Aside from a few passing comments in various corners of the internet, s-CRY-ed was a series I knew next to nothing about. But I certainly prefer it that way though; it gives me a chance to sit down with a show without carrying the heavy burden of expectation and simply enjoy the story with no strings attached. And I'm enthused to say I had great fun watching s-CRY-ed #1; sure, it may not be the most thought provoking or complex series around, but when the story moves so fast and the action is as inventive as it is stylish, well, nothing else is needed.

Approximately 22 years ago, something seriously bad happened in Japan. A strange environmental disaster caused the Kanazawa prefecture to be violently ripped from the rest of the country, leaving its gutted population stranded faraway from their home continent. Jump to the present day and Kanazama is now known as the feared "Lost Ground", an island where the rare and mysterious "Alter Users" are born; eccentric (and you could add unhinged!) characters with powers to manipulate and create physical matter.
Kazuma is one such Alter User; he can transform his right arm into a fearsome weapon, clad with strange "bio-mechanical" armour.

Given his rowdy nature, Kazuma soon clashes with the growing authority of the island- "HOLD"; a steely organisation set up to control and administer the growing amounts civilized people living in the Lost Ground (as well as to protect foreign visitors). Naturally, HOLD requires a means to fight fairly with the likes of Kazuma and so they often dispatch their own division of recruited Alter Users- a group known as "HOLY".
A vicious fight soon ensues as Kazuma takes on (potentially the strongest member of HOLY) Ryuho and given his cocky nature, Kazuma gets more than he bargained for as the cold, calm and collected Ryuho unleashes his strange powers (a kind of remote cyborg, replete with strong metallic "threads") and promptly beats him to a pulp, dragging him in to be punished down at the HOLD HQ soon after.

It would be easy for me to write off s-CRY-ed as a typical action anime series; I found nothing in these characters to suggest any real emotional depth or a complex heart-wrenching story, and yet, I find myself quite addicted to this show already.
There is something worth praising about the likes of s-CRY-ed, stories created by artists who often stick to a rigid formula yet always manage to produce a gleeful sense of creativity. In this case, s-CRY-ed resonates with me thanks to the mysterious powers of the Alter Users; as I watch them fight, my mind fills with a child-like sense of enthusiasm and prediction. Each Alter User has their own weird powers and it's exciting to watch as their bodies deform in to weapons and take on alien shapes and sizes. It's just great fun, with my own personal highlight being an Alter User who somehow wields a "Magnum" handgun as big as a horse! Yes, it's silly and outrageous but don't forget to add inventive and stylish too.

Looking at other areas of s-CRY-ed #1, each personality seems as cliché as the next. We have the mouthy underdog who is full of brute force as well as the cold, somewhat damaged but shit-hot fighter (who will eventually team up with the underdog, despite initially being his arch-enemy) and even a loud-mouthed, quirky (or annoying, depending on which side of the fence you stand) female. It's all set up in a very formulaic way but it's not as though s-CRY-ed needs complex characters, it's all about the action and obviously, it delivers that in spades. I feel foolish to expect much more (although a smidgen more blood wouldn't go amiss).

Director Goro Taniguchi is fast becoming a favourite of mine (his other works include intimate personal adventures like PlanetES and Infinite Ryvius) and his team of creative staff have done a good job on s-CRY-ed. The character designs range from inventive and attractive to down right forgettable but Kotaro Nakagawa's consistent horn-filled musical soundtrack lends this mainstream series a fresh, almost eclectic feel.

In Summary

s-CRY-ed #1 introduces us to a fine action series, full of super-strong uppercuts and guns as big as your house. While not exactly rich in story and admittedly populated with a group of cliché characters, I can't help but recommend s-CRY-ed as a series fit for even the most demanding of action junkies.