Anime Review: B The Beginning

Well, B: The Beginning wasn’t what I expected at all… let’s talk about that.

The Story

Keith, our main protagonist, is a legendary detective who has recently joined back up with the Royal Investigation Service whose goal is to find a serial killer known as Killer B. That all sounds really awesome, I’m game for another battle of wits like we saw in Death Note with the battle between L and Light. Sadly, that isn’t what we get. What we instead get is a supernatural anime where there is a criminal organization called Market Maker. This organization of supernatural beings has a plot to find Killer B due to past history they have had together, and to do this, they cause havoc around the nation of Cremona to draw him out.

I enjoyed the story, it was very entertaining. I just feel like I was lead on to believe I was going to watch an intense battle of minds. They set up Keith to be this legendary detective, but they really never had any moments where your mind exploded because of something he found out. There seriously is a lack of detective work done in this anime, and I feel like they tried at some points, but failed. I won’t judge the anime based on what I wanted it to be though.

The story was well done. I wasn’t angry that there wasn’t more detective work because I ended up accepting the anime for what it was. It’s an anime with an emphasis on its action. There are some intense action sequences which are made to be epic and memorable due to these supernatural abilities the criminal organization and Killer B has. When there are fights, it feels like it’s a battle between gods. They fight at such high speeds with incredible skill and finesse which in return makes these fights to be quite the spectacle.

Now let’s talk about the characters…

The Characters

Keith Kazama Flick

Seven years ago, Keith’s sister, Erika Flick was murdered by someone, causing him to go into depression and eventually retire from the police force. During present day, he is called out of retirement by his old friend Eric Toga to help the R.I.S. criminal investigation force track down the serial murderer known as “Killer B”. (Source)

Lily Hoshino

Lily is very immature, rash, and unprofessional, often behaving like a scatterbrained child. Despite this, she is an extremely competent detective who takes her job seriously when necessary.

Lily loves food especially Red Bean Buns and won’t miss an opportunity to eat and can be very driven when push comes to shove. Her intelligence and latent talent are on par with Keith’s. Lily also enjoys techno music. (Source)

Koku

Koku is one of the main characters in B: The Beginning. He works as a Violin Craftsman under Lily’s father and has the ability to transform into a black-winged, heteromorphic being. He is also the true identity of Killer B, a name derived by his unusual way of writing the number “13” at his murder sites.

Since the attack on Jaula Blana orchestrated by Gilbert Ross that took the lives of several of his classmates including Dr. Health Flick, Koku has spent the last seven years in search of his love, Yuna in hopes of reuniting with her. (Source)

Gilbert Ross

Gilbert Ross plays a huge role in the series so I’d like to avoid spoiling anything of importance. What I can say is that he is an old friend of Keith Flick with a complicated overall character. He was around for the death of Keith’s sister, Erika, and since then has been friends with Keith.

Minatsuki

Minatsuki was one of the main antagonists in B: The Beginning. He was one of the head agents of Market Maker, a shadowy government organization that controls Cremona’s social order from the darkness. (Source)

He’s pretty cool. 

Yuna

Yuna is the childhood love of Koku and the reason behind what Koku does as Killer B. Yuna is associated with the Markets Makers and is even sent to capture Koku at one point which in return makes Yuna snap back to her original self, remembering Koku and her past.

Laica

Laica is the only compatible “Reggie” (a term used for beings with these supernatural powers) able to become the new Black King. Laica doesn’t really play much of a part until the last couple of episodes when you find out who he truly is and what his goal is.

In my opinion, the characters from the organization, Market Makers, fall flat. There are these twins apart from the organization who are just thrown away and serve no purpose at all. Then there’s another character called Izanami who apparently had a history with Koku, but is quickly gotten rid of and forgotten. She is literally a character in the anime just to serve as an ex machina in the final episode. I wish they spent more time with her character because she would have been excellent, but they instead gave her one episode where she was the main antagonist, then poof, she’s gone.

Not only was Izanami a disappointment, but so was everyone else in Market Makers. Sure they were spooky villains with cool looks which resembled a mix of the joker and Harley Quinn, but they had to depth to their characters.

On the other hand, the protagonists Keith and Koku were done quite well. Both characters end up being memorable and rather badass in their own way. Keith is a genius and kicks ass with his smarts while Koku literally kicks ass due to how strong he is.

Anyways though, let’s talk about the Art, Animation, and Sound.

Art, Animation, and Sound

B the beginning isn’t really beautiful in any way, but instead, it’s gritty and dark which serves very well the create the perfect atmosphere for the series. The character designs are also very well done. The members of Market Maker are unique and cool looking making them quite memorable. Along with that, even Keith has a semi-unique look to him. I personally prefer his look when he is unshaven and unkept with longer hair because it seemed to fit his personality well.

When it comes to animation, this is where I was honestly quite impressed. The fight sequences are very well done and keep you captivated. The effects done during these fights are perfectly executed resulting in badass fight scenes.

Finally, we have sound, one of my favorite topics to talk about. Sadly, we don’t get an OP for this anime, but we do get a hella sweet ending song called “The Perfect World” by Man With a Mission. It fits the tone and atmosphere of the anime perfectly! Then the way they incorporate it into the final scene of the episodes is excellent as well! Whenever I hear it playing, everything just feels that much more intense and impactful.

Overall Thoughts

Overall, I found myself enjoying this anime a lot. I managed to binge watch it over the course of two days, so it was quite entertaining to the point where I wanted to watch the next episode asap. Of course, I’m a still disappointed it wasn’t an L.A. Noire style anime. Thought that being said, I would definitely giving it a watch. It had a solid plot, solid characters, and a solid… everything I suppose. It’s a well-rounded anime. It could have been more of an impactful ending if the villains had more character to them, but they serve their purpose in the end.