"I'm the strongest man alive!"

Rokka no Yuusha (or Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers) was an anime that was recommended to me by a friend who knows me well enough to know what I like in an anime and that's characters, characters, characters.

When the Majin awakes from the depths of darkness, the deity of fate selects six heroes and bequeaths them with the power to save the world. Adlet, a boy who proclaims himself the strongest man in the world, has been selected among "The Heroes of the Six Flowers". However, as the heroes gather, they soon begin to suspect that someone amongst them is an imposter. (source)

Early on in the series, I was unsure as to what the actual genre of the anime was going to be. I couldn't tell if it was an adventure series, a shounen, etc. Surprisingly, it began to lean toward being a fantasy based mystery series which made the entire week I spent binge watching it an utter joy. I love shows that make you think alongside the characters, trying to figure out the solution to a problem or figuring out 'whodunnit' (it's why I liked Danganronpa so much). While the entire season was primarily focused on, "Who is the seventh, and therefore fake, brave?" and not at all on the ultimate problem of the Demon God, the intrigue of the mystery and the wonderfully diverse cast of characters  made that unimportant.

The characters in this show are the best part of this show. It's fairly difficult to ensure characters in a fantasy anime don't fall into the same overused tropes but Rokka no Yuusha manages to create interesting and colorful characters that keep you invested in the story. Not to mention the designs of these characters (pictured above) are the best I've seen in quite some time. They're just nice to look at.  They each have they're own individual powers and specialties as well which made them even more complex. Nachetania's ability in particular was something I always looked forward to seeing since her ability to use and direct blades was pretty cool looking.

There were a couple of times toward the beginning where I noticed animation errors but nothing too crazy and the CGI was a little jarring in comparison the the rest of the animation. For me, the art itself was visually pleasing enough (and the story interesting enough) to compensate for such little things.

All in all, it's been a long while since I've watched an anime that had me as hyped as Death Parade back in January and while this particular anime doesn't quite live up to the masterpiece that is Death Parade, it is certainly high on my list and I recommend that you give it a watch if you're ever looking for something enjoyable.

xx Anna