The Severing Crime Edge: First Impressions

Streaming Allegiance: Crunchyroll
Reconnaissance Report by: Kuroi
Progress: Episode 1


the severing crime edge promoThis is a tricky series to classify. From the name, The Severing Crime Edge, as well as the font that the title is in, you’d think it’s a horror show. From the artwork, something lighter and sweet. From the description, a romantic comedy. I mean, come on. A guy who loves cutting hair a little too much and a girl with supposedly cursed hair that can never be cut? Match made in anime heaven.

From this, you’d think that the series would center around Kiri, our hero, trying to find a way to cut Iwai, our heroine’s, cursed hair. Breaking the curse and being able to cut the hair of the girl he’d fallen for sounds about right. But no, he’s able to cut Iwai’s hair by the end of the episode – and this is actually where the title comes in – with a pair of cursed scissors.

A pair of cursed scissors to cut cursed hair. Perfect. Except they’re a pair of cursed scissors that had been used to cut up and murder innumerable people. Not so perfect.

Throw in a couple of other characters who have also inherited cursed items that had been used to murder people – called “Killing Goods” – and a shady organization that is seemingly linked to Iwai’s curse, as well as her father’s death, and we’ve got the plot of something very different.

While Kiri’s (whose name is a play on the Japanese word for “to cut”, as well as the first part of “Killing Goods”) obsession with hair does get a little creepy, it actually is played for a joke enough that you can laugh at it, like a lot of the characters in the show do.

The character designs are a lot rough, the animation is smooth, and the story seems compelling. I’m excited to see a few fight scenes and where this all leads, even if I will still be laughing at the idea that anyone would be using thinning shears to cut up bodies. Or cut hair for real, for that matter. If you want to laugh with me, it streams on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.

 

Score: 7/10