Wow, I didn’t expect things to end this way. Hades may have been defeated, but the story is not over. In fact you could say we only barely scratched the surface! It’s great Lucien had survived this, but holy shit Kiro, he’s storming into Black Swan higher ups and is determined to take charge of the organization. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GEEZ! OF COURSE MY TOP TWO GUYS ARE BOTH BLACK SWAN MEMBERS! WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO MY FAVOURITES?!?!! Berry’s right, it’s as though I am a magnet for this stuff!
We don’t know exactly what has happened to the Kiro we have gotten to know and love. He never answered the Heroine when she asked, but it was apparent that he wasn’t the one she knew. However despite giving her the cold-shoulder and claiming he didn’t know her, it wasn’t as though he ignored her completely. Even though he was on his own mission, he didn’t leave her behind to fend for herself. He also showed us he still cares about the Heroine’s safety (my heart fluttered when they held each other!), just as we saw last week when he was looking at the security cameras. Based on everything he said this episode, I’m guessing he’s pretending he doesn’t know her so he can focus on immersing himself in darkness.
That being said, it does appear having been raised as lab rats by Black Swan, just like Lucien, as one of their successful experiments, Kiro was groomed to serve as their agent and that’s why he was given the name: Helios. It does beg the question of when was he rescued by Key– that is if he really was rescued at all. Compared to Lucien where we actually witnessed how he was captured, we have only been given a very limited amount of information about Kiro’s potential origins prior to falling in Black Swan’s custody (unless he was born there), and not enough about how he got out of it afterwards, especially since he has been actively trying to stop them. It appears now that Hades has fallen, he intends to take control of the organization (there are still major higher ups besides Hades, as one should expect) and crush it from the inside as Black Swan’s Helios. He also wanted to deal with Hades personally himself, but the Heroine beat him to it. It makes me wonder what kind of history he has with him. Like Lucien, he is full of mysteries!!!!
Speaking of the devil, I was a bit surprised that we didn’t see any Ares’ side of Lucien today. I found that a bit bizarre considering he had warned her not to get caught by him again– not that I am complaining. I am just happy to that in the end, he didn’t betray her and he helped her out by watching her back, and even secretly put the cure to Hades’ plot in the pen he had given her. In other words, he trusted that she would be able to overcome this and defeat Hades.
(Random Note: I didn’t mention this earlier but it has been running through my mind – I really like the Greek Gods code names for each other. It’s pretty awesome. Helios really suits Kiro.)
As for Gavin, he has officially joined his father’s secret military team to continue pursuing Black Swan. (And damn does he look mighty FINE in that uniform!!!!) I am still iffy about his father considering the shit he said about him last week, but Gavin doesn’t seem to care so as long as he is able to use his powers to help people. Whatever they did to him, they absolutely made him exponentially stronger, as his white winds have turned black. It was a bit weird to see him be so serious around the Heroine when he came aboard the ship, but considering the situation, it makes sense since it was not the time for a happy reunion.
Meanwhile, out of everyone today, Victor had the easiest time. That training camp has made him super OP, and navigating the ship and having so much control over space and time just make it like a walk in the park. But even with Hades gone, the threat of Black Swan remains. We got a glimpse of the future, though it’s unclear whether Victor is aware this is going to happen, or they were merely showing the audience what’s in store for him in the future. A glimpse of Victor holding knife ready to seemingly in the position where he may be forced to kill the Heroine (possibly possessed by the Black Queen) with tears running down his face was quite a bombshell to drop right at the end. Indeed, this is only just the beginning. Hade’s plot was merely the prelude of what’s to come.
And of course we must talk about the Heroine’s role and the “reveal” of her ‘evil counterpart’, the Black Queen. Up until now, “Black Queen” has only really been teased in the Opening Theme. I had always been waiting around to see that side of her show up, and amazingly we only gotten a glimpse. So it understandably, it’s a shame that we were only teased about the Black Queen, especially since I would have loved to learn more about her. The only thing we do know about her is that she seems to exists as a separate entity from the Heroine. We heard of how she was the one who “guided” Hades through this plan by granting him the powers of darkness. It is a stark contrast to the Heroine herself, who possesses the power of light, thus the White Queen. We also learned that the awakening of the Heroine’s powers were not just limited to igniting Human Evolution, but to serve as a living sacrifice for the Black Queen. (Which may explain why it’s as though she has never existed in the futures Victor had visited.) What is interesting though, was after her fight with Hades, the Heroine hasn’t been able to use any of her powers to see the future. She believes she used all her resources, but it could be now that it has fully awakened, it has taken a different form (ie: as light).
Admittedly, the way this battle unfolded was rather cheesy, almost a bit too cheesy for my taste but man was it great to actually see the Heroine actually fight one on one against Hades. It was a lot of fun to see everyone fight their own battles since it was absolutely action-packed! I also really liked the Heroine’s “answer” to Human Evolution: “True evolution spreads through the strengh of one’s bonds with others”.
Final Thoughts
K
oi to Producer EVOL x LOVE was a fantastic otome adaption! A headstrong heroine overflowing with personality, matched with wonderful bachelors. What this series successfully managed to do what make me invested and care about each and every one of these characters as individuals. Really, you can’t go wrong, there’s bound to be at least one guy you will like. Amazingly even now I can’t tell you which ship I am on. There is no OTP for me, but it goes without saying Lucien and Kiro are both my top contenders as not only do I love the chemistry between them and the Heroine, but I am a sucker for these types of romances. It’s not that Victor or Gavin are bad, both are nice and great guys, and they are definitely a lot less complicated and have adorable chemistry with the Heroine, but I am definitely way more invested in the other two! It’s just a matter of what your taste is.
I suppose the most surprising and yet refreshing part about this adaption was how most of these guys never actually interacted with each other. There were two exceptions where Lucien had spoken with Victor and glared at Gavin, but apart from that, nobody else actually encountered each other. So it actually allows them to maximize their time and build their bond with the Heroine. However this episode did allude there is a high probability that Lucien as Ares, knows Kiro as Helios considering they are/were both members of Black Swan.
I don’t know if this series will ever get a second season to continue the story, but I would certainly be interested! MAPPA has done an amazing job with the animation for this show (as they always do), and the writer did a wonderful job with the pace and delivery of the plot. I am not complaining that there was an Open Ending, because in many respects they never really had the chance to properly work on the romantic developments. And that’s fine because there were more important things going on, such as the main plot-line regarding the awakening of the Heroine’s powers.
Overall I give Koi to Producer a solid 8/10 for having a great set of characters, excellent pace of the story and an great job with the animation that was for most part clean from start to finish. The fight scenes in particular were pleasure to watch, and I thought they did the obvious “CG” moments really well. It has been an absolute pleasure covering this series, and I am so happy to add another otome adaption to the list of recommendations I would suggest to others. Sure, there wasn’t any significant romantic developments but that doesn’t bother me at all. The characters’ chemistry with the heroine was a pleasure to watch. Even if you don’t ship them romantically, I think most of us can still agree they all still have a wonderful relationships and appreciate each and every one of them as individuals!
Final Score: 8/10
Recommendation: As long as you are fine with an open-ending that leaves you with more questions than answers, Koi to Producer is an fun show show to watch. While there is no real romantic development, the focus and excellent pace of the story and charming characters are something we can all enjoy.
Bonus Note: Not often do I have the chance to actually pick up and play an otome game after I had watched its adaption, but luckily with this one I do. I haven’t played it yet since I wanted to watch this episode first and life is crazy at the moment, but I have already downloaded the app, so I am excited to get started when I can!
