Weiss Kreuz

—by Maria M. Rider

Aya, Ken, Youji, Omi. Four young men who work as florists by day and assassins by night.
Interested?
WEISS KREUZ ("White Cross" in German) is an on-going story about four young men who are part of a group called "Weiss" based on a seiyuu j-pop group of the same name made up of Koyasu Takehito (Fujimiya Aya), Seki Tomokazu (Hidaka Ken), Miki Shinichirou (Kudou Youji), and Yuuki Hiro (Tsukiyono Omi). Several albums and drama albums later, an anime was released in late 1997. Also available is the manga written by Koyasu Takehito and drawn by manga artist Tsuchiya Kyoko called WEISS: AN ASSASSIN AND WHITE SHAMAN published by Shinshokan.
The story is simple: Weiss is given a mission by Persia, which they must carry out using their unique weapon-wielding abilities. Aya uses his mighty samurai sword to exact his type of silent justice. Ken swipes his victims with razor-sharp bugnuk (tiger claws). Youji strangles his targets with an almost-invisible wire, leaving grisly hanged corpses for any unlucky late visitors to the killing. Omi uses distance to his advantage by stealthily shooting his enemies with a variety of darts and arrows. Omi is also the intelligence behind Weiss as he uses his computer skills to hack into mainframes from his handy laptop.
Weiss uses the cover of four florists working at the "Kitty in the House" flower shop. All the girls from the local high school come to visit the four handsome young men, buying flowers and plants just to get a long glimpse or a "Hi" out of them. Youji, the ladies man, likes the attention as the ladies swarm around him like bees to honey. Omi and Ken are a bit amused by the girls' adorations of them, but Aya is the most uncomfortable of all the group, shunning the girls as much as possible.
The first volume of Weiss Kreuz involves mostly the introduction of the main characters. Persia gives Weiss their mission to assassinate the Takatori crime syndicate boss, Takatori Reiji. In order to do this, Weiss must eliminate Takatori's cronies. In the first four episodes, the viewer learns more about the one past experiences that Aya, Ken, Youji and Omi have gone through that has involved them with the Weiss group.
The first mission, "Lockvogel," involves Weiss discovering a group of four rogue assassins who are out to find a certain MO disk to access important documents for the Takatori clan. Unfortunately, a young woman gets involved after her boyfriend is killed under mysterious circumstances. The second mission, "Fort Laufen," Aya finds out that Takatori Reiji was the one responsible for putting his younger sister into a deep coma after a hit-and-run. This second mission succeeds, yet fails because Aya cannot exact his revenge on Takatori. The third mission, "Paradies," centers on Youji as he runs into a cute young woman who resembles his old partner when Youji was a private investigator. Youji must face his past in order to deal with the present situation he is facing and also completes his mission. In the fourth mission, "Verrat," Ken finds his old friend Kase Kouichiro, who was kidnapped by the Takatori clan long ago. Ken finds out that his friend is now changed and is no longer the man he used to know. Ken must choose between friendship and completing the mission for Weiss.
The animation is up to par of the usual TV anime series and the character designs are very appealing to bishonen fans, like yours truly. The music is stupendous. "Velvet Underground," the opening song, is especially good as it involves a more j-pop feel to it. There are a lot of popular seiyuu in this series, Koyasu Takehito (Hotohori in FUSHIGI YUUGI), Seki Tomokazu (Chichiri/Kouji in FUSHIGI YUUGI), and Miki Shinichirou (Kamui in X the Movie) do wonderfully in their roles as the mysterious and handsome assassins, Weiss.
All in all, this author looks forward to the rest of the series as she was drawn to the series because of the seiyuu and the bishonen. Two great tastes that taste great together! Weiss Kreuz is something to enjoy for both gals and guys who are fans of action and pretty boys.

Weiss Kreuz Kapital I
LD, 2 sided 105 mins, POLV-3220, ¥5,800
Available now in Japan

Weiss Kreuz Kapital II
Format LD, POLV-3221, ¥5,800
Available now in Japan

Weis Kreuz Kapital III
Format LD, POLV-3222, ¥5,800
Available now in Japan

Weis Kreuz Kapital IV
Format LD, POLV-3223, ¥5,800
Available now in Japan

Weiss Kreuz Kapital V
Format LD, POLV-3224, ¥5,800
Available now in Japan

Weiss Kreuz Kapital VI
Format LD, POLV-3225, ¥5,800
Available now in Japan

Weiss Kreuz Kapital VII
Format LD, POLV-3226, ¥5,800
Available now in Japan

Weiss Kreuz Kapital VIII
Format LD, POLV-3227, ¥5,800
Available now in Japan
Where to buy