Fan-Service Invasion
Introduction
While 2020 was barren regarding anime variety, 2021 is trying to open the otaku flood gates to shower us with some sweet anime goodness. High-Rise Invasion is an anime series animated by Zero-G and based on the graphic novel written by Tsuina Miura and illustrated by Takahiro Oba.
Setting and Plot
A group of scantily dressed schoolgirls get transported to a realm of skyscrapers connected by a series of rope bridges. With the stairs leading towards the ground level being inaccessible, the only way down is to fall, a path to certain death. Traversing the buildings are masked individuals whose objectives are to hunt down others and force their victims to jump off.
Our protagonist is Yuri Honjo, a determined high-schooler with a singular objective: meet up with her brother. However, that minor goal gets complicated when the forces of this world get in her way. Refusing to obey this world’s rules of kill or be killed, Yuri gathers allies so she can be reunited with her brother and rip this world apart.
The premise of High-Rise Invasion will be familiar to all those who have played a battle-royale game. This series has many elements reminiscent of other anime, such as Mirai Nikki (Future Diary) and Fate Franchise, where a group of characters must fight in a massive free for all for the goal of ultimate power.
The anime’s rules are what are really intriguing. The obstacles are not there to kill the participants exactly, more like to harden them. There are various masks around with different faces on them which grant the wearer special powers. Masks with a face are designated as angels, while faceless masks make one a candidate towards becoming a god.
Most angels are under a form of brainwashing, which forces them to lash out at those trying to survive. Their physical abilities improve dramatically to the point of becoming superhuman. However, those closer to God gains various stronger powers, including the ability to control the angels.
While the media has beaten the battle royale horse to death, it is pleasant to see the genre be tackled differently. Here, most characters don’t care about the ultimate power McGuffin, in this case, becoming a god and just want to go back to their everyday lives.
High-rise Invasion is one of those anime series that rarely stops to take a breather, as in every episode there is almost always something exciting going on. Even when characters do manage to take a break, the perspective is passed on to another group. Despite it being series about people being dragged to the depths of despair, it does not take itself too seriously. There is also a healthy dose of comedy to lighten the mood.
Characters and Performances
Yuri Honjo(portrayed by Suzie Yeung) is the main protagonist of the series. While I like her performance, the series obligation for fan service takes away some of the character’s charm. She is at her best whenever accompanied by Mayuko Nise(portrayed by Jennie Kwan) or Mayu for short.
Mayu is the more interesting of the two characters, being the group’s lancer or right-hand man when issues arise. Thanks to her poor treatment in the real world through bullying and neglect, Mayu became a murder machine until she met Yuri and began thirsting over her. While Kwan has portrayed a similar combat-heavy role with Suki from the Avatar franchise, her performance as Mayu is a lot more intense.
While I would like to say the two have a blossoming lesbian going relationship between them, it could also be that the show set them up as Yuri bait to attract their young and horny Shonen audience.
Sniper Mask is an angel who periodically crosses swords with our protagonists. He eventually manages to break free from his brainwashing and gets a B-plot aiding Kuon Shinzaki to find and team up with Yuri’s party. The character’s suave demeanour and excellent marksmen skills are some of the greatest highlights of the show. The man is not complete without his voice actor, Jonah Scott, best known for his fan favourite furry from Beastars, Legoshi.
Then we have Kuon Shinzaki portrayed by Stephanie Sheh, best known for her roles portraying softer spoken characters like Orihime Inoue from Bleach and Hinata Hyuga from the Naruto series. She uses a similar tone with the innocent Koun, a clueless green-haired high schooler who is said to be close to God. However, her real goal is to get closer romantically to Sniper Mask.
I am not a fan of Sheh’s voice acting or the parts she tends to play, as she mainly provides the role of meeker female characters with large breasts. These characters don’t get much of a personality outside of their unexplainable lust and devotion for their senpais.
Animation and Action
High-Rise Invasion has some decent animation behind it, but it does suffer from a couple of long awkward pauses, although it was not enough to ruin my immersion. While one would never dub this as the John Wick of anime in terms of choreography, there are sequences where characters perform some impressive feats. However, there aren’t any moments or scenes where the animation feels actually memorable.
The show also has a couple of blink-and-you-miss-it scenes scattered through its episodes, which is great for second viewings. From the animation and colour palettes, High-Rise Invasion leans closer to more action-oriented genres than horror.
Conclusion
While incomplete, High-rise Invasion has a lot of great things going for it. With a great cast of characters and a gripping premise backing it up, Netflix’s newest anime series has the backbone to make it quite memorable.
However, it does suffer from tonal issues and over-reliance on fan service from time to time, which can hinder the show’s growth. As of now, I do recommend watching High-Rise invasion or at least its first season. If you happen to be a fan of shows like Mirai Nikki(Future Diary) or the Hunger Games Franchise, I believe you will feel quite at home with this anime.
