Hundred (2016) - Anime

Chosen Through Crunchy Roll’s ‘Random’ Feature

Anime Name/Year: Hundred (2016)

Season/Number of Episodes: 1 (12 episodes)

Tagline: None

Genre: Action, Romance, Comedy

Episode Length: 24 minutes

Rating: TV-MA

Production Companies: Production IMS

Producer: None Listed

Director: Tomoki Kobayashi

Writer: Jun Misaki, Nekosuke Okuma

Actors: Yoshiaki Hasegawa, Wataru Hatano, Yui Horie, Mao Ichimichi, Rumi Okubo, Kaya Okuno, Yuka Otsubo, Mayu Yoshioka, Chinatsu Akasaki, Yoshimasa Hosoya, Ayaka Imamura, Rika Kinugawa, Machico, Yui Makino, Saori Oonishi, Rina Sato, Yuhei Takagi, Romi Pak

Blurb from Crunchy Roll: "Hundred" - the only weapon capable of fighting the Savages, mysterious life forms attacking Earth. Hayato enters the battleship university Little Garden in hopes of becoming a Slayer... but his roommate Emile Crossfode, who seems to know a lot about him for some reason, awakens a sort of unsettling nostalgia within him. What's more, right after he joins the school, the strongest Slayer at Little Garden, the "Queen" Claire Harvey, challenges him to a duel! Misaki Jun and Ohkuma Nekosuke (Nitro+) are teaming up to bring you the ultimate school action anime!

Selina’s Point of View:

I had a significant amount of trouble getting through this anime. It’s one short season, however, so you know it wasn’t the length that did it.

Let me offer some perspective.

A close friend of mine, Ghostgrafx, is a huge fan of anime. When we were hanging out one day, I asked him if he’d ever seen Hundred. He didn’t think so, but asked me to describe it to him. I was only about two episodes in at that point so my description was a little on the vague side but his guesses included numerous animes I’d never seen alongside things like Bleach (2004-2012) and Sailor Moon (1995-2000). It was at that moment I realized just how interchangeable this anime was with many others… all of which were (or probably are) better.

I’ve seen Bleach. This series wishes it was half as good as Bleach.

There was also an insane amount of fan service. For a non-hentai, there was a TON of boob grabbing. I don’t have an issue with a little bit of that stuff. I’m human. I ship characters all the time… but when the majority of the series is pointless fan service, I lose interest completely.

Truth is, this anime probably would have been better as a hentai with how they opted to write things.

My favorite character had minimal on-screen time and there really wasn’t any substance to the story that made it worth watching. I barely cared about watching one episode a day… and I’m a dedicated binge-watcher.

There are better animes out there that cover the same basic subject. Do yourself a favor and watch those.

Cat’s Point of View:

I’d never heard of Hundred before it came up as our next anime to review. Before I started watching, I asked a few friends that watch a lot of the genre if they’d seen it. Most that had heard of it had positive reactions. I’m glad to say I’d have to agree.

The concept is interesting and almost seems to be a mashup of cherry-picked elements from tropes spanning most of the anime spectrum. It comes across a bit odd at times but overall doesn’t totally knock its audience out of the story. Some of the oddness, at least for me, stems from the weird names – but I guess that’s just par for the course, right? I’m not talking about individual character names but names given to places, things, and the like.

The sci-fi meets magical-girl element blends anime’s love of mecha-type enhancement with the whole transformation montage in an innovative way. I can’t say that I’ve seen this before in any other anime – even though I must admit that my repertoire isn’t as extensive as I’d like it to be.

There was a little bit of everything in this show – action, romance, comedy, bug-like monsters, and more.

The romance element doesn’t get explicit or too graphic, but the TV-MA rating is appropriate. This is largely due to the occasional scantily clad character, but mostly the buxom bouncing breasts that appear everywhere and the show’s focus on them. There are a few spots here and there with female nudity- but, as I said, it’s not exactly explicit due to placement of hair, hands, convenient ambient glowing, and the like. The only intimacies shown between characters is the occasional inadvertent boob-grab or kissing.

I have to admit; the story did seem a little disjointed at times. It was almost like the showrunners were trying to cram too much into the single season so it got the cliff notes version of backstory and certain plot elements. Perhaps they weren’t sure if a second season would be ordered. I hope there will be a follow up, though. Given the note the series ended on, I would like to see what comes next. Don’t get me wrong, though – for what this series was, the ending was satisfying enough to me that a single-season as a one-and-done would be tolerable.

I wouldn’t have a problem recommending this series, though there are definitely others out there that are better.

Languages

Sub v. Dub: Sub

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None

Metascore - None

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 6.3/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1.5/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5

P.S.  Some scenes during the credits of the last episode.

Movie Trailer: