Helck

Episodes 1-2

It's no surprise that I am covering Helck this season. Not only have I reviewed the early volumes of the manga, but I was also present at the anime's premiere at Anime Expo 2023. This is my second time watching these first two episodes, and I have already written about them before, so it is difficult to talk about things that I haven't already mentioned. Please bear with me. To start, the Helck anime structures its narrative a little differently than the original manga. The original manga series leaned more heavily into comedy and reaction-based humor for most of volume one, without a real shred of seriousness. I liked this approach because it served two purposes: it generated an air of mystery around the titular character while also creating a good setup for adequate punchlines. Helck doesn't get to the serious stuff until the end of volume one, where it starts mixing the comedy and drama.

Studio Statelight seems to be going for a mix of comedy and drama from the beginning. I think there are pros and cons to this approach. One pro is that things will feel less jarring when we get into the more serious elements of the story later on because there's already adequate foreshadowing being shown alongside the comedically charged demon competition. The downside, though, is that I feel like this approach impacts the show's comedy. Helck is a very goofy character, and he plays up that goofiness to the extent that we genuinely don't know what he is thinking. That's good for suspense and comedy purposes. When Vermilio is so insistent that Helck is hiding malicious intentions behind his smile and everybody else dismisses it, it's funnier in the manga because that more comedic atmosphere early on gives the impression that there's at least a chance she's getting over-excited for nothing. However, it's clear that Helck is hiding something serious from the beginning when you consider how the anime frames him alongside all of this dark foreshadowing. We just don't know what exactly he is hiding.

That's all I'll say on the differences because these first two episodes pretty much cover most of the first volume. The jury is still out on whether or not this incredibly fast pace is a benefit or a detriment. I assume that after the next two episodes, we'll have caught up to the point in the manga that I had read up to, so I look forward to seeing how much ground this anime adaptation covers or if there will be any more deviations in narrative progression. I don't say any of this as a means of lambasting the anime adaptation; I like it when anime adaptations try to do something different with the material. This material benefits from being animated, from the fire effects to the goofy voice acting. But now, I want to see exactly how the story will grip me from this point moving forward.

Rating:

Helck is currently streaming on HIDIVE.