Sennin

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images

Studio : ANIMA&CO; Direction : Harume Kosaka; Script : Takayuki Kuriyama, Yuichiro Higashide; Character Design : Hiroya Lijima; Music : Ryo Takahashi

Synopsis

The world comprises of elves, dwarves and vampires who were initially fighting with each other but now live in harmony. Our protagonist Seiji Nakatsuki who has just become a police officer is drafted into the Special Crime Investigation Unit – Sector 7 (accidentally) who handles cases which are large in scale for other police divisions to handle.

Their arch-enemy is a group called Nine. Seiji Nakatsuki along with sector 7 has to solve cases and bring down the group known as 9. How they do it forms the rest of the series.

What happens in this episode

We are introduced to the main character Seiji Nakatsuki and his backstory on why he became a police officer. After that we see him get involved in a bank robbery with his future partner in the sector 7 division Shiori Ichinose.

Then we are introduced to the rest of the members and also the relationship between sector 7 and other police division members. When the robbers escape in a military vehicle, the other members step in to help. They solve the case in a dramatic fashion and end up getting a clue about a group called Nine. Due to his involvement in the case related to Nine, the division recruits him and he becomes a member.

My Thoughts

In the first few seconds, we are introduced to the main character Seiji Nakatsuki who is injured in a terrorist attack and saved by a police officer. I think this is one of the few times where they show the main character in his most vulnerable in the first few seconds itself.

This is a very nice scene and well placed as there is a mystery behind the terrorist attack and later on in the episode, they mention the incident and the group behind it also. So we are shown that he is already tightly interwoven in the story before he became a police officer and we also got a glimpse of what kind of character he is going to become.

After that we are introduced to the rest of the characters, the unit itself and the relation and perception of other agencies have about them over the course of the bank robbery case. It’s pretty much the same type that I have seen in a lot of movies and tv series.

Seiji Nakatsuki – The protagonist. He has just completed his detective exam and is off duty when he is involved in the robbery. He is an earnest, straightforward, idealist guy who believes in justice so much that he will not stand when someone sacrifices innocent people for the sake of justice. He is also a bit naive and If he thinks his actions will save people, he will do it without hesitation, without thinking about the consequences.

Shiori Ichinose – A cool, carefree guy where his one eye is covered by hair. He doesn’t show any extreme emotion nor is he serious about saving citizens (he says that openly). He remains calm throughout the episode and doesn’t show much emotion except when it comes to the group Nine. He is also extremely smart where he could see that these guys have military experience and also saw through that one of the bank employees is in league with them

Kujaku Nijo – Vampire with an always serious attitude. He analyzes situations and acts accordingly. Even when is surprised he immediately comes back to the situation at hand like, he cancelled the ambulance when he saw that Keiji was fine and already moving He an extremely good driver who is able to catch up with the armored vehicle and also escape the bullets shooting at them. He’s a minimal risk-taker kind of guy.

Rokusuke Endo – The sniper. He is called as gramps by the rest. I presume he is the oldest member of the group. He is also highly skilled when he broke the weapon on top of the armoured car with relative ease.

Akane Shikisai – A samurai who can cut bullets. She is very confident in her abilities as she ran in front of Shiori and Seiji and stop the bullets. She is always smiling and is very fast.

Bellemere Cinq – The cyber expert or hacker of the group. She is always smiling like a kid, even when doing dangerous work like blowing the bridge. She also has the ability to process a large amount of information like when she is using 12 drones to see the vehicle on the bridge and take the appropriate action

Kiryuin Sakon Zeroemon – The boss of sector 7. He’s always smiling and gets pretty tense when his team is doing something unnecessary or over the top. He is also very respectful of others. He also immediately steps in when Nine is involved. He also defends the team against other agencies

For some reason they all have number in their names or in their nicknames.

These are the characters that are going to be there throughout the series. As I have said before these personalities off each of these characters are already seen before, so nothing special there. Through this episode, we are shown the characters and the abilities of each person.

In the first scene, we are teased about Seiji’s ability and we got a glimpse of it during the action scene. The Nine is referenced almost throughout the episode and the name alone raises a lot of eyebrows. Except for the name and the fact they were once vanquished and are once again rising are the only two things we know about Nine.

The action sequences are really nice (but not much of action in this episode). The character designs are not bad and the animation is smooth and I feel is quite different from other anime in the same genre. They have given more prominence to dark colours, the shadows became darker (especially on the characters) and the highlights have increased as well. I think they are indirectly saying that not everything you see here is dark and white but lots of grey shades as well

When it comes to the background score, the music becomes fast whenever the armored truck is being focussed which increases the pace of the scene as well. When people are talking, the background score is very low and is also slow. I really liked this approach as fast music gives the feeling of tension and only ends when the action sequence is over.

I don’t mind this animation and it actually feels refreshing to watch. Overall it gives a vintage feel (like watching a black and white movie but with more prominence to other colors)

The opening rock song by OLDCODEX and the ending J-pop song by SCREEN mode are all pleasing to the ears and the visuals accompanying it are also good.

I am a fan of the action genre and I also like police procedural dramas and when I watched the first episode it didn’t invoke any kind of emotion from me like I was watching with a straight face throughout. It is not particularly bad not particularly good either, it’s somewhere in the middle (which is not something I recommend any anime to be in!!!)

Sure, my interest piqued when they talked about the villain group and I also liked the visual style of the anime, but nothing particularly hit me in the face and woke me from my sleep (I watched this anime after immediately getting up so the leftover sleepiness was still there)

What will keep this anime going is the villain group and how much of an impact it creates throughout the series. That is going to make or break for this series. If they are able to create captivating villains, engaging character arcs/history for each of the main characters (as I have seen these type of characters lots of times) and decent blood-pumping action scenes I think they will have a hit in their hands. I am looking forward to the rest of the series

Mark – 3.5/5

I would like to know your views of the show and about my blog as well so let me know your views in the comments section.