Love of Kill – Episode 1

Content Warning: Stalking, physical assault and coercion.

What’s it about? Chateau Dankworth is a bounty hunter whose life is completely disrupted by a strange professional hitman named Son Ryang-ha.  While his motives aren’t clear, he begins to help Chateau on her missions in exchange for going on several “dates” with her.     

This has been a disappointing season thus far, at least for me.  I was holding out hope for this series since the trailer looked good, but damn what a way to be disappointed.  On paper, this sounds like a great concept for a murder mystery/thriller so why was this premiere so boring? I’m always patient for shows that are keen on telling a slow-burn story, but this premiere hasn’t given me anything to chew on.  

Frankly, it was extremely unsettling watching Ryang-ha forcefully coerce Chateau into going out with him.  It would be one thing if this was a story about equally clever, ruthless rivals who were also attracted to each other, but this is just a story about a creepy guy wearing a woman down. If he isn’t calling everyday or sending videos of her captured targets; he’s stalking her AND getting physically aggressive with her when she refuses to indulge him.  There is absolutely nothing appealing about this relationship and the fact that we are supposed to “root for them” is exhausting.  

It doesn’t help that Chateau doesn’t have any personality whatsoever.  Even though her backstory is hinted at towards the end, not once does she ever invoke an emotion about her true motivations.  It’s also frustrating that she isn’t equal to Ryang-ha in terms of strength and intelligence, so what is the point of her working as a bounty hunter?

If the plot wasn’t irritating enough, why doesn’t the one Brown character have a mouth? Not only is it very distracting, but their accent also sounds very forced for comedic purposes.  Was this character meant to be funny? Well, I ain’t laughing.  

Life is short and there’s plenty of anime out there worth watching and this isn’t one of them.  I’m out folks.  Question for the manga readers: does this series get better at all?