You never heard of a dark horse? The term comes from the dark horses in horse racing. They arent the popular ones that most people will bet on but they automatically catch at least a few eyes willing to give them a chance and low and behold they do surprisingly well in the race sometimes even winning. Given how bleak this season has been for most people this seemed like one of those surprising shows that couldve been one of the best of the season but as the saying goes close but no cigar. Fitting really. Paragraph 4 contains mild spoilers for ACCA: 13ku Kansatsuka. Proceed with caution ACCA is an interesting show. Produced by Studio Madhouse this is an adaptation from a manga. Ultimately this show intrigued a lot of people myself included. Some people will definitely see his as the dark horse of the season but I dont entirely agree. There are strong cases to be made why this show was interesting and why it was boring but well get to that. But why the polarization? Isnt this series slick as hell? Well... To a decent extent the story is meticulously written in terms of creating a mystery full of twists and turns. It all surrounds Jean Otus a man working for ACCA that is currently doing audits while the prince of the nation is not only coming of age but is ready to succeed the throne. Problem number 1 is that the story really dead its feet with nothing to truly hook us for more aside from hoping that it will all explode into a chaotic and flavorful conclusion towards the final act it doesnt. Its understandable why this turns people off as the show feels uneventful. Two some of these twists were both obvious and poor. The final antagonist was one of the royals whom we had never even heard of until 2/3 into the series with two of the ACCA 5 Chief Officers being antagonists with their own separate plot. If youre anything like me you suspected the two that turned out to be antagonists and there was only 1 other person to remotely suspect who isnt involved but there couldve been more flavor to the mystery by giving reason to suspect more people. So because Jean was suspected of being involved in an upcoming coup his friend Nino is sent to spy on him but then its revealed that he is next in like to be king which is why the rumor was created in order to get the 13 districts on his side during his audits. Sounds fine and dandy and for most part it is including the somewhat rushed backstory of Nino Jean and his sister Lotta. Its thanks to that that the aunt of the family wants them dead as well as the dickheaded prince himself. As for the finale it was ok. It was interesting to see the whole coup resolve peacefully but with more twists but there was no reason for the aunt to suddenly abandon her plan. Tell me who do you remember besides Jean and Nino? Probably nobody because these characters are mostly dull and onenote. Jean is pretty listless by it is nice seeing him get flustered over his crush/superior Mauve though that fades quickly. He also smokes...a lot. Just like on older times in this anime smoking is a sign of wealth and he gets misconstrued because of it particularly when confronted by Rail who acts like an ass around him and likes his sister. Nino is a slick guy even in spy mode but hes merely ok. Mauve Lotta and Gossular are merely ok and most of the characters are boring like prince Schwan the aunt the spoiler manipulator in the 5 Chief Officers and each of Jeans subordinates and audit companions. We couldve easily spent a bit more time about the characters but instead we chose to do more audits and see the main 3 eat apple pie and drink alcohol. Like the plot the interesting potential really fizzes out which is a shame. To this day Im not sure how to feel about the artstyle. However what is something Im sure of is that the series is clearly not in 24FPS. The animation is rather choppy making it feel like the series runs at only 16 frames per second instead of the minimum required 24 for everything to feel like theyre in constant motion. Im not sure if this is an artistic choice but I dont think it works. I at least like the hair and food detail as well as the detail in the casino lights in episode 8. The OP has amazing artistic flair to the way it looks and the ED has another type of interesting art that is actually more fluid than the entirety of the actual series which is kinda sad the more you think about it. After all youd probably expect better from Studio Madhouse since Studio DEEN did more fluid and striking animation with their also more methodical and realistic series Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. Thankfully the mediocre CGI is insanely minimal to the point where most people would find it nonexistent even if some of the character faces are actually incomplete in the final episodes and the background characters often fit move in scenes. The OST is pretty nice and fitting especially the jingle at the beginning and middle of episode 1. It fits the calmer more lax and methodical nature of the series perfectly preventing me from really getting bored but that didnt stop some people from boredom. The OP Shadow and Truth by ONE III NOTES is pretty cool with surprisingly good Jrap and a great female singer even during autotune sections. Theres a reason people say this is one of the best OPs of the season its pretty freakin slick. As for the ED Pale Moon ga Yureteru by Aira Yuuki is a pretty alright theme meant for some bit of emotion after each episode. Not great but not bad. As for the dub its rather good. J Michael Tatum was in charge of ADR direction and we get some rather fitting boxes for many of the characters especially Jean and Nino. Its weird to hear someone sound like Steve Blum without being Steve Blum but thats been an issue in the dubbing industry for a good year now where new actors sound like old ones and this was exposed to be a major problem in the acting industry in Japan. It feels like the character artstyle lends itself to both the dub and the sub rather well and the dub worked just as well as the sub at least for me. For the most part I was pretty intrigued by the narrative even if it did get a bit dull towards the end. The atmosphere was pretty enjoyable and the OP was so damn good that I just wanna bob my head and snap to the beat every time. It was surprisingly enjoyable if a bit lacking in the satisfaction department. Twas a nice enough time but there wasnt enough pizzazz to give real flavor to the experience making it somewhat underwhelming. Its by no means a bad show but theres no way in hell thisll be smoking the competition for any best of winter 2017 lists Im sure. It didnt rise up high but it was decent and slick while it lasted so thats alright I guess. With that said I bid you adieu.