The basic idea of Aria the Scarlet Ammo is simple: Our main character is Kinji Tooyama, who is enrolled in an academy for heavily-armed supercops called Butei. He’s not doing very well (not that he cares, he’s planning to drop out) but secretly possesses a special power: when he gets turned on, he enters a state called Hysteria Mode where he’s a chivalrous uber James Bond – Suave, hypercapable, and liable to say or do something that will embarrass Kinji later. He ends up paired up with the titular Aria, a Rie Kugimiya Tsundere who takes quick note of his moments of extreme ability but less so their trigger – typically her.
If this setup sounds like it’s going to provide a constant running awkward moment… it does. Depending on how you feel about that it could probably be the best thing since sliced bread or the 12th Circle of Hell. For me, it’s somewhere in between. I don’t enjoy awkward situations for their own sake, and typically think my tolerance is moderately low, but Aria mostly stayed within it, letting me have a good look at what’s going on underneath that.
One weird conceit in the show is heredity. Anybody who’s anybody in this show is the descendant of someone important, which since this show seems to be set in if not the same universe as the League of Extraordinary Gentelmen, at least a fairly close World Line, typically means that their important ancestors were figures from public domain classics or world myth. Aria, for instance, is Aria Holmes Kanzaki, a descendant of Sherlock Holmes who feels inadequate because she lacks his deductive abilities. It’s never stated who Kinji is descended from, but it is said that his Hysteria Mode ability is hereditary like all the other notable competences we see in the show.
The story follows three arcs, throughout which there’s the secondary motivation of Aria wishing to clear her imprisoned mother’s name by finding the real criminals. The first is predicated around the “Butei Killer” a criminal who, what else, hunts down and kills Butei. Kinji is targeted by killer remote-controlled Segways on his way to school, which is when he runs into Aria. The sequence of their attempt to escape the Butei Killer’s armed drones takes most of the episode, in which Aria (who is good with her guns even if she does lack deductive ability) saves Kinji and innocents several times before Kinji finally gets a face full of her, triggers Hysteria Mode, and clears the area of hostiles. After a breather episode introducing us to some ‘minor’ characters like funny yandere Shirayuki and flirty classmate Riko, they re-enact the movie Speed against more of the Butei Killer’s schemes for episode three.
Finally, they confront the Butei Killer in an action sequence on a plane, discovering that their foe is none other than Riko, who reveals herself as a descendant of the thief Arsene Lupin, which gives her the ability to… um… use her twintail hair as prehensile tentacles and quad-wield weapons. I don’t think that was in any of the Lupin stories but whatever. The fighting, bombs, crashing plane, and so on are kept up for the majority of two episodes, at the conclusion of which Riko escapes and Kinji agrees to team up with Aria and help her.
The next arc is focused on Shirayuki, who has magical powers and is thus being targeted by a kidnapper known as Durandal, one of the other enemies Aria’s mother was inexplicably framed for the crimes of. Once again, the arc is dominated by large, complex action sequences, leading to the reveal of the hidden villain. In this case, “Durandal” (actually a similarly-named descendant of Jeanne d’Arc. From which she has, er… magic ice powers that I guess are how the original survived becoming British barbecue in this universe?) was legitimately lurking in the shadows rather than as a character, so it’s more about running, fighting, and not falling for elaborate death traps than discovery.
The final arc features the return of Riko (no, that’s not a Judge Dredd reference), looking for help against her (former) master, Vlad. Specifically, she’d like their help to steal back a precious trinket that Vlad took from her. Aria and Kinji end up working as help in Vlad’s local mansion while the master is away, under the supervision of their teacher (who is also the manor’s steward). They get the rosary, replacing it with a fake to prevent detection of the theft, but when they give it back to Riko she attempts to backstab and defeat them in order to regain the face she lost in the secret order of villains.
Riko is in turn backstabbed by the teacher, who it turns out is none other than Vlad. The reference is obvious this time so rather than being a descendant he’s an immortal monster, a vamp-… a werewolf ogre thing. Damn it, Aria! Can’t you get one thing right? Anyway, he’s invincible unless all of a fixed number of weak points are hit at once, so it’s a long drawn-out fight to successfully deduce where they all are and finally stake the bastard with bullets. With Vlad dead and Riko now seemingly a good guy for real (testifying on behalf of Aria’s mom), the show ends.
So, as you can probably tell, the vast majority of Aria the Scarlet Ammo is all about the action. And the action is alright. The writing knows how create dramatic scenes and perilous scenarios, including battles, traps, and heists, even if the show is cheesy enough that you’re not always believing it. The action being both solid and overwhelmingly present does a lot to make sure the show stays watchable and engaging… which is good because a number of other elements are kind of lackluster.
Let’s talk about the characters. Kinji suffers from bland generic nice guy protagonist syndrome, and is thus mostly interesting for what (rather than who) he is. Hysteria Mode at least makes for a couple fun scenes, both because Kinji taking possibility to the extreme can lead to dynamic action and because the Bond-esque “suave and macho” routine is divorced from his normal self and can at least momentarily play well off Aria’s Tsundere antics, turning the tables from her normal threatening and screaming to leave her flustered. However, we don’t see Hysteria Mode going, especially not when there’s a chance to talk, very much.
Having a bland protagonist is not good, but at the same time it’s one of the more forgivable problems a show can have. Aria for, for her part, is the cookie cutter Kugimiya Tsundere in just about every way: She’s short and flat and has a vicious temper that leads to violent outbursts. In Aria’s case, she often threatens to shoot people who get her going (mostly Kinji) but unlike Louise her fit-of-tsun attacks are never given serious treatment, causing at most comedy property damage and maybe a dive for the window on Kinji’s part. She has some psychological play with the setting; how she’s disappointed to be a “defective” Holmes, but ultimately serves as the Watson to Kinji since he has decent problem-solving abilities boosted to supernaturally accurate in Hysteria Mode. However, the potential depth of her character – things like hopes, fears, self-worth, and world view – are largely glossed over because that’s not what the show is about or interested in. It’s kind of a pity; as silly as the “Descended from supers” genetic determinism is, it could be given a meaty treatment that would say a lot by way of metaphor. But that’s not what Aria the Scarlet Ammo is about. As the leading lady of this action show, Aria is… serviceable and no better.
Riko, the closest thing we have to a main antagonist, is fairly similar to Aria in a lot of ways; despite having a supernatural power, she’s apparently burdened by not living up to her famous ancestor. Like Aria’s own depth, the meaning of their rivalry is a missed opportunity. She’s amusing enough, knowing how to push the buttons of Kinji and Aria while managing to keep an impressive number of balls in the air when it comes to her secrets and backstabs. She works out alright, but the other baddies aren’t as strong: Jeanne gets barely any proper screen time and no real development to speak of, serving only as an introduction to the idea of a conspiracy that we already sort of knew about from Riko. Vlad is a little better; his time as the somewhat creepy teacher sets him up, and when he takes his full form he’s a good capering, grandstanding monster for what little time he has. Jeanne says nothing interesting, but Vlad at least tries. Still, he’s mostly just a puzzle for the heroes to solve.
The supporting cast is mostly bland. I didn’t mention most of them because, in the grand scheme of things, they don’t really rate. There’s a Rei-like sniper who isn’t interesting, some general school friends, and none of them are really worth your time. They serve their purpose, padding scenes or in the one case providing tactical fire support, but they’re not really worthwhile as characters.
And then there’s Shirayuki. In my discussion of the second season of Familiar of Zero I talked a lot about how Yanderes aren’t funny except under some very specific conditions. Shirayuki is a great example of those conditions being met. She is absolutely a Yandere, an obsessive childhood friend who can and will resort to violence if she thinks her match with her crush (to whom she is unbearably overbearing) is threatened. But the way she’s written largely ‘defangs’ her: the violent moments are treated as pure comedy, not just half the time but entirely, like Aria’s outbursts existing in that beautiful realm of slapstick where there are usually no consequences and any that do exist are themselves not serious. Further, her obsession is hyperbolic; it doesn’t resemble an unhealthy relationship or anything you would actually encounter, given the juxtaposition of her excessive doting sweetness with the ability to fly into berserk anger. Shirayuki is treated like a joke, feels like a joke, and unlike most of the fairly bland and flat cast is at least a loud and colorful character.
Like Aria and Riko, Shirayuki also has missed potential when it’s briefly addressed why she’s so attached to Kinji but, again, this show is not really interested in character building.
Even though the action is mostly good, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that it has some goofy moments, particularly in the first and third arcs (the middle arc is treated with more drama in terms of its action). Most of the time things will be pretty badass, like the Speed setup, the hijacked plane for the Riko fight… even the killer Segways feel like legitimate threats. But every now and again something happens that just throws you entirely out of the moment. Some of the contrived happenings that accidentally trigger Hysteria are like that. Riko converting her dress into a parachute and having to exit the secene (or even finish the scene!) in her undies? I’ve seen more insane excuses to deliver fanservice, but not many. And I’m still undecided on if Vlad is stupid or awesome, with the latter largely propped up by his ability to break Riko with a speech and threatening manner.
So, how does Aria the Scarlet Ammo fare overall? It’s junk food, really. Brightly colored, emotionally comforting junk food. It will provide nothing of substance. It will not nourish you. But it will warm and satisfy you for a moment if it’s your kind of junk food. It has every action cliché and basically every harem cliché you can imagine and will give you the fanservice you want with a smile. There’s no real reason to watch Aria, but there’s even less of a reason to not watch it. As long as you don’t expect it to be something it’s not, I think you’ll probably have an alright time. In my book, that earns a C. Absolutely no more, but not any less either.