The first season of Shikabane Hime was a very solid build-up, it had great horror, and may have had some pacing issue in the beginning, but it was one of the stories that gets better and better as it goes on. Shikabane Hime Kuro (the continuation), however promised to decline into the standard shounen clichés again, where the two lead characters form a romantic couple and battle a bunch of bad guys in a very overdone way. And in some ways, it did, but with so much style.
Shikabane Hime Kuro is an expert in managing expectations. From the beginning to the end, it sets different expectations for the viewer, only to deliver either something completely different, or exactly what it promised only five times better and more impressive. This leads to bizarre situations, like a couple of very crappy first episodes, followed by a string of awesomeness, followed by a Gainax-ending.
The biggest strength of this series is the cast of characters, though. Because it already had an entire season worth of build-up put into the lead characters, it now really has the chance to play with them and even then the development of the cast doesn’t stop. There’s hardly any episode wasted and both the side characters as the antagonists receive more than adequate attention to flesh out their characters well.
There are lots of nice themes that this series explores. While there are many elements that fall into the shounen clichés in this series, it also provides lots of new and fresh content, with an interesting storyline and plenty of effective mystery. Ouri and Makina are also far away from your typical shounen couple, for once, and a lot of attention in this series if focused on the two of them, trying understand each other, rather than simply one of them serving as a glorified damsel in distress.
But in the end, what it all comes down to is the following: Shikabane Hime is a terrific action-series, that knows exactly what it is. While the first few episodes of Kuro will disappoint, it quickly picks up with a string of gripping action scenes, with some of Gainax’ trademark animation (though used in moderation this time) and a rocking soundtrack, combined with a strong cast and imaginative plot twists that are going to keep you busy throughout the entire rest of the series.
I’m not exactly a fan of shounen series, but I love it when they’re done well, and that’s exactly what Shikabane Hime is. It’s found a very nice combination between style and substance here, and Gainax and Feel did a really good job at bringing the manga alive. It’s also interesting how for a manga adaptation, the creators managed to fit the stories perfectly into 25 episodes: there are hardly any signs of rushed scenes, major plotholes or pacing issues. Exactly what a good manga-adaptation should be.
| Storytelling: | 9/10 |
| Characters: | 9/10 |
| Production-Values: | 9/10 |
| Setting: | 8/10 |
I enjoyed the series–though I found the last episode a disappointment. A director should finish the fights they start in shounen.
You’re right about Ouri not *quite* serving as a “damsel in distress” but he sure took his time about becoming a truly compelling character in his own right. I find it frustrating that in shows where the characters clearly need power to be interesting that writers like to spend 3/4 of the show giving that character interesting abilities.
I’d like to add that the music of this series is my favorite of any anime except Bleach (“We’ll throw a hundred songs at you, you’re bound to love two”). The songs capture the ambiance of the anime.
For me, the first season was a disappointment. From getting used to the annoying voice of the main male character, to the bad pacing that sometimes made me want to skip episodes. But even if it was a disappointment, it wasn’t that bad.
Kuro, on the other hand, was just beyond awesome. I’m really glad I decided to end this series. I give it a 4/5 star for Kuro, 3.5/5 for the first season.
While searching for review about shikabane hime..i found your blog ^^.
The second season was masterpiece, but i think something missing along the end of the story.
Will there any 3rd season?
btw, awesome blog there ^^
Won’t you write about 13/special episode? It’s some nice background on Ryo Minai’s and Isaki Shuuji’s relationship.
With them not finishing the ending fight it was kind of crappy the director just made you assume she won but it really wasn’t the ending I was hoping for. The anime itself isn’t really that horrifying either its more of a action movie over all.
this anime just a mediocre anime for me , i watched it before i read your review about it , the story and the fighting always fail to amaze me and now i can barely remember the story nor the characters’names in this anime , but the only thing i sure is this show never good to me ._.