Rating: 10/10
Episodes: 12
Source: Original
Genres: Mystery, Psycholgical, Thrillar
Premiered: Summer 2014
Just a year ago Terror in resonance was my favorite anime of all time, It has now been replaced but in honor of my previous number 1.
I give you my opinion of one of favorite anime’s of all time.
Synopsis
Painted in red, the word “VON” is all that is left behind after a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility in Japan. The government is shattered by their inability to act, and the police are left frantically searching for ways to crack down the perpetrators. The public are clueless—until, six months later, a strange video makes its way onto the internet. In it, two teenage boys who identify themselves only as “Sphinx” directly challenge the police, threatening to cause destruction and mayhem across Tokyo. Unable to stop the mass panic quickly spreading through the city and desperate for any leads in their investigation, the police struggle to act effectively against these terrorists, with Detective Kenjirou Shibazaki caught in the middle of it all.
Zankyou no Terror tells the story of Nine and Twelve, the two boys behind the masked figures of Sphinx. They should not exist, yet they stand strong in a world of deception and secrets while they make the city fall around them, all in the hopes of burying their own tragic truth.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Review
Zankyou no Terror came out in Summer 2014 and was given to us by MAPPA Studios who recently gave us anime such as Jujutsu Kaisen and Dorohedoro.
Story
The words “VON” are scrawled in red on the floor of a Japanese warehouse storing a lethal weapon, causing the Japanese cabinet and police to go insane.
Six months later, when two boys calling themselves “Sphinx” defy the police, threatening to inflict havoc and mayhem across Tokyo, the authorities resort to the internet
The police struggle to act effectively against these terrorists, unable to stop the rapid spread of panic throughout the city and eager for any clues in their investigation, with Detective Kenjirou Shibazaki caught in the heart of it all.
The plot follows two boys named Nine and Twelve, who go by the codename Sphinx, but you soon understand they’re not actual terrorists who are only uncovering their horrific past.
Music
Everyone watches anime for the story and plot, but what really drew me in was Yoko Kanno’s soundtrack throughout the entire anime.
Every time I search for the soundtrack online I can never find it at least I have it saved it on my mobile phone. Most of the OST for Zankyou No Terror puts me to sleep, which is ironic given the tragic and action-packed nature of the anime.
Most of the OST Is played on a piano which I love even more as it gives the anime a soft side to the devastating story that lies behind the plot you are seeing on screen.
My favorite songs have to be Walt, Seele, Von and Fugl.
Characters
As the show suggests Nine and Twelve are the main characters of this show, each boy is not like the other, they see things differently in what happened to them but they stay together until the end and we realize they weren’t so different after all.
Nine is the taller boy with black hair and seems to be the calmest out of the two, you see him more behind the scenes than out in the open like his partner in crime. Nine has a stern, aloof, and austere demeanor.
With his outstanding computing and hacking skills, he has a propensity for concocting creative criminal schemes while neatly hiding his tracks.
On the surface twelve, he appears to be a typical jokester, light-hearted and active, and fond of meddling in other people’s affairs.
He is, however, capable and prepared to use cruel and violent means if the occasion demanded it, and it was safe to presume that his stint at the aforementioned children’s institution had left him psychologically scarred.
Despite this, he is dependable and loyal, possessed a high sense of social intuition, was on brotherly terms with Nine, and had demonstrated countless compassionate acts towards Lisa Mishima.
Lisa is that one character that you say to yourself, were you absoutley necessary?
Lisa is a shy, introverted girl who is easily bullied because of her clumsy actions.
Because of her introversion, she tends to keep her troubles to herself and resents the outside world.
She believes she has a link with the Sphinx couple, and that the three of them are disconnected from the rest of the world.
Despite her initial disappointments and the risky operations she undertakes as a result, she decides to live, demonstrating her strength and perseverance.
Detective Kenjirou Shibazaki is behind the force that drives the Tokyo police as he is the first to realize there the first riddle of there plan, he is then put in charge of the case despite being demoted years before and sent down to archives.
Shibasaki appears to be aloof and lacklustre at first, unwilling to work, but when people’s lives are threatened, he suddenly transforms into a brilliant, quick-witted man capable of solving most problems that emerge.
He is well-versed in his industry and has a strong sense of justice.
because Shibazaki’s past the boys home in on his skills for him to realize there plan. He was probably my favourite character of the whole show.
Five is just like Nine and Twelve but was hired by the US Government FBI years before, she travels to Japan in pursuit of the boys, to me her character wasn’t needed per se but it put pressure on Nine who seemed to have liked her in the past and is out-put when she arrives.
Five is a childishly sadistic character who enjoys torturing others and has a frigid demeanor.
She also enjoys psychological games, as seen by her transformation of an airport into a chess board to “play” with Sphinx.
On a deeper level, though, her acts could indicate that she is a lonely person who longs for human contact, particularly from Nine, whom she appears to have always liked or at least considered as a worthy opponent, owing to her feelings of abandonment by Sphinx.
Voice actors
Funimation took the dub for this anime but when I comb through the sub cast I can defiantly tell it was a very thought out original anime and the voice acting was absoutley fantastic I couldn’t fault it.
Christopher bevins voiced Nine. Christopher much like Robert are the two eldest apart of the main cast but when you heard Chris talk as Nine, you believed he was a 16 year old boy. His voice was strong, Nine is a strong character as he out of the two boys he showed the bigger sense of justice
Aaron Dimuske voiced twelve and I defiantly felt this as a good fit. Aaron has been voice acting since he was young as he voiced Alphonse Elric in the first ever series of Fullmetal Alchemist, he has a sense of humor in his voice which makes the character sound so much more believable.
Jad Saxton voiced Lisa. Now I love Jad as she has a voice that can be really gentle and this is what Lisa’s character needed. Lisa is timid and is probably afraid of her own shadow.
Robert Mccolum voiced Shibazaki. As Shibazaki is my favorite character, Robert was the best fit for him. His deep voice gives him the intimidation a policeman needs (even as a disgraced one), I really enjoyed his scenes and I always feel that Robert puts 110% into the character he’s voicing.
Jamie Marchi voiced Five. The greatest thing about Jamie is that she can have a gentle voice but then she can have a very scary voice and this is what was desperately needed for Five as a character (much like Junko Enoshima from Danganronpa)
My Opinion
When I first saw this anime, I fell in love with it. While some people consider Clannad or Angel Beats to be among the saddest anime series ever, Zankyou no Terror is, in my opinion, the saddest anime I’ve ever seen.
The series begins with a brief introduction to the main characters Nine and Twelve, as well as Lisa and Shibazaki.
As the story unfolds, you begin to believe that Nine and Twelve are the evil guys, but as hypotheses form in your mind, does it make sense to label them terrorists when they haven’t killed anyone?
Nine is plainly opposed to the notion, but you can see how having her around would make it easier for them to do what they need to do while having someone to distract them, but I never thought it was a good thing, and Lisa’s role was unneeded.
The show went on with Sphinx giving out clues to the police, to a certain point their goal is unclear but that’s why I love Shibazaki, he was smart enough to uncover all of the clues and even get to the point the boys were trying to uncover for the country of Japan, to learn of the governments evil deeds and there were parts in the second half of the series that had me in complete tears.
This show was smartly crafted in a way to have people thinking the reality behind Good and Evil, Who are the bad guys, Nine and Twelve and their so-called terrorism towards the country of Japan, or the way the Japanese Government used children as Lab rats
We are left to decide this choice and I wish the ending didn’t go the way it did, but we are always left wondering, what could have anyone done differently so these events didn’t occur.
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