Yay, Code:Realize Anime is Coming

I was a bit worried, seeing as the Code:Realize anime had been announced back in August of 2015, and since then news has been sparse, but now we have a trailer and it looks gorgeous, though I'm a little disappointed that most of the footage is of the men around Cardia rather than Cardia herself. It's a bit expected given the romance-oriented source material, but Cardia is rare among otome heroines in that she has her own character arc independent of the men in her life and she doesn't always need to be rescued by them.

When I originally wrote about Code:Realize as part of my VN Talk series, I pegged the story was one that has a lot of crossover potential to those who wouldn't otherwise play a romance game. It has plenty of action, tension, and humor that I think will let it appeal to a wider audience, especially since the game itself doesn't go heavy on the romance until over halfway through the story. Until that point, it's a fun tale about Cardia learning how to live with other people and figuring out how to avoid capture by the Queen's soldiers with the help of her ragtag band of heroes.

The trailer plays up the romance angle though, showcasing each of the love interests, and I suppose that's necessary to buy in the existing fans, but I'm hoping that Cardia stands on her own in the series itself as the self-determining protagonist that she is, and that the romance is fairly downplayed early on, as it is in the game.

My biggest concern is that the story will likely be following Lupin's route because his story is the only one that closes off everyone else's storyline and also provides the best outcome for Cardia. With a few extra scenes from the other routes just to make sure the stories of the other love interests are dealt with, Lupin's has the potential to be quite satisfying. Despite misgivings I have about his route, in particular that it's Cardia's weakest route as a protagonist, he's a lot of fun and I still have a sore spot from when the Magic Kaito 1412 anime series ended. If you like dashing gentlemen thieves with top hats and nice coats, Code:Realize has that covered.

And now we have a date. It's coming out in October of this year, so it'll be part of the fall season.