Shironeko Project: Zero Chronicle (Season One)
A young boy inspires an old knight to pass on the torch and set him up to potentially become the next King of Darkness. He hopes to change the status-quo between Light and Dark and stop the endless war!
What did you watch?
So, this is the second fantasy series based on a mobile game and while Shachibato surprised me and ending up being quite enjoyable, this one surprised me in a very different way. I tend to pick my shows based on the promotional image and the synopsis, so it’s quite annoying when the synopsis bears absolutely no resemblance to the actual plot of the series. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning for Shironeko. So, let’s get into it, and as always, there will be spoilers.
What happened?
A boy was the only survivor when his village was attacked by monsters. While he attempted to bury the dead, a knight arrived and challenged him to do better than that. They fought and the boy said something that spoke to the knight, rekindling his beliefs that the world can change. He gave the boy a sword that would enable him to compete to become the next King of Darkness and left everything he had to him. Not long after, he died and the boy set off to fulfill his promise to the knight.
Meanwhile, the Queen of Light continues to lead the Kingdom of Light against the King of Darkness’ army that are determined to invade and claim everything for darkness. However, there is another that is attacking both side indiscriminately and forces to the two enemies to forge an uneasy alliance until the threat to both is dealt with. As part of the process, the new Prince of Darkness is sent to the Kingdom of Light to discuss the terms with the Queen.
What did you think?
This series was boring. It suffered from pacing issues that were almost unbelievable. So much happened in the first episode that we never learnt the name of the boy and never managed to find the time after that. It was all a horrible joke. No one actually earnt anything in this show as everything just seemed to fall into their lap without any issue. I’ll get into some examples shortly, but it fair to say that I hated this series and kept waiting for it to get better, but it did not.
What was your favourite moment?
I guess the battle in which the King of Darkness and the Queen of Light fought together against Bahl was probably a highlight, but even that was over too quickly and too easy considering that they had to end a war to fight him together because they couldn’t do it alone.
What was your least favourite moment?
All right. Let’s get into this, shall we? In the first episode, the Knight tells the boy that he should find his assistant Vallus and impress him with your sword the way he impressed the knight. However, when he met Vallus, he was easily defeated and then said something that meant that Vallus would serve him forever. It made no sense and was the first easy win.
Another example is when the Knight Commander of the Light Army went off to find something to help the Queen. He was accompanied by an elf and the entered a cave that no one ever comes back from. This should be a tough challenge… Oh, no. Forget it. They just wandered all the way to the end and the Knight just walked into a pool of boiling liquid to get the item because he didn’t have time to think things through.
On top of these regular quick wins, they decided that we should have the characters from Light and Darkness get to know one another by having them forage for wild greens together. It was the most contrived and pointlessly repetitive scene ever and it spanned several episodes. They could have used that time to do just about anything that would have improved the show.
And finally, don’t even get me started on Lady Groza’s men rowing in their room on the floating ship. What on Earth was that all about?
Who was your favourite character?
Lady Groza was the only thing in this entire series that was any good. Forget everyone else and just give us more Groza.
Who was your least favourite character?
Pretty much everyone else, but mainly the Prince of Darkness and Phious, the Knight Commander. There was just no development of anything. I knew that we were going to get the love at first sight nonsense with the Prince of Darkness and the Queen and, of course, Phious is in love with her too. It was all just tired and lazily put together.
Would you like some more?
No. Not a chance would I watch anything more with this series. I wouldn’t even play the mobile game, even if it has nothing to do with this story, which seems to be the case for the most part. This was just a really bad series.
What have you learnt?
Oh, and the Prince of Darkness just happens to grow wings at the perfect time and is able to instantly fly. No need to learn how to fly or come up with a reason as to why he’s suddenly got wings. Basically, this series is a guide on how not to put together a story, how not to develop characters, and how not to move the plot forward without any sort of advancement from the other aspects. If something doesn’t feel earnt, it might as well have been given to them by a random benevolent deity. This series was a great example of Deus ex Machina, except it happened all the way through and not just with the ending.
Other Posts in the Series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – The Land Protected by Light
- Episode 2 – The World’s Egoism
- Episode 3 – The Grief-Stricken Queen of Light
- Episode 4 – The Messenger from Black
- Episode 5 – United Front
- Episode 6 – The Gray-Green Demoness
- Episode 7 – Picking Wild Greens
- Episode 8 – A Promise
- Episode 9 – The Queen of Light and the Prince of Darkness
- Episode 10 – The Gentle Song of Darkness
- Episode 11 – The Distant Sky
- Episode 12 – The Sin of the Beginning
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I dropped it after the heel turn of Prince’s friend (I do understand that it could have been to protect him in some way. But, it ruin the series for me). It was a interesting watch I will say. Also did we ever get a name for the Prince or was he nameless the whole anime?
He was nameless the entire series and magically grew wings when he needed them in the final episode. It was a complete mess.
Amazing, 10/10 anime.
I think I have it 2/10 on MAL and all of that was for Lady Groza.
[…] that I would then be forced to continue… I’m looking at you Plunderer, Gibiate, and Shironeko. Nothing saps your energy more than feeling like you’re being forced to do something. Sure, I […]