Woodpecker- K Project Review

   Evening everyone! Woodpecker back for another great review on K-Project! This anime has a very unique feel/vibe to it that seems to be honored by only certain individuals, could be you! Before I begin my actual review on K I wanted to notify everyone that I will be trying to inhabit the same rating system as our dear friend Wolfe. Wolfe has brought it to the attention of the Animeheadbrothers that this rating/review system will help you, the readers, get a better feel for the anime being reviewed. With that, here is the review.

Overview:

Alright, so as a viewer I really enjoyed watching this particular anime. I felt that it had a lot of very colorful components, followed by a nice plot and some of the coolest faction I have seen. I will also notify the viewers that there is a particular scene on the second episode when you first meet Neko, that some would say is, "revealing". Though nothing is actually shown, I thought I should make that aware as she is the eye candy of the show. Back to the show in whole, the anime is sadly only 12 episodes long. Even though I hope they will continue to make a second season after the sudden calamity at the end of the first season it is still unknown as to whether or not the producers will create a second season. The anime has a very classic turnout with lots of amnesia and twists throughout the show.

Time/Place:

www.zerochan.net

This anime takes place in a somewhat higher tech era of Japan where there are robots all over the place that run security and basically pickup after the humans. Though you may think that it is all sophisticated and advanced in this area, there are still actually gangs and thugs. Most of the gangs and thugs are from the Homra Clan which is lead by the Red King. The sophisticated end of the specter is Scepter for who is lead by the Blue King.

Plot:

blog.hachimitsu.org

This anime is mostly focused around the main character Shiro and his amnesiac journey to find out who he really is, and the closing war between the Homras and Scepter 4. To go off more on what the clans are and how they got started, It all started with the 7 Kings. There are 7 Kings throughout the world and all of them have there own specific abilities that makes them unique. Each of these Kings has there own sword of Damocles which is where they draw there power, however if they draw to much power from their giant sword which levitates several hundreds of meter above their, then it will fall and cause a kagustu crater killing thousands of people in the process. Each of these Kings may endow there special abilities onto which ever people they want, this is how the clans were created. 

Because there are two story archs in this anime I am going to talk about the main characters story arch first, and then continue with the Homra and Scepter 4 story arch after.

Shiro's story is much like that of the Bourne Identity. The anime starts with him thinking he is someone he is not and he slowly regains his memory and finds out who he truly is. I loved this story arch because you have this part of you asking yourself how Shiro is important. Then when you hit around the 8th episode you find yourself going "that is awesome!" Of course in this he meets his forever faithful companions Necko and Kuroh which follow him in this dangerous journey surrounded by the rising tensions of the the two clans.

gallery.minitokyo.net

In the other story arch there are two conflicts arising. The first is that the Homra clan leader (Mikoto), the Red King, is drawing to much power from his Damocles sword and is close to causing another Kagustu crater incident. The Blue King (Reisi)being old friends with the Red King took him prisoner attempting to save his old friends life and the lives of others. Enraged by this capture the Homra gang begins causing problems for Scpeter 4, which was only fueling the fires of war between the clans. On top of this chaos the Colorless King was filmed killing the Homra gangs revered friend (Who for some reason looks exactly like Shiro)in cold blood. This is causing not just the Homra gang to pursue him but Scepter 4 as well only increasing the rising tensions between the two clans.

k-project.wikia.com

Characters:

I felt like the characters in this anime were pretty awesome! They all had their own unique personalities that really made the show. There were actually so many of them though I figured it would probably be best if I just gave you a link to a list of the characters and what they were about. Warning though it may contain some spoilers. K-Characters

k-project.wikia.com

Balance:

I actually felt that the power in this anime was balanced very nicely. Mostly because of the fact that it was scale-able. For example you would never see an underling ever take on a King and win. They make it very clear in this anime that the Kings are in a league of their own in the sense that only a King could kill another King. This made the anime a lot more entertaining because you knew that the odds in battle were realistic. 

k-project.wikia.com

Animation Style:

This anime seemed to have a love or hate animation style. For me I enjoyed the colossal gradient varieties throughout the anime that made the show really pop! Full of complex color design and amazing artwork on the characters, this anime went big and succeeded. This anime is one of the few that I have scene that has had colored backgrounds in such a way that was pleasing to the eye. 

Examples:

www.fanpop.com

www.fanpop.com

Combat:

I loved the combat in this anime! It was aggressive yet filled with fines. It was brute yet strategic. I felt like this anime showed all spectrums of battle. I felt like the best fights though were the ones fought between the Kings. They were OP and wickedly fast. This anime showed not just one-on-one fights, but battles between the clans which I found very entertaining.

Rating?

-Plot was very complex and had a great story +3

-Animation style was fantastic! +2

-Combat was awesome! but unrealistic -1 

-Characters were great +2

-Balance of power was believable +2

-Music was fitting +0.5

Rating: 8.5

Wallpapers:

www.deviantart.com

gallery.minitokyo.net

gallery.minitokyo.net

archive.nyafuu.org

www.wallshq.com

Next Time? 

Next time I plan on reviewing Tokyo Ravens. The show is not yet finished but I feel that it will be helpful to those who wish to catch on to a new series to anticipate for the next episode. This is Woodpecker signing off.

-Woodpecker