Hidan no Aria
So imagine a school where all of the students have firearms, or some sort of weapon, and the uniform is bulletproof. Welcome to Tokyo Butei High, where students learn about fighting to become Butei, who are supposed to help fight against crime. However, it’s not all fun and games, as Kinji Toyama finds out. On his way to quit the Academy, he is targeted by the Butei Killer. He is saved by Aria H. Kanzaki, one of the highest ranked Butei at the school. I think that the story’s pretty good, but the series clearly leaves room for a sequel, which kind of annoyed me a bit because of how short it is.
Story: Score 8/10
The main character of this series is Kinji Toyama. Kinji is not the most talented Butei and he doesn’t have much motivation about it after his brother is killed by the Butei Killer. However, when he is sexually aroused, he enters “Hysteria Mode”, which brings his skill level up to the top of the class. He meets Aria H. Kanzaki, who has been given the title Quadra by the school. After seeing his Hysteria Mode, Aria believes that Kinji is just hiding his true strength and tries to recruit him to help her capture the Butei Killer. Why does she care so much about the Butei Killer? Her mother was framed by the Butei Killer and is currently imprisoned. Joining them is Shirayuki Hotogi, a childhood friend of Kinji’s. She is clearly infatuated with Kinji and tends to get jealous whenever any other girl gets close to him. She’s also a sword-wielding miko (kinda scary too). Finally, we have Riko Mine. Although she seems to act like an idiot, she’s actually quite talented. Kinji tends to go to her for intelligence (she likes to take advantage of his Hysteria Mode to embarrass him, though). Aria and Shirayuki might be a little too stereotypical, but I still liked them. The other characters are pretty entertaining, but I wish they would have emphasized Reki more (she’s a sniper who’s not much of a talker).
Characters: Score 7/10
The animation for this series wasn’t bad. They have a couple of car chase scenes which are done pretty well. Also, they have the bullet time when Kinji makes some crazy shots. All in all, not bad.
Animation: Score 8/10
I really liked the music in this series. The ending theme isn’t great, but the opening is pretty good. I really wanted to find the soundtrack, but I don’t think it’s been released yet.
Music: Score 9/10
I’d say the series ended up being pretty good. I think the story was nice, although the school setting may be getting a little old. The characters are a little weak, but it looked and sounded good. Hopefully, the sequel ends up being better…although it may be a while before it comes out. If there is no sequel, then I’m pretty sure this anime loses like 4 points.
Final Score 7.5/10
