Anime/Hidan no Aria (Aria the Scarlet Ammo)

Hidan No Aria

Imagine there was a school, a high school, dedicated to training heavily armed mercenary detectives, known as Butei. Butei who's uniforms are bulletproof, and are required to carry at least one loaded pistol and a blade on them at all times.

Now imagine there are two students at this school, one by the name of Touyama Kinji, and another by the name of Kanzaki H. Aria.

Imagine that those two characters were exactly like how you'd expect from their Seiyuu.

Now give Kinji a badass alternate personality dedicated to protecting any and all girls, and Aria two pistols, two katana, and a mouth deadlier than all four combined.

Add to that a bike with a speed detonated bomb, and remote controlled Segways with Uzi's on them, and have it all animated by JC Staff, well, then you have this show.

It was fucking awesome

edited 14th Apr '11 11:58:02 PM by SakurazakiSetsuna

I thought he gets more badass the more sexually aroused he gets. Still, I did not see that coming since I thought it would be Shakugan no Shana with guns.

I think I did something last night...

No no no.

Its Toradora with guns!

The voice, the idiot hair, she even has katanas, she really reminds me more of a twin tailed pink haired Shana... with guns. And at the beginning, the main guy reminded me of the main guy from Shakugan no Shana, (I know the voices don't match), that first scene where he gets saved reminded me of the first scene in Shakugan no Shana where the main guy also gets saved by the girl.

I think I did something last night...

Oh, Ryuji's voice actor. I have episode 1 of this on my desktop; haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

It's been fun.

....by any chance, does Aria have the same VA as Astatotte?

Will be following this show...even if those 3D guns look out of place.

edited 15th Apr '11 6:29:16 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

She's Kugimiya Rie.

You really don't need me telling you who that is, right?

oh....Nagi and Louise's voice actor.

So she voices awesome characters I see...

---

Dang, you'd think there'd be less anime this season due to a certain little event that happened not too long ago...but instead, but I've never had so many anime to follow at once before.

And DMW hasn't even aired yet...I hope they won't tone it down.

edited 15th Apr '11 7:08:53 PM by Signed

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

If a character is a Loli Tsundere, she will be voiced by Rie Kugimiya, No exceptions.

I really loved this up to the point where Kinji's alternate personality shows up and he becomes more than a Badass. At least he isn't a defenseless guy, and doesn't have to rely on Aria, but his badassery was too much.

I just realised i've watched 17 series, and at the moment i'm planning on keep watching 16.

edited 15th Apr '11 7:39:16 PM by shark33

I... really don't know what to think about this. The premise is quite an interesting one - the Butei and Butei High, that is - and I really want to like it, but the rest is almost painfully generic. As soon as Aria opened her mouth, I knew she was going to go straight from 'competent' to 'loud tsundere who Worfs' in about five minutes. And really, Hidan? You're pulling out Transfer Student, Seat Neighbors, Innocent Cohabitation and Become My Slave all at once? Talk about your Cliché Storm. At the least (the very, very least), Aria didn't get angry at Kinji in the classroom. Though I notice that she even borrowed Taiga's stutter.

I'm willing to give it two more episodes to get itself out of the hole it's dug, but we'll see - they'll have to impress me, not just maintain quality, to do that.

edited 15th Apr '11 11:52:03 PM by RedSavant

It's been fun.

I'm interested in seeing where they go with Aria. It is, after all, her name in the title, and the ED especially is focused entirely on her.

Index not withstanding, being the Titular character is generally a good indication that you're going to be pretty important to the story.

I do sorta wish they hadn't cast Kugimiya, if only because of the expected backlash. On the other hand, I'll guarantee that in the author's original notes, on the character sheet for Aria, there's a notation of CV: Kugimiya Rie

And Kinji really should have been Fukuyama Jun, if only because he's a master at the sudden personality shift schtick. I expected Kinji to start spouting off "These are my executive orders!"

edited 16th Apr '11 12:37:45 AM by SakurazakiSetsuna

The stutter is not unique to Taiga. It's standard fare for Rie Kugimiya Tsundere roles along with " Urusai urusai urusai!" (Shutup shutup shutup)

While this is Strictly Formula I have a feeling this will be quite popular like Infinite Stratos last season.

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

^Does Kugimiya-san have a stutter herself? She's the only seiyuu I can think of whose roles demonstrate that particular kind of stutter (as opposed to the 'W-what are you talking about?!' kind), and as popular as she is, I can see people writing something like that in. Given that Kugimiya-san's voiced essentially the same character for her past, what, ten roles, I imagine the script looks something like this:

They can just put her in front of a mic and let her talk; it's not like Aria's needed any complexity or distinuishing features so far, so Kugimiya Loli Tsundere Line Set A should do.

I realize I'm somewhat belaboring the point, but I really want this show to impress me. If it turns out to be another Infinite Stratos I will be bitterly disappointed.

edited 16th Apr '11 12:48:55 AM by RedSavant

It's been fun.

Thats pretty unfair to Kugimiya, she's actually got a pretty wide range, and its been a while since she's played this particular archetype (these roles have been going to other seiyuu, notably Taketatsu Ayana recently.

Anyway, she is a master at these, and its pretty clear that the dialog for a lot of these characters is written to her strengths.

If she actually had a real stutter I doubt she could be a voice actor. Doing a fake stutter would just be a skill she has.

Also, she tends to voice characters in adaptations, so in that sense the script was written before she was cast. I wouldn't be surprised if the author was writing the script around her though.

^^I'm not saying it's her fault that she's generally been typecast, nor am I denying that she's been branching out recently. The problem I have is with the writing in general; just by A) seeing Aria's hairstyle and B) knowing her seiyuu, I should not be able to tell exactly what she's going to say and do for the rest of the episode.

edited 16th Apr '11 12:52:15 AM by RedSavant

It's been fun.

Oh, I get your point, and I don't disagree in theory. Its just not bothering me for some reason.

The show just greatly amused me for some reason I can't fully explain, and perhaps not having heard the classic Kugimiya in some time helps.

Speaking of her hairstyle, I can't help but think that her hair will touch the floor whenever she sits down. Which is kind of disgusting really. There's a scene in the OP where she's sitting at a train station or something and all I can think is "ew".

...this is hardly unusual in anime. Its one of those things you don't think about.

Yeah that was harsh... Play the Japanese version of Persona 4 or wait for the anime to see her wide range of characters she can play. Rise is the perfect Anti-Tsundere she goes from a depressed Broken Bird upset about being used as a sex symbol to a spunky, flirty, Genki Girl , Pop Star but not an airhead. (and that not even including her shadow which is ummm.)

edited 16th Apr '11 1:02:29 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

She's also Alphonse from Full Metal Alchemist and the cat in Fairy Tail.

... and a reverse trap.

I think I did something last night...

Wait, that was her as well? But she sounded nothing like her other roles...

"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."

Thats sort of our point.

A lot of people don't actually pay attention to all the roles she's done, and just throw a fit whenever she shows up in her "traditional" style role, and accuse her of having no range, always playing the same character, etc etc.

That role made Rie Kugimiya awesome to me. Before watching that series, I watched all her loli-tsundere roles. Then when I watched Ladies v. Butlers, I checked the VA's to see if she was the blonde-drill-tsundere and when I found out she wasn't but the reverse trap... unbelievable. And then I found out about her other roles...

I was one of those actually but instead of whining about it, I LOL'd.

edited 16th Apr '11 12:18:47 PM by TheChubbyDestroyer

I think I did something last night...