Warning – Complete spoilers for the entire series
It feels a bit funny “revisiting” something I finished only three weeks ago, but K is just one of those series. I wanted to get some thoughts out about it while we’re all still mulling over what it means. ;)
In rewatching K, I can say the opening episodes make a lot more sense once you’ve seen the whole series.
If you have the time and inclination to rewatch K, it’s even more fun the second time around. The producers drop all kinds of hints and clues in the first few episodes as to Shiro’s true identity and what’s at stake for the Red King in his pursuit of Tatara Totsuka’s killer. One example: when Kuro sees Shiro on the street for the first time, he consults the recorder device containing his master Miwa Ichigen’s sayings, only to hear: “The fire lights, showing the shadow of a foreign king.” Shiro is, of course, Adolph K. Weismann, a German national and the Silver King.
I noticed the small details the second time around: Kuro’s doll of his master that hangs from his cell phone and how he later gives up relying on his master’s sayings; and Shiro’s essentially sweet nature as Weismann showing through despite his amnesia and having to deal with Kuro’s constant threats toward him. ;)
More on Shiro later.
We see more of the Blue King, Reisi Munakata, than we do all the other kings in K. He’s the head of the rather stiff-necked and self-righteous Blue clan, the clan with apparent police authority over Japan. He has a complicated (and largely unexplained) history with Mikoto Suoh, the Red King, and shows much enjoyment in using his power. He also oozes homoerotic attraction, toward Suoh in particular, but even in his fight with Kuro at the stadium it comes out (so to speak). He plays with Kuro, whom he totally outmatches, just because he can.
I understood more of Saruhiko Fushimi’s motivation when I watched K again. At first, Fushimi just seems to have an unpleasant personality. On second viewing it’s clear that the source of his bad attitude is his sense of hurt and betrayal by Misaki Yata. I read somewhere that the backstory is that Fushimi and Yata were best friends since childhood, but after they joined the Red clan Yata turned his devotion toward Suoh. Fushimi left the Reds for the Blues because he felt betrayed by Yata and if he couldn’t have Yata’s love, Yata’s hate was better than being ignored.
Fushimi is a great depiction of someone who is small inside, who knows he’s small inside, and who hates and resents those who are great and great of heart—like the Kings—because they won’t take notice of someone small like himself. At the end, when his half-burned Red clan tattoo begins to glow and the red rises up to join the reds of the others, it’s a moment of possibility for Fushimi’s growth.
I particularly liked the moment where Fushimi bitterly complains to Munakata’s second, Lt. Seri Awashima, about how they are too insignificant to attract the Kings’ attention. Instead of admonishing him Awashima unexpectedly agrees, noting that “Kings are only attracted to other Kings.” Where Fushimi suffers from Yata turning his gaze to Suoh, Awashima pines for the gaze of her own King, Munakata.
While Yashiro Isana—Shiro/Adolph K. Weismann—is clearly the main character of K, towards the end of the series he is nearly upstaged by Suoh the Red King and his storyline.
On rewatching, a lot of the throwaway lines I didn’t notice the first time really stood out. While Suoh is in custody, Munakata advises him to “step down” as the Red King, noting that his Weismann level is dropping. This means being a King is voluntary; it’s not an appointment that must be served for life. So Suoh’s actions are his own choice. He chooses to avenge Totsuka, aware that his level is low and that killing the Colorless King is likely to end his own life.
Suoh is attractive and has his own charm but in the end, he’s a glorified thug. The Kagatsu Crater incident that changed the geographic map of Japan is attributed to him, and early on Munakata warns Suoh that if his Sword of Damocles falls to the ground that a similar catastrophe might occur. Despite this, in the final episode Suoh is perfectly willing to let the Sword fall and Munakata is forced to kill him to avoid having the island and probably most of Tokyo destroyed as well.
Ultimately, Suoh is more anti-hero than hero. He’s gentle toward little Anna—Homra’s psychic compass—and displays a fierce loyalty to his people in that anachronistic way of a man doing what a man’s gotta do even if innocents get hurt in the process and his own life is forfeit—but his kingship seems to have been more about destruction than anything constructive.
In episode 6, the flashback episode about Totsuka, the young clansman is seen telling Suoh that his powers are for protection and not destruction. This is a lesson that Suoh never really learns. Despite his act of avenging Totsuka, his final blaze of glory is pretty much all about himself.
The lingering mysteries in K all revolve around Shiro, aka Adolph K. Weismann—the Silver King. We are left with questions about his past and his future at the end of the series.
First, who is Shiro? This isn’t a trick question. When Weismann—in the body we later come to know as “Shiro's”—falls from the airship and into the school gym, Kukuri discovers him and asks who he is. Weismann turns and stares at a poster of a temple, then answers, “Yashiro Isana.” I read fan speculation that the temple’s name is Isana. I don’t know if this is true or not, but if so, that means Weismann made up the name on the spot.
Later, when he reveals himself to be the Silver King to Kuro and Neko, Weismann adds, “And I am also Yashiro Isana.” To me, this means the schoolboy persona he developed in his brief time playing a student at Ashinaka High is someone Weismann now considers to be a part of himself. Shiro is now a part of him.
The problem is—who had Shiro’s body before Weismann did?
We see how the Colorless King went from body to body as a fox spirit, eventually entering “Shiro’s” body as the boy stands on a sidewalk looking curiously up at the sky. After that, of course, the Colorless King in what was to become “Shiro’s” body killed Totsuka on the rooftop and went up to Weismann’s airship and took Weismann’s body, while Weismann’s soul entered “Shiro’s” body.
But originally, there had to have been a soul inside what eventually became Shiro’s body. What became of this boy?
One answer might be that the Colorless King absorbed him, as he absorbed others until Weismann’s soul escaped him and Shiro and Kuro managed to get him out of Kukuri’s body before Kukuri’s soul could be absorbed by him. In that case, the boy’s soul was destroyed when the Red King killed the Colorless King.
But still—this boy must have had an identity before the story even began. When Homra showed the video of him (actually the Colorless King) killing Totsuka, why didn’t anybody in the whole city recognize him?
Leaving that mystery aside and looking to the future—what happens next for Weismann/The Silver King and Shiro?
One resolution might be that Weismann’s soul will re-enter Weismann/The Silver King’s body—his own original body. When last seen, the body was lying in state in the Gold King’s offices looking perfectly preserved. The Silver King is immortal—does that apply to his body as well?
If he doesn’t or cannot re-enter his own body, then he will probably enter another body. This, I imagine, is what Kuro and Neko will be investigating and searching for in the sequel series.
And what of Shiro—Yashiro Isana? If Weismann as the Silver King was able to take Shiro’s identity into himself, then Shiro will live on. Shiro’s body, however, I think—is gone. The Red King pretty much saw to that at the end.
Some final thoughts. After the anime series was announced, two manga volumes and two light novels were also announced—all, I think, prequels to the series. Which begs the question—why didn’t they start the anime from the beginning of the story? If you think of the K story universe as a 10-chapter story, the anime series appears to cover chapters five through seven, or perhaps eight. It would have been easier to follow and more accessible to viewers if they’d started with the backstory and not in mid-stream. In other words, begin the series by showing us how Weismann’s WWII research resulted in the creation of the Kings, what happened after that to create the world we now see in the series, etc.
And lastly… the series suffers from its split focus between Shiro and Mikoto Suoh, the Silver King and the Red King, particularly toward the end.
In the last two episodes, Weismann/Shiro rises to genuine hero status. Haunted by Lt. Kokujouji’s words “Are you running away, Weismann?” spoken more than sixty years before, Weismann now resolves to take responsibility for his creations—the Kings.
At the end, Weismann reflects on how he wanted his research to make people happy, but now the Kings were each walking solitary paths. He muses on whether the Kings can work together.
Since “only a King can kill another King,” why doesn’t Weismann as the Silver King kill the Colorless King himself? Because that act belongs to another. By taking the Colorless King inside of himself and presenting him to the Red King for execution, Weismann lets Suoh commit the act of vengeance for his clansman that he feels he must. It’s a courageous and generous act.
By all rights, the final moment in K belongs to Weismann, but instead is given over to lionizing Mikoto Suoh—an odd and slightly disappointing choice.
Nonetheless, as should be obvious by now—I love K. The mystery surrounding Shiro, the world of the Kings and their clans, the acting, the music, the little funny moments…
I can’t wait until the next season starts.
