Knight Hunters, originally Weiß Kreuz in Japan, is the story of an assassin team that destroys those who work evil deeds in Japan. A less flattering description would be: Knight Hunters is a modern update to Charlie's Angels with four pretty boys (instead of four pretty girls) who are florists, strike pretty-boy poses, and happen to kill people after lots of self-created angst.

The latter description is the most accurate. This bishounen work focuses on the Weiß, a team that under orders of the mysterious Persia sets out to punish evil-doers. Instead of Bosley, we have Manx, Persia's attractive secretary. The four members of Weiß each have a different weapon, and trademark personality trait. Aya is the somber, mysterious type, while Omi is bright and cheerful. Ken is the silent, shy one, while Yoji is the ladies man.

This first disc has five episodes on it. The first is about an out of control assassin for hire team. The episode could largely be omitted from the disc, and no one would notice. All the episode does is serve to reinforce that the Weiß are out to kill bad guys, not protect innocent people.

Each of the four bishounen on the team have day-jobs as...florists.	Action sequences are more about posing and looking cool than about fluid action.

The following episodes each focus on the background of different members of Weiß; one deals with a human chess match where death is the outcome, another an illegal prostitution ring, and finally a group that eliminates political enemies with a big bang.

The final episode is probably the best, because it deals more with the emotional aspect of being in a group like Weiß. The actual mission is almost secondary. The reason the episode kind of works is because there is some empathy for Ken as he makes a difficult choice (which was wrong - I have no idea how anyone could justify giving up a chance at a new life in order to keep the one you complain about all the time).

And, that is the problem. So much of the show is superficial. It's about posing, looking cool, and wallowing in angst. The animation itself looks like it was from the 80s, even though it is a relatively recent show. The opening seems to be set too bright, and there is some artifacting during heavy action sequences. The character designs can be nice (if they are of the Weiß or of women), but the others are throwaways. The opening and closing songs are very good, but the BGM is forgettable.

The extras are nice. This has clean opening and closing clips, as well as very nice bios on the Japanese voice actors. More releases should include this feature; a lot of people do care about the actors.

The dub is frightening. Do not switch to the English voice channel. Trust me.

Overall, the disc has some promise, if the stories continue more in the vein of the last episode rather than the first four. Fans of bishounen series will enjoy this one, but its appeal to others may be limited. A rental before purchase may be in order. Another note as well, women are not exactly shown in a positive light - those sensitive to such issues might want to be aware that women are repeatedly shown helpless and tortured.

Distributor: Anime Works
Creator: Universal Music Japan / Animate Film / Project W
Released: 1997

Video Quality: B
Audio Quality: B+
Presentation: B
Content: C
Overall: C+