Take A Pick Tuesday: Spiral

Take A Pick Tuesday            

 

 

 

                                             Spiral/Suri No Kiza

 

 

There is some undeniable draw to Spiral, perhaps it’s the very essence of the show that lies behind a curtain, daring you to peer inside, perhaps the questions that it asks.  Questions of fate and destiny and how fitting for such themes to be in a mystery show.  The show certainly isn’t your conventional mystery show nor does Spiral have your conventional main character. Ayumu Narumi lacks confidence but not because he has trouble talking with the opposite sex, no he’s not a pervert and he’s anything but your normal school student. Instead you have a character that is calm and what he lacks confidence in is the cause of his fear, the shadow he feels he’s standing in, his older brother Kiyotaka Narumi. Another question Ayumu will ask when his greatest fear comes for him in an unexpected form is, it is it coming to him for hope or simply to consume him.

 

 

 

       Although not the most marketable show merchandise wise as far as both Japan and the United States are concerned, it was very cool that Funimation decided to bring it over, during an exciting time that would not foresee the anime market crash in a couple of years, at the time though there were a whole slew of anime companies, many with titles that would eventually be picked up by Funimation now without a doubt the largest anime company that has a booth set up in every major anime convention. Even then they had a rush of titles coming out so it makes sense, surely merchandise was easier with titles like Dragon Ball Z and Fruits Basket.  Just because a show can’t bring in the bucks through merchandise doesn’t mean it can’t be brought over when the story seems fascinating. Not to say it doesn’t have any, a messenger bag here, a hat there and some interesting things in between, if you feel adventurous the original starter set came with a Rubik’s cube

 

     As I’ve said Ayumu Narumi has grown up in his brother’s shadow, a genius that was once a piano prodigy and an intellectual mind assisting the police who would disappear with no more warning than a phone call to his younger brother, telling him that he was going to investigate the mystery of the blade children. What he leaves behind is a younger brother that still feels as though he’s living in his shadow and worse has to comfort Kiyotaka’s wife left behind. If you read the manga also you’ll see why that seems like such a slap in the face, well in my opinion. His sister in law Madoka Narumi who is a detective with the police department also lives with Ayumu and from then on would have to make her gourmet meals, do her laundry and basically help organize Madoka’s often crazy life. Not that he seems to mind very much, you can tell it’s really important to him to take care of her, especially when he knows what his brother’s absence does to her.

     A good example of this is during a certain Christmas episode, for some reason I rank that as one of my top Christmas episodes to watch, man I must be a bummer. As big as the brother complex is for him he can’t help but wonder where his brother is and what his strange words meant, a series of events would lead him in confrontation with the Blade Children, force him to be what might be their only hope as far as they were told by none other than his own brother, avoid Madoka and keep her in the dark to protect her and try to figure out the looming threat that is targeting them. What exactly is the Blade Children’s supposed cursed fate though and what can someone with such a lack of belief in themselves hope to accomplish.

 

         Now the show introduces you to the notion they exist but it surrounds itself with mysteries and deaths of regular people who don’t always know their tied to these Blade Children. The culprits know though which does finally lead to who they are and to guess how many more will appear before the show is over, who else is a part of this silent war and why it always come back to Ayumu. The show plays with interesting concepts, the piano and classical music in general is a big part of the show. Ayumu also had played the piano until his lack of confidence had stopped him from doing so, although if you ask me he plays beautifully and one of the Blade Children, Eyes Rutherford is a world class pianist and more or less leader of these Blade Children.  Instead of brute strength what is used in the show is keen logic, observation and intuition,  Ayumu may be there only hope to break the curse and protect them but they don’t fully believe it,  testing him each in their own way, from locking him in a room with bees when he happens to be anaphylaxis to placing a bomb in his neck, forcing him to find the key first and also save a kidnapped friend in a game of cat and mouse across the city.  Makes it hard to believe that these guys aren’t as bad as they seem.

 

         Speaking of friend what goes well with a glum sort of guy that wants nothing better than to be left alone, how about a energetic school journalist who simply won’t  let him. Hiyono Yuizaki gets involved with what’s happening through her curiosity of Ayumu starting from the very first episode, although this means she’d be dragged into the danger against his better wishes, she has a sharp mind that can surprise both the main character and the blade children. She’s also the one person that refuses to allow Ayumu to doubt himself the way he does, always trying to encourage him to see the amazing things she does.

     Not to mention she can be the voice of reason, are the blade children really so awful or are they victims themselves. The character’s worst enemy is himself and Hiyono is definitely the person to help him beat it. She is a part of the much needed comedy to balance out the rest of the story and although it may not sound like it, there is plenty of comedy, even among the blade children. The questions of fate and destiny often sound out to a backdrop of falling rain, dreary  clouds of wintery sceneries  even when it’s sunny outside and an overall dismal feel that fits well into mysteries, the sunshine to me at least can be just as sinister and the sunsets refreshing.

       It all leads up to a pretty philosophical conclusion. One major thing to note, the approach in the show and the manga differ pretty early. The manga is also a fascinating experience which goes down an even crazier route and if you feel like there are some questions hanging in the air, which you will, then you might want to read the manga afterwards. Either way this week I have to support you grabbing a little mid-2000’s anime and if you do go on to read the manga as well, also keep an eye out for the prequel manga that led to the adventures of little Narumi that are ahem uh somewhere out there.