And now for some bloodletting action and a bit of comedy, with a dash of darkness. It’s called Pumpkin Scissors.
We start off in the Empire, which has never fully recovered from a destructive war. Or at least the peasantry has never recovered. There is joblessness, homelessness, and hunger everywhere. In comes Lt. Alice Malvin, one of three daughters from a noble family. She is an idealist, almost to the extent of naivety. Taking over as the field commander of Section 3, an intelligence unit that does public relations, meaning they help feed the hungry peasants, Malvin believes in her mission and is determined to help the common folk.
But despite the humanitarian nature of Section 3’s mission, things do get hot on occasion, and on one of those occasions the personnel of Section 3 meet Cpl Randel Oland, literally a giant of a man. Oland is a gentle, peace loving man who likes to feed stray cats. But he is also an engineered killing machine. Once he turns on his blue-lighted lantern, Oland becomes a different person wielding a one-shot pistol which can take down a tank.
Eventually, Oland’s struggles against his programming become one of the focuses of this series. It certainly makes what could have been a run-of-the-mill action anime more interesting. There is quite a bit of psychology going on.
The ending does get a bit syrupy. It does set up a season two, which doesn’t come. Pity. Things were really getting interesting with the exposure of government corruption.
Artistically, the artwork is good. The animation is average. Action scenes could have been done better. But the story does grab your interest. Pumpkin Scissors may be a small notch above average, so I give it a passing grade.
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