Were you expecting this to be a fantasy anime? Surprise! It’s actually a locked-room whodunnit!
Rokka’s first few episodes spend a lot of time establishing a pretty standard fantasy plot—after a set amount of years, the Demon Lord attempts to resurrect himself at a set point on the continent, which spawns legions of monsters that start attacking the general population. It’s up to the Braves chosen by a goddess to save the day, and there are always only six Braves chosen.
Our heroes’ first stop is a rendezvous point to activate a barrier that will prevent more monsters from flooding the continent while they go to defeat the Demon Lord. At first, it seems like everything is going well. However, someone activates the barrier when all the Braves are inside, trapping them there. Making matters worse, afterwards it’s revealed that seven Braves have arrived, not six. One of them is a traitor who is trying to prevent them from completing their mission and saving the world. But who is the fake seventh Brave?
From that point forward, Rokka abandons the JRPG fantasy plot and turns into a high-stakes mystery guessing game, where both the viewer and the characters try to figure out who is lying. The Braves themselves are a pretty unique bunch, ranging from the bunny princess Nachetania and her knight Goldof to a brave that has a swamp in her stomach and a literal cat burglar named Hans. Their personalities and powers are very distinct from each other, and I was impressed by how much the show was able to develop their individuality while the characters were immersed in a massive game of Clue.
Additionally, the small details brought up about the world that the story takes place in were fascinating as well. Magic meeting modern technology is a favorite trope of mine, and I loved hearing about how the magic of the Saints worked. Even though we didn’t see much of it, there’s a strong sense of a wider world out there that hangs in the balance as these characters try to figure out who betrayed them, which is hard to do when the majority of the show take place in a fog-covered landscape.
But with that said, I wish that Rokka understood the idea of “show but don’t tell.” From the first episode all the way to the end, the show has a habit of letting long, rambling monologues explain details that would be obvious the characters present or has them do so to provide context for their actions when it could have let said actions speak for themselves. Both of these instances are clumsy writing, and could’ve easily been removed if the show had taken advantage of the fact that it was no longer a light novel but an animated show.
For instance, at one point Flamie gives a long explanation about her backstory that provides key details about her motivation. However, it’s presented with her talking to the background. An alternative could’ve been showing the event that she describes in a flashback, which also could’ve had greater emotional impact since the viewer would’ve been able to visually compare past Flamie to the one that is introduced in the show.
That said, I’m not sure if Rokka’s production could’ve handled any more than the lip flaps on the monologues. The show’s animation falls apart shortly after the characters are trapped inside the barrier, and it’s a mixed bag of visuals from there on out. It’s a shame, since there are some scenes that would’ve looked amazing if anything had been on model. While no production is perfect, the animation gets bad enough to be distracting during key scenes, and is one of those bad jobs that has to be seen to be believed. I’m holding out hope that it may be corrected for the Blu Ray release in Japan, but I also won’t be surprised if the studio will not be able to do so.
But by the point the character models were turning to mush, I was too engrossed in trying to solve the mystery to care too much about how it looked, so if you’re an anime fan that can overlook bad production in favor of interesting characters and a good mystery, Rokka is still worth the watch. Personally, the wait got too intense for me so I ended up looking up spoilers. I was happy to find out that knowing who the seventh Brave was did diminish my enjoyment of the show; it fact, it let me have a whole new perspective on what was going on. It’s hard to pull off a mystery that is still interesting even when the viewer already knows the solution, so I respect Rokka for that.
On the other hand, trying to figure out the solution to the mystery on their own may leave more than a few viewers scratching their heads. The clues to the seventh Brave’s identity depend on several seemingly throwaway pieces of dialogue that only people with a very good memory would notice as a red flag. One clue goes by so fast that when it comes back again later it feels like something the show made up on the spot if you don’t recognize it.
There’s also the problem that this anime goes with the typical “the journey continues” non-ending, with no second season announced at the time of this writing. The seventh Brave is revealed and that is pretty much it—the other Braves don’t get to take revenge, and the Demon Lord is still undefeated.
But despite its faults, Rokka is still a fun mystery show during its run, and a good test of the viewer’s detective skills. If you’re someone who enjoys mysteries and unique characters, Rokka is worth a look. Otherwise, if off-model animation or lack of a conclusive ending bother you, it may be better to look elsewhere for your fantasy mystery fix.
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| Han's cards say it was Adlet, in the shrine, with the sword |
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