Anime Saishuu Heiki Kanojo (Saikano)

I'm a huge fan of deep and unique anime. And i'm also a fan of tragic and depressing anime. This may seem strange be it that im, in general a bubbly person.

But I cant help it I LOVE Saikano. It's one of those rare anime which emerge which really is a tear jerker. This is an extract from http://www.uusikaupunki.fi/~vivuor. Its the best way I have seen the plot explained.

"We have Shuuji and Chise, two high school students that have known each other a long time. Chise, small and clumsy, confesses to Shuuji, tall guy with glasses, that she likes him and wants to exchange diary with him. This is how their relationship begins. It doesn't seem to work at first, but an event occurs that turns Shuuji's view of the world upside down. The situation is, that the world is at war with another nation. Shuuji is shopping with his friends at the town when a horde of bombing aircraft start carpetting the town with their deadly payload. However, something stops the bombers before the destruction spreads all over, a new kind of weapon. After the battle is over, Shuuji crawls out from the debris of a building to face something unbelievable. Chise is standing there, her hand transformed to a huge cannon and metallic wings on her back. She says her favourite phrase "I'm Sorry". From here on their lives change. Chise has become a weapon, Shuuji's relations with other people change with the war, and he becomes confused if he should be loving a living killing machine, or not..."

I have to say that I was absolutely blown away by this small 13 episode anime. Im wondering if anyone else has seen this work of art.


-Note: I would have used a larger image but im thinking of us 56k'ers.

 

hmmm... sounds like a rather interesting series, It seems a lot of series Elite-Fansubs is pumping up is really getting my interest in animes. Now I want to know one thing: Is it violent? Does it contain blood? As much as I like watching bubbly like animes once in a while, currently I'm really interest in Extra Gory and and Excessively bloody animes (though, just a small amount of blood and packed with action will do)

If you like depressing and tragic animes I suggest you look the following (If you haven't seen it):

Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no Haka)
Kanon

 

There are casualties in Saikano, but its not exactly gory. More like just painful to watch. I've seen Kanon and I see it as less tragic more cute (Although Shioris story was pretty disturbing). And I really intend to see GOF sometime.

 

Original Post:
From the time this post is made, I currently seen up to episode 5. Every episode seems to have a sad, depressing ending, leaving you feeling downaway from the casual animations GONZO usually makes, but then , not exactly a anime to watch if you're feeling like crap or if you want to watch something uplifting. There are no comic relief on this series from what I seen (And if there are any I missed them somehow) really strays again I haven't seen that many GONZO produced animes.

I liked how they kept the names of some of the minor characters nameless; sort of felt like Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", only on HoD every character except Marlow and Kurtz remained nameless. But enough with me digressing off subject.

I will definetly download the rest of the series once they are released by their fan-subbers, and hopefully some American distributor will be pressured to license this series cause it's by GONZO.

I had to add this, I loved Chise's arm cannon though I'm still questioning her metallic wings. I guess this it's just one of my ways to lessen the dramatic effect this series has on me.

and just in case you didn't know "Saishu Heiki Kanojo" translate to "Ultimate Weapon Girlfriend", but GONZO named it "She, The Ultimate Weapon."

New Post:

I just finished watching this series and I have to say that the ending made the ending of End of Evangelion feel like a happy ending. Overall I liked it but I wish I did take heed to the warning given at the end of fansub ep 10 with the statement:

"A friendly warning from the Team: This is the end of happiness in Saikano. If you would prefer the anime to have a happy end, consider stopping here and pretending there are no more episodes, continuing will only bring misery and pain. You have been warned."

Why, well I never shed a tear on the series, it really didn't feel like a tear jerker, but after I watched the last episode, I felt depressed, and the more I thought about it, the more depressed I got. It took me 2 days to feel better again and get Saikano out of my mind.

Would I recommend this series to a friend or any of you now, well for a perfect yes, only ep 1-10. But I have my doubt about the last 3 episodes, as they seem to rip your heart to pieces.

Parental Rating For series: 17+ contains blood, violence, images of war, language, sexual contents, some off-screen sex scenes

 

Saikano is really, really good so far. I have the first manga, which believe it or not does hold some comic relief... it might even make you laugh a little!
But as you all said, it's incredibly deep and very sad. Ah, the tragic love story...
Point is, its one of the BEST manga I've ever read and I recommend it to anyone who can handle the mature themes. It's so absorbing, and different, how can you not like it?
I didn't think I'd like it either, I'm not one for war. But the story focuses more on Chise and Shuji's relationship most of the time. It's difficult.
Theres quite enough happy endings out there, anyways. Read/Watch Saikano!!!