Hidan no Aria – 01-04

Boobs and guns. Hot stuff.

Yah, so, Hidan no Aria didn’t really catch my eye at first, but it’s definitely grown on me. Without further ado, let us set forth!

We are thrown right into a crazy bike chase with our main character, Tohyama Kinji, as he’s being pursued by a robot-gun-on-a-segway. He is saved by this badass girl who jumps from the top of a building with a parachute. So yah…right from the start we can tell this show is going to be pretty action packed.

“WHOAH! I can see her PANTIES!”

So, we go back to before the crazy bike chase and Kinji has just woken up. His childhood friend, Shirayuki, stops by with breakfast and she’s quite obviously the clingy type. I’m already not too fond of her. We find out that Kinji attends a school for training kids to be mercenaries called Butei. They’re basically like the police in that they fight off crime but they can be hired for money. Kinji wants to quit this lifestyle though.

Kinji misses his bus so he heads off to school on his bike and we go back to the intro scene as the crazy robot-gun-on-a-segway chases him. Turns out that he has a bomb on his bike and if he goes any slower or stops it’ll explode. Hah. No pressure or anything! The badass girl helps him out and after the bike explodes he finds himself caught in an awkward position with her and a faceful of boobs. Naturally, she’s pretty outraged but has no time to really complain as a mini-legion of guns-on-wheels arrive and start shooting. All of a sudden, Kinji goes into “Hysteria Mode” (basically when he’s sexually aroused he gets super powers) and becomes a sexy beast and is all suave and saves the girl, Aria, and completely OWNS the mini-legion. Aria gets pissy and tries to attack Kinji for being a perv but he manages to escape her.

After this whole fiasco, Kinji FINALLY makes it to school and guess who’s in his class?! Why yes! It is Aria! Later on, Kinji makes it home, only to find Aria in his residence…declaring that he is her slave!

Episode 2 starts off with Kinji not happy with being Aria’s slave. She wants him to join her Butei team because his stunt while in sexy-beast mode was rather impressive. When he refuses her demand she kicks him out…of his own residence. (No comment on his manlihood or lack thereof.) Kinji returns that night while Aria is in the shower and Shirayuki conveniently shows up. How awkward. Afterwards, Kinji tries to take Aria’s weapons away while she’s in the shower and it totally backfires on him.

The next day, in an attempt to escape Aria, Kinji takes on a mission to find a stray cat. Aria tags along of course much to his frustration. Not only so, but also, as soon as he finds the cat he gets scratched in the face. Sucks to be you Kinji!

Hell. I’d be scared too.

Later on, Kinji meets with Riko and exchanges some eroges for information on Aria. It turns out that she really IS a badass. She’s called “Aria the Quadra” and wields two guns and two swords. BAMF. He comes home after this and Aria confronts him about his hidden super (suave) skill as a Butei and tries to convince him to join her team. He agrees to do only one mission with her.

In Episode 3 we begin with Kinji arriving at the Assault building to take an elective. Riko comes up and gives him a ticket to the arcade…and a nice glimpse of her boobage. Kinji’s friends all tease him at the door about joining Assault again but quickly scram when they see Aria. She IS pretty intimidating…

Shameless.

Aria tags along while Kinji goes to the arcade. She spots a claw machine with cat plushies and falls in love. She fails miserably at the game though (I sympathize), but Kinji manages to win the plushies for her. D’awww.

This face is just…I…I can’t…*moe blob*

Kinji arrives home and notices that his watch doesn’t match the clocks in his house. He changes the time, but it turns out that it’s wrong as he misses the 7:58 bus again the next morning. Lucky for him – the bus has a bomb planted on it by the Butei Killer. (The Butei Killer was also responsible for the scooter-guns from before.) The students on the bus try to find the bomb and are unsuccessful and when the Butei Killer sends an automated car with a gun after them the situation becomes dire. Aria quickly calls Kinji and they set off to save everybody on the bus and dismantle the bomb. They take out the automated car and get on the bus to search for the bomb, which ends up being underneath the bus. Against Aria’s orders, Kinji climbs outside the bus and almost gets shot by another automated car. Aria gets hurt trying to protect him.

Reko, a pro sharpshooter, manages to take out the bomb by HELICOPTOR. So COOL. Kinji visits Aria in the hospital where she expresses her disappointment in him, stating that he wasn’t the partner she had been looking for.

Episode 4 begins with Kinji having a horrible dream about his brother’s death. His brother was the only Butei on a ship and it exploded, and he died after evacuating the passengers. He still ended up getting all the blame for the incident which seems to explain why Kinji doesn’t want to be a Butei anymore.

That day, Kinji is walking around town when he sees Aria coming out of a shop. He decides to follow her to see what she’s up to but his stalking skills are less than subpar and he gets caught. She allows him to accompany her as she visits her mom in jail. Her mother has been framed by the Butei Killer as the one behind the crimes and Aria wants to prove her mother’s innocence. Her mother tells her that the only way she can do that and go against some organization called the EU is to get a partner. On the way back home Aria bursts into tears. I did too. T_T

After this incident, Kinji decides to do some research on the Butei Killer. He realizes that Aria wanted him to be her partner to help her prove her mother’s innocence. In the midst of his research, Shiranui comes up and tell Kinji that Aria is apparently going back to London! On his way home, Kinji receives a text from Riko and meets her at this club where she has gotten them a private room. She talks to him about the Butei Killer and then starts…seducing him. Creepy. Naturally, Kinji enters his super suave Hysteria Mode and leaves. He runs to the airport after realizing that the Butei Killer is probably on Aria’s flight.

“Mmm~ You taste like…pie.”

I’m too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt. So sexy it hurts~

He gets on the plane but isn’t able to stop it from taking off. He finds Aria and tells her that he’s still her partner because their first mission isn’t over yet – they still need to find the Butei Killer. Speak of the devil! The Butei Killer hijacks the plane and is revealed to be…RIKO!? WHAAATT!? I did not see that one coming.

Well I’ll be damned…

Riko turns out to be a descendent of Arsene Lupin and Aria’s a descendent of Sherlock Holmes! Kinji is Aria’s Watson I suppose. Riko is the one behind the bus hijacking, the time change in Kinji’s house and even what happened to his brother! It turns out that she is frustrated over her legacy and wanted to get to Aria in this way such that she could defeat her. They get into a gun fight and Riko is actually a Quadra too – her hair can be used as swords. That is…scary. The episode ends with Aria getting shot in a critical area! Oh no!

End Thoughts: So, as I mentioned before, I was not very interested in watching Hidan no Aria when I first heard about it. I’m picky about my anime. However, when I looked into it and realized that Rie Kugimiya (Taiga of Toradora, Alphonse in FMA, etc.) was going to be voicing Aria, I was ready to go. She is an awesome seiyuu. The idea of kids being trained as mercenaries for hire was, of course, quite interesting as well.

Episode 4 made Hidan no Aria work for me. Kinji and Aria gained more depth as we found out more about their pasts; they’re easier to sympathize with now. They are not just blindly seeking out the Butei Killer for the sake of justice – they are actually emotionally invested in it. And that just makes it so much more gripping. I’m actually excited to find out what they’ll do.

I couldn’t decide whether or not I liked those literary references towards the end of Episode 4 though. It could be considered an interesting plot twist, but I just found it rather…funny. I can’t imagine Sherlock Holmes have a great-grand daughter with PINK hair. I mean, anything is possible in the realm of anime but I don’t think that it was a necessary plot addition. They could have been fine without it.

I also totally did not expect that out of Riko. Sure, I found her suspicious and rather over the top at parts, but I didn’t expect such…malice out of her. So that was good. I was surprised. I think that she should just get over being called “the 4^th”. That is such a trivial reason to plants BOMBS on buses and bikes. Yes, yes, you have issues with your identity. We all do. That’s something you should resolve on your own. Go meditate under a waterfall or something. -.-

I want to find out more about this EU organization and I don’t think that Riko is the actual Butei Killer. Looking forward to the next episode!

Preview:

New character?

About Zabobinator

Doesn't get enough sleep. Dork with a rather eclectic taste in manga and anime. Adores Studio Ghibli films.