Aria The Scarlet Ammo DVD Review

Director: Takashi Watanabe,

Starring: Juni Majima, Todd Haberkorn, Rie Kugimiya, Leah Clark, Ayako Kawasumi, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Kaori Ishihara, Jad Saxton, Kenji Nojima, J. Michael Tatum, Mariya Ise, Luci Christian,

Running Time: 300 minutes

Certificate: 15

Butei are armed detectives who work independently from the police. They are also trained from an exceptionally young age, which has given rise to Butei schools, where students attend and always carry their weapons. Enter our hero Kinji (Majima/Haberkorn) who we are introduced to just as his life is under threat from a radio controlled bomb. He’s soon saved thanks to the efforts of the titular Aria (Kugimiya/Clark) and as you can guess from the fact this is an anime, the two end up living together, where they share action adventures and comedic misunderstandings relating to complex love triangles.

It may sound as though ARIA THE SCARLET AMMO doesn’t have anything new to offer, and for the most part it doesn’t. The problem is that an interesting premise is once again thrust aside for formulaic diversions. Opening with a voice-over and obvious femme fatales hints towards a more classical film noir style, but it isn’t long before the dangerous women are reduced to hormone driven girls after our protagonist. The anime genre often seems to think that using women in such contexts is okay as long as the ‘hero’ rebuffs their advances. Kinji is certainly not interested in sex, but he does have a split personality that becomes apparent whenever he’s turned on. This personality is also a lot cooler and skilled, meaning there are many situations that must be overcome by the girls flirting with Kinji.

Another aspect of the show is that many of the characters reveal themselves to have been descended from popular literary and historical figures. The mixing of the two is a bit odd as fiction and reality are combined and rewritten. Disappointingly, this just seems to be a rather blasé gimmick, as the characters’ famous relations seldom bear any consequence as to them as a person. Why reveal a character is descended from (insert historical/fictional character here) if it doesn’t progress the story at all. It seems like a forced bit of character development as sometimes characters mutter about living up to said ancestors, but again it’s never capitalised on. Characters are also allowed to flop back and forth between sides and murderous intent is presented as forgivable as long as it was in the name of comedy.

The show is a decent production with lots to admire when the action scenes come around. References to classics such as SPEED are also inserted into the main narrative without becoming a distraction. The animation is suitable for such a show, but just does enough to serve the story. ARIA THE SCARLET AMMO is a show good ideas but would rather play it safe behind a wall of clichés.

ARIA THE SCARLET AMMO is released on DVD on 8th July via Manga Entertainment.

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