English Dub Review: Platinum End: “The Face of an Assassin”

 

Overview: Nanato, Mirai (Alejandro Saab) and Saki (Laura Post) face a new god candidate on the scene in that of murderer, Hajime Sokotani. 

Our Take: A new assassin shows his face in Hajime Sokotani, as he discovers the detective that Nanato shot with a red arrow. Hajime’s face, being his biggest point of grief in that he and his mother is deemed ugly by society and what drives him as a character throughout. It’s viewed through a melodramatic and almost comedic lens with the narrator’s tone throughout. Even worse, and bringing back a bad symptom this show is known for, Hajime is developed superficially with very little context into the depths of how being physically unattractive has alienated him beyond that of quick slideshow showing how various strangers have reacted to him. There is also next to nothing known about what his relationship with his mother, who is said to be just hideous, was like as a result. The only true moment of despair in Hajime’s backstory that feels earned is his attempt of suicide after witnessing the aftermath of his mother’s. 

After teaming up with the angel known for his great intuition, Balta, Hajime seeks to remedy his life with facial reconstruction surgery. Hajime’s beauty being solved is not the complete solution with his social awkwardness. It’s one thing to be awkward but it’s hard to feel sympathy with how over-the-top he can be with his goofy mannerisms like how he acts comically bewildered looking at his own grimace, or especially how he fully transitions into his warped persona. Metropoliman is a point of inspiration for him in Kanade being everything that Hajime is in regards to his looks, fame and fortune. In turn when Kanade is hurt by Mirai and Nanato, Hajime becomes so obsessed with him that is driven to the point of servitude and wickedness to Kanade, that not only feels too convenient for the plot but a cartoonishly abrupt development. 

On the upside though, Hajime kidnapping Nanato’s wife and daughter waiting for him to show his face was startling and just reason for Saki to second guess her capabilities, even after her critical moment with Mirai, showing how she is still gradually learning rather than stagnantly changed as a character. This leaves her in a precarious place, just as Mirai and Nanato need her the most and Revel struggles to get her some wings, but, most importantly, an exciting one heading into the conflict with Hajime.