[ Episode 4: Synchro ]

I must get this off my chest as soon as possible, but…

…where the hell was the music this episode, specifically speaking, while Kuro gets up after her beatdown and then gives the teacher a light tap from her foot. I seriously was just like “huh?” while watching the battle go in motion. Almost like a truck colliding with a car and time is moving very slowly. Plus it felt just awkward and out of place. Not even Neji vs. Hinata was that bad, and that’s saying a lot! Okay, I guess I’m exaggerating a bit here, but that particular scene did feel very odd without BGM.

Besides that, the teacher turning out to be bad was unexpected, especially since he gave off no clear air around him that he was part of Tribal Ends. Like the time Keita asked him if he heard of Doppeliners. He simply had a blank face, blinking at the thought of the question that was just asked. Playing dumb is one possible explanation. I never would’ve given it a thought until this episode when he was calling Keita for some reason. The suspicions were correct once you did realize he was up to no good.

What really pissed me off was how Keita did absolutely shit while Kuro was getting beaten. Yeah, I understand he didn’t comprehend the situation very well, seeing as how he just found out his teacher was a baddie. But really now, don’t just sit back and do nothing. After all, that’ll only screw you over big time. Luckily, he finally gets enraged and Kuro smacks the teacher through the window (lol). Yeah, that sure ended abruptly. Another thing I didn’t see coming was the fight at Keita’s apartment when Tribal Ends suddenly appeared. Boy, is he gonna be pissed at seeing his place trashed.

Breaking away from the fighting, I did enjoy the part where Kuro is taken to buy clothes. While trying some outfits on, the store worker just repeats “That looks great on you!” every single time. Typical response. Kuro just doesn’t cut it for gothic lolita fashion, but her third one looked great to me. Oh, but of course, she has to buy clothes similar to her trademark pink windbreaker-like jacket.

[ Episode 2: Contract ]

I gotta say, I wish Keita would stop feeling bad about everything. I wish he wasn’t such a pansy either, but hey, what can you do? At least make up better lies. If I found Kuro rummaging my fridge? By all means, I couldn’t care less if my lettuce was gone. On a serious note, I’d have a big WTF on my face if a stranger I just met suddenly appeared in my apartment. Funny that Punipuni still had Keita’s scent on him which helped Kuro find him… why? Anyway, I do have to give Keita credit for delivering the onigiri to Kuro. Sure was quick to find her though.

In this episode, Kuro explains the doppeliner system to Keita. Like in the manga, the fate is divided among three identical people and once two meet, they die and their fate transfers to the last remaining one, thus the Root. While I do think there’s an interesting concept behind this, I’ve been wondering about the system ever since reading about it, and I find that there’s just not really convincing. The system is created to maintain the coexistence equilibrium. Why three people? Why is it bad if two of the three meet up and they must die from a natural occurrence? So what happens when the ones with the lowest fate and highest fate meet? The one whose fate is in-between becomes the Root now? Why am I asking questions again? Who knows?

While not as impressive as the first episode, it did deliver a good fight, even without the more splendid animation. Seiji looks ugly at every shot so I was glad to see Kuro pummel him good while he was still talking. That shock he went through did a number on his hair as well so now we can rest easy knowing he went out in style.

What baffled me a bit was the heart exchange between Kuro and Keita. After getting struck to the heart (but not too late), Kuro performs some art to revive him. Light shines all around and she literally exchanges their illuminate hearts. Fine way to do fast organ donation but it felt so sudden, especially after that and Keita just somehow Synchro’d with Kuro.

Complaints, complaints, I know. I guess I just felt it was lacking something… There were more mysteries involved this time around. The highlight for me wasn’t the episode itself; it was at the end with Steiner and Excel’s first appearance. Can’t wait to hear more of Yukarin!

Series Information

ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
Genres: Action, Fantasy
Production: Sunrise
OP: 「sympathizer」 by 栗林みな実 (Kuribayashi Minami)
ED: 「彩の無い世界」 (Iro no Nai Sekai) by 妖精帝國 (Yousei Teikoku)
『KUROKAMI 黒神 The Animation』 オフィシャルサイト

[ Episode 1: Doppeliner ]

The OP is just great stuff. Kuribayashi Minami is always good to have for a theme song, but this was rather different from her previous works. Not that that’s bad because I love this direction too; I usually don’t hear Minami sing these kind of songs. It’s fast-paced and edgy so you can tell that there will be a lot of action fighting. Though I don’t think it’s as awesome as Shining Days or Crystal Energy, but that’s probably my My-HiME/Otome fanboyism talking. All the main characters are introduced here along with the antagonists, plus a few mysterious ones that we’ll be seeing later, and of course, Excel and Steiner!!

In short, high school student Ibuki Keita has a constant run with bad luck, as people around him are getting killed in accidents one by one. It all started with his mother’s death. As a child, Keita was walking with his mother when they meet eyes with a woman, a look-alike of Keita’s mother. In other words, a doppelganger. The next day, Keita’s mother was hit by a car. Sometime during his young childhood, his friend also passed away.

While having a bowl of ramen, a young girl called Kuro and her pup Punipuni walk over to the cart starved. Keita offers his bowl to her. He talks to the cart owner about doppelgangers and how seeing your own doppelganger means death will come your way. Kuro joins in the conversation and corrects him by saying those aren’t doppelgangers, but doppeliners, which exist to keep the balance of Tera. She goes on to mention terminology unfamiliar with Keita, but her explanation runs short as a cloaked man strikes Kuro with a baseball bat. All seems hopeless as Kuro gets beaten to a pulp until she gets up and pulls a flurry of punches. Kuro suddenly takes leave “to kill her brother.” The police arrive at the scene but the defeated cloaked man is nowhere in sight. At home finds out his best friend Risa is killed after meeting her doppelganger at a concert. Right in front of his eyes, Keita’s next-door neightbor’s kid is hit by a truck at high speed. A man who looks like Keita’s childhood friend is seen gathering people who are doppeliners of people such as Keita’s neighbor Mayu and his friend Risa. He declares they are now “Master Roots.”

Okay, that wasn’t short at all.

By now, most of you should know that there are considerable differences between the anime and the manga, so I won’t delve deep into that, as there are already enough nitpicking to go around. Because this is “The Animation,” it’s safe to conclude that this was intentionally conceptualized as an alternate telling of the original story, set in its own universe. Eej of One Man Army, an Army of One sums it up for what you want to banter about. Personally, I don’t mind some of the changes made, but it gets me wondering why bother changing characters and other things at all because there was nothing wrong with making an adaptation that was strongly following the original work. I’ve yet to check out the dub since I don’t actually have iaTV (not a lot of people would have this channel, let alone know of it), but if I manage to find it online, I’m definitely taking a look.

Kurokami’s ED theme is called… well I think its name is “Sai no Nai Sekai,” but I can’t really tell yet. Everywhere else, I see its “Irodori no Nai Sekai” but that’s clearly wrong, looking at the kanji and all. I even saw just the “Iro” part, but I still say that’s wrong. Anyway, the song is performed by Yousei Teikoku, one of my personal favorites for having a distinct gothic sound to their music. The song starts off a bit calmly and at a steady pace but gradually the atmosphere adjusts itself to a more gloomy mood, so to speak. The ED sequence mainly depicts the city being torn and destructed from god knows what, with Kuro watching and walking, day changing to night, at the buildings that look like they’ve been bombed. Unfortunately, the outro lasts for only a minute, but the full version sounds great.

The premiere itself wasn’t bad. A lot of things happened (involving Keita) and Kuro’s fight scene was animated amazingly. I especially enjoyed when she was owning the guy while the awesome fight music was playing in the background. Seiyuu talent is decent. I’ve heard Noriko before but not a lot. Her role as Kuro is pretty fun to say the least. It’s a good choice as you can hear the difference from her cute voice when she’s all over her ramen to her intimidating and deep voice when she’s in the fray.

Well, the anime is set for 12 episodes so this would definitely end sooner than expected. Perhaps Sunrise can remake it again after the manga ends. Regardless, the anime itself is still quite enjoyable and with a shift from the original work, I’m eager to see just how this will turn out.