“Girls, Masks, Blood, and Action”
- Episodes : 12
- Genre : Action, Mystery, Horror
- Airing Date : February 2020
- Producers : Zero-G
Contains Spoilers
Introduction and Story
Yuri Honjou has found herself in a very strange predicament. While in class, Yuri witnesses a strange tower and seconds later finds herself on top of a high-rise building that is foreign to her. Before Yuri can understand her situation, a man with a strange smiling mask attacks her, and while she staves off this attacker, she quickly learns the dark reality of this world she’s been whisked away to. Yuri will need to survive against strange masked attackers who wish for her death all while befriending strangers in search of her brother and a means to return home. Can Yuri escape this nightmarish realm or will she find herself joining the growing list of corpses?
Oppai, Pantsu, and Blood!!!
High-Rise Invasion isn’t shy on showing some super ecchi content having our female cast lose their clothing—don’t expect any nudity, though—or showing their panties/bras every few episodes. High-Rise Invasion is also quite gore-heavy so those who love mature action series—like High School of the Dead or Future Diary—will enjoy the splatterfest to come.
Prepare for Killer Action
We always love action-heavy series and High-Rise Invasion delivers with plenty of action scenes and moments. You’ll have girls unloading guns on various threats one minute and a man dressed as a pitcher throwing literal cannonballs to destroy human skulls in another scene. High-Rise Invasion is a high-octane action anime first and foremost and while it can be corny—more on that later—we enjoyed the exciting fights that this series offers. It never got old to see fighters literally behead opponents like they were dolls.
Original Death Game
Most death games in anime are usually filled with clichés. High-Rise Invasion has a few tropes here and there but the overall scenario is pretty different. Yuri—like the viewer—isn’t told right away what they are trying to win in this death game and even when the prize is sort of explained, it’s still a bit of a mystery. The end result makes High-Rise Invasion a pretty original death game even despite some of the flaws we’re about to mention.
Goofy Cast of Characters
High-Rise Invasion’s biggest drawback is the cast which is overall bizarre. Yuri and her partner—Mayuko Nise—switch personalities comically and rarely do you feel they are realistic. Likewise, Yuri’s brother Rika Honjou comes across as generic despite the story trying to make him seem bothered by his personality change while participating in this death game.
The masked killers—called Masks and Angels—are the absolute worst, though, as they all range from either borderline psychotic—but not in a smart way—to downright ridiculous. The only exception is Sniper Mask who throughout the series is pretty cool despite the occasional silly actions he takes. Overall, High-Rise Invasion has a pretty lackluster cast of characters and we really felt they almost ruin the entire story.
Rules That are Just Odd
Death games in the anime world live and die—ironically—by their rules set within the story. High-Rise Invasion doesn’t openly explain the rules within the story and when you do learn one rule, another comes into play that almost acts a contradiction to the previous one. A prime example of this is when we learn early on that Masks aren’t supposed to kill their targets but then several Masks do just that, kill their targets. The rules in High-Rise Invasion only get stranger as the series progresses and we often wonder if this was intentional or just a fault in overly ambitious storytelling.
Mediocre Animation
Studio Zero-G, which has made amazing series such as Grand Blue and My Roommate is a Cat, clearly cared about High-Rise Invasion but equally weren’t aiming to win the best animation of the year award. High-Rise Invasion has some moments that are incredibly animated—especially some of the early episode fights and near the finale—but also has moments that look just bland and unpolished. High-Rise Invasion isn’t by any means an ugly anime but don’t expect the level of polish seen from the works we mentioned before.
Final Thoughts
High-Rise Invasion is a fun anime that, while far from perfect, is a good one-time watch that shows death game-focused series can still surprise us otaku. With a possible second season, we have to wonder which of you will want to continue with Yuri and her allies. Comment below to let us know your thoughts on High-Rise Invasion and if you want to see a second season! As always, for more anime reviews and anime-related articles keep stuck to our butt-kicking hive here at Honey’s Anime!
Author: Aaron
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