Release The Spyce
“When Spy Games Meet High School Drama”
After watching Princess Principal, I was looking forward to more anime about girl teams on missions, more in the style of Totally Spies! and less of a magic girl cut (a genre I love, but I was on a break), and so I jumped to watch Release the Spyce just by watching the trailer. Despite not being perfect, an anime that I remember in large part for having tortured me with high-yuri bait content without getting anything canon delivered an excellent story to pass the time. Without further ado, let's start with this review!
Release the Spyce is a 12-episode TV anime series that aired from October 7 to December 23, 2018, during the Fall 2018 season. It was produced by Lay-duce, known for works like Magi: Adventure of Sinbad and O Maidens in Your Savage Season. The series was directed by Akira Sato, who also worked on Princess Principal. The original concept was created by Takashi Sogabe, with character designs by Namori, famous for her work on YuruYuri. The series is licensed by Sentai Filmworks for North American distribution and falls under the genres of action and espionage, targeting a Seinen demographic. Despite its promising premise, Release the Spyce received mixed reviews from fans. While praised for its vibrant animation and exciting action sequences, some viewers were disappointed by its reliance on familiar tropes and underdeveloped villains. However, its yuri-bait elements garnered attention within certain fandoms.
The anime shows us Momo, an ordinary girl with a strange ability to tell a person's physical state by licking them. Yes, it's that weird. One night, she finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets caught up in a mission to cover for a group of girls. The same girls who happen to be her classmates from her school but are secretly members of Tsukikage, an organization that focuses on keeping the peace in the city where it operates and whose members, using spices, increase their strength and stamina. She is then given two options: either she is to have her memories of that night erased, or she proves to them that she is fit to join the Tsukikage's ranks. Momo chooses the second option, and with the help of her teacher, Yuki, she strives to become one of the best and supports them by fighting Mojo, a world-scale rival association with sinister plans in the city.
Initially, I thought the protagonist's ability with her tongue was ridiculous ("Japanese stuff," I thought) and that the whole story would be just as absurd. Still, those first episodes convinced me otherwise because they showed that the story, while relying heavily on familiar clichés, does not strictly follow them. The development of it would not go as I imagined. The storyline of how they fight Mojo and protect the city progresses very well, and at the same time, you are told from almost the beginning that a traitor in the group is sabotaging their plans to keep the city safe. It becomes interesting to find out who the traitor is among them. And I have to say that at this point in the plot, I was pretty surprised because it was not the character I expected, but the one I jokingly said it could be. The outcome of this situation seemed to be the most appropriate, and they did an excellent job of making you get attached to the case. It hurts to know that "there is an impostor among them.”
On the other hand, despite the whole plot containing drug trafficking, deception, and conspiracy by higher-ups and even scenes full of violence to assert that certain enemies are dangerously deadly, it ends up coming off as meh. They shout it so much in your face but do so little with it at the moment of truth that it makes the series appear pretentious.
Our protagonist, Minamoto Momo, is a classic enthusiastic-looking but insecure character. Those who need a little boost of confidence and will eventually give it all they've got to prove themselves as her mentor in the world of espionage is Hanzomon Yuki, your classic cool and badass girl. Momo has a more than obvious crush on this senpai, but we'll take it as part of the series' in-your-face yuri bait between its characters (something that, despite knowing its bait, you still end up joining the shipping train). The anime proposes to have these mentor/newbie duos within the same organization. This will give us very entertaining interactions between the characters. Despite not being very innovative regarding cast archetypes, these interactions bring out the freshest side of the characters.
However, the villains are a flat addition despite having economic and political interests behind their actions. Byakko, Theresia Ray, and Dolte, despite trying to give us reasons why they should be relevant to us, end up contributing little or nothing to the plot. In my opinion, the only pertinent villains to the series are Mojo's leader and the tycoons who constantly communicate with her to oversee the progress of her plans. The problem, in my opinion, is that so much attention was given to the main cast, but the ideals and development of the villains were neglected, so there is no balance.
The animation is up to the standard of a good spy series, paying particular attention to the action moments, in which I didn't notice any drop in animation quality. The use of vibrant colors on the characters is also very pleasing. However, it contrasts with both the background characters and the backgrounds used in the series. The latter gives you that feeling of being taken straight out of a Japanese visual novel, not being convincing as an environment, and the lack of background characters moving or making a presence makes it feel empty. The cast characters and those they have to interact with are left as the only convincing humans.
The music in Release the Spyce complements the action-packed story well, though it may not be groundbreaking. The soundtrack was composed by Ryouhei Sataka, known for his work with Hifumi, Inc. The music heightens the tension during spy missions and fight scenes, contributing to the overall atmosphere of the series. The opening theme, "Spatto! Spy & Spyce," is performed by Tsukikage, a group consisting of Yukari Anzai, Manami Numakura, Akane Fujita, Aya Suzaki, Yuri Noguchi, and Aya Uchida. This energetic song sets an upbeat tone for each episode. The ending theme, "Hide & Seek," also performed by Tsukikage, offers a more introspective approach that reflects the characters' emotional struggles. The voice acting is solid across the board, with standout performances from Yukari Anzai as Momo Minamoto and Manami Numakura as Yuki Hanzomon. Their performances bring depth and humor to their mentor-student relationship, enhancing the series' appeal.
In conclusion, Release the Spyce is a reasonably dynamic series. We always see the characters in various dangerous situations, providing a magnificent action spectacle. However, it does fail to develop too many plot threads ambitiously and make them come together at the end. Still, it doesn't succeed; it feels awkward and has unnecessary characters. It's a pretty OK anime, all in all. It's enough for someone who wants to pass the time without too many expectations. But it can be tedious for someone who has already seen a series with similar themes, as it doesn't offer anything new and relies on the generic.
Originally Published 10/5/2021. Edited and Updated 11/07/24.
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