K: Return of Kings

Episodes 1-3

Note: Since I have previously covered episode one in the Preview Guide, this review will mostly focus on episodes 2 and 3.

Ready for the return of lanky pretty boys, darling Goth Loli girls, and buxom babes, all stylishly fighting with super-powers? That's what K was originally built on, and it certainly remains true to all of that with its second series, which progresses directly from last year's movie K: Missing Kings. (If you have seen the first season but have not yet seen the movie, watch it first or else some major developments here will not make sense.) The movie introduced a handful of important new characters who have already played prominent roles in the first three episodes of this season, but even more importantly it featured two developments which are already shaping this season in a big way: it introduced the clan of the Green King and it established a new Red King – namely, Anna.

As the first three episodes show, Anna was the smartest and most effective pick for the new Red King. She may not be the bad-ass that Mikoto was, but she has a presence, an ability to draw people to her and get them to heed her, which is no less powerful; it's just an entirely different kind of allure than what Mikoto had. (And it also finally gives us a female king, too.) Call it moe if you like, but she gets the job done quite well serving as a rallying point for the revivification of Homra. But it isn't just that. She is no longer a timid creature, but one strong of spirit and full of resolve, and a whole lot more sensible about cooperating with others, too. She gives the feel of eventually being able to transform Homra into more than just a bunch of thugs. That is something that everyone in the series who isn't a meathead seems to at least tacitly acknowledge. And she's still absolutely darling-cute, too.

The other major development is establishing the Green Clan (aka JUNGLE) as the seeming main antagonists for this season. Their very different structure – one coordinated through social media and styled in the form of a game, rather than the street-tough Homra or the formal and police-like Blue clan – makes them a wholly different animal than the other two major clans, and more insidiously pervasive, too; in some senses it resembles what the Dollars in Durarara!! might have been had they been exploited as a major force rather than just allowed to exist as a loosely-knit social group. The Green King's scheme for gathering power is to have a handful of top-powered chief subordinates and a whole bunch of hangers-on who might be able to earn a bit of juice if they score sufficient points via a social media game to up their level, and naturally, many of the major members from Blue and Red have their own point values. Given the setting, there really isn't anything absurd about this at all; in fact, the series would be behind the times if it didn't have something like this. And as the third episode finally shows, Green King Nagare has his reasons for not appearing directly and manipulating things remotely; he may, in fact, be quadriplegic? The story behind that could be interesting.

Whereas episode 1 is pretty much a season set-up episode which culminates with a combined Sceptre 4/Homra pitched battle against Green forces, episode 2 calms down and mostly involves characters talking to one another, whether it be Kuroh getting interviewed by Munakata, Seri speaking with a fellow clan member about her concerns over Munakata's possibly-deteriorating power, or Neko conversing with Homra members about what all is going on. Its low-key nature gets almost annoyingly chatty at times, but it does firmly established that, while Kuroh and Neko may be friendly (or at least cooperative) with the Blue and Red clans, respectively, they are still Silver Clansmen, and they only have one true loyalty. Episode 3, contrarily, puts JUNGLE back into action, with beauty-obsessed Yukari and Sukuna Gojo (the scythe kid) infiltrating Ashinaka High School looking for Kuroh and someone called Miyabe Ameno, whom we learn near the end of the episode is actually supposed to be Neko. While Yukari eventually engages Kuroh, Yata meets Fushimi while making an embarrassing errand to the school to deliver something to Neko and finally gets to make his proper show of gratitude for Fushimi's help in locating Anna (during the movie), but both wind up fighting Sukuna. As Kuroh starts to get into dire straits, Shiro – aka Adolf K. Weisman – finally arrives on the scene.

Sukuna is flat-out irritating, just the latest play on the now-tired stereotypical pale-haired psychotic young whack job. (Think of the male Romanian twin from Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage.) He is easily the least interesting villain so far, but otherwise the series is proving increasingly well-stocked with intriguing individuals. While the storytelling in episode 2 does plod along a bit, the first three episodes offer ample opportunities for action pieces and character development, and the fight scenes are as brisk and dynamic as ever. The artwork may be even sharper than what was seen in the first season, and certainly the highly-mobile perspective (even in quieter scenes it often moves around a lot) keeps the visual dynamic interesting. The musical score is well-used, too. And like the first series, there are still plenty of dashing males and generous bouncing bosoms to satisfy fan service on both sides of the gender gap.

In short, the first three episodes of Return of Kings don't dazzle but should not disappoint anyone who has been a fan of the franchise so far.

Rating: B

K: Return of Kings is currently streaming on Viz.com.