REVIEWED: SEASON 1 – PART 1 (EPISODE 1-12) / DIRECTOR: DAIKI FUKUOKA, SEIJI KISHI / SCREENPLAY: MAKOTO UEZU / STARRING: YUMIRI HANAMORI, AOI YUKI, SHINTAROU OOHATA, ROMI PARK, KAPPEI YAMAGUCHI / WHERE TO WATCH: CRUNCHYROLL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (VOD), MARCH 2ND (BLU-RAY – REVIEWED)
The First French Manfra to be adapted by the Japanese – RADIANT tells the story of Seth, a 15-year old who is cursed by the deadly Nemesis to live his life as a Sorcerer, a being that is despised by Humankind, which leads him on a quest to prove the Sorcerers can save the world.
Shonen anime (that are aimed at a younger male audience) is arguably the most popular and common series that you see in the market today – from Attack on Titan to One Piece, not a single season goes by without a new Shonen to enjoy.
One of the latest additions to this classification is RADIANT (which is currently wrapping up its second season) – the easiest way to describe the fantasy adventure is that it’s a lite version of Bleach. The protagonist of the story is thrust into a new world with new abilities that he must learn to control and enhance, whilst proving that he belongs in this world, meeting a whole host of quirky and interesting characters and vowing to rid the world of evil – in terms of RADIANT, Seth vows to remove the Nemesis threat by taking down their nest which shares its name with the title of the series.
What sets RADIANT apart from its peers is its colourful cast of characters. One of the first people that Seth meets outside of his home is the split personality Melie, a rookie sorcerer who is timid and friendly until she gets stressed and then becomes a killing machine – her “curse” leads to some hilarious moments when our heroes are faced with an impossible scenario. Joining Melie is Doc, a researcher who isn’t cursed but lives in the sorcerer society in order to help advance their skills in battling the menacing Nemesis.
Another comparison to Bleach is the Nemesis who behave in a similar fashion to Bleach‘s antagonists, the Hollow. These strange creatures appear at the most inopportune moments and pose a considerable threat to anyone around.
In the first half of Season One, audiences are introduced to these concepts and characters which create a solid base for the story to continue onwards and it’s clear that this series has fantastic potential as an entry point into the Shonen genre.
Special Features
The 2-Disc Blu-ray Edition of RADIANT comes with a couple of standard added bonuses that are the norm for Anime Home Disc releases.
Disc 1
- Episode 1 Commentary – from the English Cast & Crew
Disc 2
- Episode 12 Commentary – from the English Cast & Crew
- Textless Opening Song
- Textless Closing Song
- RADIANT: A Sorcerers Tale [13:55] – A selection of Interviews with the English Cast & Crew
- RADIANT: Behind-the-Scenes [24:10] –
