Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers

The main plot of the anime centers around the "Rising Daemon Lord" trope which is nothing new (but often entertaining) followed by a mystery.

The unique art, regional/cultural backdrop (Central / South American, Pre-Colombian), protagonists and their limitations mix pretty well with the storytelling creating an interesting world.

However the final minutes of episode 12 guts the series, killing the investment in the characters with a botched hook/ending.

All in all it's the animation and part of the story makes it a worthwhile background watch if you've got empty space in your catalog and I'd watch a 2nd season just to see if they could redeem the horrible ending.

Pros:

• Atypical local / backdrop.
• Good animation.
• Above average English Dubbing.
• Very limited and subtle "Fan Service".

Cons:

• No 2nd season.
• Predictable.
• Not a fan of the Assassins voice (English Dubbing).
• Storytelling could be better.
• Dark horse character's outfit is ridiculous.
• Terrible ending "hook".

Initially a common story, a great evil appears, an unusual hero that leads to the final struggle and victory of humanity. However, in the first episodes he shows what he came for, placing more unusual heroes in the middle of history, and instead of converting to fights he runs away from the pattern in the middle of an enigma, reminding the famous enigma of the prisoner, very well controlled with a surprise to the Final. Unfortunately still waiting for the next season.

Excellent story and well drawn. Starts out ok but then goes in a direction I could have not foreseen. The animation is done really well also. This is basically the first half of the book series. Where it ends is ok but leaves you ready for the rest. Its been like 4 years at this point. I can only hope they finish the series some day...

I watched the first two episodes. According to the one other reviewer on IMDb at the time of me writing this, it gets good after episode 5. Sorry, but I'm not the type of person who wants to wait that long in the hopes that something gets good. In my experience if something is going to be good, episode one is also good.

Visuals - The animation is alright. The fight choreography is pretty bad, along with some of the character designs. The overall look isn't terrible, leaning more on the generic side of things. I like how this seems to pull from cultures like the Mayans/Incas/Aztecs. Not a lot is done with this setting, but it is kind of nice.

Plot - This premise doesn't seem that interesting to be honest. There is some potential here, but it seems like its going to just keep being boring. The only real option I see from this show is the two leads (and others) melodramatically riding around on those horses for the rest of the runtime leading up to an unsatisfying fight scene as the finale.

Characters - I don't even know. There isn't a whole lot of development as far as I watched. I want to know why the princess has those ears.

Pros: It's anime and has fantasy elements with some could-be-decent background story.

Meh: Characters are two-dimensional, it was obvious from the beginning who the fake was.

Con: Characters are ugly, fighting scenes make no sense, story is forced.

The basic story is a bad guy is coming, 6 good guys are chosen automatically and must show up at a certain point, but 7 people show up. After that the story is simply a poorly done whodunnit. After everything is figured out the season ends, so there is no real fight shown.

Conclusion: It's watchable, so if you're really bored it may be worth it. Otherwise, don't bother.