Love of Kill’s Main Draw Is Also Its Biggest Problem

Every once in a great while, a truly intriguing, engaging title comes along and turns the anime market on its head. 2022's Love of Kill is one such series. A fast-paced combination of romance, action, drama and comedy, Love of Kill has something to offer seasoned and new viewers alike.

Originally a 2015 serial manga, Love of Kill follows bounty hunter Chateau Dankworth and assassin Song Ryang-ha. While attempting to claim the bounty on his head, Chateau is overpowered by Ryang-ha. However, rather than simply kill Chateau and escape, Song Ryang-ha asks for her number. He's even so straightforward as to openly admit he's flirting, explaining that as an assassin, he doesn't often meet women. Although Chateau refuses, Song Ryang-ha remains persistent, going so far as to consistently dog her whereabouts and barter information on targets in exchange for a date.

This encounter and the events immediately following it -- harrowing and farcical as they may be -- set the tone for Love of Kill and establish the dynamic between the two leads: Chateau as the sternly uninterested bounty hunter who often finds herself in trouble, and Song Ryang-ha as the determined, lovesick assassin who is always there to save the day. And while that premise makes for interesting, entertaining viewing, the romantic relationship between the two principal characters is problematic on a number of levels.

Although she's one of the Ritzland Support's more recently hired bounty hunters, Chateau is a capable sharpshooter and a skilled hand-to-hand combatant. Yet she often finds herself in need of Ryang-ha's assistance, both physically and emotionally. Conversely, Song Ryang-ha seems like nothing less than a one-man army: unbelievably strong, brilliantly skilled in armed and unarmed combat, and always no fewer than three steps ahead of everyone. As such, there's a glaring, debilitating power imbalance between Love of Kill's male and female leads, which compromises their romantic relationship as well as their development as individual characters.

Any healthy romantic relationship, even a fictional one, is better served when equal measures of power are shared by everyone involved. When one person holds too much power, it can lead to issues both trivial and grievous. This is hardly a new concept, yet it's one that even some of the newest romance anime have yet to adopt. Additionally, that very same power imbalance is often illustrated by the female lead occupying a lesser position to her male counterpart.

Love of Kill is (unfortunately) no different. Although Chateau is a strong character in her own right, as well as one of the series' leads, she frequently finds herself in distress and in need of rescue. And of course, it's the even-keeled, unstoppable (and very male) Ryang-ha who steps in to save her. Thus, any potential for a strong, stable romantic relationship between the two is undercut by the incongruence inherent in the duo's power dynamic.

The unsettling imbalance of power between Chateau and Ryang-ha also undermines both characters individually. Because of the enormous differences in strength, speed and emotional fortitude between the two, Chateau and Ryang-ha are pigeonholed into formulaic roles: the damsel in distress and the knight in shining armor. As such, both characters are restricted and consequently underdeveloped. Love of Kill's narrative is, of course, far more complex than that, and its principal leads deserve to occupy equally complex roles within it.

While Love of Kill is billed as the cat-and-mouse interplay of Death Note paired with the begrudging romance of Kaguya-sama: Love is War, the imbalance of power between Chateau and Ryang-ha is such that it makes these comparisons seem inaccurate at best. Nonetheless, as bleak as that sounds, Love of Kill is well worth the time. The action sequences are brutal, the gags land well, and the narrative is crafted without feeling pretentious. The last real hurdle to clear is the dynamic between the two leads, and with seven episodes left in this season, there's still plenty of time for improvement.

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