Weiss Kreuz Glühen
(Knight Hunters Eternity)
Reviewer: ArundelOverall Rating: C+
Media Reviewed: Digital fansubs
Creator: Koyasu Takehito / Project Weiss
U.S. Licensed: Yes
Released by: Media Blasters
Run time: 13 episodes
BL Content: None (slashable)
Genre: Drama/Action
Other media: Sequel to Weiss Kreuz series [review]
This is the continuation of beloved, slashable, and deeply flawed Weiss Kreuz. Once again the members of shadowy crime-fighting organization Weiss must contest with shadowy crime-making organization Esset; once more Aya, Omi, Yoji, and Ken must kill for the sake of peace and children and whatever else you please. At shadowy possibly-criminal elite school Towa Academy students are offing themselves right and left, so Weiss sends Aya Fujimiya undercover as a teacher to investigate the situation. Assisting him initially are two young Weiss members posing as students. As they uncover distressing brainwashing programs in the school computers and fascist undercurrents in student social organization, the gloves come off and the hot new battle costumes come on as Weiss takes up arms against the darkness within.
Let us be frank about this: in its initial episodes Glühen has a plot which comes off like a shrill and overly gory "school life" anime. It's not that super even if you like school life anime - the plot twists are as transparent as the chocolate-rose fineness of Aya's hair - but if you don't like school life anime you will find the first three or four episodes very slow going. Shows that start out like this are responsible for my allergy to fourteen-year-olds. In later episodes, as the gravity of the situation becomes more apparent and less laden with genki prepubescents, it is easier to see why Weiss was bothering with the school and why the viewer should bother with the show.
To sustain you until that point Glühen provides you with enough ear and eye candy to stuff every psychological Christmas stocking you've ever had: the new character designs are attractive and well-animated (the latter being a key difference from the precursor), the voice acting is naturally top notch, the opening and ending theme songs are very catchy and the vocal work is noticeably improved from the Weiss Kreuz op/ed... and the creators certainly don't stint you on slashy details. Warm eye contact, winks, schoolboys sobbing in Aya's arms, meaningful speeches, misplaced affections, and glorious mutual deaths abound; I found myself mentally tallying the potential amount of fanfic existing for particular pairings, and discovered I couldn't count that high.
Restrained, refined, repressed Aya-sensei is a lot of fun to watch, and grown-up Omi looks excellent even if he still sounds like he couldn't buy cigarettes without getting carded. But the series really, really, really takes off in episode six, when Ken and Yoji return to the fray. Prior to that it's just Aya, Omi (in an unspecified role that everyone already knows about), and the two new kids, along with a new mission secretary (Rex), and these are not characters who balance each other very well - it's all head and no heart, dangerous in a character-driven series like WK.
Yoji and Ken are both more visceral and masculine characters who - ironically for their late arrival - seem to have benefitted most from the changes in Gluehen. Ken is delicately and deliciously psychotic now, and Yoji's old hopeless-love routine gets the kind of makeover that will eliminate "flake" from the vocabulary of fic writers everywhere. Previous WK fans: dig if you will Yoji's slick new explosives habit and Ken's unprecedented slyness! When they come in Glühen's tone changes rapidly from school life to badass life, where it should have been from the beginning.
Because of that shift I can happily recommend Glühen, and am eagerly awaiting the next fansub release myself. Perhaps, too, Glühen will come off better if you aren't already familiar with Weiss Kreuz and its particular rhythm and feel (ha ha! In that case what are you doing here?). If you don't like the first episode try going straight to the fifth or sixth - you can always pick up the missing plot points from summaries. Yes, the change is that salient! And grab the op/ed singles/mp3's if you can find them. And let me know if you write any red-hot Yoji/Aya fics.
