Narutaru

This was one of the animes that I knew existed eons ago but refused to watch it because I read there were some disturbing and horror-like elements. That’s right. Narutaru might troll the untrained and inexperienced to think this might be some weird spinoff of Naruto but seriously it has nothing to do with that ninja series 100%. So being the horror averse chicken I am, I was very well sure that this will be one of those animes that I will never forever watch. And fast forward today, tadah! Yup, you might be asking why I am watching this now, right? Something changed my mind, right? Indeed. Because scrolling through the list of retro animes that, wait for it, Mamiko Noto had a role in, I was surprised to see this title in her resume. Oh dear. Of all the series out there, it had to be this anime? Hence I was forced to recall and re-evaluate my thoughts on this 2003 series. Remember what my original goal is. After all, nothing is going to be scarier than Mamiko Noto as Enma Ai in Jigoku Shoujo, right???!!!

Episode 1
Shiina Tamai visits her grandparents on some small remote island for the holidays. During her stay, she, she is also working on some drawing project and since grandma says her father, Shunji too drew a lot in his days, she goes to the shed to check it out but is disappointed they’re mostly simple doodles of monsters. Then she hears a strange voice calling her and warns not to call her by that same name. Soon, Shiina joins the local boys in swimming and challenges them to swim to a shrine across. They won’t do it as it is dangerous due to the currents. However Shiina dares. Despite weakening and almost giving up, she eventually reaches it. Buoyed by her success, she dives down and sees a weird starfish-cum-squid-like creature. Sorry, it’s not anywhere as cute as Patrick! This shock causes her to drown as thoughts of disappearing flashes through her mind. As the locals mount a search and couldn’t find her, they are relieved to hear the news that she is found unconscious outside a clinic. Don’t care how but she’s safe, right? Nothing serious for Shiina as she sleeps and rests. But as night falls, she hears that voice calling her again so she makes it out to the beach and sees that starfish. Knowing it is the one calling her, it then transforms into some sort of transport and lets her ride it like a hover board. Shiina has fun flying with it and later as she tries to strike a conversation with it, obviously it has no mouth so it can’t speak. Yeah, just staring at her with those cute eyes. Shiina decides to call it Hoshimaru. Then a huge dragon rises from the sea. Riding it is a naked girl with tattoos. It flies away. Huh? Soon, Shiina leaves the island for home but has Hoshimaru in tow.

Episode 2
Hoshimaru can act like a doll or toy whenever anybody’s around. How convenient. Shiina attends a kendo class and since there is a new shy girl, she is made to go be friends with her, Akira Sakura. Shiina weaves her magic to become friends with her but Akira continues to feel scared and all. Something about hurting others and being hurt. She fears getting violent and hurting her opponent will make them hate her? Shiina assures she won’t. The kendo class goes well. At the end when Akira is about to thank her, she sees Hoshimaru and gets scared and leaves. She returns home and tries to cut her own wrist but chickens out. Then she reveals she has a simiilar Hoshimaru-like creature kept in her box! As Shiina sleeps, Hoshimaru notices a bugging mosquito. It catches the insect and absorbs it into its skin! A call from dad saying he won’t be back. So Shiina goes out to eat only to find her usual place is closed. She wanders about and enters one where Akira’s family runs. The moment Akira sees Shiina and Hoshimaru, she drops her glass in fear. Although Shiina helps her, nobody else gives a f*ck?! Akira then brings Shiina to her room and shows her very own Hoshimaru. She claims she doesn’t want to be involved with it but Shiina doesn’t understand. What’s this about Akira channelling with it? Akira continues to tell her first experience with it. In school, she heard a voice talking to her. Next thing she knew, she was dropping from the sky. The voice told her to fly but she couldn’t and splat! The effects were real as Akira was reeling from its pain in class. Yup, no classmates gave a f*ck and thought it was one of her usual sickness. Shiina isn’t sure about Akira asking about how this creature can channel its senses like seeing what it sees. Akira has dreams of falling and feels pain at the end. This happens many times over. She doesn’t like it and would rather die. At a loss, Shiina then becomes friends with her. Yeah, friendship always work things out, right? Let’s hope she’s right. Akira feeling so happy. After Shiina leaves, it seems a stalker has found Akira.

Episode 3
Akira’s little one is called Ain Soph, based on some Hebrew meaning. She fears some evil group will kidnap it or experiment with it… Maybe she read too much manga. Shiina takes her to the woods when they encounter a creepy squid-like creature. It turns into a flying lance and attacks Shiina. Had not Hoshimaru pull her away, she would’ve died. As Akira cowers in fear, Shiina hops on Hoshimaru to chase it. However she cannot withstand the speed and has to catch her breath. It is then the squid attacks her again. Hoshimaru tries to fight back but gets fling away as Shiina takes a beating. Meanwhile Akira is being approached by that stalker, Tomonori Komori who claims those things are dragons. Yup, that squid one is his. He wants Akira to join him in changing the world. Basically, he views today’s world as complicated and wants to commit genocide and bring the world back to those agricultural days. So that is a simpler society to him? He hands her a knife to decide whether she can take life of others or take her own life. He then joins his squid and introduces himself to Shiina. He claims Shiina has seen a real dragon and not a baby one. Dragons are memories of the stars and will only come into contact those who have full control of them. He sounds jealous that Shiina is that chosen one. Of course Shiina doesn’t understand a thing he says and doesn’t know whatever dragon he is talking about. As Shiina reunites with Hoshimaru, Komori suddenly has doubts if she is really linked with it. He then kills it off but then it turns into Ain Soph. This causes Akira some pain. The real Hoshimaru materializes a big knife and plunges it straight into him, killing him outright. The frighten girls make a run for it, stunned they saw someone got killed. While Akira continues to cower in fear, Shiina tries to normally live her life.

Episode 4
Not sure why Shiina calls her friend, Hiroko Kaizuka to accompany her to the woods. Yeah, she doesn’t take Hoshimaru this time. What does she intend to do going back to that crime scene and bringing an unrelated party? As they stop by a store, a snobbish girl, Satomi Ozawa and her friend, Bungo Takano walk in to ask the shopkeeper about a certain missing person. Because Shiina finds Satomi’s uniform strange, Hiroko mentions she is from a private school. Because it sounds like Panda, Shiina laughs her ass off! Satomi is not pleased and slaps her! Shiina wanted to fight back but Hiroko holds her back. It seems Satomi and Takano are looking for Komori. Shiina and Hiroko return home as Shiina mentions her intentions never to get married and bear children. Later Shiina goes to visit her estranged mom. She must be some corporate bigwig, huh? Shiina looking timid as she hands her report card. Despite her bad grades, mom doesn’t care. After wishing her daughter happy birthday, she still asks if she is eating well since she is so skinny and about Shunji. Yeah, Shiina just sitting there saying nothing. But mom points out Shiina still writing her name in katakana because it means that she hates the name her parents gave her. Time’s up, back to work. Mom then has a meeting with politicians and generals about her findings on folklores known as dragons. With some blur footages, she adds how they exist freely outside their imperfect world and devour humans… Shiina celebrates a simple birthday with dad back home. I guess she ate too much and had to throw up. Satomi and Takano meet up with Naozumi Sudou. He is the one tasking them to help find Komori because he hasn’t returned home recently. It could mean he has found a new toy and started killing. It seems this group of friends have intention to kill humanity but they can’t act rashly or the government will be on their tail, especially they too know about the existence of dragons. They have got some guns as a last resort. Their goal is to create their own peaceful society. Discrimination creates equality. Shiina tries to call Akira but she’s not picking up. Oh, Akira’s dad not even checking on his daughter. Why she so quiet in her room? Does he not think she could’ve killed herself!? Don’t worry. She’s just cutting her hair… In the dark?!

Episode 5
Shunji is flying the skies with his fellow colleague, Ono. Suddenly this creepy angel creature pops out of nowhere and starts riding on their jet’s nose. It hints it wants to play so it materializes a machine gun! Both pilots try to avoid it but unfortunately Ono was taken out. Shunji experiences some weirdness like his space having no air and thus free falling but manages to get his craft back up and running. Since he has no weapon, he thinks of ramming it. You think so?! Of course that didn’t do any jack sh*t as the angel drops some explosives into his air intake. Soon, Shiina gets called by her teachers. She is shocked to hear her dad as reported missing in action. She refuses to believe and is about to get Hoshimaru to look for him. Where? Then she hears a voice calling her. Then she could feel her dad’s heartbeat and realizes he is still alive. Shunji is indeed alive and hospitalized. He is surprised his wife visits. Of course she is here to take his testimony on what happened. Since explaining in words won’t help, she has him draw. This is the second time he encountered something like that and the first was a long time ago when she didn’t believe him at all. After mom leaves, Shiina visits. Shunji’s president also visits and she will have a hard time trying to convince the media that it wasn’t her pilots’ incompetence that caused this mishap. When Shiina leaves, Takeo Tsurumaru passes her and notes that it’s a good thing Shunji is okay. Shiina didn’t give much thought about it and thought he is Shunji’s colleague. That night, Shiina attends Ono’s funeral and is driven back by Suzuki, Shunji’s colleague. She asks him why people die. Yeah, I bet he can’t answer that. In that case, she asks why people are born. Does he look like God to you?! When Shiina returns home, she sees Akira waiting outside. She pleads for help as she has received a poison letter that sends its regards to Hoshimaru and Ain Soph.

Episode 6
Akira believes she knows who sent it and he has comrades. So both girls swap their dragons as they stake out to find Tsurumaru. It is Akira who finds Tsurumaru first as he exits a parking lot. Damn, is she going to chase him on her bicycle whereas he is riding a bike?! Oh damn, Shiina rides faster than her! They finally track him down to a warehouse but it seems Tsurumaru knows they have been following him and lets them in. Inside, they see that angel dragon. Just a model? They think he is the one who sent that letter but he plays a fool and thinks it’s a love letter and that they’re in love with him. This creep is even trying to hit on Akira for real! And to think she cut her hair because Komori ‘defiled’ it and know she got to deal with this jerk. The girls think he is playing dumb about the dragons so he takes him to his pal, Norio Koga who is crafting doll dragons. Yeah, he makes a lot of these. Again, they think they’re fooling around but Koga thinks they’re too much of a simpleton to engage in a decent conversation. They leave and warn not to do anything funny or else. Or else what?! Akira then sees on the news that Komori’s mother has died of starvation since her son went missing so this incapable mother was not able to take care of herself. Akira is still haunted by his words so the next day, she makes a trip to his house to offer some prayers. Sudou is also there and has her come along with him to avoid others asking about her relationship with Komori. He drives her home as he talks about the dead not needing flowers and it’s only to appease the living. However Akira could have given herself away when she hints Komori is dead when Sudou did not even imply that he is murdered. Suddenly police siren is heard. Sudou wants to scram. He has no licence! Oh sh*t! However the police crash and the dragon with a gun shoots and finish them off! KABOOM! Akira asks about him so he claims to be a protector of mankind. Damn, haven’t heard Akira laugh like that! As Akira goes to school the next day, she is shocked that a flower dragon is before her. She gets kidnapped. Damn those classmates making a joke of her absence that she’s dead!

Episode 7
Akira is in some cabin in the woods. She pleads to Shiina for help. You think she has telepathic capabilities?! Oh wait… Shiina spots Ain Soph at her doorstep and she knows Akira is in trouble. Time to go to her rescue. The police takes a statement from Akira’s parents who believe she is kidnapped. You think the police can do anything? Satomi and Takano meet up with Sudou who introduces them to a new member, Mamiko Kuri. Pale girl loves walking around naked, huh? Sudou says they’re going to do some killing today and their target is the military. Because Takano’s dragon is far away doing some training, it is good practice to see if Satomi’s dragon can do the killing. Hence her flower dragon crucifies Akira in the air as bait. Shiina spots this and whacks it till the dragon releases Akira. Whatever pain the dragon gets, Satomi feels it. Satomi recognizes Shiina so she goes all out to hunt her down. However some missile is fired at her dragon. The military is here. Shiina is taken to a nearby makeshift army camp and thankfully Akira is there too. Though, she is too distress to speak. Akira then suddenly steals a gun and tries to shoot herself! Luckily it is not loaded. Wow. Getting a lecture from the soldier if she has the guts to die, might as well try to live a little longer. Satomi tries to fight the army but she takes a beating. Satomi is taking in a lot of damage and feeling the pain but has to control it and soldier on for she will not let her dragon control her. However all this proves that her dragon is not suitable for combat as Satomi soon passes out. As Shiina and Akira are escorted to a helicopter, the one just flown by gets blown to bits by that angel dragon! Instantly Shiina orders Hoshimaru to engage it.

Episode 8
Not sure what Hoshimaru can do because it is just zipping around for that dragon to take pot shots. Holy sh*t! Hoshimaru destroying a helicopter to take its blade and whack the dragon?! Why the heck is Tsurumaru here? Shiina thinks that the dragon belongs to him but he says it is not. In actuality, it belongs to Takano and he is trying to use it to distract and retrieve Satomi’s dragon. The angel dragon wreaks havoc and destroys all the military offensive that come at it. Oh damn, why the f*ck didn’t Shiina’s side take cover and just standing there watching the action?! See, a helicopter comes crashing on her! Don’t worry, she is not dead thanks to Koga summoning his dragon to protect her. When Satomi returns from her vegetative state, she decides not to chicken out and continue fighting. This time the flower dragon starts releasing spores. Hoshimaru is quick enough to wrap the girls in its protective barrier while Tsurumaru floats away in Koga’s dragon. The spores kill all the ground soldiers who breathe it. With the air military offensive continue, the angel dragon continues to slaughter them all one by one. Even the nearby town gets affected. Yeah, today’s training is pretty intense, huh? With the wind blowing that direction, more dead townspeople. At the end of the day, it is a wipe out and Shiina starts to descend into trauma after witnessing today’s massacre. The girls leave for home. Akira’s dad happy her daughter is back but she pushes him away. Don’t feel like getting touchy today, huh? Shiina also returns home but she can’t contain her emotions and starts breaking down under Shunji’s arms.

Episode 9
Tsurumaru’s girlfriend is here and she is pregnant. His answer? Yeah, all girls have that function! WTF?! He is willing to take responsibility and send her some money but her concern is that she can’t let her dad find out. His answer? He’ll let her dad know!!! OMG! Classic! She wants him to marry her to take responsibility. He can’t. So does he not love her? Well, he does. And also others. In fact, he already has 5 kids! OMFG!!! No wonder girlfriend gives up! Soon, Shiina visits him and wants to know how to control the dragon’s powers since she is not very linked like the rest. However this is something Tsurumaru doesn’t know either and she must figure it out herself and what she wants most out of doing this. There is this girl, Chiomi Kawamura who likes Takano but she knows he likes Satomi and believes this is ruining him. She tries to portray herself that she is better but Takano isn’t interested. By the time she gets to know him, it’ll be too late. Hence she goes to confront Satomi but is given a pep talk about arrogance and control. Took Kawamura to disagree with that so as she goes to look for Satomi who already left, she is horrified to see a disfigured doll in the alley. Akira has been traumatized and locked herself in her room. Shiina visits and because the shop is shorthanded, she goes to help out. How considerate. Damn, Akira’s dad asking Shiina to be her daughter! When Sudou is here to see Akira, it seems Akira allows it. In her room are a bunch of folded paper cranes. Atonement for the soldiers’ death. Sudou wants to take the girls somewhere tomorrow. Turns out to be fishing. The catch and release is pretty fun. Yeah, Akira sad she won’t be eating Nemo for dinner! On the way back, Sudou is glad Akira is having a lot of fun. But then he gets psychological with her. So toying around with a fish life is fun and negligible compared to a human’s? Oh sh*t. That feared look on her face. What Sudou wants is for her to join his group. He knows that she knows what his group does and yet still comes to him. He claims about bringing change to human society. It is foolish to do something for the dead and the most important is how they live. Not sure about Shiina but since she is sleeping, Sudou doesn’t have to worry about her hearing this conversation. After Sudou drops them off, Shiina thinks he is such a nice guy but Akira’s face clearly shows he is more than meets the eye.

Episode 10
Shiina tries to train with Hoshimaru but finds it hard to pull off complex acrobatic moves. Then she meets a witch. Actually she is Jun Ezumi riding a broom that she calls Nendo. She asks if she would like the see the future of dragons. Jun learns Shiina has seen a dragon and a girl riding it. Jun calls that girl Otohime and can’t believe the dragon went out its way to make itself appear before Shiina because they don’t show themselves before humans. Then a huge dragon surface from the sea. They get close but not close enough so as not to get their thoughts harmonized with it. Out from it is a dragon but Jun believes that is Otohime in her true form. Otohime then greets Shiina before returning to the dragon. Jun believes Shiina is somebody special. Shiina accompanies Shunji for his check-up at the hospital. She notices a comatose boy in a room, Kyoji Kawamura. On the drawer is a group picture and one of the girls look like Jun. Kyoji’s cousin, Shouko comes in and wonders why Shiina has Jun’s goggles. Well, she gave it to her. Both girls talk about how they were close friends with Jun until they moved away. They exchanged letters but never meet ever since. Shouko becomes sad knowing that Kyoji might die since she did some bad things to him before. Of course she was in love with him but don’t ask that to Shiina because she’s never been in love before! A detective comes by to ask if they know this girl in the photo which is Jun. It was found in Kyoji’s camera. When they return to Kyoji’s room, Jun is there. But Jun is not here to play nice and tells all of Shouko’s bad habits like being selfish and depending on others. She tells the reality that Jun will die and when that happens, she’ll be alone. She also reveals she has met up with Kyoji many times but just couldn’t find the right time to tell her. Shouko leaves in a shock state. The detective receives a letter and it states that Jun died 2 years ago! And it was written by Jun? Jun reveals the truth to Shiina that she is dead and the one she is talking now is just a copy. This is the power of Nendo, to replicate exact copies. Hence she has taken Kyoji and left behind a replica. She is interested to see what happens next before she gives her life to Nendo. She wants Shiina to witness the birth of a dragon. Shouko attends Kyoji’s funeral and realizes she is now all alone. Then she finds Shiina and needs a favour. Road trip? They head to the old school where Kyoji fell. Shouko hints she might know Jun has been dead because the letters she sent to her got returned with an unknown address. Then a mermaid dragon soars in the sky. Riding it is Kyoji but with tattoos. Shouko chasing after it? Oh it’s gone. Perhaps just to make Shouko realize that she is not as weak as she thinks and that she can still continue to love him. Uhm, loving a dead man?

Episode 11
It seems Hiroko is being bullied by a group of girls led by Aki Honda simply because she has very good grades. Even if Hiroko claims she purposely put some wrong answers so as not to score perfectly, they still make her drink a special concoction. After they leave, she starts throwing up since it has worms! Back home, her father looking disappointed she didn’t get full marks?! But he thinks it is because of those girls and doesn’t want her to associate with them so as not to have bad influence. Meanwhile Akira collapses during PE. Nobody wants to carry her to the infirmary except maybe for Ishida because he has a crush on her. Heck, everyone even teasing them to get married. In the infirmary, Ishida confesses he likes her. So this has Akira doesn’t want him to leave her side. Oh sh*t! She’s willing to let him f*ck her! For better or worse, Ishida chickens out and that’s the end of that. Poor Akira. Alone again, naturally. Yeah, Ishida must be kicking himself so hard for this missed opportunity. Meanwhile, Hiroko lies she is sick so she could skip school. She is waiting outside Shiina’s place when Akira also comes by. The duo somewhat click because they both consider Shiina as their only friend. Yeah, they’re so alike in that sense. Hiroko talks that she is tired of trying her best but not getting the results she desires. Akira thinks it is her own fault but Hiroko believes the world is at fault. It is better everything in this world disappears. You really wish that? Can you say that now that Shiina has arrived?

Episode 12
Shiina invites them in for dinner. Together with Shunji, it’s probably the greatest time they had in their lives in recent times. When Akira goes home, her father warns her not to become a delinquent but Akira gets afraid and runs to her room. Mood swings. As for Hiroko, damn those bullies are so free to harass her in the middle of the night?! This time they are going to violate her. She screams for help but thankfully Takaya Mizushima is here to stop this atrocity. A guy who has a crush on her, huh? Hiroko is still distraught but she tells him not to tell Shiina about this. When Hiroko returns home, her father knows she did not go to school today but does not question her further. Because subsequently he makes a call to Shunji and warns that his daughter is having a bad influence on his and to stay away. However Hiroko is dismayed to learn who he has called. Just then, some monster comes crashing in and kills her father! Mizushima is at her doorstep. WTF this late?! Here to just say he will protect her? Yeah, Hiroko thinks he is too late for that. Confused guy leaves. Next day, both Hiroko and Akira are absent from class again. That night, one of the bullies stumble upon a monster who kills her! As police investigates this bloody crime scene, the only witness is a homeless man. He is in fear because he saw a demon killed the girl. The monster then shows up at Aki’s house, decapitating her brother before injecting worms into her, violating her before killing her! Gruesome! Just desserts?! In school, the remaining bullies are getting pretty scared now…

Episode 13
With the town all abuzz about the murders, in class, one of the bullies reveals to the teacher and classmates about Hiroko’s bullying and names those involved including herself. In fact, many others who did not directly partake in the bullying also knew of this but did nothing. That is when the demon breaks into class and grabs the other bully (who is first to bolt out) and lets her fall to her death! Then she attacks the remaining bully and breaks her leg! She must be so in shock and regret not to feel pain. As the demon squeezes her to death, Shiina, Mizushima and the teacher try to break her free but they failed. Even if Hoshimaru coming to help fight the demon (again it got smacked away!), too bad the last of the bullies dies. Shiina realizes this demon is Hiroko’s dragon. She tries to talk to it but it escapes. She then heads to Hiroko’s home. She is shocked to see her parents dead and Hiroko gone insane. Hiroko thinks she should have done this a long time. As she has already have blood on her hands, it doesn’t matter anymore. In fact, her demon is now at her father’s workplace and taking them hostage. Hiroko wants to kill Shunji because she believes Shiina should be better off without her father. When she has the demon start the kill, Shiina gets desperate and tries to strangle her. It’s like Hiroko wanted her to do this because she’s so calm. However Shiina couldn’t do it. Hiroko notes kindness won’t get her anywhere. Either she kills her or say goodbye to papa. It is then Hoshimaru strangles Hiroko to death, ignoring Shiina’s orders to stop. At the same time, Akira stabs her father to death! In the aftermath, with the new spring, Shiina spots a new hairstyle. She is still happy her father still lives as she heads off to that, uhm, Panda school that she is now a student of?

Dragonborn: When They Die
What the heck? How did it just end like that?! What does it mean?! Anyway, there’s good news and bad news now that I have finished watching this series. The good news is that it isn’t as disturbing and scary as I thought it would be! Phew. The bad news? Well, that kind of unsatisfactory ending sucked and it took away all the intriguing vibe that I had for the entire series. Well, not to say that I was somewhat enjoying this series but it has been somewhat a fascinating ride and it managed to pique my interest throughout the series albeit the third quarter felt a bit slow and irrelevant before the nail biting final stretch.

One reason I am saying that this series did not turn out to be very creepy and scary as I thought it would be, could be because I am watching it from today’s point in time. In the span of almost 20 years, a lot of things could have changed. Hence if I watched it back then when I was still an anime amateur, I would have actually agreed with all the old comments and reviews at how disturbing this anime was. Yup. Comments that tell you not to watch this series if you are not prepared to deal with what is going to happen in here! Not to say that I’ll be curling up in the corner of my room, shivering in fear for the rest of my days if I watched it then either. But I’ll definitely have a different viewpoint on this. Back in those days when the internet was still at an infancy stage and the world wasn’t really as open (and f*cked up!) like today, perhaps the darks themes that we have seen here such as self-mutilation, suicide, deaths and bullying could all be very harrowing to take in a single series. It was thought provoking as it was disturbing. But now watching it from this point in time, it just feels so mild to be honest. Heck, even the recent Elfen Lied that I watched can be considered darker, more violent, bloodier and much more disturbing than this! And don’t let that promo poster of the series whereby Akira points a gun to her own head fool you.

As you can see that there were many questions left unanswered in the anime series and thus that unsatisfactory ending. That is because the anime only adapted half of the total volumes of the manga. I thought it was so because the manga was ongoing at that time but further (lazy) checking told me that the manga ended the same time the anime finished its run. Not sure why it didn’t want to adapt the remaining volumes and have another cour but my only guess is that this show was shown on Kids Station. That’s right, a channel with a name like that is for kids, right? Yeah, the same station that aired that absurd Pugyuru. Imagine having a kid friendly channel only to show such disturbing anime that would make kids have nightmares, I can see why. And spoiler alert: Again my lazy Google search has me discovered the ending of the manga: Everybody dies and the world gets redone or reset! Wow. Guess we won’t see that one getting animated, huh?

Speaking of deaths, this anime seems to have watered down the murder scenes in the final stretch. Compared to the manga which I have saw some of it randomly over the net, the deaths are much gruesome to say the least. And because many of the characters in the anime still live by the time the series ends, that is why we don’t get to see those gruesome deaths of the other characters. The murder of the bullies could be the most disturbing factor in the series but of course it was not shown directly as the camera was shown from a different angle or some sort of self-censor in the way. What a way to end the series with the deaths of young children! Horrifying but after building all that hype and ending it like that, it’s no surprise I’m having weird mixed feelings right now.

Those disturbing death scenes did not look as scary to me mainly because of the animation too. In short, the overall animation could be said to be just mediocre. It is not the worse but you can see that there are lots of stillness in the scenes. Moving the camera angles is not really considered animation! Even the character designs are a bit weird especially like some of the girls such as Shiina, she looks so skinny and lanky that I thought she’s just a step away from being an anorexic victim! Oh heck, many of the characters too have almost this similar looks so sometimes it confuses me. If there was the scariest and creepiest one, it would be that angel dragon. The first time it spooked a bit of hell out of me because it has this doll-like face and a small smile, which gets scarier the more I stare at it. Yikes. Oh hell, if this is how an angel really looks like (especially from the bible), we’re all really screwed, huh? The rest of the dragon’s design is a mix of funny to creepy. Like Hoshimaru who looks comical (can’t help think this is Patrick Star!) and those like Ain Soph and Sudou’s, cute but somewhat scary. This anime is done by Planet who did Ginga Tetsudou Monogatari.

As said, the story feels a lot very incomplete because of the limited volumes it adapted. But I can’t just help wonder some of the later parts especially the one involving Jun, that felt like a filler and did not amount to anything much. That was the most boring episode and could have been done without. Maybe it could have had some bearings later on in the manga but as far as the anime is concerned, it felt so disjointed and did not really matter. Not that Shiina had anything to do with it either. Otherwise, the overall story might be slow and at times a bit complicated since bits of info about the dragons are told to us but it feels like there is more to it and thus they still remain the biggest mystery of who or what they are and how certain people can control them. It’s like Pokemon or Digimon but deadlier because you’re all using it to kill people, right? Hence many felt the first episode deceived many because it was harmless. Then real sh*t started to hit the fan in the subsequent episode. Especially the final stretch that ramps up all the sh*t. Although like I said from this point in time, it does not feel that scary or disturbing.

As for the characters, it feels like the ones we see here are just introductory and left more to be desired. Especially Sudou’s group who wants to change the world. What happened to them especially after their attack on the military? Who is that Mamiko chick? From first impression, she could be the main antagonist as there were too many red flags on her. What about Tsurumaru and Koga? It looks like they are on the good side (spoiler alert: Shiina fell in love with him and he impregnated her!!!!!!) but for now they don’t really do much except Tsurumaru just using Koga’s dragon to fly around and get about. Does he have his own dragon? But gotta love this guy on how he coolly handles his girlfriend. Can’t forget those lines but I wonder if it will really work in real life! Anybody care to try and tell me?!

Shiina as the main character, she’s a pretty happy go lucky person. A cheerful persona who can make friends easily. Too bad the world isn’t all sunshine and roses. Hiroko’s death may be starting to eat her away slowly but we won’t see that since the anime has ended. Despite her cheery disposition, she probably has her own darkness like her displeasure of her own name and that voice she keeps hearing from time to time (could be Hoshimaru). Shiina may not be as smart as Hiroko but at least she has the freedom and a loving papa, the source of Hiroko’s jealousy. Hiroko has the opposite of that so it goes to show that grades isn’t anything. Be nice to your child or she’ll summon a demon and kill you and everybody! Akira is a mixed baggage. It feels like she is falling in and out in terms of relevance of this entire show. The entire series she’s like being timid and scared of something and never really broke out of her shell even though she became friends with Shiina. Eventually from where I see it, she’s just delaying the inevitable of walking down the path of destruction.

The biggest mystery is the dragon themselves. They aren’t explained in detail and how some humans came into their possession. I guess I am largely to blame myself for expecting something out of Hoshimaru. Because you see, despite its innocent retard looks, I was actually expecting that Hoshimaru would turn against Shiina and become her enemy when things go downhill. You know, the cute mute waiting for Shiina to make her first kill and then it got tired of waiting and decided to show its true colours. Yeah. Something like that. That would be the true horror and shocking factor in my books. Fortunately or not, all that didn’t happen and Hoshimaru is just one docile and friendly creature for Shiina whom she can ride as a hover board. Hoshimaru sometimes feels useful but other times it feels useless. It’s always there when Shiina wants it but in fights with other dragons, it’s too weak to do any jack sh*t on its own and gets owned pretty quickly due to its small size. But I guess that’s better than Ain Soph whom I don’t recall doing anything useful at all. Yet Akira seems to fear it and all so why can’t she just get rid of it? Do such dragons make contracts with humans? Aside Satomi and Takano’s dragons, don’t see the other dragons do any jack sh*t of importance.

Voice acting, pretty normal to say the least. Of course you all know I’m here for Mamiko Noto and as usual she doesn’t disappoint but because of her Akira character as a meek and timid one, it limits a lot what she can say. Asami Sanada as Shiina, well, doesn’t sound anywhere close to the Date A Live’s Kurumi we all love. We all love Kurumi, right???!!! The only other seiyuu I recognize is Akira Ishida as Komori. Satsuki Yukino is the voice of Mamiko but it is also listed that she is Hoshimaru’s voice. Uhm, did that little starfish speak? Well, maybe not in reality but in Shiina’s head. So that’s Hoshimaru, huh? Also, she plays Jun. Going to have to stop formulating conspiracy theories that Jun = Mamiko! Because Jun is dead and can create copies of bodies, right?! The other casts include Nobuo Tobita as Shunji (Gus in Saihate No Paladin), Hideki Tasaka as Sudou (Duelo in Vandread), Hisayoshi Suganuma as Takano (Atsushi Kitamoto in Natsume Yuujin-chou), Kaori Tanaka as Satomi (Megumi in Yumeria), Eiji Miyashita as Tsurumaru (Kuina in Nil Admirari No Tenbin), Kouki Akaishi as Koga and Sakura Nogawa as Hiroko (Hina Ichigo in Rozen Maiden).

Trolling us that this could be not be a disturbing show like we thought it could be is the opening theme, Nichiyoubi No Taiyou by The Neutral. It’s quite an upbeat song that has some nice harmonica accompaniment. Even more so the cute child-like sketches for most of the opening animation credits won’t make you think that this is going to be a dark series. As for the slow rock ending theme, Kairo by Biniou has some dramatic feel to it. Oh, before I almost forget, I think the other factor that almost makes this series creepy and scary are some of the BGMs and sound effects. Some of them have this orchestra strings and played during those tense moments. It really gives and ramps up the anxiety that one would normally feel during jumpy horror scenes. I believe this really played that effect out well. Especially the opening scenes of the very first episode. Very strange and eerie sound effect. WTF was that?! That caught me off-guard so I was spooked for a while there.

Overall, this anime is definitely strange and provoking in its own right. It has disturbing and dark themes and even the climax where a bunch of children die (evil or not, they’re still kids). While it is true that it is not for everyone, in today’s time if you can’t take something like this without further experiencing some sort of life threatening trauma, it is best you go live in a cave or well forever. Or better, don’t proceed to live and go kill yourself. Oh sh*t! Uhm, blame this anime for having influence my thoughts for now! The series leaves a lot to be desired given the way it has ended but I guess if you really want to find out how things went, the original manga source is your best finisher. Then let your imagination run wild as you see what happen to the gruesome fate of the rest of the characters. Seeing today’s disturbing trend of taking long dormant animes out of their slumber and giving it another season, I am not sure if I am happy to see this getting a remake or a continuation. Yeah, I wish the world would stop making these or resetting/rebooting franchises. Better to reset/reboot the world than that!

N/B: If I have Hoshimaru, most probably I’ll ride it to Bikini Bottom to find Spongebob! HAHAHA!