Since being introduced to the streaming service, CrunchyRoll, I have come across many anime that have caught my interest, and since I am an avid reader when I come across an anime that looks good I of course go looking for the manga or light novel. “Plunderer” is one such anime that I watched and then went in search of the manga when I discovered that there was going to be no more seasons coming my way, very much to my disappointment.

First, the anime. My boyfriend put it on and compared to “Solo Levelling” and “Attack on Titan”, it’s safe to say I cringed hard for the first few episodes. I always knew that adult anime could be highly sexualised, but I never ventured past the child focused anime such as “Yu Gi Oh” and “Pokemon”, until now and I was so not prepared. Safe to say, my boyfriend got a kick out my reactions. Once I got used to the sexualised content, I started to find those parts of the story the way they are supposed to be, and that was comedic. I laughed and smiled, still cringed a little (because I’m that overly sensitive and innocent person) and came to love the story that was happening, which was why I was so upset to find out that the anime series was in fact five years old and was not likely to see anymore episodes. If you have a tendency to blush at any kind of sexual reference or theme, this is perhaps not the show for you.

Which brings me to the manga series, I found them on amazon and got them on my kindle with the exception of Volume 3 which I cannot for the life of me find anywhere, but I will not give up! Until then, I finished Volume 1 which got us to about Episode 8 of the anime series. If I cringed at the anime, the manga turned me bright red! Still nothing directly sexual, but like I said, I’ tend to blush easily and it’s one thing seeing it as an anime rather than a drawn image. It seems to follow the same story, something I find to be a very common thing with anime and manga, which is what I absolutely love about anime and manga.

“Plunderer” is set in a world where the people are governed by numbers, which is determined by a criteria of their choosing. They achieve their criteria, and their number goes up, if they fail their number goes down. If they reach zero, they are dragged into the abyss by metaphysical hands, after which no one knows what happens. The world seems to be set some time in the past, no advanced technology is visible during the story, but there is a big hidden truth behind this world that is not revealed until much later. Some people’s numbers result in a significant amount of power such as manifesting iron objects out of nothing and moving through time or advanced physical attributes such as speed and strength. Additional numbers can be provided through special objects called ballots, but these have become illegal and can result in death.

Characters! Licht is the broken protagonist with hidden power and strength, but seems to be continuously punishing himself for past deeds that were not entirely his fault. He also comes across as a bit of pervert (hence some of the cringing), but I’m pretty sure that this is just one of the many masks he wears to hide himself from others. He is known as The Ace of Flashing Strikes, a soldier from the Waste War which occurred 300 years previously, and he has one of the highest counts in the story. Hina, is the adorable love interest who is fully dedicated to proving to Licht that he is capable of being loved and does not need to shoulder this past on his own. She spent 5 years looking for the legendary Ace, following instructions from her mother as she was dragged into the Abyss. She carries an illegal ballot, trying to find the Ace she was supposed to give it to, and that’s when she finds Licht. She also develops quite a sexualised persona by the end of the anime series, but only for Licht which seems to freak him out a little despite his love for her.

The supporting characters are just as funny and loveable, Pele and Lin as unorthodox military soldiers who help Licht out, Jail who was supposed to capture Licht but ends up helping him as well, and of course Nana who is Licht’s long time friend and one of the toughest female characters in this series. She certainly gives Jail a run for his money, which I cannot wait to see more of!

I have loved this story so far, and cannot wait to find what happens to these amazing characters next!