Spiral (into Confusion)

Warning: spoilers galore.

Just to clear things up, this is the anime series released by Funimation back in '03 or '04. This is not Junji Ito's visually grotesque horror series "Uzumaki" or a veiled Narutard reference. Spiral refers to a story that focuses on kid prodigy Narumi Ayumu. He's has some of the detective and piano playing talent of his older brother Kiyotaka. Despite these abilities, Ayumu is always overshadowed by Kiyotaka's genius, though Kiyotaka disappeared two years before.

Before disappearing, Kiyotaka left behind his (hot) wife Madoka and younger brother with a mysterious message that he was going after the blade children. Soon enough, an attempted murder happens at Ayumu's school, which draws Ayumu into the mystery of the Blade Children.

The first two episodes draw on the Victorian tradition of mystery. One of the mysteries is literally a closed room. By a traditional mystery, I mean a mystery that can be solved by all of the clues and testimonies present, without the benefit of modern forensic technology. Usually there is a catch to the clue or testimony. The detective solves the crime using primary deduction, observation, knowledge, and psychology, with a helping of subterfuge.

The episodic murder mysteries give way to the larger mystery of the Blade Children, who engage "Little Narumi" and his plucky ally Hiyone in a series of games of life or death. These matches are a test to see if Ayumu is up to breaking the meee-sterious curse that surrounds the Blade Children.

After the introduction and tests, the story introduces the Hunters who are out to exterminate the Blade Children. Tantalizing hints are dropped and angstful lines are spoken about the destiny Blade Children and the role that "Little Narumi" has, but it adds up to a hanging thread.

If you are looking for a coherent, well-structured story and a distinct ending, look elsewhere. I found that the mystery was compelling and the ending was upbeat, even if it left the plot incomplete. If pressed, I would rate this as a watchable 2/4 for an otaku, because the plotting in some of the individual arcs were good. However, the eanly arcs of Death Note pulls off the match of wits with more skill and panache.

As an Evangelion fan, I tend to look through at post '96 works of anime through the lens of Eva. Here, I saw a young man wrapped in doubt living with an older hotty. He cooks, he plays an instrument. His major conflict is against his self-doubt, though he must act because of the mysterious curse. He even says that he doesn't value himself. While Ayumu isn't quite the basket case that Shinji sometimes becomes, the elements are there. These character developments made the series interesting for me. However, if you're not into the doubting anti-hero, then I recommend moving along.

Also as an Eva fan, I want to say that the successes of Eva does not excuse writers from creating an ending. The Eva anime series' strength relied on the honesty that Hideaki Anno invested in the characters. He put out pieces of himself. I believe that the postmodern ending was the best ending he could give, because he had not come to a resolution to all of the conflicts within himself. And it just barely worked. While it created an enduring controversy, it was not one of the strengths of the series. I liked the series in spite of the bizarro endings, not because of them. Other authors should take note and beware.

While the ending of Spiral was more upbeat and strongly suggested that Ayumu hand gotten over his crush on Madoka for Hiyone, it still left the mystery of the Blade Children and their fate completely. unanswered. Consider yourself warned, especially if you put a lot of stock in a story's ending.

According to the wikipedia article, the story of the manga continues the story. Hopefully, Yen gets the rest of it out.