Fathers Josef Kou Hiraga and Roberto Nicholas are Vatican Miracle Examiners who investigate the authenticity of miraculous phenomena reported from all over the world. In every seemingly sacred event lies horrors of hidden conspiracies, mysterious murders, and devil worship. In this battle of good and evil, Hiraga, a scientific and mathematical genius, and Roberto, a polymath in linguistics and classics, must work together to bring the truth to light. Will their friendship and faith endure the evils in their journey to find a true miracle?
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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A fierce orange candle glow shatters the cold darkness of the night. Near a forest chapel, a group of strange hooded figures circle around the Ouija board, put forth their hands and begin their chant. Suddenly, a guard picks up on the sight, boldly confronting them with a blinding blue flashlight as they run off. “Damn brats! Playing demon rituals again, huh?” The guard continues his work. Craving a drink, he enters the large, creaky door of the nearby chapel. He gasps. DRAMATIC MUSIC rings out as he stands at the entrance gawking at something-or-other?! Several awkward seconds pass before the cameraman remembers to show what onearth is so shocking!! INTENSE CLOSE-UPS ensue of... majestic, sparkling blonde hair? Buckets of deep red blood... gracefully drift down from some man’s hands like soft rose petals? In light of the HORRIFIC sight, the guard utters the first thing that comes to mind:
“They’re floating in the air!!” …I mean…huh? Oh, yes, that is what he says, because that’s what the script demands that he point out to the audience. Never mind the blood; that apparently doesn’t faze a guard like him.
This first minute hints at what the more enjoyable parts of Vatican Miracle Examiner are all about: campy mystery-horror shenanigans from a show trying its hardest to be dark, intriguing and dramatic, but more often coming off as plain silly; posing as if it knows what it’s doing when it clearly hasn’t a clue; sloppily trying to be well-directed and dramatically presented, while cutting corners wherever possible; masquerading as gripping mystery brilliance, while viewers just laugh at how absurd it all is. At its best, Vatican Miracle Examiner is enjoyable for almost entirely the wrong reasons… and I love it! Or at least, I love the first third of it. But that doesn’t mean I enjoyed all of it, nor do I consider it to be a well-made show... by any stretch.
Shows dubbed “so bad, they're good” hold a rather niche appeal. Many viewers simply aren’t interested or amused by watching shows because they’re laughably bad, and even among those who are, what one finds hilarious may induce groans of annoyance or soul-numbing agony in others. But for those who do get a kick out of this sort of thing, I recommend trying out the first 4 episodes and then skipping the rest. I say first 4 because they, by far, best encapsulate what makes this show such a riot at times, while I found the rest far less consistently enjoyable. For now, let’s focus on the opening arc, and how it manages to be so extraordinarily good at being entertainingly bad!
The premise of a mystery show where Josef and Robert, two miracle examiners for the Vatican, investigate reports of seemingly divine or supernatural incidents to uncover the truth, was a workable one. In the right hands, this could have made for a truly intriguing watch, but the series stumbles at just about every step, the first such step being its visual presentation. The animation and shot composition give off a constant sense that they're trying way too hard, while paradoxically being as lazy as possible… or just not knowing any better. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell.
Imagine a teen who just started using a new curse word, whether to feel grownup or just to add emphasis to everything. But the person gets too excited and overuses it, throwing the word into every sentence multiple times, trying so hard to use it everywhere whether appropriate or not, without realizing that they’ve effectively destroyed its emphatic nature. The result just becomes silly. The word loses all its power when the person uses it all the time without rest.
Apparently, the director’s new curse word was the Dutch angle, a cinematic technique in which the camera is positioned at an angle on its roll axis. This is often used to give a sense of psychological unease or tension… when used properly, anyway! Vatican uses so many Dutch angles, even in mundane situations, that it becomes downright ridiculous, like it wants to add as MUCH UNEASE AS POSSIBLE, failing to realize the importance of moderation!
Sometimes it even ends up disorienting the viewer… or perhaps that’s just because in all the excitement about showing off this new skill, fundamentals like establishing shots or proper timing and lighting are often neglected. It also uses a lot of very noticeable cheap tricks to save on animation, chief among them being an excessive number of extreme slow-panning close-ups so only characters’ lips ever have to move. This excess of slow-panning Dutch tilt close-ups often leaves little sense of spatial awareness for the audience.
At times this leads to hilarious failed attempts at a shocking or dramatic scene. I mentioned the intro scene above. In another episode, the show tried to pull off a SHOCKING CLIFFHANGER where… well, I think it was trying to make us believe one or more major characters had suddenly been killed by some Dagger Ex Machina figure in the woods (with absolutely no buildup). Beyond being a cheap suspense tactic to begin with, it was also so badly shot with disorienting tilted-sideways-panning-ultra-close-ups, that I genuinely couldn’t tell what on earth these yelling characters were doing until the scene ended on a vague slow-motion blood splatter that may or may not have been from one of the established characters. It was only then, that I realized, “wait, that was supposed to be a cliffhanger?” It’s safe to say it was a failed one.
Adding to this sense of silly presentation is the soundtrack, which in fairness, almost manages to be good; it's pleasing to the ears with lots of mood-setting themes and safe but suitable instrument choices. The issue is that, like most things in the show, it tends to try a little too hard, frequently becoming overbearing or unsuitably dramatic without rest, and adding to the overall sense of pseudo-dark silliness.
But beyond the presentation, the real riot comes from the show’s content, and in particular, how it handles its mystery elements!
Throughout its first arc, Vatican Miracle Examiner reads like the mystery-horror equivalent of how an inexperienced student of Michael Bay might try to plot a series; it goes for spectacle and plot twists above anything else at the expense of integrity or non-superficial viewer interest. Vatican is far from the only anime or even mystery anime to do this, though the degree to which it does so in its first arc (almost) commands respect for its sheer, bullheaded commitment!
The show’s modus operandi is to simply spout as much exposition in as short a time as possible, and act like it’s supposed to be intrigue. Then when it comes time to reveal the unbelievably over-the-top and ludicrous “answers”, you only occasionally get some semblance of proper buildup and deduction. More often than not, the show just asspulls extra information that somehow never made it into the expository typhoon for the viewer to be aware of, or be able to in any way reasonably deduce it for themselves. Usually it’s too out-there and stupid to cross the viewer’s mind anyway, yet still, the show acts like our main characters Josef and Robert are oh-so-clever for figuring it out!
In addition, even in the more “fair-play” micro-mysteries, the solutions tend to either leave unanswered questions, or rely on real-world knowledge of physics or history, while fudging the details to the degree that it no longer makes sense. The weeping statue incident is a good example of this; it was seemingly an attempt to incorporate real-world miracle reports from the Vatican, but went with a scientifically not-quite-accurate explanation that ended up being hard to buy into.
Other times, it will seem to contradict its own premise, with apparent “miracles”, which would normally be investigated to determine their validity, being either accepted or denied by its main characters without a second thought, just for the sake of the plot. One egregious instance of this was when one of the main miracle examiners had a dream about a hooded figure, then later accepted that dream as a premonition just because someone happened to say he might have seen a hooded figure in the distance one night, and apparently a person who happens to have a hood is just that unusual of a sight.
Tying all this miss-tery together is a cast consisting entirely of sticks and mouthpieces, or, in more technical terms, walking plot devices and expository figures! They display minimal personality, minimal development, and minimal reason to exist other than to move the plot along, pull solutions to mysteries out of thin air, or become another *gasp* SHOCKING DEAD BODY COVERED IN BLOOD! Typically I’d complain about how this reduces its cast to shock puppets instead of emotional anchors, but here, it just made things funnier! Not only because the runaway plot train was part of the appeal, but because of the amusingly clumsy ways these expository fountains get used!
The only thing to come out of any character’s mouth in a typical scene is a shotgun spray of expository verbal diarrhea on topics that often come up without any provocation! Character A will simply ask about someone’s name, and then Character B will go on an extended ramble about how much of a fantastic war hero and caretaker of children he was, among other backstory details that would never naturally come up in context. People randomly change subjects or go on unprompted tangents, with little attempt to maintain proper conversational flow. Everything in this show has to be spelled out in blood, no matter how inorganic it comes off; there’s no restraint to be found.
This applies even to the most mundane topics of discussion, which are usually treated with the gravity expected of big, decisive evidence kick-starting a hot pursuit of a serial killer! The show’s unrestrained brand of dramatic music shines through to amplify this effect, and it fits right into the silliness of everything else!
Making all this even better is the absolutely breakneck pacing of the first story arc! With no boring handcuffs like characterization or proper regard for logic to worry about, its barrage of ironic entertainment is nonstop! A crazy highlight reel of all the best-worst parts of the story, because who cares about expanding on the world or the cast? May as well just keep things insane and escalating constantly! Normally I’d say this was a problem, but in this case I think it was the right choice, as it helped eliminate even short moments of boredom that would otherwise exist in such an incompetently-written arc. It even adds to the otherwise limited non-ironic fun factor a fair bit. This show barrels through its early material blisteringly fast, bouncing between set pieces and piling on bad mystery after bad mystery that I knew by episode 2 would lead to some hilarious attempt to tie it all together, and likely a spectacular failure to do so with any sense of tact.
Gosh, was I ever happy to be right!
Episode 4 is the real goldmine; it was the pinnacle of my experience with this show, and one of the greatest “jump the shark” moments in anime! A series of reveals and resolutions so baffling, it’s absolutely amazing! All those insane mysteries, and all the forced exposition, get shoddily smashed together into an explosion of sex cults, faux-history, voodoo magic, physics-busting explanations, deranged psychopaths, ridiculous plot armor, and self-contradictions! Exorbitant amounts of information pulled from a zeppelin-sized ass to create a perfect storm of laughter and disbelief! It boisterously puffs out its mystery-writing chest, thinking it’s so amazingly clever for bringing all this together in a way its audience never could have seen coming! It proudly shows off answers more far-fetched than simply throwing one’s hands up and saying, “It was indeed a miracle after all!” I dare not spoil those answers here. They’re worth experiencing firsthand! Hypothetically, if Santa were to fly off to the moon with a giant cannon to fire moon dust at the earth, suffocating its population in lunar ash because climate change made him run out of snow, that would be a sensible story by comparison! This episode's story managed to set new standards for what I look for in ironically-enjoyable bad anime! One that could be summed up in 2 words: “Holy Crap!”
The degree of ineptitude and absurdity were so high at times that I seriously questioned if the show was actually presenting and scripting itself this way on purpose – intentionally being as stupid and hilarious as possible while taking itself seriously as some sort of twisted satire of the mystery/horror genres, or just for the fun of it. I simply couldn’t fathom the idea that the show was somehow blissfully unaware of it all. Alas, nothing further emerged to support this theory, and I was forced to accept that it appeared to be genuine. It was actually meant to be taken seriously while handling such plainly outlandish concepts so poorly. Despite this, I was still on board with it, both for comedic reasons and just to see what lunacy it would come up with next! But alas, even on this front, the final result disappoints.
The show never quite recaptures the side-splitting insanity of its first arc, becoming more hit-or-miss in its entertainment value. Ironically, this seemingly resulted from efforts to make something somewhat closer to being within sniffing range of competent. The pace drastically slows to something more conventional, but less fun. The dialogue is, at the very least, closer to believable, but less hilarious, and still almost entirely composed of exposition dumps. There's still no meaningful characterization or character development in sight, which just leaves little reason to remain invested.
The series does come up with a few interesting ideas, like the psychological effects of having all of one’s wishes immediately granted against one’s control, but instead of leveraging them to create a more fleshed-out cast, it just explores these ideas in the same exaggerated, barely-thought-out fashion all the way through. The result is that little of it is able to resonate properly. The show had a glimmer of a chance to pull off its own miracle and obtain genuinely decent qualities, but ultimately fell short.
Meanwhile, the questionable direction, hilariously stupid concepts, and bad mystery habits all remain, but are more sporadic in their appeal. The show still overuses Dutch angles and dark close-up pans even in the most mundane of discussions; still spouts nonsense desperately trying to be intrigue; still addresses the nonsense by pulling crucial information out of a hat when it decides to “solve” the mystery; still acts as though these implausible solutions are clever. And as always, the show still takes the idea of a golden life-size Jesus statue making weird horn sounds, glowing, and erupting in sparkles and rainbows each morning, just a little too seriously! That one's real, by the way, and the "explanation" is as dumb as ever! But this only makes up a fraction of the remainder of the show, with the rest being disappointingly dull.
I’ll say that despite frequently leaving loose ends and forgetting plot threads, the later episodes were overall a technical improvement over the early ones. But even with these small improvements, it’s definitely not worth watching Vatican Miracle Examiner for its own merits, since it never manages to grasp the fundamentals of proper intrigue, presentation, or anything else. Instead, its first arc is best watched for a good laugh. Perhaps the show as a whole could also be examined to see how not to write a good mystery horror. But frankly, it’s a bore at points coming off the first arc, and it’s up for debate whether it’s worth sitting through its lows just for highs that don’t come close to episode 4’s gambits. To be honest, I’m a little disappointed.
Enjoyment: 6/10 (8.5/10 for the first arc)
At the end of the day, unintentional comedic gold is still comedic gold. Even when Vatican’s breakneck pace slowed down a bit after the first arc, there were still a few moments of entertainment, though still for the wrong reasons, and with many lackluster moments in between. As for the first arc, it’s a nonstop hilarious brand of stupid, and I had a blast with it! I encourage those interested to give the first 4 episodes a go for this very reason, though the rest is definitely skippable.
Overall: 2/10
Vatican Miracle Examiner loses steam fast after its first third, but that initial third is either the spawn of Satan, or a glorious gift from above, depending on one’s perspective! Between its clueless presentation, forced exposition, rushed and sloppy direction, mishandled cast, impressively clumsy script, and revelations too bafflingly ridiculous to articulate with words alone, Vatican Miracle Examiner’s first arc is the most spectacular mess I’ve seen all summer! And that’s exactly why I loved it! It tries SO hard to be dark and serious, but its inept absurdity and complete lack of subtlety just make it a campy 50-pound cheeseball, with tons of potential comedic value! The rest of the show, on the other hand can be safely discarded.
PaladinAlchemist
Vatican Kiseki Chousakan is a guilty pleasure watch. It’s wildly fun and falls somewhere between “so bad it’s good” and “better than it deserves to be.” Before I start picking Vatican apart, I want to say up front that, despite all the faults, it’s a lot of fun to watch. The eerie atmosphere and easy-to-like lead characters help make this anime more enjoyable, but what really makes it stand out (for better or worse) is the crazy plots and break-neck pace. Anime often flirts with Christianity, usually through very liberal use of well-known imagery or characters (like the devil), but hardly ever in a semi-realisticlight. So I was curious to see what Vatican would do with it.
Thankfully, instead of just having exorcists stand in gothic cathedrals hunting down famous demons, Vatican incorporated other, creepier, and less well-known Christian mysteries including things like stigmata and incorruptible corpses. As someone who’s fascinated with that sort of mystery, it was a lot of fun seeing an anime deal with it.
Likewise, our two priest characters were a refreshing change from the “hard boiled” priests about to give up on their faith or the “I’m just in it for the power” type priest characters Western media can’t seem to get enough of. Instead, Father Nicholas and Hiraga seem to actually believe in the religion they’re part of - which is nice. The anime actually strikes a good balance between letting their faith play a role in their motivations, but never getting preachy.
Even outside of comparisons to their Western counterparts, Hiraga and Nicholas are both intelligent, decent people. At first, they start a little too plain (especially Nicholas), but later both continue to develop as the story progresses. They’re also heavily ship-teased, which is always a plus for me.
Father Hiraga and Nicholas could’ve been even better characters if the anime ever gave them a chance to breathe. The anime moves at a breakneck pace most of the time, quickly jumping from one conversation to the other. Unfortunately, instead of actually seeing anyone solve any mysteries, we mostly get bombarded with characters summarizing their findings and given brief flashbacks showing them investigating while they’re talking. Information is often coming at you constantly, never really giving the viewer enough time to really immerse in any one scene.
The solutions to the mysteries are either the best or worst part of the show pending your personal opinion. Why? Because they’re usually just barely within the realm of plausibility. This applies to the overall mysteries and the smaller ones. I have a healthy imagination, but at times, even I was left wondering “uh, what?”
However, I don’t think this detracts from the story. I found the crazy theories and solutions and the almost unbelievably fast solutions our MCs came to a thrill to discover alongside them, because you never knew what would happen next.
This aspect is where the “so bad it’s good” comes into play. Not everyone will enjoy it and might get frustrated by how out-there things can get, but, for me, it took the story from what would’ve been a generic mystery show to something that stands out. It’s up to the viewer to decide if it stands out in a good way or a bad one.
The setting is cool and somewhat unique for anime, and the characters are solid enough to invest in. Sadly, the anime is weighed down heavily by it’s major pacing issues that keep it from being the fully immersive experience it should’ve been, but makes up for some of that with it’s crazy solutions that save it from being generic - for better or worse - you decide.
GMoney84
This is actually my very first review so bear with me. -No spoilers in this review Vatican Miracle examiner is quite unique for an anime in that it explores Christianity, and more specifically Catholicism. There are a few other I won't bother naming, but this one does it quite well I think. It manages to present interesting plot arcs and stories that explore the idea of holy miracles but at the same it doesn't to shove it's religion in your face. What I mean is that anyone who isn't Christian can enjoy this show without ever feeling uncomfortable or offended. Story-8 The show has a few distinctarcs within it; in each arc the main characters travel to a different part of the world and do what Vatican Miracle examiners do. The story arcs are loosely tied together, but for the most part are separate. Not every story arc is created equal but none of them are "boring".
One thing you will either love or hate about the show is how absolutely insane some of these story arcs are. You would be surprised how convoluted these things can get. Personally I love these over-the-top plots.
Art-6
Nothing too noteworthy or pleasing but it isn't bad by any standard.
The settings are usually done pretty well and set a nice tone for what is going on.
The main character designs are rather good, but the side characters are lacking. Too many of the side characters look the same or don't stand out.
Sound-7
OP and ED are quite good. The ED is sung by one of the main characters which I love and it's very cheerful and pleasant. It's especially good to hear the sweet ending right after a very dark and somber episode.
The background music is not something worth talking about but it serves it's purpose. I never thought to myself "this background music is bad" so therefore it's fine by me.
Characters-8
The two main characters are really good and well fleshed out, but beyond that there is almost no other significant character besides the main villain.
Hiraga- He is naiive, enthusiastic, intelligent, trusting, and kind.
Hiraga is a real pleasure in this show as he is always in good spirits and he is so filled with faith and hope that it seems like almost nothing can ever get him down. He is incredibly attached to his co-worker Roberto and they share a very strong bond; the bond they share is really easy to appreciate and it is especially highlighted in the ED and the dialogue the MCs share after the ED.
Roberto- Intelligent, calculating, strong. Roberto is Hiraga's rock. He is incredibly reliable and trustworthy. He is also endlessly knowledgeable about old books and runes, which is much more helpful than you would expect. Roberto had an incredibly difficult childhood and it is no wonder he works so differently than Hiraga. The two main characters essentially complete each other so they can work in a perfect partnership
It is lightly hinted at that Hiraga may be gay for Roberto but it is never mentioned directly or explored. Personally I'm glad about that.
Enjoyment-8
Never was this anime boring. The characters are likable and the stories are interesting. The settings are well done and the plots are well thought out.
Overall-7.5
I almost always rate shows based solely on my enjoyment, but trust me, this show really isn't so bad.
Blaufisch
Hands down the best comedy of the season. Do you like the davinci code? Would you like to see what it would be like if mashed up with scooby-doo? Then this is just the show for you! Story (1/10) two priest hve to check wether reported miracles are actually true, yet all they find are drugs and evil secret societys. It's very ofer the top, each case ending in a conspiracy theory that makes the x-files seem like a research paper. And they play everything straight. Always serious. The characters just accept everything that's thrown at them. Not that they would have any time to process it; the showis incredibly fast-paced, in the worst way possible. It's awful and absolutly hilarious.
Art (1/10)
Generic style, even though the LN it'as based on has illustrations from Thores. Wierd textures, very little movement, bad eyeshadows instead of eyes and no regards for perspective are very common in this show. Also; a shitton of innapropriate dutch-angles and a constanly moving camera. It's hard to look at, but the incompetence is fun to witness.
Sound (3/10)
the OP is very early-2000ish, wich i liked, and they voice actors are pretty good. The background music is very dramatic and often used inaporpietly or too loud.
Characters (2/10)
The two MCs are a pretty generic Sherlock/Watson team, though their abilitys are way more balanced, so neither of them exsists to show how smart the other one is. They're also both always furthring the plot; you get the impression that they actualy need each other for their investigations. Both are man of science first and man of god second,one of them naive but cautious, the other sceptical and practical.
That's about everything good i can say about them.
Both have generic tragic Backstorys and someone in the production propably had some kind of care taking fetish.... There is also a lot of queer baiting, so their dynamic ranges from wierd to boring.
The main Villain is obvious, generic and doesn't make much sense. All other minor charcters are not really worth mentioning.
Enjoyment (10/10)
The mysteries turn to be increasingly stupid, and the explanations unpredictable. You don't wonder who did it and how, but how far the author went this time. It rarely dissapoints. Most episodes had me laughing pretty hard. Also; the science in this show ranges from "slightly wrong" too "complete opposite of the truth, please check Wkipedia at least". The fast pacing is in so far good that it helps to move a long the boring stuff.
Overall
I would highly recommend this show. It's about as competend and entertaining as Tommy Wieso's "The Room". Watch it just too hear good, seasoned Voice actors say the most redicious lines full of honesty and passion. It's a beautiful mess, and i really hope we get a second season.
Propably really good when watched drunk/high.
Morticent
Vatican Kiseki Chousakan is an "Agatha Christie"-esque story on crack. The mysteries, albeit interesting, will often have poor resolutions. But man, the plot on every arc goes bonkers and makes you wonder how they even came up with such a wild twist. (This is a spoiler free review) The anime itself looks pretty, I enjoyed watching the catholic imagery that would appear every now and then. This was complemented by the dramatic soundtrack that was a sort of orchestral music that would appear every now and then. It was a nice sensory experience! If not for the story that is not quite held to the same standard,it would be a quick recommendation from me. Without going into spoiler territory, the protagonists pretty much saved the from being a disaster, though. Although they’re written as the "ideal christians", they’re not perfect as each have their own flaws, which are actually explored in the story (albeit minimally).
Overall, it wasn’t that bad of an experience. If the vibe has got you interested, then sure check it out! But it's not something I'd personally recommend. If you're on the fence, maybe skip on this one. There are other anime out there that are more worthy of your time.
Shingster
Please note this review is intended to be read by those that have finished watching Vatican Kiseki and while care has been taken to minimize story related spoilers there might be minor spoilers in character analysis. Intro and premise The church and by extension the Vatican is not something that you see often within anime due to their complexity and the difficulty in creating a story in which they can be effective at. This makes this anime even more interesting because of it. By its nature the church will always be concerned with Miracles when they happen and here lies the story thatwill be used as the overall plot.
The overall plot of the show follows the duties of two such investigators of this secretive division who are Roberto Nicholas a man well versed in ancient knowledge and in Cryptanalysis and his partner Hiragi Josef Ko a genius scientist that also has a lot of faith in the church and in god.
The overall theme that is used here is the investigation of miracles using both the traditional science based detective techniques and one’s faith in god. Settings wise each of the miracles that feature in the series take place in different parts of the world some of these areas being fictional while some are not which I feel only adds to the uniqueness of his case as these locations and culture often have a hand in effecting the background for the miracles themselves. Common with most other animes produced in this period of time Vatican Kiseki features a number of sub story arcs which in this case are the individual cases that link into the overall plot of the series. These cases act as pieces of the puzzle for the larger overall plot something I felt matched pretty well with the premise of solving mysteries.
Roberto Nicholas
Roberto Nicholas voiced by veteran voice actor Junichi Suwabe of Fate stay night fame is one of the main characters of the series and is one of the two investigators that serve as the main characters in this series. A member of the Vatican’s secretive but elite miracle investigation division the Seito no Za Roberto is a calm, logical and rational person that always tries to maintain a level head when out on the field which shows the experience that he has. Despite his rather serious nature Roberto doesn’t exhibit any of the traits that usually define such characters being able to joke when things get tense and maintain a positive attitude even when things get dire for him and his partner. Initially from first impressions Roberto can be seen and regarded as someone that is rather aloof and prefers to keep his own company however as the series goes on it is shown that he is a rather caring person that cares a great deal of not just of himself but his partner and any people that are caught in the cases that he and his partner investigate.
In terms of pair dynamics Roberto serves as the overall leader of the pair that best makes use of his rational and logical mindset while also taking advantage of his vast knowledge that he gained from his love of books. As a result of Roberto’s personality traits within the story Roberto most often acts as the guiding hand of their investigations that when backed up by Hiraga’s scientific explanations proves to be a tough nut for the enemy to crack and is able to unravel even the most obscure and complex of lies. As a character, I liked the contrast that Roberto had with his partner Hiraga and the fact that he is able to remain calm even under the most exceptional of circumstances.
Hiraga Josef Ko
Hiraga played by veteran voice actor Nobuhiko Okamoto of Owari no seraph fame is one of the main characters of the show and serves as Roberto’s partner in the miracle investigation squad. A quiet, intelligent and focused person that also seems to be quiet shy at times Hiraga like Roberto is a priest of the Vatican and works within the same unit as Roberto. While Roberto prefers more traditional investigative and detective work when doing his investigations Hiraga differs in that he is more science based and prefers to verify miracles with tried and proven methods that’s provided by science. As a result of not just being a scientist but also a member of the Vatican Hiraga is noted to hold both his faith in science and his faith in god in equal regard something I find curious since priests are supposed to believe only in god. Personality wise Hiraga because of his personality can be rather trusting of others though he is intelligent enough to deduce when something is too good to be true. Despite his scientist background Hiraga has been noted to also find time to help others when he’s not hard at work which differs from traditional scientist type characters that usually stay in their labs day after day. The best example of this is in his relationship with his knowledge broker Lauren.
Though Hiraga can be quiet at times he’s not someone that is scared of talking to others but rather he is someone that loves to get straight to the heart of the matter without having to muddle through something a trait that I think suits him. In terms of pair dynamics Hiraga unlike Roberto prefers to do investigative work with hard evidence and dislikes making hasty decisions without considering all of the facts. However, Hiraga’s deductions when he has made all the deductions can sometimes be surprisingly accurate.
Arts and animation
Arts and animation for the series I felt was pretty good especially with regards to the miracles themselves. The varied scenery that we see for the individual cases I felt was also pretty nice. The character designs I felt were also done well but I felt that there could have been more variation in them.
Music
The music for the series I felt was pretty strong with the opening theme being especially so. The ending theme I felt had a calming almost soothing feeling to it that I felt was especially helpful after going through some of the more intense episodes.
Voice acting
Voice acting for the series I felt was pretty strong with Junichi Suwabe and Nobuhiko Okamoto who voiced the characters of Roberto and Hiraga being especially strong.
Overall conclusion
In overall, I thought that Vatican Kiseki was an interesting anime that was well thought out and did a great job of blending history, fiction and the church together a combination that can be rather tricky to do. The main strengths of the series I felt was its interesting premise, story and interesting cases that were tied in pretty well with the overall plot. The premise of the story I felt was particularly unique as though fictional it’s relatively rare to see the vaunted Vatican church get featured in something like an anime. The premise of creating a fictional elite investigation unit within the Vatican that has the express purpose of investigating miracles I felt was interesting and allowed the main characters to explore and investigate both a number of different areas and locales and also interact with the different types of cases that they will encounter. The Vatican Kiseki common to most modern anime series makes use of a number of sub story arcs that link together with the main plot line and in this I felt that it showcased one of its main strengths which was the uniqueness and variety of its cases. Each of these cases of which there were three in total last a few episodes at most and propel the two main characters in different locations throughout the world. These cases themselves I felt were well done as they made great use of the location and culture that its miracle was centered at and made great use of many supporting characters that resided there as well. These cases I noted also tackled many themes and subjects that many would consider unusual with regards to the church but not completely unrelated with the best examples being Satan worship, historic but fictional deals with Nazi’s and the often-gritty past behind some of its members. Of the overall story which soon becomes clear near the end the reveal of the identity of the actual main villain and the organisation that they work for I felt was well done with the identity of the villain being especially surprising. The blend of having a traditional detective story mixed in with the intrigues of both the church and foreign organisations I felt was an interesting combination that did an excellent job of creating an excellent storyline for the series.
In overall Vatican Kiseki I felt was an interesting anime that had an interesting premise, interesting cases and story and a great example of friendship between the two main leads. But I felt it was let down by its lack of effective character development and in my books, would put it at 8/10. Based on what we saw in the last episode the possibility that there will be a sequel I think is quite likely and though the series was far from perfect I think a sequel will be a good thing.
phingsurada
***This review may contain a little spoiler If you are not the type of person who enjoys harem, romance, characters who only know how to burden others, nor the beautiful side of religion, this anime is a must try! This is a very rare type of anime with its interesting and impressive plot. It bluntly reviles the dark side of religion. This anime might make Christians feel uncomfortable watching it since it might make you doubt the existence of God. I love how this anime makes almost every miracle happens in the story solved by scientific reasons. Honestly, it makes me feel smarter after watching it. Theonly flaw in this anime is it's ended too soon without reviling the real ending. It still can go a long way with its storyline. There are still many things need the answer but it just ended without answering them. I hope it will have a second season. Sadly, it seems to be low-rated and not as popular as it deserves, so it probably won't be any more season. I hope it will tho.
BlackCicero
As the name would suggests, Vatican Kiseki Chousakan is an anime that uses religious themes while it presents the mysteries in the plot of the show. Overall I thought the anime was good and it managed to maintain a decent balance when it came to the aforementioned religious elements and the story. The various mysteries throughout the course of the show were interesting and well written for the most part. The art was very good and when it needed to be, the same can be said for the animation. The way how the soundtrack was utilized was superb and many of the songs were perfectfor the situation they were used in. The characters were okay, nothing amazing.
I enjoyed my time with Vatican Kiseki Chousakan. It's fairly unique and I thought the execution of everything was done well. However I don't know if i could recommend it to someone as I think the audience that would like it is a niche one.
blackdragon88
I thought about breaking this down, but let me leave it at this. This series was supposed to be about vatican miracle inspectors, right? So I went in with the assumption that maybe there'd be 4-5 cases with some over arching theme to build up the suspense and tension for a season two. I was so wrong. There were TWO cases, and episode 13 was some awful filler that had no relevance to the series or story line, plus only served to confuse the viewer. Plus, it felt like there were a lot of 'OH! How convenient, I'm already here to figure this out, or witnessit! Hurr durr so lucky!' in the season.
I started out absolutely entranced with the series. The art was pretty good, the concept was kinda interesting, and I genuinely wanted to see where this story would go. However, after finishing the series, I felt like the second case wasn't really resolved, and episode 13 was just a confusing, hastily added place holder because the studio had no clue as to how they wanted to end the series.
Plot holes were abundant in this series, as well as the lack of character growth. In fact, it felt very stagnant, despite all of these 'exciting' events happening around them. By the end, it felt like a chore to finish this series. Stagnant characters, confusing plot lines, unresolved plot lines, plot holes and situations that were just too dang convenient to make the story enjoyable pretty much describes this series for me. There is no nuance or intricacy to it. It's all just... stagnant.
okanya
An anime about people uncovering the truth behind allegedly miracles with science? Well, sign me up; that was my first thought. Now that I finished it, I wish I just hadn't signed up for this at all. The first problem to point out is the opening and ending, I don't why someone thought that mixing animation with real footage would be a good ideia because it turned out so bad that I'm not even sure how to say anything about this, so let's move on to another problem: how the miracles are solved. They're supposed to use science to solve them and they kinda douse it but at the same time they don't? At least it doesn't fell like it because in the end the main reason is always "evil people are doing it for Satan" or something along those lines.
The characters are really boring and Hiraga is specially annoying and the most dumb of the duo despite being the one who actually uses the science, and yet both of them are smarter than cops and well, almost everyone else. I'm not really sure of what the antagonist, if it's possible to considere him one, was supposed to do.
Despite all of that, what really killed the story was the effort to try to create a bigger plot to link all of the elements of the last two arcs because it failed, terribly. Instead of just focusing on the main task that was uncovering those so called miracles, they ended up solving murders and all sort of things that didn't have anything to do with their purpose and the worse is that they tried to make it seem like all of the events were connected, and personally I hate when the interests get so dispersed like this and at this point the focus was completely lost.
To say this one was a disappointment for me is an understatement, because the first arc is decent but after that everything went downhill and it just got worse and worse.
Princess_Mia
Why you should watch Vatican Kiseki Chousakan (Vatican Miracle Examiner) anime? / Zašto pogledati Vatican Kiseki Chousakan (Vatican Miracle Examiner) anime? English language: If you love mystery, then you will surely like this. Vatican Kiseki Chousakan (Vatican Miracle Examiner) is an anime in which two priests explore “miracles” together, revealing incidents and conspiracies hidden behind them. When I found the anime, I was a little skeptical if it would turn out as well as it seems. Although the description seemed interesting to me, I couldn’t imagine what it would look like because anime aren’t usually about the church and the Vatican. This in turn madethe story more interesting. When I started watching it, I was really blown away. Since I otherwise love mystery, this anime is really well done. These “miracles” themselves are a mystery that the main characters need to unravel. They investigate them using traditional detective techniques based on science and one’s faith in God. The episodes were very interesting to me. Sometimes they used to be difficult for me to solve whether the "miracles" were real or not. Every “miracle” is happening in different parts of the world. This also affects the background of the "miracles" themselves, which were diverse and unique. I like that the cases are part of the puzzle of the whole plot in anime. Apart from the mystery, there is a lot of drama and supernatural. As far as faith is concerned, the anime also managed to portray it perfectly. It especially managed to portray the dark side of religion. The end of the anime might shock you. I did not expect such an end at all.
I rated the anime with 10/10. I liked the story which was interesting and impressive. For the "miracles", they cited scientific reasons for solving them. I like the animation. It's a mystery, which I love to watch. Anime is really exciting and I think whoever watches it will want to know more after each episode. I watched it all at once, for that very reason. The only thing I don't like is that there are no more seasons, of which they could have done more. Especially because one part seems unfinished. Whoever watches will know about which character it is. If they make a second season I will be happy to watch it. I would recommend it even to those who are not Catholics, because if you like mystery, I think this anime will be as great for you as it was for me. Vatican Kiseki Chousakan (Vatican Miracle Examiner) is a combination of mystery, supernatural, drama, history, fiction and church. So far I have not watched a similar anime and that is why it is unique to me. That’s why it’s one of the best I’ve watched.
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Hrvatski jezik: Ako volite misteriju, onda će vam se sigurno svidjeti ovo. Vatican Kiseki Chousakan (Vatican Miracle Examiner) je anime u kojem dva svećenika zajedno istražuju "čuda", od kojih otkrivaju incidente i urote skrivene iza njih. Kada sam pronašla anime, bila sam malo skeptična hoće li ispasti tako dobro kao što se čini. Iako mi je po opisu djelovao zanimljivo, nisam mogla zamisliti kako će to izgledati jer animei inače nisu o crkvi i Vatikanu. To je samim time učinilo priču zanimljivijom. Kada sam ga počela gledati, stvarno me oduševio. Pošto inače volim misteriju, ovaj anime je stvarno dobro odrađen. Sama ta "čuda" su misterija koju glavni likovi trebaju otkriti. Istražuju ih koristeći tradicionalne detektivske tehnike utemeljene na znanosti i nečijoj vjeri u Boga. Meni su epizode bile jako zanimljive. Baš su mi ponekad znale biti teške za riješiti jesu li "čuda" stvarna ili ne. Svako "čudo" se događa u različitim dijelovima svijeta. To utječe dosta i na pozadinu samih "čuda" koji su bili raznoliki i jedinstveni. Sviđa mi se što su slučajevi dio slagalice od cjelokupne radnje u animeu. Osim misterije ima dosta drame i nadnaravnog. Što se tiče vjere, i to je anime uspio odlično prikazati. Pogotovo je uspio prikazati mračnu stranu religije. Kraj animea bi vas mogao šokirati. Uopće se nisam nadala takvom kraju.
Anime sam ocijenila sa 10/10. Svidjela mi se priča koja je bila zanimljiva i impresivna. Za "čuda" su navodili znanstvene razloge po kojima bi ih riješili. Sviđa mi se animacija. Misterija je, koju obožavam gledati. Anime je stvarno uzbudljiv i mislim da tko god bude gledao, da će nakon svake epizode htjeti znati više. Ja sam ga odjednom pogledala upravo zbog toga. Jedino mi se ne sviđa što nema više sezona, od kojih su i mogli napraviti više. Pogotovo jer se jedan dio čini nedovršenim. Tko bude gledao, znati će o kojem je liku riječ. Ako budu napravili drugu sezonu rado ću je pogledati. Preporučila bih ga čak i onima koji nisu katolici, jer ako volite misteriju, smatram da će vam ovaj anime biti odličan kao što je i meni bio. Vatican Kiseki Chousakan (Vatican Miracle Examiner) je kombinacija misterije, nadnaravnog, drame, povijesti, fikcije i crkve. Dosad nisam gledala sličan anime i po tome mi je jedinstven. Baš zbog toga mi je jedan od najboljih koje sam gledala.
Minerbah
(NO SPOILER) Well, I saw this anime because I was amused that they are priests, at first I started watching it to laugh a little (the truth is that the Christian theme is not very common), and without a doubt I was pleasantly surprised, my question is: why what is not so popular? Will they release more seasons? One of the best mystery scripts, seriously, I love how it mixes the theme of religious miracles with the worst cruelty in the world (it's an antithesis). The protagonists, even if they have faith, solve the cases with SCIENCE and LOGIC, something that can surprise because devout Christianity is notone that tends to rationalize in their situations and prefers to preach.
The art is good, and its soundractk even more so, I invite you to listen to its opening and ending, on the other hand, the OST of the whole series is also good and it's perfect when "Ave Maria de Schubert" sounds at the best moments.
In conclusion, if you are looking for a dense anime, with mystery, depth and script twists and you like the "da vinci code" theme, congratulations, this series exists.
KyuuriKappa
This anime is a ride. I'll be making my review spoiler-free. I'll also try to make it short and sweet, but I have a lot to say about this show. While this anime definitely wouldn't be considered "good" it is one of the most enjoyable things I've watched in a long time. There's a lot of cheesiness in the beginning, but the plot line and sub plots are genuinely interesting and had plenty of unexpected twists, turns, and answers. the character dialogue is stiff and awkward, but does improve over time. Character personalities are also a bit strange and unrealistic... however I don't dislike thecharacters. The two main characters really grow on you as you watch, and the poor dialogue writing and weird characterization somehow make them even more endearing.
The first 4 episodes are probably the most intense, with maybe the strangest story line out of the whole series. The beginning is pretty abrupt, and fast paced. A lot of information is thrown at you within just these first 4 episodes, but even though the pacing is so fast it's still a very enjoyable watch.
As the anime goes along the pacing does improve (a little), and it becomes more like a detective mystery show with hints of an overarching plot throughout.
The last episode wraps up almost everything. It's still unclear what a certain character's motivations are, and his story line doesn't get finished which kind of sucks. Other than that, everything else gets closure. (Albeit, in a very abrupt manner. It felt like I was given a really good summary of events rather than watching the story at times.)
Overall, my opinion is that this anime is a solid 7 with the potential to be a 10. If the character dialogue was improved, along with the pacing (and with that, giving more detail and fleshing out the story more) then this series would be improved dramatically.
Now, just for some warnings for those who have sensitivities to certain content. This anime has mentions of, or plot involving, a lot of sensitive topics. In fact, there aren't many sensitive topics that aren't at least mentioned in this anime. Some things include: slight gore (just a good amount of blood), illusion to unsavory things happening between a priest and a young boy, demon worship/summoning, sacrifices, murder, domestic violence, and war atrocities. Also, potentially racist and or religious intolerance towards native Africans (in their depiction, not in the characters' treatments.
RESOLVING_POWER
I watched Vatican Kiseki Chousakan (including OVA), also known as Vatican Miracle Examiner. Here are my thoughts: This anime is about two religious scholars who travel around investigating the validity of various miracles on behalf of the Vatican. This show has an intense Roman Catholic theme that is quite unique – I really appreciated this aspect of it. However, aside from its strong unwavering commitment to this rich Catholic theme, this show isn't well directed. The actual screenplay and script are kinda dull. Furthermore, as much as I love the premise, the writing is undeniably super amateurish and feels like a novel you'd find in thebargain bin of somebody's neighbourhood yard sale. The plot is so absurd it feels like a kid wrote it. The explanations used to justify the various mysteries in the story are completely ridiculous. As a whole this show is incredibly campy, but that's what makes it fun to watch.
Vatican Kiseki Chousakan is a very unique show. It's so over the top it's comical, yet plays it dead serious at all times. Like, I honestly can't tell whether or not this is all just pokerface satire. This anime has a unique satirical charm that I really enjoyed and think others would as well. On a related note, I definitely got a shounen-ai vibe from the two main characters, which is somewhat ironic to say the least, and also enhanced the parody feeling even more. Plus, they were super cute together.
The two MCs are actually great characters: unique, likeable, memorable, and they complement each other well. Additionally, I liked both of their VAs and thought they suited the roles. Another thing that adds to the show's campy charm is how the many English words in the script are mispronounced by the seiyuus (to the point that referring to the subtitles is often still necessary).
Visually, the show is adequate at best. Some of the character designs are decent, but other than that it is super basic and feels low budget. I think much of the poor visual budget was compensated for by using poor lighting in many scenes. Thankfully, not much character animation is needed to tell this dialogue-heavy story. I do like the seemingly authentic church-like OST. There is a lot of choral music, organs and that sort of thing, which suits the themes and mood of the anime. I'm glad they committed to the themes in this regard as well, instead of using a more-generic soundtrack.
One thing worth mentioning is that the show constantly cycles through supporting characters. The two MCs travel frequently, resulting in the surrounding cast constantly changing (or disappearing because they were killed off). The show is constantly introducing new characters, only for them to disappear within an episode or two. The cost of this constant recurring exposition is significant and is a drain on the show. This is compounded by the fact that some random just-introduced character is usually key to whatever 'miracle' they are investigating at that time, which makes for a sometimes-confusing viewing experience. They randomly throw in characters who are fundamental to the plot and then they vanish and an entirely new supporting cast is introduced – this happens multiple times throughout the show and it is a lot to digest during a 12-episode runtime. I think a fixed set of supporting characters would have been much more suitable for this anime.
My overall rating: 6/10
As much as I adored the premise of this show and really wanted to see it succeed, I can't ignore its very real flaws. Foremost, the writing is unignorably amateurish. It feels like some hack novel that was just barely publishable, although it does have a lot of satirical charm; similar things could be said about this anime's direction and production quality. Regardless, this is still a very unique show and I'm glad I discovered it. A huge portion of my score here is a result of how unique this anime is, as well as the confidence and conviction with which it is presented. The intense Roman Catholic theme of this show is one of a kind and I valued it tremendously. The shortcomings of this anime are unfortunate – it had enormous potential. This appalling waste of potential is a mortal sin indeed.
If Catholicism interests you then you might find this anime enjoyable despite all its flaws. Or if you like (comically absurd) mystery stories, or the unique premise appeals to you for whatever reason. I would love to see the premise of this show executed more-competently.
TrashDax
In the name of God, impure souls shall be…oops, wrong anime! Story: The premise of Vatican priests checking possible miracles on their authenticity is a very interesting one with tons of possible ways it could have played out. The most obvious choices would have been to either make it like a detective story or to go all out and into the supernatural. Vatican Miracle Examiner leans more towards the former, though the possibility of a supernatural (or in this case divine) explanation for the phenomena is always kept open for as long as possible. The religious belief of the main characters makes the whole thing a lotmore tolerable than the usual way of putting normal people into extreme situations and them suddenly believing that things exist that no normal person would believe in that easily. However, there are two severe problems this show has story wise. The first is the pacing, which is way too fast. Within only 12 episodes we get three different cases and two standalone episodes with rather complex revelations and executions. This makes it hard to follow more often than healthy and it also causes the second problem. The solutions feel like complete ass pulls. If you have a hard enough time to understand what’s going on, it’s not possible to grasp a bizarre twist ending. All it does is making it seem like a really bad mystery show, which it technically is not. In fact, if they had taken their time to explain the details of the cases better, it would have been a great mystery crime-drama, but what came out is a messy, too ambitious for its own good anime about homoerotic priests and insane supervillains. It’s still fun, it just could have been much more than that.
7/10
Art:
This anime looks pretty good. The characters have a realistic look to them, though they have been prettified a lot, most likely to get the shounen ai crowd to check this one out. But it’s not like it’s pure Fujobait or anything, it’s still far away from stuff like Nanbaka. The colorization looks great, many of the backgrounds have a photorealistic feel to them. There seems to be some work done in researching locations, because at least the German village from the final episode looks way more real than usual. The animation is simplistic, but there isn’t much action to animate to begin with, so it doesn’t stand out. What really irritated me however were the camera angles and cuts. The camera seems to keep moving nonstop and rarely is a scene more than two seconds long before a cut is made. On top of that, many, many, MANY Dutch angles are used. That combination makes for a rather nauseous viewing experience and heavily disturbs the flow of the anime by distracting from its contents. Sadly, this outweighs most of the good things they did stylistically by a quite an amount.
4/10
Sound:
The opening song is pretty cool, it has somewhat of a Gregorian feel to it, but it’s not really a choral song or filled with organs or anything else you might link to Christian religious music. It’s also quite intense and hectic, which fits the fast-paced cutting of both the opening and the show itself. The ending song is a nice, calm one, that is fittingly accompanied by imagery of what I assume is Rome. Very relaxing and smooth, I like it. It has a less poppy sound than many other anime endings, which is always welcomed by me. All the voice acting was solid and fitting, they even managed to nearly properly pronounce German, Italian and Hispanic names, which I’ve heard a lot worse in other anime. Soundtrack and sound effects were acceptable, though a little cheesy at times. That’s not really much of a problem though, since the show does not seem to take itself too seriously either quite often (at least that’s what I hope).
8/10
Characters:
The two main characters were surprisingly likeable. I expected a pair of homoerotic zealots, but they were pretty down-to-earth and logically thinking. Roberto is a widely read intellectual who has the historic and mythological knowledge to lead the examiners on the right path to the solution, but he is not a cold-hearted thinker. I mean, he is a god-fearing priest after all. Despite his thirst to learn more and more, he is not easily tempted by worldly things. Joseph on the other hand is the more emotional of the two, but also the more sociable, so when it comes to getting information from people directly, he is the man. They make a great investigational duo and help this anime not to fall off the edge so quickly when the story aspects fail to keep your attention. There are very few other recurring characters, but the focus is mostly on Roberto and Joseph so they don’t get much of a characterization. The same goes for the story specific characters, again resulting from the outrageous pacing this show has. Julia (who is a guy, who the hell was in charge of naming?) is an interesting and mysterious person, who I’d have preferred to be explored in more detail, but again, we only get a glimpse of who exactly he is. At least in his case, this adds to the mystery, still I think he could have used a bit more screen time or being discussed about.
7/10
Enjoyment:
The early stages of the individual storylines were pretty exciting, I like myself a well-structured crime story, but as I said, the further they went into it, the more confusing and inane it became. It was still enjoyable for its partially ludicrous reveals, but that’s not what I think it should have been. I am okay with the backgrounds behind the stories, but please, slow it down and follow a line of logic on your way to solve the case. There was a lot of potential wasted trying to accommodate all this into a one-cour series, it would have been better to either tell less stories or have a longer runtime (with the first solution being the more probable in terms of execution). As it is, Vatican Miracle Examiner is an okay anime with serious problems, yet still kinda enjoyable in its uniqueness.
5/10
Overall:
6.2/10
