Weiss Kreuz - Verbrechen~Strafe OVA

A Parent's Guide to Anime
Rated: M

Recommended for Mature Audiences

Reviewed by Beth Card:

I'm reviewing the subtitled OVA (original animation video) of WeiB KreuZ, "Verbrechen~Strafe" ("Crime~Punishment" in German), which, to my knowledge, has not been released in English.

The video Verbrechen~Strafe occurs after the television series. It has much better animation and the voice acting is a bit more realistic. The story of Verbrechen~Strafe is what happens when the group WeiB goes after an American general who has been killing many people, then hiding behind the fence of the American Army base on the outskirts of the city, where the Japanese law cannot touch them. The story unfolds and becomes more complicated as the next target of WeiB is a young man named Akira, with whom Ken and Omi sympathize. When they do, they are deemed traitors by Kritiker, and Yohji and Aya are told that they are now the targets as well.

Yohji and Aya fight Omi and Ken in a brutal battle. This is a sad battle, almost heartbreaking in nature, made more so by Omi's pleading words: "Is this our punishment?" In the end, though, things turn out for the best, but I won't say how-- you'll have to watch.

This video could spark conversations, not only about human nature, but about the very nature of friendship, and other things as well. Also, things that could be brought up might be the nature of innocence, or other related subjects.

Parent's Guide Rating:

red (recommended for mature audiences)

Violence and gore, language, mature situations and conversations. Overall dark/mature theme.