So, Akuma no Riddle. Where to begin? To be honest, this is probably the weakest show of the lot for me. And yet I keep watching it.
At its core, Akuma no Riddle is a somewhat derivative mixup of stories like Battle Royale and Hitman: Absolution.
It revolves around the "Black Class," a special class at a special
school consisting entirely of girls. One of these girls is Haru
Ichinose, a cutie who's optimistic to a fault and determined to
graduate. Unfortunately, what Haru doesn't realize is that every other
girl in her class has enrolled for the express purpose of murdering
her. They're all assassins you see, all contracted to kill Haru. But
this contract is special; almost like a game. There are three rules:
1) Do not involve anyone outside the Black Class (including their homeroom teacher, who at least appears to be a dope)
2) Give Haru written notice of your intent to kill her before attempting to do so
3) Kill her within 48 hours of her receiving your notice, or you must immediately drop out and leave.
The
prize awaiting the girl who manages to kill Haru is--as you might
expect with tournament-style shows like these--anything you can
imagine. However, one girl has for whatever reason decided to go
against the flow, and protect Haru instead of kill her. The show
follows Haru and her newfound protector Tokaku Azuma as they fend off
the other assassins and somehow manage to have a somewhat normal high
school life.
Akuma no Riddle
is a strange show, to be honest. It makes no real effort to expand on
its setting or overarching plot, which leaves you with just the moment
to moment action to go by. The cast is also largely nothing special,
with most of the characters fulfilling basic conventional character
archetypes (and some not fulfilling these archetypes particularly well)
and barely functioning beyond their tendency to attack Haru one at a
time, once per week in a typical 'monster of the week' format. Haru
herself is strangely endearing with her tireless optimism and friendly
disposition, even towards her classmates who she is very aware are all
going to try to kill her in cold blood at some point or another. But
the only mildly interesting character in the show other than Haru so far
is Nio, a mysterious and somewhat amusing girl who watches over the
proceedings as a sort of referee rather than actively participating
herself.
But
what's most strange is the tone of the show. I can put aside the fact
that it has basically organized a contract assassination into a cruel
game, but the show's overall tone is inexplicable. Before long everyone
except the teacher is aware of what's going on, and they're all
generally amicable to each other and act like they don't all have a lot
to lose by failing. Haru obviously has her life on the line, but every
girl is fighting for a chance at something better, whether it's just
basic survival or ultimate happiness. Though most of the characters try
to seclude Haru before attempting to slay her, some don't mind going
for the kill right in front of the other classmates. Even stranger is
that the classmates generally just watch in mild amusement as this
occurs.
Even
more strange is Haru herself, who seems to be totally at peace with the
fact that she is very clearly on the chopping block. Perhaps in spite
of this, she continually places more trust in her classmates than any
sane person in her situation ought to. When invited to meet one of the
girls in a secluded location late at night, she happily agrees. Despite
how foolish she acts and how sunny her disposition generally is, Haru
doesn't give the impression of being a total dope. This isn't her first
rodeo, and underneath that bubbly personality we see a girl who's
fought all her life just to stay alive, and is at this point
inexplicably confident in her ability to get through this ordeal just as
she has before.
If not for Haru, I likely would have dropped Akuma no Riddle. But as cliched as this may sound, I want to see how her struggle plays out.
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