Night Raid 1931

Category: TV Series
Adult: No
Native: 閃光のナイトレイド
Romaji: Senkou no Night Raid
Titles:
闪光的夜袭
Blazing Night Raid
Nightraid
Night Raid
SnNR
Greitasis Naktinis Reidas
Raidul de noapte.
Огни Ночного Рейда
Runtime: 25 minutes
Aired: Apr 6, 2010 [14 years 9 months ago]
Ended: Jun 29, 2010 [14 years 7 months ago]
Language: Japanese
Genres:
Historical
Tags:
Violence
Tragedy
Super Power
Friendship
Gunfights
Military
Conspiracy
Special Squads
Politics
Alternative Past
Links: MAL ANIDB ANN ANILIST

It is 1931, and we're in Shanghai. The Imperial Japanese Army has been dispatched to mainland China, due to large-scaled and still somewhat recent military events, most notably the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and World War I. In this cosmopolitan city of intrigue lies a small spy organization, which history would later forget, led by a man named Sakurai Shin'ichirou. What Sakurai's group does for a living could best be described as sorting out the mess in situations through which a regular group of spies wouldn't last; the amazing survival abilities of its members are a result of their super powers. However, a big plan starts to unfold in front of Sakurai and his men; that plan involves traitors and spies, politics and domination, tears and blood. No matter how strong a super power is, it also has its limits, and that holds true for Sakurai's men as well; when faced against the enemy behind that plan, an enemy that also has people with super powers among its ranks, how far will their own powers take them?

Episode 1: The Rescue
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-04-06
The Sakurai organization is tasked with a covert mission to rescue a Japanese business president from the hands of a small Chinese military faction. Source: crunchyroll
Episode 2: Rondo of Retrospection
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-04-13
Sakurai requests the group to investigate a Jewish Russian violinist named Sergei Krainev, whom the Kwantung Army suspects is a foreign spy who's been leaking classified military information. The members of the Sakurai organization will need to use all of their skills to crack this case.n again. Could these disappearances be linked to a film that is being shot on board ? Source: crunchyroll
Episode 3: Shadows Fall on the Big Four
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-04-20
Yukina receives a letter from her missing brother, saying he wants to meet her, but overshadowing all that is the much more immediate bomb threat involving the four department stores in Shanghai known as the Big Four. The assailant lets Yukina read his mind, regarding the location of the three remaining bombs. While Aoi and Kazura search the other two stores to extinguish two of the bombs, Yukina and Natsume remain at the store where they are in to disarm the third one. It is revealed that the assailant is Kuse, who was sent to retrieve Yukina. Kuse is a subordinate of Isao with the abilities of teleportation and telepathy. To make matters worse, Aoi finds a young girl in one of the stores, also having to evade Kuse at the same time. As the four spies meet up with each other, Kuse retreats after being overwhelmed with their combined attacks. Source: Wikipedia
Episode 4: Cameras, Dumplings & Stray Cats
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-04-27
Feng Lan requests Aoi and Kazura to have some pictures taken of her restaurant's food so that her menu can compete with a rival Japanese restaurant's realistic replicas. Aoi agrees to do it so he can get a free baozi while Kazura reluctantly complies since they are both professionals. However, after the photo shoot, a cat takes the bag containing the film of the menu as well as the film containing a summer vacation photo of a Japanese lieutenant. Aoi and Kazura are forced to investigate the Green Gang to recover the film, but learn afterwards that the cat took the bag due to the smell of the baozi. Source: Wikipedia
Episode 5: Negative of Summer
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-05-04
Kazura recognizes his old friend Nishio in a photograph that Aoi has taken in a German delegate's house, resulting in Kazura investigating Nishio's whereabouts. However, he is captured and tortured by the Kuomintang and discovers that Nishio is a spy for the Communist Party of China. Released in exchange for information regarding a weapons smuggling involving the Comintern, Kazura approaches Nishio's lover Ailin, and the two briefly talk about him. During the weapons smuggling, Nishio escapes from the authorities and crosses paths with Kazura, who informs him that Ailin is waiting for him. Nishio disregards it and is later assassinated. Source: Wikipedia
Episode 6: An Ominous Night
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-05-11
Sakurai reports to Aoi and Kazura that Isao might be involved with the Pan-Asianism movement. It is not soon after until Isao kidnaps Aoi and lets him listen to the Asian delegates' meeting at a tea parlor. Isao voices out his own ideals on Pan-Asianism, later encouraging Aoi to join in his group. Meanwhile, Kazura, Yukina, and Natsume mysteriously find a map toward the tea parlor placed by Kuse. Once outside the parlor, Kuse does his best to prevent them from interrupting. Source: Wikipedia
Episode 7: The Incident
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-05-18
Two reporters, who are riding on the South Manchuria Railway, run into Kanji Ishihara, the Lieutenant Colonel of the Kwantung Army. He helped devise a bombing so that Japan could attack Manchuria out of “self-defense.” Ishihara and several other high ranking officials come face to face with the prophetess. Source: crunchyroll
Episode 8: In the Country of Frozen Earth
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-05-25
After the Mukden Incident, Japan uses the opportunity to seize the entire Manchuria region. The League of Nations sends in Sir Lytton and his committee to investigate the situation, refusing to recognize Manchukuo as an independent nation, but Sir Lytton will soon see sights he could only imagine in his nightmares. Source: crunchyroll
Episode 9: The New Capital
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-06-01
Aoi follows the convoy where his fiancée Shizune is, but loses track of her. Going undercover, he infiltrates the building she is residing in, but is confronted by Kazura, undercover as an imperial guard, who expresses his disapproval of Aoi's subordination. Despite Kazura's attempt to stop him, Aoi escapes with Shizune. While in hiding in an abandoned house, Shizune reveals that she cannot leave with him because of her ability of foresight and her responsibility to guide leaders. While Aoi expresses that he will abandon everything to be with her, she disappears when he leaves to find a horse for them to escape. Meanwhile, Yukina meets her brother in the hotel, where she and Natsume are staying in. Isao lets her read his thoughts in which it shows the atomic bombings in Japan. Yukina collapses from shock and upon waking up, she finds the vision too traumatizing. Source: Wikipedia
Episode 10: East Is East
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-06-08
During the group's next mission to find evidence that the Chinese are smuggling in weapons from Germany at the Dalian port, Kazura is ambushed by a group of Westeners. When Isao comes to his aid, he reveals to Kazura a secret base where nuclear weapons are being developed. His words force Kazura to make some decisions that he may regret. Source: crunchyroll
Episode 11: Hunt in the Dark
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-06-15
Sakurai shows little concern with Kazura's betrayal, noting that Aoi's actions with Shizune has changed the course of history because Puyi was unable to meet her. Meanwhile, Isao tells Kazura that a war between America and Japan is inevitable, based on the prophecy that his former fiancée made, and that they must prepare for it. Aoi and Natsume infiltrate Isao's base, where his subordinates are setting a bomb to destroy any evidence and weaponry they cannot take with them, and Aoi is shocked to see Shizune is with Isao. Kazura lets them escape and tells Aoi that his purpose of joining Isao is for the future of Japan and Asia, but lets his former teammates go before escaping with Shizune and Isao. Upon arriving at their destination, Kazura is surprised that Sakurai happens to be there. Source: Wikipedia
Episode 12: Night Raid
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-06-22
Aoi, Yukina, and Natsume have been clearly forsaken by Sakurai, who they have not seen for three months, but they continue to look for leads on Isao. Meanwhile, Isao and his men continue act discreetly as round-the-clock construction work occurs in Xinjing in preparation for Puyi's expedited inauguration ceremony as the new emperor of Manchukuo. Since the atomic bomb remains incomplete, Isao resorts to Shizune's abilities in which she will channel her vision of the atomic bombing to the important politicians who have gathered for the inauguration. After his men take control of the area, Isao announces that his threat to bomb Shanghai at midnight if the leaders from the Western powers fail to release their colonies in Asia. Source: Wikipedia
Episode 13: At Least a Fragment of Hope
Runtime: 25 minutes
Air Date: 2010-06-29
Natsume is fatally injured by a random soldier after his fight with Kuse, but asks that his death be concealed from Yukina for the time being. Natsume's death causes Kazura to realize that he has been living in the past instead of looking forward to the future and he rejoins his former allies. When the Sakurai Kikan confront Isao, he explains that humanity must experience tragedy firsthand to avoid war again, but is refuted by Shizune, who suggests that Isao's actions were actually for the sake of his late fiancée. When Sakurai appears and shoots at Yukina, Isao takes the shot and dies. Having infiltrated Isao's group to eliminate him, Sakurai reveals his own interests in the nuclear arms to change fate, but his assistant Ichishi erases his memories. Shizune requests that Ichishi erase her memories so that no one will experience the same fate as her. Meanwhile, Aoi and Kazura combine their efforts to hijack the plane containing the atomic bomb and drop the weapon in the ocean. However, only Kazura is seen escaping the crashing plane, while Aoi's fate is left unspecified. Two years later, Yukina visits Feng Lan at her restaurant, where the latter shows her the group photo they took back in Hokuryou with Kazura added in it. Yukina hears a violin being played badly, reminiscent of Aoi. However, she sees that the Japanese Army is marching on the streets which indicates that the war is coming soon. Source: Wikipedia