Review Disclaimer: This review will NOT contain spoilers and includes episodes 1-6.
Rokka – Braves of the Six Flowers (Rooka no Yuusha) has surprisingly became one of my favorite anime to watch this Summer season, but it wasn’t until episode 6 that it truly held it’s own. Rokka tells the story of a world haunted by the invasion of demons controlled by the Demon King. When the resurrection of the Demon King nears the Goddess of Fate chooses six heroes to bear a seal that show they have the power to push the Demon King back and defeat his army.
At first glance Rokka could be seen as just another fantasy action anime featuring a small town hero with big dreams who surrounds himself with pretty girls and saves the day, think Sword Art Online. This is where Rokka shifts gears and presents a main character, Adlet Mayer, who isn’t your typical honorable hero. Adlet announces himself as “The strongest man in the world” and uses every trick to defeat his opponents including, gas, spikes and bombs. Some how the Goddess of Fate chooses him to be one of the six braves. Adlet first teams up with Nashetania Loei Piena Augustra, a princess of Piena and the Saint of Blades. This is her first time fighting, but she tries hard for Adlet and puts all her trust in him. The other braves that they meet are, Fremy Speeddraw: The half demon half human, Goldof Aora: Nashetania personal guard, Chamo Rosso: A very young girl with a lot of power, Mora Chester: The most mature of the braves, and Hans Humpty: A cat like thief/assassin.
Now there are only supposed to be six braves, but there are seven people claiming the title and bearing the seal. This is where Rokka really makes it’s mark and stands out as anime. The story turns into a guessing game of pointing fingers and intuition, you will be constantly changing your mind as to who could be the impostor. There are points in Rokka that you need to fully engage yourself in watching and understanding what the characters are doing. A few times I found myself lost because I missed a couple lines of dialog. The way the characters interact and go over every detail to try and find the seventh plays out brilliantly. Each brings up a different form of doubt, but also offers reasons of their innocents so you’re left with only your own personal hunch as to who it could be.
Rokka – Braves of the Six Flowers creates a very exciting viewing experience. It provides, action, drama, doubt and a girl with bunny ears. Join me in watching the second half of the season and come back for my full review when it’s over. Who do you think is the seventh? Let us know in the comments below. Please refrain from spoilers!
