To start with, this isn't Night Raid 1931. No magic, pseudo-prophecy, etc. First episode is pure spy stuff. 'Tradecraft' is the word used in the suspense version of spy fiction (think John Le Carre). Not a lot of opportunity for action, but it doesn't look like it will go into Jason Bourne action under the guise of being a 'spy.'
Sadly, our main character looks to be a stick-in-the-mud
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To start with, this isn't Night Raid 1931. No magic, pseudo-prophecy, etc. First episode is pure spy stuff. 'Tradecraft' is the word used in the suspense version of spy fiction (think John Le Carre). Not a lot of opportunity for action, but it doesn't look like it will go into Jason Bourne action under the guise of being a 'spy.'
Sadly, our main character looks to be a stick-in-the-mud honor-bound noble warrior. The perfect foil for a spy show. He's actually the weakest point in the show - he's too predictable: kill or die with honor. I'd like to see more of the rest of the crew and how they set up situations (and people) to further their ends.
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide
The show's name is explained in a poker game that is both a foreshadow and an excellent example of setting up a person. The protag is invited to a poker game. At a spy school. Where everyone is already seated and playing.
Of course the game is rigged. Of course the protag loses. And, of course they tell him (so they can infodump on us): this poker game is a facade. This is international politics as a microcosm. Everyone joins in a summit, but most of the decisions have already been made, most of the allegiances already defined.
However, not everyone knows who is on what side. The poker game was full of deliberate tells to try to determine the alliances. And, with fresh meat on the table, it was a feeding trough for the non-military members of the spy school.
The Upsides:
I love suspense spy stories. MI, UNCLE, Kingsman, and JB (either generation) are far too showy to be called 'spy' stories. This has the potential to be a tense and tightly-plotted story, one that is worth remembering because it didn't do the same thing, just louder and with more explsoions.
Seeing the wartime Japanese culture. We've seen the propaganda of the Yellow Peril, and we've seen stories about the Imperial Empire in decline (Grave of the Fireflies), but this is Japan at the peak of its power. This was not an easygoing time, and parts (Nanking) were shown to be war crimes. This show looks to cover this era, one that gets shorted a great deal.
The Downsides:
There are some stereotyped characters. We have the clockwork soldier. We have the gravel-voiced spymaster/headmaster, a sociopath breeding student sociopaths. And the rest of the spy students looks almost interchangeable. All of them are cool, reserved, and taciturn. Their demeanor, which flat, isn't a demerit by itself: after all, this is a spy school, and spies in suspense stories are low-key and not obtrusive. I feel it's a minor nit because there's very little by way of even physical features to differentiate them..
Cliffhanger ending on Ep 1 (which is the only one available at time of this writing.) A needless in media res opening. We show the situation, jump back to the beginning then build toward the situation again. In some cases, doing this give added weight to minor things, but I don't feel this gains it much.
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide
It does explain why the officer 'offered' to commit suicide if nothing was found, though. However, I wasn't wondering that at the beginning, so the revelation didn't add to my enjoyment of the scene.
Then again, I enjoyed that scene immensely.
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