Riddle Story of Devil

悪魔のリドル (Akuma no Riddle)

10.0(1)

OtakuDen

6.6(133,006)

MAL Score

Ranked #7323

Popularity #1004

Action
Girls Love
Suspense
High Stakes Game
School

Episodes: 12
Duration: 23 min per ep
Aired: Apr 4, 2014 to Jun 20, 2014
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

Tokaku Azuma transfers into the prestigious Myoujou Academy, a secluded private boarding school for girls, and is placed in the ominously named Class Black. Behind the academy’s refined façade lies a deadly contest: Tokaku and 11 classmates are assassins assigned to eliminate their gentle seatmate, Haru Ichinose. The first to succeed earns the fulfillment of their deepest wish—no matter how impossible or costly—while anyone who fails in their single attempt is expelled.

Rather than carry out her mission, Tokaku begins to feel unexpectedly drawn to Haru. As the other assassins close in and the stakes escalate, Tokaku turns against the game itself, determined to keep Haru alive even as the classroom becomes a battlefield of suspicion and intent.

Otaku Consensus

Riddle Story of Devil remains a divisive but memorable 2014 suspense-action title: its strongest reception centers on Keizou Kusakawa’s brisk one-cour direction, the escalating classroom game structure, and the way reviewers singled out Haru’s sharper, less innocent edges as the character material deepened. Fans who rate it above its modest MAL score of 6.59 tend to value the sleek assassin setup, Diomedéa’s compact action delivery, and the yuri-coded tension; the recurring criticism is that 12 episodes leave a large rival cast moving too quickly for every backstory to land with equal force.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Riddle Story of Devil if you want a female-led death-game anime that favors tense confrontations, loyalty tests, and stylized assassin identities over mystery-solving mechanics. It scratches a similar itch to Danganronpa’s high-stakes classroom pressure, but without the trial format, and it has the sharper girls-school edge that yuri fans often look for in darker ensemble shows. The appeal is not just “who attacks next,” but how each character’s motive changes the emotional temperature of the room. At 12 episodes, it is lean enough to binge in a night, with a rhythm built around compact duels, shifting trust, and a protagonist whose restraint is as important as her combat skill.

Key Characters

T
Tokaku Azuma
Tokaku is the kuudere center of the series, compelling because her cold assassin discipline keeps colliding with choices that do not fit the role she was trained to play.
H
Haru Ichinose
Haru stands out in fan discussion because reviewers noted that her gentleness is not the whole story, with later characterization giving her a more calculating and resilient edge.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
The series uses a strict one-cour format: 12 episodes aired from April 4 to June 20, 2014, giving the show a compressed, almost tournament-like pace rather than a sprawling school drama structure.
2
Diomedéa produced the adaptation, with Keizou Kusakawa directing and Kiyoko Yoshimura handling series composition, a pairing that pushes the material toward fast escalation and clean episode-to-episode suspense.
3
The creative lineage is notable for its character-first identity: Yun Kouga is credited as original creator, Sunao Minakata supplied the original character designs, and Naomi Ide adapted the cast for animation.
4
AniList’s highest tags emphasize exactly what makes it distinct in the 2014 lineup: Assassins at 93%, Female Protagonist at 90%, Survival at 88%, Primarily Female Cast at 84%, and Death Game at 80%.
5
Review coverage repeatedly highlights Haru’s hidden ruthlessness as a key point of interest, making the target character more active in the series’ tension than the basic setup initially suggests.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Riddle Story of Devil sits in an unusual popularity position: on MyAnimeList it has a modest 6.59 score from 133,006 votes, yet it still ranks around #1004 in popularity, showing a large audience despite mixed ratings.
Fun fact 2: AniList lists the series at 65/100 with 1,693 favourites, closely matching the MAL reception pattern of a niche but persistent fanbase rather than broad critical consensus.
Fun fact 3: The production credits separate original character design and anime character design: Sunao Minakata is credited for the original designs, while Naomi Ide handled the TV character designs.
Fun fact 4: The action side had a dedicated staff role, with Takayuki Sano credited as Action Director, fitting a show built around repeated short-form confrontations rather than long battle arcs.
Fun fact 5: Its genre and tag profile crosses several audience lanes at once: MAL classifies it as Action, Girls Love, and Suspense, while AniList also marks it as Seinen, Boarding School, Battle Royale, and Yuri.