Hidan no Aria
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緋弾のアリア Hidan no Aria (Aria the Scarlet Ammo) is a Japanese light novel series by Chūgaku Akamatsu with illustrations by Kobuichi. As of March 2011, 9 volumes have been published by Media Factory under their MF Bunko J label. A manga adaptation by Yoshino Koyoka started serialization in the seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive on September 26, 2009. An anime adaptation began airing on April 14, 2011 and concluded on July 1, 2011.[1] An OVA was released on December 20, 2011.
Plot
Kinji Tōyama is a student at Tokyo Butei High, a universal educational facility. At this school, students undertake special training in order to learn the path of the Butei, which is a national qualification permitting its holders to arm themselves and capture criminals. The Butei were established to counter the worsening crime conditions, with training in various specialized fields. One day, Kinji decides to quit the Academy, until he is mysteriously attacked by the Butei Killer, a notorious criminal hunting down Butei with passion. The elite Assault prodigy Aria H. Kanzaki comes to his rescue. From this point on, Kinji's future as a Butei changes drastically.
Characters
Kinji Tōyama (遠山 キンジ Tōyama Kinji?)
Voiced by: Junji Majima
Protagonist of the series and a student at Butei High School. He was ranked Level E (lowest combat rank) due to missing the third term's final examination. However, when he is sexually aroused, he enters a state known as "Hysteria Mode" in which his cognitive and physical abilities increase to around thirty times his normal state, which allows him to perform feats of near-superhuman strength and skill, such as accurately shooting up the muzzle of an enemy gun, swinging his knife at supersonic speeds, and accurately shooting enemy bullets out of the air. Hysteria Mode is a genetic trait that all members of the Tōyama family possess, and is stated to be an extremely highly evolved version of the natural male instinct to protect women. As such, when in Hysteria Mode, Kinji's major weakness is the fact that he cannot directly harm women, though he is still able to fight and restrain them without directly hurting them. In addition to this, Hysteria Mode also causes Kinji to develop a suave and seductive attitude towards women, which makes him very attractive to them while in Hysteria Mode. He is currently enrolled in the Inquesta department, though in the past, he was a prodigy (being ranked Level S) of the Assault department, the most dangerous department in Butei High. He starts to respect and have romantic feelings for Aria. His gun of choice is a Beretta 92F (which was illegally modified to fire a three-round burst; he refers to it as the Beretta Kinji Model). He also wields a butterfly knife. In Volume 6 of the light novel he obtains a black Desert Eagle (which was similarly modified to fire in burst as well as auto) which belonged to his father and a double-edged seax, (modified with a hidden sheath and a reinforced rubber handle) which belonged to Sherlock Holmes, to add to his arsenal.
Aria Holmes Kanzaki (神崎・H・アリア Kanzaki H Aria?)
Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya
Female transfer student of Butei High School. An "Assault" department elite rank S (The highest rank), she wishes to recruit Kinji after their encounter. She can wield two guns or two swords at the same time, earning the title of a "Quadra". Her weapons of choice are a M1911 pistol (also known as Colt Government) and two undersized Japanese swords known as Kodachi. The H in the middle name stands for "Holmes" as she is a descendant of Sherlock Holmes himself, and her full name is Aria Holmes Kanzaki IV. Her mother is Japanese and her father is English. Her grandmother is a member of the British Royal Family, having received the title of a "dame". She also starts to have feelings for Kinji but shows it in a different way than other people.
Shirayuki Hotogi (星伽 白雪 Hotogi Shirayuki?)
Voiced by: Mikako Takahashi
Shirayuki Hotogi: a female student of Butei High School, childhood friend of Kinji. Enrolled in Butei's special department known as SSR. Butei rank A. She's the current student council chairman, and president of various clubs like the gardening club, handicraft club, and girl's volleyball club. A perfect Japanese beauty according to Kinji, except for one flaw - jealousy, which turns her into a berserker who assaults any girl approaching Kinji. When she finds out that Aria is living with Kinji she goes as far as trying to murder her. She is shown to love Kinji to the point that she will do anything for him. She uses a Japanese sword named Irokane Ayame as a weapon of choice. It is revealed that her name, Shirayuki, was an alias to hide her real name, Himiko.
Riko Mine (峰 理子 Mine Riko?)
Voiced by: Mariya Ise
Female student of Butei High School, friend of Kinji. She's enrolled in the Inquesta department; although often considered the biggest idiot in Kinji's class, this is a deliberate facade which breaks down when she is forced into dangerous circumstances. She has a talent for intelligence assessment and, at Butei High, gossip. She enjoys customizing her uniform in an Elegant Gothic Lolita style. She wields two Walther P99s and two knives. Like Aria, she earned the title of a "Quadra". Near the end of the first volume, Riko reveals that she is a descendant of Arsene Lupin. Her real name is Riko Mine Lupin IV. Riko also reveals that she was the Butei Killer. She appears to have an inferiority complex towards the first Lupin and wanted to overcome him. Her plan was to make Aria and Kinji become a partner so it would create the same battle situation where Sherlock has Watson as a partner before. Defeating both of them would mean she would overcome her ancestor since Sherlock Holmes and Arsene Lupin fought 100 years ago and neither side came out on top. For reasons never made clear, she despises being referred to by her generation's number. It was also revealed that there is in fact a reason for Riko's complex of wanting to surpass the original Lupin, Riko was held captive by Vlad the Sinless and was recently 'let go', under certain circumstances, these were that Riko would have to prove to surpass the original Lupin causing her to have an obsession in the defeat of Sherlock Holmes the 4th. Her lineage, as well as her middle name, may be an indirect implication that she is the descendant of Arsene Lupin III and Fujiko Mine of Lupin III. Riko and Aria share several traits: small height, Quadra status, twin-tailed hair and representation of the fourth generation of their ancestral family.
Reki (レキ?)
Voiced by: Kaori Ishihara
The Snipe department's ace, Butei rank S. Real name unknown. She's habitually taciturn, impassive and indifferent in fashion. She's always seen wearing headphones. Her signature quote is "I am a single bullet. It has no heart. Therefore, it does not think. It just flies straight towards its target", which she always say before she shoots her target. She can shoot anything without missing her target within a 2km radius. Her personal weapon is a Dragunov sniper rifle with an attachable bayonet. She apparently listens to the sound of wind from her homeland (somewhere between Northen Mongolia and Siberia) with her headphones, which are Sennheiser PMX990. In the middle of volume 3, she eventually tames a wolf in a matter of 5 minutes, which she later named Haimaki, and trains it to be a butei dog. From then on, she lives together with Haimaki in her own room in a girl's dormitory. Kinji visited her room at least twice up to volume 6 of light novel. He commented how bare and simple it is. She also sleeps upright with the Dragunov on her hands, perhaps to prevent an ambush attack according to Kinji. Reki apparently doesn't possess any clothing other than several school uniforms in which she alternately wears, so Kinji bought her a casual one as a present, as a part of his Lima syndrome plan. Reki cleans up nicely. In fact, Kinji was left speechless after witnessing her dressed-up appearance in volume 6. She plays a minor role in the series, usually providing covering fire to Aria and Kinji when they are fighting at close range or saving them during times of trouble, up until the events at the end of volume 5, when she holds Kinji at gunpoint on the rooftop of Butei High, kissing him and proposing a marriage. She also reveals that she already knows about E-U and Hysteria Mode. Her ancestors were revealed to be Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Genghis Khan. Apparently before coming to Butei High, Reki was also doing "unrecorded" jobs in Russia and China due to her Butei license. In other words, she worked as a "Sweeper", killing her targets.
Tokyo Butei High Students
Jeanne d'Arc (ジャンヌ・ダルク?)
Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi
Jeanne d'Arc 30th (also known as Durandal or Diamond Dust Witch) is an ice ability user from I-U (a criminal organization). During the events in Volume 2 of the light novel, she targets Shirayuki in an attempt to kidnap her and force her to join I-U. She is successfully captured via the combined efforts of Aria, Kinji and Shirayuki during the season of Adseard. As one of the conditions of her plea bargain, she was forced to stay in Butei High as a 2nd year international student from Paris enrolled in the Informa department. As a reliable Informa student, Kinji requests her aid whenever he needs a supply of knowledge about a particular case he is involved at. Jeanne and Riko get along with each other very well. She is one of the few people that knows Kinji's secret. Her personality is serious and cool. Her first comment about Butei High's skirt is: "Unmarried girls shouldn't openly reveal their legs like this!". However, that notion was pretty much shattered because of Riko's strong influence on her, and she has grown a habit of secretly collecting maid dresses, Lolita fashion and other cute dresses. Although Jeanne is quite extraordinary in terms of fighting skills, beauty and ability, her drawing skills are unimpressive. Despite her strength, she alleges that she is the weakest out of all the members of I-U.
Hina Fuuma (風魔 陽菜 Fuuma Hina?)
Voiced by: N/A
Kinji's underclassmen. A Lezzad freshman, enrolled in class 1-C. She has her black hair usually pony-tailed in the back. She also wears a long muffler around the neck, a Fundoshi for underwear, and appears in traditional ninja garb. She is rumored to be a descendant of a famous ninja lineage. Back in middle school, she and Kinji had a practice spar before. At that time, Kinji was coincidentally in Hysteria Mode and had subdued Fuuma like a kid. Ever since then, she holds a huge respect to Kinji, and calls him "Master". Due to poverty, in order to pay for her tuition as well as for subsistence, she works part-time, in which she refers to as "training". In Hidan no Aria AA, she and Kinji are apparently partners.
Goki Muto (武藤 剛気 Mutō Gōki?)
Voiced by: Takayuki Kondō
The Logi's ace with a 190cm height and pointy hair. Kinji considers him as a transportation geek. This is all due to his knowledge about all kinds of vehicles may it be on land, sea or air. He is a skilled driver that can operate anything from a car to a nuclear submarine. His personal weapon is a Colt Python Revolver that uses .357 magnum bullet and only chose it for the sake of easy maintenance. Despite the astounding firepower, the gun's loading capacity is small, the accuracy is horrible and it cannot equip a suppressor, so normally, no Butei would use it.
Ryou Shiranui (不知火 亮 Shiranui Ryō?)
Voiced by: Takuya Eguchi
A bright, handsome and popular guy. Enrolled in Assault, and in the same class as Kinji. His Butei level is A. Even though there are different aspects involved in an A ranking, his integration capacity is high. Barehanded, dagger handling or shooting aspects can all be relied on. The reliability of his gun is very high, a Mk. 23 MODO with an installed laser aiming lens. He is also a rare polite person in Butei High. Even though he is very popular with girls, he never had a girlfriend before. He is Kinji and Mutou's close friend. In past, back in Kinji's Assault days, he was often his teammate. Kinji considers him a good friend and someone to rely on, an example of a polite and elegant student.
Aya Hiraga (平賀 文 Hiraga Aya?)
Voiced by: N/A
A genius of Amdo department, she is enlisted by other students to upgrade or modify their weapons, Kinji's Beretta pistol is one such example. Her ancestor is Hiraga Gennai. According to Kinji, her labor fees are considerably expensive. Despite being a genius in customizing weapons, sometimes due to sloppy work, the guns she works at has a probability to malfunction. Later, Kinji's Beretta's three-round burst function stops working and instead fires 2 bullets almost at the same time. Kinji states that considering her skills, she should be ranked S. However, due to the massive fees she charges for her services, coupled with the large number of illegal modifications she performs, she is ranked A. Her appearance is like a child, her hair's length is around below the ear, and were widely known in Butei High watching anime as she tinkers through Butei guns and weapons.
Misaki Nakasorachi (中空知 美咲 Nakasorachi Misaki?)
Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto
A second year student from Connect, she specializes in providing real-time intelligence to Buteis that are operating in the field. Her instructions are always crystal clear, and Kinji claims that she has a voice worthy of a NHK news broadcaster. She also possess an incredible sense of hearing and is able to deduce the location of the sound of wind which Reki always listens to through hearing alone. However, she is shown to be extremely timid when she is off-duty and have trouble interacting with people without communication devices, which is probably why she is ranked B despite her talents. She became friends with Jeanne when she was forced to transfer to Butei High and shared a dormitory apartment with her.
Teachers
Yutori Takamagahara (高天原 ゆとり Takamagahara Yutori?)
Voiced by: Mai Nakahara
Homeroom teacher for Class 2-A and the head of department for Inquesta. Described as a "kind teacher in Butei High", she is also one of the few non-violent teachers depicted in the series.
Umeko Tsuzuri (綴 梅子 Tsuzuri Umeko?)
Voiced by: Masumi Asano
Homeroom teacher for Class 2-B and head of department for Dagula. An expert in interrogation techniques, she is capable of extracting confessions from the toughest offenders. She is apparently one of the top five interrogators in Japan. Has a habit of smoking hand-rolled cigarettes, even in the vicinity of students. Wields a Glock 18.
Ranbyou (蘭豹 Ranbyō?)
An Assault department instructor, she is known to be a very violent teacher, earning her the nickname of "Human Bunker Buster". Her catchphrases are "Go die!" or "Death!". Rumored to be connected with the Hong Kong triads. She was the teacher that took the group photograph for Team Baskerville during their formation ceremony in volume 7 of the light novels. Tōru Sayonaki (小夜鳴 徹 Sayonaki Tōru?) Voiced by: Kenji Nojima A geneticist who works as a part-time instructor for the Ambulance department, he is a university graduate from abroad and is noted to be very handsome with an appearance of a 20-year old. He is known to be very polite, using honorific speech at all times, which contributed to his immense popularity in Butei High.
