Mystery anime is a genre I haven’t watched much of. Not that I’m averse to it, just I haven’t found any which make sense or seem believable. Spiral, the anime, is a mystery anime based off the manga by Kyou Shirodaira. The manga was first inked in 2000 with fifteen volumes being produced. The Spiral anime was released in 2002 and had a total of twenty five episodes.
plot summary
Narumi Kiyotaka is a brilliant detective and pianist, excelling at everything he does. Narumi Ayumu, Kiyotaka’s younger brother, lives eternally in the shadow his elder brother casts. Ayumu both admires and despises his older brother for his achievements, but is shocked when one day Kiyotaka disappears without a trace. Before his disappearance, the elder Narumi calls his younger sibling and says only that he will unravel the mystery of the Blade Children, then nothing.
Two years later, Narumi happens upon the scene of a crime at his school. Upon further investigation, Ayumu learns the girl who was the target of the crime is one of the mysterious Blade Children his brother was so interested in.
More crimes occur and Ayumu finds himself in the middle of a vast conspiracy. He unwillingly gains a helper cum sidekick with his investigations in the form of intrepid school reporter, Yuizaki Hiyono.
The arrival of the world famous pianist, Eyes Rutherford, to the city adds more trouble to Ayumu’s already troubled investigations. Eyes puts Ayumu’s wits to the test, time and time again, as the famous pianist and Blade Child gages whether or not “Little Narumi” can help the plight of the cursed Blade Children.
Can the younger Narumi brother uncover the truth behind the Blade Children and his brother’s disappearance? Can Ayumu put the pieces of the puzzle together before it’s too late?
review
I want my nine hours back. I feel as though a thief stole nine precious hours of David’s and my time, and that thief is Spiral. The ending for this time pilfering series was the coup de grace which left an empty pit in my stomach and made me bitter I watched the whole damn thing. This anime had no payoff and zero development in the story department.
The first episode for the series was a great hook, as every initial episode of anything should be. The promise of mysteries to be solved and of a possible sci-fi/ fantasy element was too good a lure to turn down. Night after night we invested our time in the anime, which had the same formulaic pace and plot in each episode. Instead of substantially building upon previous episodes, or offering progressively more info, the series seemed to do exactly as the title suggests; spiral around and around the central theme of the Blade Children. It spiraled further away from the plot and pacing with each new turn. Scant info was included in the series, though mysteries supposedly abounded.
The mysteries this anime professes it holds are mere illusions. The Blade Children are presented to be these poor, cursed individuals with a missing rib. Ayumu’s brother is their messiah, their savior. But if Kiyotaka is their messiah, they believe Ayumu is the second coming. These violent youngsters are supposedly doomed from birth, yet no reason is given for their existence nor their fate, so why do they need to be saved? Because they’re being hunted? Why are they being hunted? Should I even care?
Just because the Blade Children are presented as an unknown quantity, doesn’t make them a mystery; it makes them an annoyance. It’s bad policy to keep promising audiences answers but only feeding them rubbish and more questions. The second sin this series committed was to keep the audience in the dark about Kiyotaka’s involvement with the Blade Children. All we’re offered is he went in search of them and found them, end of. Any questions Ayumu would ask the antagonists about either his brother or the Blade Children was met with silence or violence.
The whole “plot” of the story was dumb. The Blade Children want Ayumu to help them, yet repeatedly test him in violent and deadly ways. Yeah, that’ll make someone want to help. Here, try and stick this knife in this guy, he’ll save your life in return.
Granted, the battles of wits were entertaining but they went nowhere, accomplished nothing and were ultimately pointless. I thought the story was about the Blade Children, not mental death matches.
Character Development
The characters of Ayumu and Hiyono were the only people I cared anything about. I actually really liked both of them. Ayumu is portrayed as a bored, but brilliant amateur detective, who’s filled with self doubt due to constant comparison to his brother. His laid back, but cool demeanor hides the gentle and thoughtful nature lurking under his self-possessed facade. He’s a very likable character with a lot of depth and a lot of angst.
Hiyono is the complete opposite. She’s full of bubbly energy and confidence, not only in herself, but in Ayumu. I first thought she’d be a tacked on moe sidekick, but she turned out to be a great addition to the anime.
I wish the series was just about these two as young detectives, solving local crimes and whatnot. Instead, what viewers get is this cavalcade of shallow empty characters doing pointless things involving two likable and developed characters. The contrast couldn’t be more apparent between the Blade Children and Ayumu and Hiyono.
Character Design
Stereotypical is what I’d call the character designs. The spiky hair and huge eyes featured in Spiral is one of the more common hallmarks of the medium.
Most of the designs represent everyday Japan. The kids wear Japanese school uniforms and Eyes sports dress casual when he performs and leather the rest of the time. Nothing stands out as interesting and inventive.
Animation
J.C. Staff animated Spiral, and despite the mediocrity of the anime, the animation was decent. There were a few detailed shots, not many, and a few shots looked a bit sketchy, but not god awful.
Music
Skip the OP. Just do it, it’s horrible. The screeching, “Searching for new world”, Engrish in the beginning of “Kibouhou” by Strawberry Jam, is like an icepick to the ears. We made it a game to see who could fast forward the OP the fastest. The ED, “Kokuteru” by Hysteric Blue, was better than the OP, yet is neither remarkable nor memorable.
Music throughout the episodes built up suspense and drama, but was as pointless as the numerous “contests” in the series.
Voice Acting
The English voice cast is not so good. Ayumu’s voice actor lacks the emotion his Japanese counterpart conveys. Kanone Hilbert’s character had a horrible Southern accent. It was truly, truly bad. I liked the Japanese voice cast much more.
Production
The designs on the packaging and DVDs look good, but the way the DVDs are stored in the set leaves much to be desired. The DVDs will fall out, in a rain of discs, if they’re aren’t put back just so. They’re not securely set in the pages, they’re slipped in, as I learned the hard way.
I had a tough time deciphering the DVD menu screen. Instead of clearly labeled “Play Episodes“, or “Setup“, the menu has “Base” and “Progression“. This series is committed to annoying the hell out of its viewers.
Conclusion
While I enjoyed Ayumu and Hiyono, Spiral was a failure at being either mysterious or good. The suspense it tried to drum up for the purported huge mystery of the Blade Children was nothing more than smoke and mirrors meant to detract from the plot. That was the real mystery; how an anime got through twenty five episodes with only pointless questions and nonsense to fuel it….
Rating
Spiral gets 1.5 outta 4 Hammies!
Retail Info
- Publisher: Funimation
- Release Date:December 11, 2007
- Retail Price: $49.98
- Number of discs:6
- Episodes:25
- Run Time: 625 minutes
- Rating:Unrated
- Language: English, Japanese
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Unless you
