, also known as s.CRY.ed or Scryed, is a 26-episode Japanese anime television series which first aired in Japan on TV Tokyo. The series is written by Yōsuke Kuroda, produced by Sunrise, and directed by Gorō Taniguchi, with music composed by Kōtarō Nakagawa. It is set in an alternative time in Kanagawa Prefecture where a phenomenon gave 1% of its people supernatural powers; they are known as Alters. The plot follows a young Alter mercenary known as Kazuma, as well as Ryuho, a man working for the Alter special forces known as HOLY, who become rivals as their areas clash.
The series' concept originated in 1999 when Taniguchi was working on Infinite Ryvius. He wanted to create another series that would contain themes similar to it, as well as new ones centered mostly on how people adapted to the 21st century. A manga adaptation of s-CRY-ed, drawn by Yasunari Toda, was serialized in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion. A novelization by Kazuho Hyodo has been published. Additionally, a two-part recollection film was released by Sunrise. Both the anime and the manga have also seen English release.
s-CRY-ed has been popular in Japan, often appearing on polls taken by Japanese magazines, and once took third place in the Anime Grand Prix awards. Critical reception to the series has been generally positive, with reviewers noting while initial episodes might be simple, the plot becomes more interesting as the series unfolds.
Story
Setting
The series takes place several years after "The Great Uprising", a powerful geological events which occurred in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo, dividing the city in two parts: The "Lost Ground" and the "Mainland". Alongside this disaster, many people in the Lost Ground began to develop a power known as "Alter", granting them the ability to create weapons with supernatural properties. Among the steadily rising number of Alter users, there are two forces who directly oppose each other: The "Native Alters", who live outside the central city and avoid any relationships with the government; and "HOLY", a subgroup of an organization called "HOLD" (which functions as the Mainland government's super police force and representative in the Lost Ground) and is composed exclusively of Alter users who serve as a special operations unit tasked with dangerous missions.
Plot
Kazuma is a Native Alter user who makes his living as a mercenary so that he and his close friend, Kanami Yuta, can live together.
Kazuma's friend Kunihiko Kimishima gives him a mission to defeat another Native Alter user. However, a man known as Ryuho from HOLY captures Kazuma in the aftermath; during this, Ryuho tries to interrogate Kazuma about an unknown Alter user (later dubbed Crystal) who killed his mother and dog.
After managing to break free of his bonds, Kazuma uses a female HOLY agent named Mimori Kiryu as a hostage and manages to escape the facility and make it back to his house. However, HOLY then arrives and proceeds to capture many Native Alter users, during which Kazuma meets Crystal in a forest and the two proceed to fight, after which his Alter receives a power-up.
Later on, it's revealed the Great Uprising was caused by a similar event in a parallel universe where all creatures are independent, thinking Alters.
Kazuma then goes on a rampage against HOLY after Kimishima dies while helping him during one of his fights which leads to him and Ryuho fighting again; however, during their battle, they end up opening a gateway to the parallel universe, causing another uprising and attracting the attention of the Mainland government.
Both Kazuma and Ryuho are believed to have died following this event when, in actually, the former goes into hiding in an underground fighting circuit whilst the latter ends up suffering from amnesia. With help from an old friend, a HOLY member known as Straight Cougar, Kazuma recovers his will to protect Kanami who hasn't stopped looking for him. Meanwhile, Ryuho manages to recover his lost memories whilst protecting Natives from HOLY agents, ultimately leading to him becoming an ally of Kazuma.
The Mainland sends one of its best agents, Kyouji Mujo, to the Lost Ground in an attempt to exploit the power of the parallel universe for economic gain. However, Mujo develops delusions of grandeur after becoming the de facto head of the Lost Ground government and absorbing the Crystal entity from "the other side" to add to his already formidable Alter power.