'Special Crime Investigation Unit—Special 7' Episode 1

This is a show that reminds me quite a bit of Bright when it comes to a conceptual level. Mythical creatures coexist with humans in a modern day society, after unifying following a great disaster. The character that we are following is a rookie detective, who happens to be at a bank getting robbed on his day off. During this robbery he meets another detective in the same situation he is in. From this point shenanigans occur and our central character is recruited by a special investigative division called the Special Seven, whose sole directive is to hunt a group called Nine.

As far as the first episode is concerned, it does a good job of setting up the characters that we would be spending a lot of time with, both in terms of unique character designs and personality. I would go so far as to say that if you have seen any other ensemble anime, you would be able to predict the character archetypes that are present without even watching the first episode. One thing that the show does cleverly is that they admit other races coexist in this version of the world, however they do not state the races, they use visual indicators to depict the characteristics of a race based on prior exposure to illustrate the race. I find that this is a fantastic example of using semiotics in order to convey world building, and character information through visuals, without wasting time on expository world building. This allows the storytellers to focus on the progression of the story rather than the world building, though that is handled well too.

From a visual standpoint the art style is quite interesting to look at, and it is not a style that I have seen before. There is a real grit to the world that is created as a result of the harsh dark shading lines that are present throughout in the background. This in turn helps the characters in the forefront to stand out all the more, which helps to direct the audience's attention. The colour palate used in the show is quite muted and drained of colour, and considering the subject matter that we are dealing with, I would say that it is appropriate, though this setting has some life to it as the interactions between the characters help balance out the visual tone of the show with moments of humour.

I quite enjoyed the opening and the ending of the show. The opening in particular as the hard rock song really got me in the mood to watch the show all the more. The music aside from this is perfectly serviceable and exists to highlight the show rather than highlight itself. As such I am not expecting as memorable and long lasting in the mind as the works by the likes of Sawano Hiroyuki, Kajiura Yuki, or Hayashi Yuki.

An aspect that was touched on briefly was the political, and the bureaucratic side of the show. Which, unsurprisingly depicts the Special Seven as a group of misfits.

While there were a lot of positives going in the shows favour, I feel as if it does itself no favours by the way the episode ended. With the show revealing a certain character it feels as if our central character's entire arc is laid bare for us to see, which in turn would help us predict what is going to happen with regards to the actual team itself. Though there is the very real possibility that they might be able to subvert expectations and make things exciting on the whole, I feel as if this is a show that is going to be incredibly predictable. Though, even if it is predictable, as long as it is entertaining, I will continue to watch it.