Engage Kiss

 For the next entry in my alphabet challenge, I opted for Engage Kiss, a series from the past summer season.

And looking at what I read beforehand, this is a sort of Date A Live style anime.

Shu is a young man, living on the non-alligned city of Bayron in the Pacific.  Here Organium, a new energy resource, is harvested, but the city is suffering from occurences called D Hazards, known to only a handfull of people and handled by the PMC, Private Military Companies.  Shu works in such a tiny PMC, and is always tight for money as he cherrypicks his assignments.

 

His partner, Kisara, is actually one of those D Hazards, or demons, and while helping out with his household jobs, she is very forcefully in this. They find out that hunting those possessed by D Hazards come at a great price when hunted.  PMC's can bid on the tacking down the beasts for the countermeasures, Sho heavily underbidding the other's. But thanks to his connection to Kisara, and his allies, they overcome the stronger then anticipated beast after he unlocks her power by kissing her.

While this causes a strange love triangle between him, his ex-girlfriend and Kisara, he needs to work with both of them to get the jobs done and he enlists as a subcontractor at his ex's company.  When a demon tries to assassinate the mayor during a rally, Sho and Kisara are present for security, and are ordered to captured instead of kill the demon this time to find out more who might behind the attacks and if it is related to Organium.

As they search for the mastermind handing out the demonic contracts, tempting inhabitants of their neighbourhood, Ayano becomes the target of a demon out to avenge her boyfriend, a low level mobster.  As they dig deeper into what happened to Sho's parents, they start uncovering the truth on how he and Kisara met and how Organium might be connected with the demons.  When a mysterious nun appears who seems to know Sho from the past, it seems she is after Kisara.  In order to try and defeat her, the Church smuggles in a special demon powered exo-suit which Sharon retrieves, and while she gets the upperhand on Kisara, Sho intervenes.  Unlocking her powers, she takes Sharon down.

Detective Mikami, the partner of agent Miles (who took Sho in when he was still a kid) discovers the truth behind who is doing the murders, but is killed himself before he can reveal it.  Sho learns that his informant is none other then the mayor's son Miguel, who is also the secret Director General of the city's security forces.  It turns out the murderer is actually Miles, and Miguel tries to doublecross Sho in an effort to try and prevent Sho being forced to kill his stepdad.  But when he turns demonic, he and Kisara must take him out never the less.

A flashback of Miles memories shows what happened all those years ago in the mines, and that Sho's father was right all along: the Organium is what attracts the demons, and a large force called Asmodeus had followed in it's wake.  It want's to use Sho's little sister Kanna as a portal between our and the demonic world, and as they engage her Sho is forced to see Kisara being beaten up.  She is gravely injured, but in the hospital she breaks their contract, transferring his memories back to him but loosing her own in the process in order to protect him.  

Sho tries to convince Kanna to return to him, as he needs to seal her away.  Kisara returns to the fight and they can overcome her, but Kanna, now a half demon, often escaped to go to her older brother and Kisara's place, resulting in arguments and blown up appartments...

So this was an enjoyable anime series, even though I wouldn`t label it a masterpiece or one I would remember for ages as very good.  Let's just say, the humour was fun, but while initially it seemed a sort of "reversed Date A Life", once past the first few episodes it becomes a more hardcore action series, only becoming lightheared again in the final minutes.

So a decent action series with demon girls, let's keep it at that for an opinion!