Kyouhei Kuga, a college student who's just moved to Tokyo in search of a new life, is finding it a little hard to settle in - he's not the most outgoing of people, city life is busier than he expected - and he's already developed something of a crush on classmate Hibino Shiba. And his initial attempt to ask her out didn't go well. After passing out at a class party, he wakes to find that he's been sleeping on Hibino's lap, and she offers to walk him home - but on entering the elevator from the party room, they find a dismembered body. And that's just the start of his nightmare... Watched the first four episodes of this in my initial setting, and I'm still not too sure what to make of it. The two male leads, Kyouhei and Aki, have very violent pasts; Kyouhei is reformed, Aki very much not so. We have love interest for Kyouhei, in the form of Hibino, but she seems to be there mostly for the size of her breasts (unformfortably large) and to provide Kyouhei with someone to walk in on from time to time. And there's little sister Utao, who's channeling a large chunk of a certain Love Hina character and scores highly on the adorable front. But quite what it's trying to do story-wise is a little uncertain. It has potential, though - the Dolls that Utao and those like her control have awesome fighting power, while there are undercurrents to the story that hint that tragedy may not be far behind those unlucky enough to be chosen to be paired with one. A comment on the Crunchyroll page for episode 1 cited comparisions with Evangelion and Narutaru - I can't see the Eva one, myself, but Narutaru I can, and that would certainly be an interesting direction for the series to go it. Although hopefully without delving into quite the same depths of death and despair. THE GOOD: Stylish, some very watchable characters, and some interesting ideas. THE BAD: Aki is the sort of total psychopath that I have a hard time watching, and the way the story is positioning itself I wouldn't rule out a very dark plotline developing. Without fluffy magical girls to break the despair, either. A keeper for now, though. By the end of ep four the revelations are beginning to come thick and fast, and things are starting to make sense. As long as it doesn't divert itself into mindless shounen fighting fare, the signs look good.
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