Streaming video review: Sexy bishonen saviors of the incoming apocalypse

Beautiful bishonen action returns to its pre-eminent level of excellence with Kadokawa Pictures' newest action show, "Uragiri wa boku no namae wo shitteiru." This review covers the first four episodes.

Although we've seen the same visual images of sexy guys with big eyes in series such as "Angel Sanctuary" and "Ayashi no Ceres," this is actually one of the best bishonen action series I've seen in a long time. For once in anime history, the pacing of the bishonen (beautiful boys) show isn't sped up to a frightening pace. The Christian symbolism isn't set up in a horrific manner. And the characters develop like a touching romantic couple in a badass, post-apocalyptic world.

The only thing that may bother first-time watchers is the Japanese name, which was shortened to "Uraboku" in the crunchyroll.com library. The English translation of the full name literally means, "Betrayal Know My Name." I really think Crunchyroll could have translated the entire name of the series. They could have drawn in a horde of new fans with a more westernized name.

The first episodes beautifully set the stage for this unusual fantasy action show. The main character, Yuki Giou, is a high school boy with no relatives, who lives in an orphanage. He is a top student in his class, aiming to head to college. However, he keeps receiving strange death threats in the mail.

For quite some time, Yuki's best friend has been plotting to kill him. Yuki nearly gets murdered one day, when his feet freeze up in the middle of an intersection. Fortunately, a handsome, bare-chested stranger in a black trenchcoat saves his life. The man's name is Zess. Oddly enough, Yuki keeps dreaming that he once was the girlfriend of that man long ago.

Then his long-lost relatives visit him at the orphanage. They present him with an invitation to head to Tokyo to use his superpowers to fight dark monsters, known as Duras. At first, Yuki thinks that he would rather live a normal high school life. However, he has a change of heart on one especially fatal night, on the night of the full red moon.


This anime's visuals are incredible. The post-apocalyptic action sequences look top-notch for a bishonen fantasy series. The story of the series involves the frightening apocalypse in the future. So the dark, blackened imagery and the Christian symbolism in the battles look especially poignant in these fight sequences.

Beyond all the doom and gloom though, it's hard not to love the sexy characters of this series, whether you're a girl or a guy. Sure, there's plenty of romantic tension between Yuki and Zess. However, I especially love the beautiful figures of Yuki in the past as a woman. Toko Murasame is even more adorable, whether she's fighting or acting cute for Yuki.

Although some people will obviously object to the potentially homosexual relationship between Yuki and Zess, it's fairly obvious that Yuki was once a woman in an earlier time, long ago. And certainly the series will fill viewers in on how Yuki changed his form years ago. So the series is probably not going to turn out as borderline offensive as it may seem.

Bishonen fans will get more than their fill of boy's love with this awesome action series. With guns, swords, Christian overtones and beautiful characters, this series looks like it has everything that the bishonen fan will ever want and need.

Watch the series for free at crunchyroll.com.

Image courtesy of photobucket.com