thinks you have” ability because she witnessed his intellectual abilities and strategic mindset. This idea is reinforced by the fact that Madoka Kirisaki (Kazuya Nakai), a delinquent with little intellectual ability, was given a combatitive power allowing him to turn a stick into a sword and fight in a very straight-forward manner. There is still alot we don’t know about Akira’s powers, Mion’s motives, or this whole experiment, but this first episode definitely set the premise for an intriguing series full of action, thrills, and maybe even romance?

Amakage Yuuri

It’s blatantly obvious that the main herione of this story will be Yuuri Amakage (Aimi Terakawa), but at this point we know very little about her. Her given abilities are still unknown, however she did demonstrate a degree of critical thinking to realise Mion had learnt all about their backgrounds and to question Mion about why they were chosen. I suspect Yuuri will be a strong ally for Akira in their attempt to take down the organization, as both characters have proven to have a degree of analytical ability.

While their relationship is yet to be established, I would expect this duo will go on to form a team of some sort in their efforts to fight against this experiment, and their combined intellects should prove capable of cracking down Mion’s motives. The opening and ending sequences suggest that Madoka the delinquent will be part of this team, along with the nameless blue-haired man and red-haired lady (Team Rocket much?).

Final Note

With that said, this looks to be a promising series for what it is, an action-thriller with a good helping of psychological warfare. Plot points aside, the animation of this first episode was absolutely stunning, and I did not feel bored at any given frame. The animators truly did a superb job in bringing the source material to life, and the action scenes were a great spectacle in and of itself. Needless to say, this opening episode kept me entertained in every aspect of the word, and may have even won me over to continue reviewing this series.

Looking forward to the next one!

ED Sequence

ED: 「負けイベ実況プレイ」 (“Let’s Stream a Playthrough of the Bad Ending”) by (15-sai & Seiko Oomori)