Anime Review: Code Realize: Sousei no Himegimi

Code Realize: Sousei no Himegimi (Guardian of Rebirth) 12 episodes

Cardia is unable to make any physical contact with anyone due to poison in her body which is also the reason why she is still alive.  Thus she's kept on her own, but then she was taken by Arsene Lupin and his motley crew of historical and literary figures: Abraham Van Helsing, Victor Frankenstein, Impey Barbicane, and Count Saint-Germain. They plan to get to her first in order to take down the organization, Twilight. Major spoiler ahead.

The setting is steampunk London. We also have vampire kid, Delacroix II, Herloch Sholmes, and Nemo. I always thought Lupin is a Japanese character due to the eponymous anime. I'm also partial to Sherlock Holmes so I expected more from him. 

I have high expectations based on the otome game feedback but the anime fell short. It feels rushed and I couldn't make a connection to them overall. But I did care about Cardia's dilemma and her resolve to overcome all that she's facing. The chemistry between the main couple is cute but it doesn't make me convinced. I didn't expect the ending. I expected the opposite right from the start which is very telling of what I feel about the anime. 

But it certainly did not lack in other departments. The songs are lovely and I loved the gorgeous steampunk character designs and costumes. I love all the bishies visually-speaking. I think my favorite bishie is Count Saint-Germain. I loved his character development. In the otome game, they all have romance routes but in the anime, they were pretty harmless and they just focused on Lupin and Cardia. I wished they made it longer instead and explored that too. And for some reason they kept me reminding of Amnesia boys. It's probably because Van Helsing looks like Kent with the hair and glasses and Lupin with Shin. And not to mention the heroines have amnesia and Amnesia has gothic feels too.

The story also reminds me of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie featuring literary characters from the Victorian era. They have Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Mina Harker, Rodney Skinner aka An Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Edward Hyde, Dorian Gray, and  Tom Sawyer. They did not get the rights though from Invisible Man and probably the same thing happened with Delacroix too, I dunno? And if you don't want to be spoiled, please stop reading here and do not continue. 

There are also references to Homunculus, Alchemist and Philosopher Stone which of course reminds us of Full Metal Alchemist. But what really made a lasting impression on me is her real identity. It makes me ponder of the meaning of life and consequently is it still a reverse harem if the heroine is not human? 

We have artificial characters in reverse harem before: Shouta Aoi of  Uta Pri and JD and Jet in Neo Angelique. For the heroine, we have I am a Piano which is piano represented by a girl. And on a side note, I like her name, Cardia, which is like a play of her heart condition but then it also conjures up the words 'cardiac arrest' then I changed my mind and I don't like it haha It's also rare that we get fan service from heroines in reverse harem. They almost always kept them prim and proper.

Did you enjoy the anime? I liked in a way that I was able to finish it right away but I expected more.  Yay! For my first review for the year!