Hello everyone,
Here we are to talk about the last two episodes of the anime series Hidan no Aria that finally concluded its run today and that is likely the last series that finished its run of the ones we were following on this blog.
The broadcasters like with Denpa Onna skipped a week to broadcast a two episode special today. Don't know the reasons for this choice to be honest, but it has turned nicely for me especially with this combination of a build-up episode and action episode very tightly connected.
I'll be honest and say to have got genuinely impressed by the quality of this work especialy watching at these two last episodes that really convinced me to ask more of this story! (but probably its only about tastes as I generally love this kind of stories)
The build up episode was nothing exceptional, except for a couple of funny references (like Kinji looking like Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell while stealing the jewel) and classic comedy antics between the various girls.
The final episode was magnificent, the battle animation was very well done, and Vlad was a very well done villain and while his personality was creating just following the "101 - How to be evil for dummies" manual they still managed to inspire into me real hate for him especially for how he treated Riko.
Oh yes, I was very touched by the Riko backstory! Being abused for all those years by Vlad, living in that prison. Sure it was quite distressing to see those flashbacks, but finally gave to Riko more character and personality and finally confirm her introduction in the friends party. (She gained the second place in my rankings after this episode. The first is obviously still Shirayuki)
Judging the series as a whole, it has been fun and pretty interesting creating a nice base for future adaptations that may go further in the EU fight plot and the Aria's mother backstory. I suggest this to anyone looking for an action/fanservice series with great voice-over and with relatively light/unexistant drama.
If I have to say one bad thing about this adaptation would be that the few drama moment with Kinji emo-ing around before accepting Aria in his life were quite lame to follow and care about.
As far as graphic quality I have nothing to say against J.C. Staff as they managed to keep a reasonable level of quality, especially during the fanservice scenes (you remember all the Shirayuki one's?! Especially the last couple at the nurse office...) and giving us a lot of great eye-catch in each episodes.
The voice-over quality was quite good, I especially liked Riko's seiyuu Mariya Ise that got quite some important roles in the past and managed to keep up the good job this time as well. (You remember her position as Nemuru in Ookami Kakushi?!)
I seriously hope that after that cliffhanger of Kana's appearance (this time for real) they'll work to prepare another series of this!
One thing is for sure, I'll be blogging any OVA or additional episode we'll get in the future so stay tuned!
See you soon,
feal87