Weiss Kreuz

Knight Hunters

A Parent's Guide to Anime
Rated: M

Recommended for Mature Audiences

Reviewed by Beth Card:

My review is of the subtitled version of the anime WeiB KreuZ ("the White Cross" in German). The English version and dub go under the name "Knight Hunters". WeiB KreuZ is the story of a group of four young men who work at a flower shop by day, and work as assassins in a group called WeiB ("white" in German) at night. The four boys are Aya Fujimiya, Yohji Kudou, Ken Hidaka, and Omi Tsukiyono. Over a series of twenty-four episodes, various plot-points are discovered; of particular interest would be the Takatori and Esstet plot lines. Reiji Takatori, the head of the Takatori family, is a cruel man who is trying to gain political influence so that he can become Minister of Peace and eventually take over Japan. His sons, Masafumi and Hirofumi, are also helping him. However, it turns out that he is working for a greater force: Esstet. The mystery group known as Esstet is made up of three elderly folk who want to take over the world.

During the course of the series, WeiB goes after many, many targets. You see a multitude of unsavory characters, including a prostitution ring, a kidnapping ring, and more murderers than you can count on one hand.

Possibly the best part of this series is the characterization. Where the plot lacks in some areas, it is more than made up for in characterization. You'll see the characters change-- you see Yohji become more serious, Aya become nicer and calmer, and Omi become less and less happy as time goes on and the story becomes sadder.

Some of the things parents may find objectionable in this anime would be violence and gore, mild / partial nudity, language, and mature situations and conversations.

This anime can raise some interesting questions about the value of human life and how people can do such terrible things to other people.

There isn't really a major message to this series, but it's a good series to watch, just to see the hunters of the night go after the next dark beast.

Parent's Guide Rating:

red (recommended for mature audiences)

Violence and gore, mild/partial nudity, language, mature situations and conversations.