Translation Note: “Suiri no kizuna” = “Bonds of Reasoning”
Plot
Two years ago, the brilliant detective and musician, Kiyotaka Narumi, disappeared, leaving behind his wife and younger brother with only a vague message concerning the mystery of the so-called Blade Children. After being falsely being accused of attempted murder, Kiyotaka’s intelligent younger brother, Ayumu, finds himself pulled into solving the mystery of the cursed Blade Children and their connection with his missing brother. Joined by school journalist, Hiyono, and the assistance of his sister-in-law, police detective Madoka Narumi, Ayumu tries to figure out who the Blade Children are, and why they are after him.
Spiral is, at its core, a mystery. Each episode contains a puzzle-type mystery on three levels: A mini mystery, followed by the main mystery of the episode, and finally, a small piece of information about the series’ driving question: Who are the Blade Children, and what do they want with Ayumu?
The mysteries are more of a howdunit than a whodunit, as often the guilty party is either an unimportant, unnamed character, or we already know who did it, just not how they did it. Some of the episodes have good puzzle twists that involve Ayumu getting out of a tricky situation using his wits and what little resources he has around him (some of his solutions reminded me of the series MacGyver). However, other episodes are hit-and-miss and have puzzle solutions that involve the murderer using a plan that is way too convoluted and relies heavily on chance events. One mystery solution sounded like a Rube Goldberg machine: It required a girl to be wearing the wrong glasses, causing her to lose her balance, causing her to lean on a railing, causing the railing to break, causing her to fall—and if any of these events didn’t go exactly as planned, then it wouldn’t have worked.
The main mystery of who the Blade Children are is intriguing, and wanting to find the answer kept me watching this series. Unfortunately, this mystery is dragged on for far too long, raised in episode one and spanning all the way to the last episode. And by the end of this 25 episode journey, we barely know more than we knew in the beginning.
We don’t know how Ayumu is linked to the Blade Children. We don’t know why they are considered too dangerous to live by their enemies, known as the Hunters. We don’t know how the Hunters know about the Blade Children. We aren’t even told what the Blade Children actually are, one of the driving questions of the series. That’s right: The question that is posed by episode one is not even answered by the last episode. You can’t do that in a series. I actually had to look it up after finishing the series (it’s apparently explained in the original manga).
Spiral is a thematically-strong series. It has two main morals: Fighting fate through intelligence and cunning, versus fighting fate through the power of faith in someone. They are both strong and interesting themes and the actions made by the characters helped to explore, argue, and support those themes. Both Ayumu and the Blade Children are trying to fight fate in different ways: Ayumu is trying to become a better detective than his brother (while everyone around him tells him that it’s a lost cause), while the Blade Children have a cursed fate (we don’t know what it is), and they have simply accepted it, but want it on their own terms (meaning that they still fight the Hunters).
Questions and plotlines in the series are often raised only to be dropped. It seems like Ayumu’s missing brother will arrive (or his werabouts will be revealed), but he never does. The Blade Children are recognised by having cat eyes and a missing rib. But it’s never explained why they have those distinguishing features. There’s also unresolved romantic tension: Do Ayumu and Hiyono ever get together? Does Madoka and her co-worker ever get together? Do the two Blade Children who seem to like each other get together? It’s left ambiguous. I understand that in anime, it’s very common to leave romantic tension between the characters open-ended, so I wasn’t too surprised with none of the love interests getting together, but the other things left unresolved were surprising. I discovered afterwards that the manga that the series was based on had not yet ended, so that may have had something to do with it.
I still don’t get why the series is called “Spiral”. At a guess, Spiral probably is meant to reference a seashell, as one is seen in the opening. Seashells are associated with the Golden Ratio, a form of mathematics used in art. But what does the Golden Ratio have to do with Spiral?
(The Golden Ratio: Yet another mystery that Spiral leaves unanswered.)
The sheer amount of questions that are left unanswered throughout the series is frustrating. And that is Spiral’s main downfall.
Characters
The main character, Ayumu, is a resourceful but unmotivated character. He goes through a very slow character arc (in which he becomes more confident in himself), which could have been more interesting if it was quicker-paced or presented differently. Ayumu was clearly meant to be portrayed as grumpy and pessimistic, but he does not come off as that. He is not antisocial, he is just unemotional. There is a difference: Misanthropes are interesting characters, while unemotional characters are unmotivated, which make for uninteresting protagonists. This makes him feel annoyingly mopey and uninteresting. Even when Ayumu is accused of attempted murder, he is very slow to deny it.
Which brings up an interesting question on writing characters: If the protagonist doesn’t care about the plot, why should we, as the audience, care? The only way Ayumu’s indifference would have really worked would be if Ayumu’s apathy was played for comedy (similar to the protagonists in the UK series, The Avengers), but it’s not here.
Ayumu’s sibling rivalry with his missing, more talented older brother is somewhat interesting (Ayumu’s apathy arguably stems from his constant inability to escape his brother’s shadow), but again, since the brother never appears, their relationship does not go through any real arc or change.
(Ayumu, the main character, is intelligent but unmotivated.)
Characters’ motivations are often hazy. For instance, the Blade Children want to kill Ayumu, but they also say that he is their last hope. If that’s the case, then why do they want him dead? The only explanation we get is that they want to test Ayumu’s abilities, but if that’s the case, then why do they make an attempt on his life more than once?
The other antagonists, known as Hunters (of the Blade Children) are just portrayed as evil villains. They say that they have a good reason to kill the Blade Children, but since we are never given that information, we can only see the Hunters as “just evil.” Additionally, when a person is rightfully accused of murder by Ayumu, they are often quick to admit that they did it, even when there is little evidence left of their acts.
Alignment switches seem to happen for no real reason and feel unmotivated. A character’s sudden betrayal is left unexplained and confusing. Another character commits murder, puts Hiyono in danger, tries to kill Ayumu… and then later becomes allies with Ayumu. And Ayumu barely questions this.
Hiyono does something that is borderline unforgivable. She’s a school journalist who is introduced in the first episode and accuses Ayumu of attempted murder in front of the entire student body (permanently making him even more isolated from his peers), and then follows him around afterwards to get information on the attempted murder for the school newspaper, despite him repeatedly telling her that he has nothing to do with it. To me, this makes her instantly unlikeable. Unfortunately, that’s clearly not the writers’ intention. She’s written as a kooky, bubbly, optimistic character–as a foil to Ayumu. However, the fact that she couldn’t tell that he was innocent seems like a good reason why she wouldn’t be good foil-material for the protagonist.
Furthermore, Hiyono often does not know Ayumu is in trouble, and is confused when he seems to be acting odd/scared/upset. It’s frustrating to watch, because her ignorance is not even her own fault because Ayumu just never tells her anything. Hiyono and Ayumu’s relationship is hard to believe due to him constantly not bothering to tell her things. Admittedly, some of the Hiyono and Ayumu’s moments can be sweet (they often go out of their way to try and cheer each other up), but their growing friendship is constantly undermined by them needlessly withholding information from each other, as if they don’t trust each other. And in order for any type of on-screen relationship to feel true, trust is paramount.
(Hiyono, in red, accusing Ayumu of murder. In front of a crowd. While holding a microphone. Again, why should we like her character after this?)
Art
While having good production values, the art doesn’t seem to have a specific direction, and comes off as somewhat bland. The colour scheme is often mismatched or oddly inappropriate. For instance, sometimes a scene that is meant to be scary has bright colours (or just isn’t as menacing-looking as it could have been) and brightly-lit, and some characters who are trying to blend in are wearing noticeable colours (such as a guy who wears a bright green jacket and has fire truck-red hair).
For a series’ that involves high stakes and the possibility of death (the danger of explosives going off are a big theme), the violence shown in this series lacks drama because there is oddly no blood in situations where there would be blood. Animation/visual mediums don’t have to have blood to be dramatic, but here, the lack of blood just seems odd.
The visual symbolism is also confusing. Violet irises (meaning the flower) are a recurring motif in the series, but the reason for that is only touched upon near the very end of the series (and even then, it’s not too important). Before that, we wonder why the camera keeps lingering on shots of irises, as it simply feels unnecessary.
(These are all meant to be intense scenes. Tonally, these scenes could have been lit more darkly or more creatively to help set the proper tone.)
Music
The music doesn’t particularly stand out. The opening song has needless CG and the vocals seem strained. It also contains noticeable CG animation that isn’t used anywhere else in the series, making the CG in the opening look very conspicuous. The closing song seems more tonally-correct compared to the opening, but still doesn’t feel memorable or fitting to the series. However, there is fitting music played whenever a puzzle is solved and Ayumu is explaining what the solution to the puzzle is. It’s short, but upbeat, and has a “detective” quality that none of the other music in the series seems to have.
The Verdict
Spiral is a series that starts off as a fun and intriguing mystery, but by the end, you disappointingly realise that the mystery has no intention of explaining itself. The beginning may be fun, but don’t expect a payoff by the end.
