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AKA: Weiss Kreuz
Genre: Pretty-boy action adventure
Length: Television series, 24 episodes, 23 minutes each
Distributor: VHS and R1 DVD from Anime Works / Media Blasters
Content Rating: 13+ (violence, adult themes, lots of flowers!)
Related Series: Weiss Kreuz OAV, Weiss Kreuz Gluhen
Also Recommended: Fushigi Yugi: Mysterious Play, Gundam Wing, Saiyuki
Notes: Based on a concept by voice actor Koyasu Takehito. The four main actors doubled as a boy band, named, surprisingly, Weiss Kreuz. There are several manga for this series: "Forever White", by Kanemaki Kenichi, "Weiss: An Assassin and White Shaman" by Tsuchiya Kyoko, and "Ranjatai ~ Zankou" by Kawara Yuuji.
Rating:

Knight Hunters: Weiss Kreuz

Synopsis

Four famous seiyuu play the major roles in this series, in which four bishounen (pretty boys) run a flower shop by day and a mercenary outfit by night. They also sing all the songs in the series, too.


Review

A few good scenes can't save this horribly disjointed bishounen vehicle that is obviously for people who don't care about plot or quality as long as the guys are pretty. Weiss Kreuz is like having an FTD A-Team, only worse. They're not particularly subtle about anything, and though the premise seemed fun to begin with, it all went downhill fast.

The first episode I saw had the bad guys (there are always bad guys) setting up a fighting tournament among homeless and poor people (always to the death), and the Flower-Shop Boys come to the rescue and destroy the outfit. Or rather, waltz in unnoticed, angst amongst each other with dialogue cornier than the state of Iowa, do something really stupid (like walk into the contest line unarmed), and win anyway.

And send flowers to the next of kin the very next day. Aww.

As far as the usual criteria - well, plot can just go into the trash. Fanfiction would make better plot than what actually happens during the episodes of this show, mostly because the Weiss boys are stark-raving idiots. One classic scene has angsty lead Aya (Koyasu Takehito) trying to down a helicopter by *throwing* his katana at it ... and then protesting as the sword bounces off the fuselage, as if he expected the attack to actually *work*.

And he's supposed to be a master swordsman?

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

Animation was brightly colored, but very sketchy at best, horrendously bad (shaking cels bad) at worst, on average little better than Saturday morning fare. Music, of course, is fine, if you don't mind listening to boy bands. I figure this was a prototype for Kaikan Phrase or something, but at least Kaikan Phrase doesn't even pretend to have a plot.

If you like bishounen, Weiss Kreuz is fine, I guess, but Fushigi Yuugi has a better plotline, more realistic characters, and about the same level of animation.

My verdict: Return this series to the back streets from whence it came!

Though it's bad, the seiyuu just manage to keep it this side of zero ... though it's often riotously funny for all the wrong reasons.Carlos/Giancarla Ross

Recommended Audience: Precisely 12 to 25 year old female anime fans who like bishounen (pretty boys). Anyone else would either walk away, run in terror, or stone the television, and that could get expensive fast.



Version(s) Viewed: digital source; R1 DVD
Review Status: Partial (16/24)
Knight Hunters: Weiss Kreuz © 1998 Koyasu Takehito / Polygram / Project Weiss
 
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