(Writers note: If you read this review, RATE this review. Authors thrive on feedback, whether it be a simple happy face, or an in-depth critique.)
Good animation and sound can elevate a lackluster story and make it something worth recommending. A lot of harem anime fall into this category, with semi-interesting characters and a so-so storyline made enjoyable by beautiful and attractive animation, and a heart-pumping/melting soundtrack. However, as good animation and sound can raise a series up, poor animation and sound can bring an excellent story to its knees. So what happens when a series is plagued with poor animation, poor sound, a lackluster story, and cardboard characters? Well, you end up with a series like Hitsuji No Uta.
Hitsuji No Uta does not look good. The animations are stunted and awkward, with the only fluid movement belonging to the badly done CGI cars, which feel as out of place as the helicopters did in Golgo 13 – The Professional and Escape from L.A., or the Ghouls in Divergence Eve.
Everyone looks alike in Hitsuji No Uta. All of the characters have the same facial structure, whether they are male or female, with a curious roundness and low detail that is far from attractive. The characters in Hitsuji No Uta not only look the same, but they’re not enjoyable to look at either.
Hitsuji No Uta also suffers from an overuse of repeated footage, repeated dialogue, and still frames. With a running time under two hours, it’s disconcerting to see so much padding, with the final episode feeling rushed and unsatisfying. If you haven’t read my review of Revolutionary Girl Utena, I’m not one who takes kindly to padding. The repeated scenes don’t look very good either, especially the one used whenever Akira is hungry for blood. Akira is standing against a white background, holding his mouth and shivering, while red blood splots flash in and out behind him. This is supposed to provoke feelings of horror, but all it manages to evoke is boredom.
The sound is another problematic area. The music itself is fine. The problem is that the same song is used constantly, unendingly, ceaselessly… all the goddamned time! The quiet techno rhythm started to grate on my nerves by the end of the first episode, with my annoyance level steadily increasing as the series progressed. It got so bad that I spent the better part of the last episode wrestling a knife away from my wrist, shouting, “Calm down! Calm down! It’s almost over!”
The sound effects are hardly noticeable, which is usually a good thing, but what’s noticeable is the lack of sound effects. Very little happens in Hitsuji No Uta, with very little sound effects being used in most scenes. It was not bad enough to be distracting, but it was noticeable. One good thing regarding the sound is the Seiyuu, who did a very good job overall.
The characters are hardly worth mentioning. They were not very interesting, nor did they do much of anything with the time they were given. Everyone seems very depressed in Hitsuji No Uta, and it’s contagious to the audience. Akira is the main character, whose family carries a blood disease that basically makes its members vampires without all the cool tricks. Chisana is his slightly older sister, whom he comes to live with. The two of them spend a lot of screen time having spasms and feeling weak, thirsting for blood that they deny themselves for… no particular reason. They could literally get by with drinking each other’s blood to survive, but if they did something so logical, there wouldn’t be a story. Instead, they take multiple rides to the hospital with anemic feinting spells and heart trouble.
There are few semi-interesting side characters, though they’re not given a lot of screen time. Yaegashi is the love interest, who looks the same as everyone else, never smiles, never confesses, never does much of anything except paint and look depressed. Minase is the family doctor who knows of Akira and Chisana’s blood curse, who… well, he’s sort of the love interesting of Chisana in the same way Yaegashi is for Akira. He’s depressed and annoyed, constantly lamenting his love for Chisana.
The story is pretty simplistic: After Akira learns of his blood disease and of his sister who shares the disease, he decides to move in with her and lock himself away from the world with her. Thanks to the high number of padded scenes, very little happens in Hitsuji No Uta.
There are no twists, or interesting happening in Hitsuji No Uta. A couple of sick vampires slowly getting sicker, craving blood, but denying the urge for no good reason, until they’re at death’s door. A very depressing piece of anime, to be sure, but it’s not all bad. The series, since it’s about vampires, feels like it maybe building towards something, which is enough to keep most people interested. That nothing really happens is one of Hitsuji No Uta’s biggest flaws. I wouldn’t recommend this series to any but the most die-hard vampire fan.
