Hand Shakers - Anime Review

This anime takes place in Osaka AD20XX sometime in the future and revolves around the Hand Shakers who are partners who can summon "Nimrodes" which are weapons conjured from their psyche by joining hands. There are many pairs of Hand Shakers in this future world and in order to have a wish granted the pairs of Hand Shakers compete with and fight each other. the top pair will then get to meet and challenge "God".

Hand Shakers is hands down the most visually beautiful anime I've ever seen. The story is one we've seen before in other anime but Hand Shakers turns this mediocre plot and tries to make it work in ways others haven't.

Hand Shakers is not the best the winter season of 2017 has to offer, It's plot is thin and at times confusing as conversations happen that seem irrelevant and the plot jumps from one thing to another along with the characters not being very well rounded with character development being slow or non existent.

What this anime does provide though is stunning visuals, everything about the art and colors used in this anime are vibrant and amazing and it's a shame that it can't make up for the lack of a good plot and the mediocre characters. There were times that the only thing keeping me invested was just how pretty it was to look at.

Along with the beautiful art this anime also has some pretty satisfying fight scenes, even though there are times where 3D animation is used and next to the vibrant colors is quite jarring to look at but you get used to it after awhile.

If you're looking for something to watch with a gripping story line and deeply developed characters, look else ware. If you're looking for something that's more satisfying to look at that it is to watch, with fight scenes in it, this may be the anime for you. This would be a good choice for someone who was learning Japanese and wanted something to listen to so they could get used to hearing Japanese and not really be worried about following the story. Hand Shakers isn't a winner of the 2017 winter season but it tried, maybe a little too hard.

Alternative title: ハンドシェイカー (Japanese)

Episodes: 12

Genre: action, science fiction

Duration: 23mins per episode

Rating: PG-13

Premiered: Winter 2017 from Jan. 11, 2017 to Mar. 29, 2017.

Internet Streaming: Crunchyroll