Kurokami

Kurokami (黒神) is a 24 episode super natural seinen series based on the manhwa of the same name by Dalli-Young Lim and Park Sung-woo.  The anime originally aired between the Spring and Summer of 2009.

     Kurokami takes place in modern times or a little further in the future. High school student Keita Ibuki lives alone with his older sister after their mother was killed in a traffic accident some years earlier. One night, sulking in misery, Keita runs into a strange homeless looking girl at his favorite ramen shop. The shops owner ends up talking to Keita about his mother when the girl interjects. Keita brings up the idea that there are 2 people in the world who look exactly like you. The girl tells him he is wrong, what it really is is that there are three versions of everyone made, who live different lives. When two of them met each other two of them will die shortly after, leaving the original copy alive, continuing the existence of all three people. Keita’s mom was killed the day after she ran into someone that looked exactly like her. Before the girl could comment on anything more a large man arrives and attacks the girl with a baseball bat. The girl proves tougher than her appearance and both beings begin an aggressive and powerful fight. After what should have been numerous fatal blows both combatants flee the scene as the police show up, leaving Keita with more than enough questions to worry over. The next day the idea proposed by the mysterious girl is made more concrete after his classmate is killed the day after talking about seeing her double. To make the point stick even more the little girl who lives next door to him is taken out by a truck shortly after she tells him about seeing her double. Now Keita wants to find the mysterious girl who knows so much about this hidden world around them, so he can get answers for himself and possibly find out why his mom was the one that had to die.

     This is a pretty slick story. The animation is nice, although the mysterious girl, Kuro, is drawn in typical goofy fan service style and comes equipped with a cute animal.. The first thing I thought about is that the series mildly reminded me of Elfen Lied. There are two things that are unique with this anime. The manga was created by two Korean artist’s and the anime will be broadcast simultaneously in Japan, America and Korea when it officially airs. Bandai has chosen to distribute it in America with an English dub on their aiTV network on Thursday nights. The show looks good, the story is interesting and I can’t wait to watch more of the series…good start to the new year.