Review: Hidan no Aria
Posted: July 3, 2011 Filed under: Animu, Hidan no Aria, Review | Tags: Hidan no Aria 6 Comments
Anime: Hidan no Aria
Animation Studio: J.C. Staff
Number of Episodes: 12
Length per Episode: Approximately 24 minutes
Well, obviously things did not go “well” seeing as this review came out much later than I wanted. Hopefully it will be out today, but if the clock hits midnight I’m just going to schedule it to pop up tomorrow morning. (EDIT: Alright I lied, it’s basically exactly midnight upon posting this.)
Also, be aware going into this review that I am completely biased. I’ll probably mention this about twenty more times in the review.
Hidan no Aria was on a lot of people’s lists for one of the worst shows of the Spring season. I feel like that’s quite significantly more hate than the show deserves.
I’m not sure if I’m going to get lynched for saying this, but the show Hidan no Aria reminds me most of is To Aru Majutsu no Index. I mean, obviously the whole plot of magic versus science wasn’t in Hidan no Aria, but the structure for the shows was very similar.
Both shows had a powerful (practically overpowered) main character that didn’t want to be heroes but still rose up to the occasion when needed.
Both shows had disconnected story arcs that had little to do with each other (though the string connecting Aria’s was a bit thicker).
Both shows have the same sense of being enjoyable and having a great setting, yet ultimately a waste of time due to the lack of a strong overarching plot.
I don’t understand why people dropped it after episode 6, though. I thought that episode was absolutely hilarious. It has been a while since I’ve seen a show incorporate music into/for its comedic moments. I give the show props for that. But, as I’ll never stop saying, humor is subjective, so I can’t really argue the case for the episode.
The only real criticism I can agree with is that Aria was kind of a bitch. For the most part she was generally a pretty good tsundere, though. There were only a few moments spread throughout various episodes where her actions were a little over the top.
Hidan no Aria was just fun to watch. Not the greatest show ever, but it I enjoyed watching it. Seeing as I made the comparison earlier, it seems only fair to give the show the same score I gave Index.
RATING: 8 out of 10.
P.S. If you don’t like the show, watch gg’s subs for it. The meta-trolling of the concept of literal subbing and other random crap they did apparently makes the show worth watching even if you think the show sucks.
Riyoga's Ramblings 
[gg] why do you troll us so? Anyways, Aria’s cuteness gains some marks for this anime in my book. Besides that, it was rather lackluster.
It might have been lackluster, but I still enjoyed watching it.
i just finished the series and it made me disappointed at the end. seriously why did everyone wait to attack the guy until he was finished shoving jewelry and stomping on the girls face? well other than that, the anime was really good and it reminded me of one of the familiar of zero, which was one of my favorites.
Probably just general shock from seeing their teacher as a bad guy, I would guess. At least they didn’t really hesitate once they saw he was actually Vlad.
I thought this series was pretty decent, I have watched it multiple times and laughed at all three of the heroines’ funny moments. The show itself was rather enjoyable to watch, how often do see someone snipe a bomb on a speeding bus (Reference to Speed 1) I will probably receive some hate for this, but Kinji was not your typical powerless Japanese guy. He knows he has the Savant syndrome and is actually a high rank Butei who just doesn’t apply himself due to disinterest thus being E rank instead. What is hilarious is how he responds to the girls, he always tries to shrug off Shiroyuki (Beautiful girl like her, who would shrug off her desire to be their wife, really?) His defiance of Aria and the situations he gets put under by Mine Riko.
I enjoyed the whole series.
Agreed, I also enjoyed the series for the most part. My main complaint was that everything just seemed pretty shallow, but the humor helped me enjoy it more.