Assassin’s Pride Episode 1: Mercy of an Assassin (First Impression)

So this was a show that caught my eye. It wasn’t too high on my list but I was interested enough in checking it out to possibly blog, and I’m pleasantly surprised. I can’t say I love it right now, but I’m liking it so far and I can see some potential already.

I was a little worried going into this show, what with the main dude reminding me and many people of Kirito (gags) and me being scared it would just be a harem. Thankfully, it wasn’t like that at all. The episode starts off with an assassination and our main man Kufa killing his enemies easily, but the leader getting away. It was a pretty flashy start so that was a good sign. After that, we transition to Kufa on a train traveling to his next destination.

This universe they live in is really fascinating! They seem to live in in a chandelier world, where each city is in its own lantern. Outside of these lanterns cities is just stark darkness but with creatures lurking around called lancanthropes. We didn’t get any more explanation out of Kufa, so I’d like to learn more about their world since this type of setting sounds pretty amazing, and just looking at it was gorgeous enough.

Kufa drops off his last client, a girl I’m guessing we’ll see later. In this episode, he meets his next client in his first real mission: Melida Angel. Not going to lie, their first meeting was strange. Melida just climbs on her balcony’s railing for some reason? Then she falls when she doesn’t want Kufa to see her panties. Just…why did you stand on the railing, girl?

Other than that strange choice of action, I do like Melida so far. She’s a little clumsy, but she’s pretty strong-willed and I like that a lot. Kufa’s mission is to be Melida’s private tutor. In this world, those born elite are able to use mana starting from the age of seven. The problem with Melida is that she’s not able to use mana, and she’s ostracized by the girls at her academy, and by others. Which is really irritating, and it’s even more sad because she has such a big dream. Kufa got intel that a possible and most likely reason that Melida can’t use mana is because her mother had an affair and Melida isn’t the biological child of the head of House Angel. And that does seem to be the case, which wasn’t something I expected. Kufa was tasked to watch over her, but if she was deemed too hopeless, he would have to assassinate her. But events happen where Kufa changes his mind.

Now, that last bit of the episode is what’s a little strange. Kufa himself is really business-like and he seems to take assassin pride in his work, and he seemed ready to kill Melida. But as he watched Melida try to fight back against the lancanthropes, he suddenly changed his mind. I can understand it though. He watches this girl going up against such a cruel world, everything against her, and she never stops fighting. She never gives up on herself or her dreams, it really is admirable to watch and one day he wants to be witness to her being noticed. However…I think all of that and the stuff that happened after would have made more of an impact, and just would have made more sense, if they had maybe taken their time and let that happen one or two episodes later? One second Kufa was going to kill her, thought she was pathetic, next thing you know he wants to protect her and let her live. It’s pretty jarring, so hopefully they can focus on why he did what he did next time. Especially when he went as far as to give her mana, which I’m guessing was him sharing a link between them through the kiss?

The pacing was a little fast, but I still enjoyed the episode nonetheless. I can see why people are reminded of Kirito when they look at Kufa because…just look at him. But funny enough, he doesn’t remind me of Kirito at all. In fact, he actually kind of reminds me of Sebastian from Black Butler way more. Like I said, he’s very business-like and he speaks formally. He’s serious but he can smile and be polite. Now, whether that’s just a facade for work or who he really is, I don’t know. But the Sebastian-like behavior of course comes in at the end when he gets down on one knee and looks up at Melida, his hands cupping hers. And calling her My Little Lady, which is cringy and hilarious as hell. Maybe if he took out “little” and just called her My Lady, I would be fine with it. But, whatever. It gives me a laugh. The scene with the roses was spectacular though, a very beautiful shot. Kufa is pretty cool so far, I also liked his inner monologues though I wish there would be a little less of it but I didn’t mind it too much. He just has a very cool aura about him, and how he’s got himself in a pickle for what he’s done.

A lot happened this episode, and I wished they could have paced things out better. However, I like where this is going so far. For a studio that hasn’t made anything…well, good, I came out of this with a positive outlook surprisingly. Production values were better than I expected, characters were pretty good as well. Yeah, I’m gonna give this a shot.

Possibility of watching: Guaranteed

Possibility of blogging: Guaranteed