Through the course of the relatively many titles that I have watched, there have been a lot of themes used in them. The likes of boy-meets-girl, the chosen one, teenage boy gaining uber powers, etc. These themes are what appeal to me on whether or not I should watch a series.

However, there is one such theme that is, well not exactly new, but is so intriguing, that you can’t help but be curious. The theme I’m talking about is, defying fate. A little deep, but rather simple.

So let’s see how this series tries to take that theme for a spin. Here’s a Quick Look at Kurokami.

Kurokami (Black God) The Animation, is an adaptation of a Japanese-Korean manga series with the same name (though, in Korean, the proper title will be Heuk Shin) The manga is still ongoing, with sixteen volumes, the first one being released on October of 2007. The anime spans twenty-three episodes. Something to note is that, a lot of things were changed from when the manga was adapted to an anime series. More on that later.

Moving on, I would like to pose you guys a question. How do you defy fate? It is an already predetermined event. A course of action that cannot be changed. Just thinking about it already makes you realize that it is impossible. So how does Kurokami do it? How else than by beating the shizz out of it.

The series starts out with a very nice monologue by our main character, Ibuki Keita. He’s a high school student who lives alone for the most part, but is taken care of by his older childhood friend Sano Akane. This is so, because Keita’s mother died in an accident when he was younger. What’s strange is that, before her accident, Keita and his mom saw a person that looked exactly alike her mother, something like a doppelganger. In traditional myths, seeing your doppelganger would mean death; Keita thought so as well, along with thinking that he himself was the harbinger of such fates. He then decides to keep as less connections with people as possible. That said, he’s still friendly towards those around him.

One night, at Keita’s favorite ramen stall, a girl in tattered clothing walks in. She asks if she can buy some ramen. The owner agrees at first, but apparently the girl didn’t have enough money to begin with. Seeing as how starved the girl must have been, Keita gives her his bowl. Keita then chats with the owner, asking if he believes in doppelgangers. The girl overhears this and corrects him. She says that there are no such things as doppelgangers, but rather, what exists is a system called the doppeliner system, wherein there are three of you in this world. According to the coexistence equilibrium, to maintain the balance of terra in the world, luck is divided among the three. The one with the higher luck is considered the root, while the remaining two are called subs. When the two subs meet, the one with the lower amount of luck will die, and his/her luck will then be transferred to the other subs.

Shortly after, a man in a black jacket approaches the stall, and whacks the girl’s head with a baseball bat. After the failed attempts of the owner and Keita to stop the man, he proceed with the beatdown of the girl. This goes on until the girl starts getting serious, and we are treated to a nice action scene. The girl introduces herself as a motutsumitama (or terra guardian) named Kuro. She then parts with Keita.

This type of story has been done countless times in the past (Shakugan no Shana and to some extent, To Aru Majutsu No Index) We have an ordinary boy/man having an encounter with a not so ordinary girl/woman. So to those who love that sort of relationship, you will feel at home here. Now, I say relationship, but the romance shown here is not between the immediate main characters. I’ll leave it at that. Also, it is very action inclined, as we are introduced to a number of terra guardians who, like Kuro, also fight. Which leads us to a qualm I have with this series. The animation is rather jerky when it comes to fight scenes, and they use a lot of repetitive shots. Not that visuals really play that much of role in the overall story, it’s still something I hope they fixed.

Personally, I liked their take on the whole ‘fate’ theme. I was already intrigued from the get-go about the doppeliner system. I was kinda disappointed when the answer to all of Keita’s deep, philosphical questions to himself, was a bunch of punches and kicks. Though, that is to be expected since this really is an action anime. Another thing about the story is, like I said earlier, there were some changes compared to the manga. So, I’d advise checking out both if you are interested.

Unlike the other titles that I have mentioned so far, I do not hold this as high as them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a well enough series, and I believe some may even consider this as one of their favorites. I only consider it well enough because from the start, I saw that they could have done much more with the theme they presented. I mean c’mon, a series titled Black God, with the theme of changing your destiny is really intriguing (well for me it was)

So yeah, feel free to check this out if you really like the action genre. If you’re only in it for the philosophical aspect of it, well, there’s a chance you might end up with the same sentiments as I did. To those who already watched this series, please share your opinions as well.