ANIME REVIEW: Rokka No Yuusha

Rokka No Yuusha (English Title: Rokka: Braves Of The Six Flowers) is a 12 episode anime series produced by Pony Canyon. It was originally a light novel series written by Ishio Yamagata then a manga and now it has been adapted for anime. The series despite its fantasy and magic setting is best described as a mystery.

PLOT

When the Majin awakes from the depths of darkness, the deity of fate selects six heroes and bequeaths them with the power to save the world. Adlet, a boy who proclaims himself the strongest man in the world, has been selected among "The Heroes of the Six Flowers". However, as the heroes gather, they soon begin to suspect that someone amongst them is an imposter.

WHY I WATCHED

You don’t get many anime series that revolve around mysteries, I’ve watched a few Hyouka is an interesting one that I thoroughly recommend. I chose this as something to break up the usual parade of mecha, fantasy and fighting anime.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I am writing this review up after the first 9 episodes of the show but I think given the mystery premise that’s fine. This anime is pretty much a run of the mill whodunit where instead of a remote hotel or a dinner party caught off by a flood you have a group of warriors stuck inside a barrier with the equivalent of a locked room mystery to deal with.

The mystery is at the core but this is about a group of warriors so we do see amazing fights with a range of interesting fighting styles and the interpersonal relationships and how each warrior reacts to one another is interesting to say the least. The warriors are very different from different social classes we have everything from princesses to commoners.

There isn’t much more I can reveal that doesn’t get into major spoiler territory so I will just say that trying to figure the mystery out is a great little brain teaser and makes me eager to see how things work out. I don’t know whether this is just a first season or if this was just meant to be a one off, I tend to think it could be the former subject to ratings.

If you like things like Sherlock or mystery books than you could do much worse than this anime which is just the kind of whodunit fix you need.

ANIME REVIEW: Is it Wrong to Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon

Familia Myth is what I will be referring to this as from now on but having the full title is useful.

So in no particular order these are its titles.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? - Eng Title

Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka - Long Title

^{DanMachi - Shortended Title}

Familia Myth is the anime adaption of a light novel series from SB Creative – GA Bunko. The anime series had an initial 13 episode run and started broadcasting on April 4^th.

PLOT

The story follows the exploits of Bell Cranel, a 14-year-old solo adventurer under the goddess Hestia. As the only member of the Hestia Familia, he works hard every day in the dungeon to make ends meet while seeking to improve himself. He looks up to Aiz Wallenstein, a famous and powerful swordswoman who once saved his life, and with whom he fell in love. He is unaware that several other girls, deities and mortals alike, also develop affections towards him; most notably Hestia herself.

WHY I CHOSE IT

I was not sure about this show at first but decided to give it a try and when I checked it out on the various anime sites I saw that word most dreaded of anime fans "

WHAT I THOUGHT

I was not sure about it at first and even a look at that cover was a bit off putting somehow I could sense the harem issues but after a bit of back and forth probably 2/3 of the way into its run I took the plunge. The show is not a harem at least it is not the only thing it is. It really can be described as the typical male anime protagonist gradually proving himself and rising up through the ranks, this story has been told dozens of times but I was entertained all the same.

If I could de-construct DanMachi into its constituent parts and look at them I would probably come out having no idea how the show manages to work as well as it does. It is also interesting because this is basically an anime version of most fantasy JRPGs. The idea of experience and talent trees are presented in an interesting way.

Bell Cranel is the protagonist of the show and starts out as a level 1 adventurer (yes they have levels) who is just beginning his career. He is a nice if oblivious dude which should give you some idea of the character arc you’ll watch but still he is compelling to watch.

Hestia is a god one of the pantheon who came down to the world at some stage in the past to live with humans. She’s called the “Loli-God” down to looking like a kid, those ponytails and her other apparent assets. I couldn’t tell you why other than the obvious but she makes me uncomfortable, it is not the first time I’ve see Lolita with overly large breasts but her body combined with her personality makes it super weird.

Ais Wallenstein is the superstar of the world of Dungeon and considered to be one of the top adventurers as well as one of the most beautiful who Bell falls for in the first episode.

So to settle up if you like adventure anime and JRPGs then DanMachi is a show that is worth checking out. This initial season looks good for a renewal though I can’t confirm that. So just remember that as I said before this is so much more than a harem show.