Weiss Kreuz: Knight Hunters

Japanese Title: Weiss Kreuz
Episodes: 25
Rating: ?
Release Studio: Media Blasters/Anime Works
Release Year: 2002
Main Voice Actors:

Aya (Ran) Fujimiya ~ Paul Juhn
Yohji Kudou ~ Robert Larkin/Marc Diraison
Ken Hidaka ~ Brian Morey
Omi Tsukiyono ~ Jamie McGonnigal
Persia ~ Chris Yates
Manx ~ Suzanne Gilad
Reiji Takatori ~ Mike Pollock
Brad Crawford ~ Michael Tremain
Shuldich ~ Jeff Swarthout
Farfarello ~ Rick Mann
Nagi ~ Christopher Fuller
Sakura Tamara ~ Katie Adams
Aya Fujimiya (Ran's sister) ~ Rachel Lillis
Ouka Sakaki ~ Alissa Gordon

Four men work in a flower shop but this is only a cover for their real job, assassins... Given "missions" by their mysterious boss whom they only know as "Persia", they eliminate the people shown to them. Aya came home with his sister only to find both their parents murdered and a bomb in their house. After escaping, his sister was hit by a car and left in a coma. Thus, Aya wanted revenge on the person in the car, Reiji Takatori. Yohji was a private investigator and after being injured on an assignment he and his partner, Asuka, tried to make their getaway but Asuka was shot and killed. Ken was a star soccer player but thrown out after being suspected of throwing a game. Omi's past is unclear. (Basically, if I told you, I'd be spoiling part of the show.)

A friend of mine got me into this (Reality it's all your fault!). After being intrigued by the manga (which might I add is not in English), I started to look into the anime. The story and art are very well done. In a couple bits, the manga differs from the anime which isn't too uncommon. For example, with the situation with Aya, in the manga she was injured by the exploding office building. In the anime, she was hit by a car. Aside from the story, what really drew me into this was the music. The opening and ending themes were awesome although Piece of Heaven is my fave. Weiß is just so cool. Anyway... the main theme of flower shop into assassins can seem corny but this is an overall good anime. The English voice actors weren't very impressive but for some reason, they started to grow on me (don't ask why). You may not see this one on current store shelves (unless it's a specialty store) since it's pretty old and not too well known, I'd say. In fact, the company is unknown to me and most of the English voice actors only had one job in Weiss Kreuz. So you'll probably not recognize the names... Anyway, if you're going for something a little obscure and you want some action with bishounen, pick this one up.