Alternate Title: Gokukoku no Brynhildr
Manga Adaptation by Arms Corporation
Simulcast on Crunchyroll

Premise

10 years after losing his childhood friend in an accident, a young man is shocked when a girl that looks just like her transfers to his school. Is her appearance just a coincidence or is she harboring some deeper secrets?

Jel’s Verdict: Hard to See

The core concept of Brynhildr would work great as a tense, tragic, psychological thriller and this first episode does offer enough hints of horror and paranoia to think that might be the direction they’re trying to go. Scenes like the pool drowning made me hope we were in for a crazy ride that pulled no punches, à la new anime horror classic Another. Unfortunately, you can consider Brynhildr’s punches pulled. The bulk of the episode is super powered teen anime nonsense. There’s an unwelcome comedy element that flattens the tense atmosphere and any sense of danger is diffused by the main character’s plot armor. The end result is a tonal mash-up that never mixes well. It doesn’t help that Brynhildr isn’t much to look at either. I had a tough time finding good screenshots as the quality of the art is average at best and most of the directing stays tight on flat close-ups of the boring characters’ faces. It’s too bad, as I can see a lot of potential in the setup, but I have a hard time seeing the execution living up to it.

Marlin’s Verdict: Seriously, Who Can’t Multiply 2×2?

This show is the perfect example of one of the biggest problems I have with anime characterization. In stead of any kind of deep characters, a lot of anime heroines are just perfect girls with only one major, but silly weakness. The same thing applies to Brynhildr In the Darkness, where Neko is a hyper-competent secret agent of some sort… who can’t do basic math. How does that even make any sense? The hero is a bit of an idiot himself. Despite the fact that he desperately wants this girl to be his lost friend, he constantly doubts her, even when she says his own life is in danger. He tries to justify it in some weird pseudo-scientific method kind of logic, but it just felt like a dumb way to show off that Neko had powers. I feel that there must have been a far better way to accomplish that. Otherwise, I actually liked the Final Destination-y feel from Neko knowing when people will die, and while a bit silly, the characters weren’t bad enough to put me off the show entirely. I’ll be keeping my eye on it for a little longer.

Lifesong’s Verdict: Cheap Introduction

I found things to like about this series from its first episode, but my attention was caught on how cheep it all felt. Most of the episode felt like it could have been explained in 5 minutes. Instead our protagonist who is supposed to be a smart person comes off as the worst kind of fool. I imagine this presentation worked much better in the manga. Despite an overall negative impression of the first episode I am curious to see how it plays out. The character dynamics are not subtle, but the darkness in the implications keep them interesting. The real rest will be how I feel about this show after it shows it’s fangs and lets us see just how dark it can manage to be.