First Impression – 「K」Return of Kings

The time has come….

“The time has come to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships – and sealing wax – of cabbages and kings.”  

      –Lewis Carroll

Well, well, another season, another group of royalty, but this time slightly different what I’ve dealt with before. Rather than the time of swords and sorcery or a storybook land, this time we turn back to a world not much unlike our own. Well, I have to make an addendum to that, we are returning to this world after a brief visit last year and the last real stay, more than three years back when the first series made it’s debut.

SCEPTER 4 welcome you back.

The world of K is not really that much unlike our own. In the first series, we learned the basic mythology behind the world. That through the power of the Dresden Slates, a scientist working for the National Socialist German Worker’s Party in 1940’s Germany, named Adolf K. Weismann was able to harness special abilities known as “aura” that garner the principles of the Earth, time, space, and reality. Decades later, these abilities fell into the hands of the Japanese, giving rise to seven incredibly superpowered beings, and through them, seven superpowered clans, not as powerful as their leaders, but dangerous all the same. These seven clans are unique from each other, each with specific traits, characteristics, and personalities. The leaders of these clans are known as kings, and it is they that……

You know what?

If the show is not going to bother to recap anything, neither am I. If you want the whole breakdown, you have to go to my half of the review of the 2014 movie that came out prior to this: K: Missing Kings. And to really get a solid understanding of this new sequel, I suggest you either watch the movie or read Fosh and my review on it, as it is the linking bridge between series, and it is necessary in order to understand the current situation of where this new series begins.

Blue vs. Red–again.

Fight Choreography

One of the biggest changes, or should I say, improvements, to the series, is the stage combat between characters. I say stage combat, because to a degree, it almost looks like these boys are doing a staged fight/dance with each other, á la Seven Brides for Seven Brothers or West Side Story. Blades flash, Red and Blue auras clash, fire and raw energy swirl in a beautiful display against a spectacular city skyline, that give you a clear reminder of all these characters that we haven’t seen in some time without giving you a bit of unnecessary dialog.

In the very first scene, we are reintroduced to the Red and Blue Clans. Most of your favorites are making a return this season, Kusinagi, Yata, Rikio, (he really should see a doctor about that instantaneous weight loss and gain) and little Anna, who has assumed the throne and gone from princess to Queen, on the Red side. And of course Blue King Munakata, Seri, Fushimi, and all their other forgettable team members of SCEPTER 4, return for the Blues.

Familiar faces, New animation

They don’t tell us outrightly, but to anyone who has watched the first season, because of the presence of certain characters, we know that this is a flashback to event even prior to season one. It’s not a necessary scene, it is only there to show off the animators’ budget and remind us that the Red Oni/Blue Oni trope is not in danger of dying off anytime soon.

Since when did the Clans become Jedi Knights?

It’s a wondrous display of the two main clans’ fighting skill and style and reminds us of the power of their kings. And I enjoyed it myself, at least for a while. The fight scene does go on for quite some time, and in the end, the entire scene is completely superfluous. And while I did enjoy seeing Mikoto and Takata again, and the relationship between Suoh and Munakata was stirring to see once more, it’s time to get back to present day and get the plot to this started.

Such a pretty red…

“You’ve got to be seen, Green…”

We knew from the movie that the villains, at least to start with, for this season, was going to be the newly introduced Green Clan and their king, Nagare Hisui. Following their actions in the Missing Kings, they are now taking a slightly more subtle approach and are coming after the Silver, Blue, and Red Clans, not with heavy force, but with heavy…well…annoyance. The Green Clan unfortunately has more clansmen than any other clan with hundreds to thousands of members, however its balance between the other clans is maintained because of the fact that the majority of the clansmen barely carry any power, if any at all.

Only those close to the king, who have proved their worth are worthy of such an honor. The rest are pretty much only of use as pawns for the king’s bidding, the promise of gaining “points”, enough of a snare to get these Green idiots to do pretty much anything, even inciting the wrath and ire of the much more powerful Red and Blue Clans.

Let’s see…Ooh, there’s a “keikaku doori” app!

The immediate puppetmaster in this maneuver is high ranked Green Clansman Sukuna Gojou. A 13 year-old kid, who is definitely smarter and more capable than your average pre-teen. He stays in the shadows for the most part and reminds me a lot of a more sinister version of Shiro when we were first introduced to him. The 8-bit summary presentation of the major events of last season that he did to get the Red Clan involved in whatever the hidden plots the Green King, was as hilarious as it was irreverent, and if that’s the surface of the kid’s talents, I’ll be interested in seeing more of what Sukuna can do.

With these graphics, HOMRA is less than impressed. 

He is the third of the higher level Green Clansmen that we’ve met after Kuroh’s ex-senpai Yukari Mishakuji and female ninja, Hirasaka Douhan, and we have more on the way. <jungle> has yet to really do anything to really stand out yet, but they have time to make a more impactful resonance with me, especially considering what few goals of theirs that we’ve seen so far: namely aggravating the Silver Clan to the point that the Silver King comes out of hiding, and putting enough stress on the Blue King that his already cracking Sword of Damocles will eventually get to the point of no return. Speaking of kings….

The loli is not impressed either.

Shifting Sovereigns

Since the end of season one, there have been changes going on among the modern monarchy of Japan. I have made a revised chart of the seven royals as of this premiere episode:

Things have begun to shift and advance in a way that has never been done before, in the history of the Seven Kings. Kings are being chosen faster than they ever were before, and there has been tremblings within the Dresden Slates that give them their power. A shadow of foreboding has begun to overcast the world the Clans had previously known, and none of them seem to even be aware of it.

Foreboding changes

Well, none except the Silver King, Adolf Weismann, who after his best friend’s death, heeds his warnings and decides to take charge. We don’t know much about what the Gold King might have known, other than his foreboding words to Weismann in regards to the world being destroyed. Now does he mean literally, or figuratively? Considering the Gold King’s nature, I’m thinking the former, but if so, how? How exactly have we gone from the potential destruction of a tiny island based high school, to the impending annihilation of the world?

The Silver Clan is up and ready for business!

I don’t even think the fall of a Damocles Sword could cause that much damage, even if all seven fell at the same time. Japan and a good chunk of Asia and the south Pacific might be gone, but I think the world would be okay as a whole. Could it be something else? I have a feeling the Green King might have an idea and it factors into his plots, but if so, could it be that the Silver King himself may be the key to the destruction of the world?

The sun does wonders for immortal skin.

Well, we can guess until we’re blue in the face, but we’ll have to wait until they either give us more clues or tell us more. But I think it’s safe to say that the Kings and their clans are going to be facing their biggest challenge yet, in the season to come.

So, what did I think about the premiere? Well, actually not much happened in it for me to really comment all that much. This was basically just a reintroduction episode for each of the main Clans and the main characters within. We get an overlong, dispensable, flashback fight, an excessive scene of Seri’s, um…”excessiveness”, the Red and Blue Clans against Green mooks, a recreation of the end of the movie, reused stock footage and a lot of setup. That was pretty much it. I loved seeing all of our characters again, though unlike most girls, the most of the boys of K aren’t really my type (well except for maybe Shiro/Adolf since I do have a thing for silver hair 😛 ), but I like them as characters and I like the plot itself, and I can’t wait to see it unfold in the episodes to come.  

The King has returned…

About IreneSharda

A Chicagoan biochemist, teacher, and an aspiring virologist, with a love for science only rivaled by my love for movies, animation, and anime. Both a lover of action/adventure and romance, I'm a girl who walks the entire spectrum. Mecha, Sci-Fi, Psychological Thriller, Romantic Period Piece, if it's has a good story, I'm there.