Spring Anime 2014 (Part 3)

Title: Black Bullet
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Studio: Kinema Citrus
Genre: Action/Adventure, Sci Fi, Comedy
Premise: Based on the popular manga by Shiden Kanzaki. It has been 10 years since the Gastrea first attacked humanity. Now, mankind fights back with pairs of Initiators, girls born with Gastrea DNA, and Promoters, agents tasked with watching and handling their Initiators. A young Promoter, Rentaro Satomi, and his Initiator, Enju Aihara, face off with a mysterious man who vows to destroy the world.

Verdict: Hyperviolent prepubescent girls haven't looked this good since Gunslinger Girl. There's something to be said about Japan's obsession with cute-as-a-button moeblobs who can utterly destroy opponents several times bigger than them. That's a subject for another post, however. Despite the use of such a tired character archetype, Black Bullet is aiming to please with a heady mix of mystery and sci fi action.

Things get rolling quickly with a brief prologue segment; a young Rentaro witnesses the beginning of the Gastrea invasion, watching in terror as a hideous creature falls from the skies. The show then jumps ahead 10 years, catching up with a grown-up Rentaro who lives as a Promoter. His day-to-day consists of hunting the Gastrea, giant monsters that infect and transform any person they touch, with his overly affectionate (and jealous) Initiator partner, Enju.

Rentaro is in the middle of investigating a Gastrea attack when he encounters a strange masked man who vows to destroy the world. Although he fights valiantly, Rentaro is hardly able to put a scratch on the guy, who proceeds to jump out of window and vanish. The rest of the episode is devoted to exposition and introducing secondary characters, including Rentaro's fiery boss at the civil security agency, Kisara Tendo.

The pilot serves as a simple introduction to Rentaro's world, and leave plenty of questions to be answered. Who is the man in the mask? What is the secret behind Initiators, born with Gastrea DNA but unaffected by it? Will Enju ever stop trying to jump Rentaro's bones? Even with a short track record, fledgling studio Kinema Citrus has done a solid adaptation job so far.