Brynhildr in the Darkness

You look up at the night sky and what do you see? For most, it’s the infinite expanse of the known universe twinkling across the inky black horizon; sparkling like precious gems amongst galaxies, pools of ink dispersing into the blackness. Others see the vast amount of stars out there and think about whether our planet is the only inhabited one or if there are others strewn about the celestial map. In Brynhildr in the Darkness, we feel that curiosity in spades as well as finding out that aliens may be closer to home than you might think.

Our story begins with two children, one named Ryota and the other known as Kuroneko [or black cat on the account of her hair I’d assume?]. They spend their nights looking through a telescope at the stars and Kuroneko would proclaim that aliens do exist; in fact she knows where one is and takes Ryota to where it is to prove it…which leads to her death. Or so we think. Ten years after that day, a similar looking girl called Kuroha transfers into Ryota’s school and he can’t help but put two and two together and come up with his childhood friend. She herself can’t put two and two together as proved later on! Kuroha is drawn to Ryota as bad things are going to happen to him and she is there to stop them for the time being. She is revealed to be a scientific experiment [referred to as a “witch”] which has escaped from a scientific facility along with two dozen scattered around Japan. We don’t know the fate of most of them but we mainly focus on three: Kana, Kazumi and Kuroha herself. A fourth comes in later but I won’t go into detail to save it for your viewing. These girls all have certain powers ranging from hacking, clairvoyance, time-travel and brute strength. Naturally the laboratory they escaped from isn’t happy that these beings are roaming free and the series is dedicated to them and the girls in a game of cat and mouse. The girls have a fatal flaw in that they need pills to live and if they don’t take them after a certain time, they die. Not just stop breathing but bleed out of the skin before doing so. Yikes. That’s not how they die, there’s more but again *spoilers* so go watch yourself for the gory details. Why is this so gory? Does the art style look familiar to you? Like from a similarly graphic anime you might have seen or at least heard of? You’re not mistaken.

Brynhildr in the Darkness is written and animated by the same team that produced Elfen Lied, the 2004 anime which is about an escaped scientific experiment with special powers and an innocent bystander taking her in whilst outwitting their former captors. Lynn Okamoto and Studio ARMS have effectively hit the copy and paste button and replicated the general gist of Elfen Lied but modified it enough so that people won’t cry foul. The key differences being that there are more “witches” with similar powers, the main character [Kuroha] can properly talk and convey her feelings, slightly more comedy, a lighter ambience [but still pretty heavy on blood] and more of a sci-fi edge to proceedings. On the surface, the whole escaped patient angle may seem a little safe and if you saw Elfen Lied you’ll feel right at home but it feels a little more complex than the aforementioned anime. It actually feels more mainstream and something that is more accessible. The 2004 show was clearly meant for adults and was pure nightmare fuel; a niche product. Ten years later and Brynhildr in the Darkness feels like it’s done its homework and realised that it needs to tone the gore down a little, up the girl count and use the W-word. That’ll make it sell! It’s like the production has had a crash course of selling anime and come up with something more marketable. Demonstrate a magical vibe despite the powers being sourced from questionable technology and people will be less likely to tune out for the sheer gore fest. The series Pupa from the Winter 2014 season proved that too much mindless violence and blood will lead to horrified viewers switching off [It was third in Anifile’s worst 5 anime as chosen by its visitors]; so Okamoto’s team had to work out a happy medium.

The “witches” themselves are identifiable enough with reasonable personality traits. Kuroha is the confused yet determined lead, Kazumi is the smart-alec schemer and Kana is the mouthy brat; even the fact she’s completely immobile doesn’t stop her from airing her discontent. That plot point was interesting though. Kana’s condition adds a real crux to her makeup. She has the power of seeing the future at the cost of her physical mobility. She is not a perfect being; none of them are actually. Kuroha’s memory is wiped if she uses her magic too much and Kazumi’s hacking skills are dependent on computers so she’s not much good without one. These imperfections save these characters from being imbalanced and overpowered as a unit. They’re on the run and they have just enough ability to keep it that way. Then we come to Ryota. There isn’t much to say except he is very similar to Elfen Lied’s main lead Kouta [even their names sound similar!] in that he’s a naive yet smart good guy who will take in anything with a pulse especially if it’s alien-esque. Then again, he’s not a cardboard cutout. He has a soul and that is demonstrated with his REPEATED memory of him and Kuroneko falling. It shapes his character enough to push him away from being a generic male high school student. If you think about it, you can equate that sentiment to the anime itself; it does enough to make its premise not a carbon copy of the anime it’s clearly inspired by.

Brynhildr in the Darkness is a technically accomplished show which does a good job at animating and detailing the world that Ryota and friends live in. It’s a well-made product with a less than original premise. This show isn’t going to win awards but Okamoto has succeeded in making a show which is shocking yet nowhere near as repellent than his previous creation. It’s graphic enough to be spread through word of mouth and not have people throw up through said mouth. The plot has a lot of hooks in which to keep you involved. I myself was susceptible to the whole “one more episode” bug which is the sign of an interesting plot. I liked Elfen Lied and therefore it’s not wrong to assume that I like this show too.

Brynhildr in the Darkness is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

RATING: CONTINUE [This show has got that hook which will keep you involved for a good amount of time.]

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