I saw the subbed trailer of this show and I was really intrigued by it so, I went searching for information about it. Only to fall head over heels in love with the game, some of the characters, its KICK ASS awesome game music and the whole feel of the game. Then I proceeded to VERY impatiently wait for the anime. And I finally saw its first ep (sans subs, horrible audio and video but I couldn’t wait anymore! And then re-watched its streaming version somewhere which was MUCH better) so lets get two points outta the way first.

1.       SHIKI-SAMA *showers adoration upon his awesomeness*

2.       I don’t really like the OP. I had hoped that they’d keep Grind or Curriculu Machine cause the gritty, angry, techno-rock themed music fit amazingly with the whole dark storyline.

So lets get this party started 😀

Summary:

We start off with Nano – tall guy with purple eyes and long wavy hair narrating a bit before he leaves a suitcase in the middle of the road before going to the OP and then shifting to Bl@ster (a street fighting game) where a street fight is in progress. Our protagonist, Akira, proceeds to defeat his opponent with ease. He’s also the undefeated champion in Bl@ster. He declines his friends (HI DEE! HI ACE!) offer to drink and heads off to his apartment. Keisuke (childhood friend) pops up and asks if he can swing by his apartment later and Akira agrees.

Once back in his bare room, Akira falls asleep only to be woken up a harsh pounding at the door. He opens the door to get forced to the ground by the police and being told that he’s under arrest for murder. At the detention center, Akira is getting used as a punching bag while he vehemently denies having killed the man in question. He gets tossed into his cell but a while after he is told that he has visitors. He is taken out of his cell and sits facing a one armed woman, Emma and a man, Gwen. They ask if he is aware of the severity of his situation – he could face life imprisonment if the murder charges go through. But there is one way to get rid of the charges against him. They’ll take care of that thing IF Akira would do something in return.

Emma asks him to go to Toshima (formerly Tokyo) and participate in Igura. Igura is a battle game that is held in Toshima but the thing is that you kill people in that. The only two ways you can be a winner is either to kill your opponent or force his back to the ground.  To identify participants in the game, they all are given 5 dog tags which have a card suit on them. Emma tells him that he has to kill Il-Re (the reigning King of Toshima, top dog of the town. You get to challenge him to a one-on-one fight IF you manage to collect a Royal Flush of dog tags).

Akira agrees, saying that he doesn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. Later he is dropped off at his apartment building (followed by two guys who are there to make sure that he gets on his way as quick as possible). Keisuke has been waiting for him and asks him where he was and tells the other guys to beat it. Before the guys can beat up Keisuke or anything, Akira tells them that this is his last meeting with him so he’d like a little time to say goodbye to him. They tell him 10 minutes and Akira drags Keisuke into the room.  Akira explains the situation to Keisuke, who is not happy at all at the development.

He is totally against Akira going but Akira is adamant on going. Akira straps on his knife saying that it’s not that big of a deal so he’ll just go, do this job and come back. The guys open the door and tell Akira that its time. Keisuke watches as Akira gives him a lazy wave before the door closes and he is left alone in the room. And wittle Keisuke cwies. Sorry, I’m just totally NOT a Keisuke fan. The two guys toss Akira a bag that has stuff that he’ll need and then drop him off at the border of Toshima (I…where’d the Guide Guy go? D: They cut him out? Awwww shucks!)

Akira is making his way into Toshima and its nothing but devastation all around. Its night soon enough and Akira is still making his way through the ruins. He pulls out his dog tags before putting one on (The Jack of Hearts). He stops to examine some empty vials on the street but stands up when he hears footsteps approaching from behind. Akira eyes the man in front of him before he turns around to eye the second man slowly starting to circle him. They tell Akira to give up his tags and maybe they’ll go easy on him. One of the guys pulls out a pocket knife and tries to rush Akira but he sees it coming and easily deflects his attack, along with his friends. Hey, where’d those three other guys come from? D:

One of the guys pulls out an unbroken vial from his pocket before he breaks it open and gulps down the liquid. Akira gets knocked back by the guys kick and he carefully eyes the men surrounding him. But then…slow footsteps  and…SHIKI-SAMA!!!!!! *arms flapping* SHIKI-SAMA I NEVER EXPECTED FOR YOU TO MAKE AN ENTRANCE SO QUICKLY *falls to her knees and bows* Ahem….*clears her throat* A tall figure clad in black comes to stand before the small ground. Slowly he pulls his katana out from its sheath and cutting all the thugs up in quick succession. Awww DAMN IT, they blocked out all the gorey bits (T3T) He turns to eye the remaining two goons before one of them tries to attack him – but he gets cut in half along with the comment “Trash”. Akira stands in place and calmly watches Shiki when the last guy remaining crawls up to Shiki and begs for mercy.

He holds up his tags as he begs for him to spare his life. Shiki watches him impassively before killing him as well. Akira takes a few steps back but stops and holds his ground as Shiki slowly approaches him with his drawn sword.Shiki places his sword underneath Akira’s chin and asks if he wants to die. Akira tells him there’s no way in hell. After a short but intense exchange, (mostly consisting of steady eye contact, I SWEAR THAT IS RELEVANT. I’ll tell you later) Shiki lowers his sword with a smirk and an “that look/those eyes…interesting” before he walks away. His beautiful long coat fluttering behind him as he leaves behind a shocked and totally unnerved Akira.

He watches the man leave as the rain begins to fall on the city. Then he notices all the dead bodies and forces back the urge to throw up. And he thinks “So this…is Toshima…” And pan out to view the city before we do to the ED. Huh…this isn’t bad. Nothing like “Still” but still good! And fuuuuuuu- WHY TEH CENSORING DDDD8

Score: B+/A+

Opinions

Okay THAT *points* WAS good. I was ready for worse but damn that was niiiice! So far, I like that they’ve stuck with the game story pretty much for the beginning. (They left out the Guide guy though….I was kinda looking forward to that speech he gives Akira bout Toshima and then that creepy thing he does. Yeitch~) but still, I like the changes. Though I didn’t get the creepy cold chills that I got when playing the game..maybe as we progress further? Yes I think so…once the real shit starts 😀

OP – like I said, didn’t like it that much. Given the game story it shoulda been way more heavy rock-techno style. Angry heavy with a hint of techno to it..why didn’t they just keep Grind? XD THAT was an AWESOME song for the game’s OP. Gave me a serious case of whiplash thanks to me headbanging to it for three days straight. The ED – was much much nicer. I liked it a lot more than the OP and I totally want that single right now. The BMG music…NOT like the game and I hope to GOD that there’s SOME redeeming track in the upcoming eps. Like I said before, I ADORED the game tracks – BGMS and all!

Character designs, nice~ Everyone looks super good animated! Especially Shiki. And yeah, I’m gonna be censoring the names cause I don’t want to give out anything before its revealed in the story. But you looked so so amazing with the long coat and the sword…aaaaah *big goofy smile* And when you killed those bastards up without so much of a blink before walking up to Akira and facing him off like that. You are just so magnificent Shiki-sama! Akira looking good as well! His facial expressions and all were totally in line with his overall character and personality.  And THANK YOU for those scenes of Akira fighting (in the game, I seriously doubted his position as the undefeated champion of Bl@ster. Don’t ask right now, long story XD) Keisuke, wow you look as irritating as ever. Like an over eager puppy who is whining and barking for a treat at 2 in the morning when you REALLY want to sleep after a hard day and you want to throttle it….What? I DON’T like the guy. He’s irritating and whining and complaining and irritating and just…gyah. And there’s another reason but I’ll tell that when we get to it.

Though the detail level isn’t at the level that I’d usually prefer. Its kept very simple but it makes the fight scenes look quite…slick? I dunno what a better word would be…The animation was quite good. I liked the smooth feel in the fight scenes and it was all good. Glad that it was Aniplex and A1 who’re doing this. Else I’d be moaning and groaning that Madhouse shoulda picked this up XD But I feel that it coulda been better…*shrugs*

The story. I had wondered a LOT about how they’d start the show off cause there were plenty of ways. I wondered if they’d start with a bit of history or maybe from Igura like in the manga or they’d do it like the game. This was different – starting with Nano was interesting and leaves a whole lot of “who the hell is that? What the hell! HE JUST JUMPED OFF THE BUILDING! And what the fuck…he isn’t pavement splatter…HOW?” It was a slow first episode but the second half REALLY picks up..then again the whole story REALLY starts once Akira enters Toshima so…LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE GALS & GUYS!

Episode two, I WANT IT NAO!