K [Overall Review]

Animation Company: GoHands
Website: http://k-project.jpn.com/ | Official Facebook Page (english site)
Genre: Action, Supernatural
Airing Date: October 2012

K, otherwise known as K – Project / Project K: is an original TV animation project is about a war between psychic Kings who wield the Sword of Damocles and are the leaders of clans or organizations. However things get messy after a HOMRA member, Totsuka is murdered, pulling in a boy named Isana Yashiro who is claimed as the culprit.
Story & Plot: 6/10
The base structure of K’s plot and storyline is very good. With the mystery revolving around who is responsible for Totsuka’s death, to the Red King’s Sword of Damocles crumbling turning him into a time bomb- K has a lot of twists and turns that is for most part unpredictable. Unfortunately with the amount of plot-holes this has, rather than receiving a score of 8/10 it has been deducted to be a 6/10.
Characters & Development: 3.5/10
This is the biggest problem with K. They have a large cast, and rather than focusing on particular characters, they frequently jumped around to different groups and pairs. Minor stories like Yata and Fushimi’s breakup abandoned friendship took up a bit too much time that could have been used to give other more important characters that are directly connected to the plot. The lack of character depth really takes a toll on this series since it’s very hard to understand, and genuinely like certain characters. What is there to like when you know nothing about them? What is there to feel if you don’t know what they’ve been through? And the biggest problem of all, the lack of connection to the audience. There are three characters (except for one of them) in this show that had received the bare minimum of character depths. Why did I say three minus one? The minus one is the Blue King. Despite the fact we know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about his background and his past relationship with the Red King, you feel for him during the final two episodes. That’s a tough one to pull through, but the short lines he had said alone was enough to deliver that impact of how he felt.
Animation Quality: 8/10
The reason why the score is 8/10 instead of 9/10 is because I deducted one point solely because of how much they have abused the gradient effect. During the first two episodes, it was pretty- but right after that it just ended up as a hindrance to look at and every time there was a brief solid colors with no gradient filter, it immediately became refreshing. Sadly that was a rare sight. However despite that flaw, the animation is top notch- especially the unique use of new camera angles that we don’t usually see in Animation.
OST: 7.5/10
It felt like there wasn’t much and there were frequent repetition of the tracks that had gotten to the point it became annoying to hear. Although despite that, a handful of the tracks were very neat. There’s a variety, from Rap to Classical to Techno, spicing up the scenes.
 
Overall Score: 7/10
K was definitely the wild card of the season. It was much anticipated, but quickly led to a disappointment since there were many plot-holes. However during the last three episodes, they managed to pull through and deliver the impact that it was lacking during the first half of the show.
Without a doubt, this show holds a lot of potential for its unique base storyline. I’m crossing my fingers that the confirmed sequel will continue where we left off and fill in the many plot-holes and give the existing cast some depth in their characters. If they can do that much, then K can potentially become a greater show.
Recommendation: Yes, but it’s not a “MUST SEE”!