It’s not often an anime leaves me winded, but that’s certainly how I felt after watching the first episode of this series. I don’t know if feeling that way is a good or bad thing yet, though.
This zany series follows Nike, a 13-year-old boy who unwillingly sets out on a journey to kill the newly revived demon king. Everyone calls him a hero, even though he’d rather be anything but. He’s accompanied by 12-year-old Kukuri, a sweet little mage girl with chaotic magic powers she doesn’t quite know how to control yet.
The show takes delight in parodying RPGs, especially classic 8-bits like Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda. Everyone has a class and rank. Our two main characters are given their quest, as well as some money they use to stock up on supplies in the main town before heading out. There are tons of sight gags and in-jokes, but everything moves at such a fast pace that you might not be able to catch all of them the first time through. Though, my favorite is the Laughing Man circle.
The animation style is cutesy, but has quick style change-ups here and there, going from 8-bit to intense and back. Everyone looks chibi, but that might be part of the classic game style inspiration. It would at least explain why the main characters look 8 and 6, instead of 13 and 12. This series might be a good one for kids, but I’ll wait to make an official call on that until the end. For now, the speed at which the subtitles go by is too much for most kids to catch everything. But gamer adults would be fine, just be prepared to press your pause button in the first few minutes to catch all the text.
We’ll see where this show leads. The in-your-face, head-bashing zaniness and lighting fast pacing were a bit of a turn-off for me, but I think there are glimmers of fun that might make up for it. I guess we’ll find out in episode 2.
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