Many comparisons can be made between K’ (K-Project) and the 2010 anime adaptation of DuRaRaRa!!. Both were ambitious projects, both feature a sizable character cast with the storyline regularly shifting between perspectives and both highlight a city environment that first appears normal but quickly uncovers supernatural elements that serves as the primary cause for many major plot events. But while one managed to provide solid production values and a well rounded storyline, the other comes with some of the best production values of any anime series I have watched but suffers in the implementation of its plot. Unfortunately, K turned out to be the latter despite so much potential and promise.
To highlight where K’ excels, the production values across all thirteen episodes in the series is fantastic. It could easily be considered one of the nicest looking anime series I have had the opportunity to watch, let alone review to date. Props must go to animation studio GoHands, and I personally look forward to seeing how they improve upon these already high standards with the movie release planned for later this year.
The environments are well detailed and vivid, giving off a futuristic modern vibe. Despite there being an excessively large character cast, it is clear that attention has been put into each of the primary and secondary characters to make them stand out from one another. Some examples include the more “hip” and “skateboarder” styled Misaki “Yatagarasu” Yata which matches his hot-headed personality and the petite and doll-like Anna Kushina which matches her reserved and less emotional attitude. In all honesty it is the secondary characters that seem to be more unique than the core character cast, however the designs for every character are nevertheless of a high standard. The standard doesn’t drop during any of the several fighting scenes throughout the series.
The stellar visuals are also complemented by an equally impressive soundtrack, and despite a few repetitive and uninspiring songs, often provides the musical backing to complement the scene perfectly. The opening theme “Kings” by Angela was highly enjoyable and suited not only the series well but the animation that went alongside it, which warranted a watch during all thirteen episodes of the series from myself. The ending theme “Tsumetai Heya, Hitori” by Mikako Komatsu didn’t stand out as much as the opening, but still made for a worthwhile watch.
VIZ Media have impressed me in the last year with the quality of their commissioned English dubs, with recent releases including Tiger & Bunny and Accel World. The standard didn’t dip down for K’ with a consistently strong voice cast. Highlights included Sam Regal, Stephanie Sheh and Matthew Mercer as the “main trio” of Yashiro Isana, Neko and Kuroh Yatogami and Ben Diskin as Misaki Yata.
As mentioned above, K’ follows a plot approach similar to DuRaRaRa!! where the series is presented from multiple character perspectives with each group coming together and/or clashing heads throughout the series. The overarching storyline follows Yashiro “Shiro” Isana, a purportedly normal high school student who is being hunted down by various clans for the murder of a prominent HOMURA member. With a recording of an individual who looks like him committing the murder and calling himself the “Colourless King”, it is up to Shiro to escape the vengeance of the clans while trying to clear his name. He is assisted by his humanoid cat “Neko” who has the ability to form illusions and the swordsman Kuroh Yatogami who is out to kill him, however willing to give Shiro the time to clear his name. While simple at first, the plot soon becomes more complex which is where K’ starts to really stumble.
The unique twist that sets the clans apart from the colour gangs from DuRaRaRa!! is that each of the clans are headed up by a King, an individual who wields special powers and abilities that are shared with the members of a specific clan. Magical abilities are not necessarily a new feature in anime by any stretch, but the system is pretty interesting nevertheless, and coupled with other characters inherent abilities and attack styles make for some interesting action scenes.
The concept is interesting and had a tonne of potential, but unfortunately its implementation is where it faltered. K’ should not have been a thirteen episode series by any stretch. The entire series felt rushed, full of plot holes and overall left myself feeling like I was just watching events that took place during a set time period rather than having a deeper understanding of the reasoning for events, backstories of all the characters and essentially being able to fully appreciate everything that they brought or could have brought to the table. 26-episodes or possibly even more might have allowed the writers to flesh out all the elements of the series. Unfortunately what was presented ended up being vague and far short of what it could have been to the point where not even the high production values were able to fully save the series from this fact.
That being said, I will still happily give this series a “C” for Storyline / Character Development because of the potential that was present, and the possibility the studio could remedy these issues in a future season or films. My issues are more with the fact they had such a good idea and solid groundwork for it, but failed to fully embrace it.
While there are occasions where other anime publishers in Australia don’t carry across the extra content included in the North American release, usually Madman Entertainment have proved pretty good with providing comparable or near comparable releases. Unfortunately aside from the surprising inclusion of French subtitles, something shared with their hybrid dubbed release of Persona 4 the Animation, there was no on-disc extra content. They do however throw in a small, softcover “Character” art book which features artwork for each of the main characters that appear in the series which was a nice bonus to make up for the lack of on-disc content
Overall I have been left very conflicted when watching K’. It is hard not to appreciate just how high the production values are for the series which I still maintain are some of the best I have seen in an anime series. However despite the fantastic visuals, music and voice acting it is really let down by the implementation of the storyline that is filled with promise but runs out of time to present everything in a manner it truly deserved. On this fact alone, K turned out to be a very average series despite being a pleasure to watch.
A copy of K’ was provided by Madman Entertainment for the purpose of this review.
