The Winter 2025 Anime Preview Guide

Übel Blatt

When Wischtech was about to invade Szaalanden, the Emperor sent fourteen youths to stop the invasion. Three perished along the way, while another four were said to have betrayed the lord and were thus killed and called the "Lances of Betrayal." Only seven came back alive and became known as the "7 Heroes." Two decades later, a boy known as Koinzell began to hunt down and kill the Heroes.

Übel Blatt is based on a manga series by Etorouji Shiono. The anime series is streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Fridays.

Few anime these days throw you quite so far into the deep end as Übel Blatt does. However, that doesn't mean it's incomprehensible. We are given the setup right at the start, where 14 heroes set off to save the kingdom. Three died, and seven dropped out. The remaining four completed their mission, only to have the cowardly seven ambush and murder them on the way home to hide their shame and steal all the glory.

On the other hand, while we know the plot hook, we basically know nothing about the setting. Sure, it's a fantasy world, but is there magic? Are their demi-humans? What is the technology level of the world? None of this is told to us, it's just something we have to pick up as we watch the show. This adds a feeling of uncertainty and adventure to the show. Even Peepi, who is a country bumpkin, feels overwhelmingly more informed than we are about this world and how things work.

But more than anything else, Übel Blatt feels like an anime from a different age. Despite it looking as smooth and polished as any modern anime with a decent budget, the story and tone feel like something from the '90s or 2000s (which makes sense as the long-running manga on which the anime is based started back in 2005). It shares more with dark fantasy classics like Berserk and Claymore than most anime today.

With a straightforward revenge plot and a fantasy world that's already far removed from the modern stereotype, Übel Blatt seems off to a good start. Add that a main cast with mysteries aplenty and a classic dark tone rarely seen in anime to this day, and this looks to be a fun watch this season.

If you've read the manga this is based on – and if you haven't, the new fancy hardcover edition is gorgeous – you know what the opening scenes of this episode mean. But even if you haven't, there's something distinctly off about the way seven people calling themselves “heroes” are ganging up on one young man, slicing through his eyeball (a running theme this season) before presumably killing him. It's a study in how the world of Übel Blatt is corrupt even in its base mythology of the “Seven Heroes,” and it makes it clear why protagonist Köinzell has that hard edge to his declaration that he wants to get to their home turf.

It doesn't explain why he renames a poor child Peepi, a name she's understandably not thrilled with, but maybe it's all part of the other notable thing about the series' world: that while men are fully covered up to and sometimes including their faces, women wander around in clothing that barely covers the important bits. One scene of Altea leaning over doesn't even bother to pretend her outfit gives her the leeway to do so, and when Peepi is reclothed at Altea's tavern, someone puts her, a child, in what looks like lingerie. It wouldn't be an issue if everyone was similarly underclothed; when we can see that Köinzell and Wied, along with all the other male characters, are showing barely any skin, it's a problem. Still, thus far, the rape aspects of the early manga chapters aren't present, so that's good.

That out of the way, this isn't nearly as gory as I was expecting it to be. Sure, it's got plenty of blood, but it's also somehow less gruesome than Even Given the Worthless "Appraiser" Class, I'm Actually the Strongest. Is that because Köinzell is dealing the damage rather than receiving it? Possibly, but I think it's also a case of framing. We don't know much about Köinzell, but we do know that he's willing to jump in when he doesn't have to in order to save a girl he doesn't know, which makes him stand out as a beacon of goodness when the other characters are mustache-twirling corrupt monks or smugglers looking to make a buck. Even without knowing what his deal is, this makes it clear that he's good, or at least neutral in orientation.

The art for this episode is almost unremittingly dark, which makes sense but doesn't make it particularly enjoyable to look at. I wouldn't say that the animation isn't great, but rather that it's not all that easy to see it in action due to the grim color choices, although scenes of Köinzell's braids floating out behind him do look good. This isn't convincing me that the anime is better than or as good as the manga; in terms of which you ought to try, I'm still leaning towards “manga.” But it may still fill the Berserk-shaped hole in your anime life, and if that's appealing, I suggest giving it a chance.