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All the live action adaptation problems, but in the source material.

Two sides of the same story, bombing victim Takumi, reunites the survivors from a bullying victim motivated school bombing in hopes to find the accomplice, or culprit. While on the other side, a girl is doing another bombing threat, with the situation unfolding and falling apart on both ends.

As a story, think on the potential here. A bombing cult with the objective of stopping bullying. Polarizing in so many levels, a message about the importance of the message, and the execution of the message itself. At which point does a message change from importance, ... to fear? It was there, and it was doing so good, even with such an extreme narrative, and edgy execution. The manga had a purpose, but it had so little time to actually develop the concepts properly.

The players are; normal folk, bombing victims, bullying victims, bullies, the cult, and the police. With those simple sides, you've got layers upon layers of pure character, perspectives which contribute to the point of the story. They all have a say in the matter, and if only the story touched upon those with care, and purpose. The manga could've easily been an impactful piece of media that makes a mark in the middle of the edgy climate. Sadly, that wasn't the case.

13 chapters isn't enough to treat such a cocktail of polarizing themes. Every scene was missing the conflict, the empathy, the perspective from outsiders. It doesn't have respect for the actual themes it's portraying, not that there's a lack of trying, but a lack of depth. It isn't as simple as a revenge fantasy. Nothing is as simple as mentioning “You erased their dreams”. You need to show the true destruction of life, the true perspective on those that create a complete cult around stopping bullying. So much missing. The manga only reached surface-level messaging. I gained nothing from reading this, when it could've easily been an absolute 9/10 if every character was fleshed out.

Lack of respect, lack of nuance, not even touching the bare minimum towards bullying, terrorism, victims, rape, the mental health effects, the repercussions of survival, even if there was always a moment trying to achieve it. Instead of a lack of trying, there's a complete failure. I don't blame the artist, but the story itself.

In terms of art, probably the greatest part. There's holding on frames, true feeling of pain in injuries, detail that adds to scenes, and a very distinct personality that compliments the themes with a strange innocence to the designs.

The other problems I have with it are, as I said before, it feels like a stripped down version of a way better story. The pacing was abhorrent, the naming, and constant “he said, she said”, doesn't allow us to get in gripes with any personality on the panels. Not only was it a badly constructed theme, but a badly told story in general.

3.7/10. I wish the manga had a higher respect for what it tackles; and time to cook something that matters, or hell, just works as a story. Doesn't even do that.

Edgy fiction truly fell off with this one.

The story's extremely basic. A group of people are given a letter to reunite years after the tragic suicide of the school idol, according to the main character. In reality, he's looking for a culprit, or information. It all crumbles down as they encounter the vengeful spirit. It's the most basic slasher, Japanese horror you can imagine. The spirit, the vengeance, the horrible characters, the “twists”. It doesn't even sound that bad for a simple b-movie plot, but the point of the story isn't even on proper display.

Everybody trying to read this one knows about the edgy, violent ... gore that's about to take place. The vulgar, uncanny art that gets the point of ugliness across, the gory spreads, the expressions of horror. However, it wasn't even that gory. One panel on each death, that's all you get. I'm not trying to say that I want blood and violence, but the story itself opens up for exactly that. At least that's what I believe, since the story itself is just so stupid. If the story isn't the focus, the gore isn't either, the art isn't either, the point isn't either. If you strip down the elements from which the story is created, there's no point to it. Gore was the closest, but there's almost none of it, happening mostly off-panel.

The ending's idiotic, the treatment of a murder that took place doesn't even work if you think about it for about three seconds. I guess the ending was interesting, and a bit creepy. It left me thinking a little bit, which is way better from the rest. I'll give it that much. And there's a sequence where the monster slowly approached from the background, with a cinematic pzazz for horror movies.

Insulting the author isn't my objective here. Five chapters worth of a story that works might've been a tough job to achieve with a small time frame. Hell, maybe tons of people like this kind of junk food horror. It's bad horror, that wishes it was good horror. It needed time, more chapters, and a bigger everything to create a good atmosphere that fit the horror. If everything else fails, you got the vibes.

3/10. It's the most nothing thing you can think of, but I appreciate the effort.

My life started to spiral into a constant stress just from reading this. Recommended.

The love triangle. A trope I'm very familiar with, and everybody is familiar with. The stress of dealing with two people you wanna date at once, how it impacts every choice you have, and both people involved have a unique dynamic between them. It's extremely stressful, interesting, and it reveals the reality of people. When love is at the end of the tunnel, the rest is merely an obstacle. However, this story started to feel… a little strange.

The story itself is about Watari-kun, who takes care of his selfish sister that basically ... considers him a dad. Alone with their aunt, no time to develop friendships, no time for a job, no time for good grades, no future ahead, nothing to save him from that, until a girl sees this as a unique quality. Of course, another one from his past has come to torment him.

It's simple, cliché, typical, you name it. Boring to an extreme, nothing stuck out, and my enjoyment was minimal, but there was something there that kept me. I couldn't tell what it was, be it the humanity in the characters, the stress Watari goes through, the selfishness from the characters. After some chapters, it was finally clear. There were no “good” people in this manga, at least in the typical way. Everybody has a selfishness to themselves that's amazingly portrayed in the manga. Everybody affects everybody, they all lie, they all scheme, they all try to get an upper hand, and it's the job of our main character to BE selfish. To do what he wants to do, and not care about being hated by one or two people. You can't please everybody, and that's just, so hard to accomplish while being who the protagonist is. People will call that a terrible protagonist, but the development was there, for the whole time.

Challenged with the constant stress of being human for once, I was pulling my hair at how much tension I was feeling for this character, for everybody. But then, they never rob him of choices, they pull misunderstandings, but they add consequences to them being there. It isn't a matter of everything going back to normal. Once something happens, the story runs with it, and changes the entire dynamic. It changes as a manga, because of what each character does. There's no base to stand on, no safety net. Hence, the shortness of the manga. It doesn't do the eternal love triangle. When something fails, it stays failed, and nobody can ever fix it.

I was reminded of that time in high school, the stress of dealing with romance, organizing time, grades, people, friends, the lies, the deceit, the weird immaturity that's displayed through all of us. It was hell for my brain, like a moment of retrospective that brought with it a spiral of things I never dealt with from that time. The hatred and the friendships that came about in those times. I could ramble about how this relates to my life, but I can tell this'll relate to many people's lives. Not in the romantic way, but in how hard it is to deal with family, with crushes, with friends, and everybody's egocentric lives.

It's a lesson on selfish people, and how that's just the most human people can be. We all want something out of the world, and when we don't, there's only suffering waiting for us. Not saviors, or martyrs. We're humans, and the winner takes it all.

Of course, it's an incredibly interesting story, which people diminish by calling it: “Oh my god, every character's a yandere”. It's a romantic, character study that shows a person that isn't something, surrounded by people that ARE that something. Accompanied by art that's pretty good, all things considered.

I wouldn't call it masterful. It's an art style that fits, that gets the job done. No moments that truly stick out. The dialogue and writing ARE the winners in this department. Every character is well-written, at least for biased me, since I've met others like it. Heard a criticism once, about how nobody acts like this, and my brothers and sisters, go outside. I'd say they could've gone the extra mile.

All in all. A manga that affected me deeply, not from a disturbing standpoint, but because I lived through many of these moments, choices, and people. It wasn't fun, and the manga isn't entirely fun. Addicting to read, and even more addicting to know what would the ending be. Yes, it's got stupid moments that shouldn't have happened, even in a real-life setting. I still, deeply recommend it.

8.4/10. I need a break from romance drama just from reading this.

What does life tell us? When we write a character study about ourselves?

Writing this while still not decided what to rate it.

Manga isn't something I'd usually go to for an autobiographical story. There's only one manga that I follow from that regard, “My Solo Exchange Diary”, and the author Kabi Nagata; and in the same vein, this isn't the kind of story you'd find a film about. There's over 8 billion different lives currently happening at this instant, and people being able to express theirs in manga form inspires me like nothing else, specially with stories as necessary as this one.

Pesuyama, a non-binary, male ... leaning author, suffered from sexual assault in their workspace back in 2013, due to their female body. At a time when laws, the media, the legality, and the social norms weren't as prevalent in protecting the suffering ones. Pesuyama was, at the time, somebody whose experiences had already caused them extreme turmoil, confusion, anger, hatred, not only outwards, but inwards. Damming their existence, damming everybody else around them. A horrible cycle of loneliness, pain, hatred, and their slow way out.

It's such an honest portrayal of a human, at least for the moment Pesuyama wrote it in. While, we can always imagine life to be a bit predictable, the way we describe experiences like this is what makes them important. While this is a portrayal of life, it feels like a grander lesson on understanding, on caring about those around us. Respect isn't a hard thing to act out, much less when aware of how our actions affect others. And yes, not even the author is perfect. People have reasons to be horrible to others, and it isn't a justification on bad behavior, but knowledge to be recognized, so we can move forwards, and become better people. The friendships we have, the relationships with our families, are all that hold us up in times of sadness.

Life affirming, and equally therapeutic for Pesuyama to have written it. It reinforces my beliefs as a person, and definitely my respect for the surrounding ones. In that regard, the manga succeeds. Now, of course, being an autobiography, and a short one at that, it isn't perfect. There's a messiness with details that (while making the manga more human) undermine a good structure. It embodies the author to a T, since it wasn't at all written with a plan on when it'll end. Like a friend, telling us what's relevant to each piece of a small puzzle, instead of the whole picture. The last chapters delve into a much more personal detail, that connects with their other manga, which I wish was translated somewhere.

It's Pesuyama's arc into slowly accepting their body, with some bits and pieces of how their relationships change over time. Their mother, friends, the past, the reminiscence, and how they portray themselves with the limitations of the publishers. It's all about confronting one's demons, and reaching what many would think is an “anti-climactic” resolution. I loved it all the same.

The art is simple, expressive, to the point, effective. Text is the most important part in this memoir.

I have only praise for this one, and the problems only fill it with earnestness. I hope there's a future where I can read more from the author, and their personal portrayals of life.

8/10. Definitely gotta check out more memoirs, if they're this good.

A love that feels like 1000 years.

“Millennium Actress” is one of those movies that's just about to be something, but isn't at all. An exploration on the film industry, but no, it's an observation on actors. A love story, that's more about the objective, not the destination. An interview, that's actually a love letter. It keeps changing, evolving, turning into a piece of a person's heart. What motivates a person to pursue art? To pursue love, to pursue a passion? What are everybody's motives to be where they ultimately are? In the end, you're where you stand, at this very moment, for a ... reason.

None can easily explain a movie from Satoshi Kon. They're always breaking conventions with the genre they use as a base. As the last movie I've seen from his stuff, it's equally baffling to truly encompass the themes, and meanings in a single review. In itself, this is the story of an actress, and how she goes about remembering her life. It all happens between her memories on film, of each role she got, of each era she portrayed. Everything slowly connects with her search for the man she's loved since she was in school.

It never confused me, but it wasn't ever entirely clear about its intentions. It's got a layer of a supernatural destiny, or it could very well be a metaphor for a love that feels like it lasted 1000 years. Escapes normal boundaries, it breaks the people around you. The jealous ones, the guilty ones, the co-workers. Life becomes all about a fruitless pursuit, but it isn't terrible at all. Life moves on, and one continues searching for something, with motives, with intent, with energy. In a way, even in the end, “I'm more in love with the pursuit”, makes life all the more worth it.

Now, I don't agree one should search for love, and sacrifice everything else around one to get it. However, I love how it turns back into a lesson about the objectives we wish to achieve.

All abstract elements aside, I love the way it's tied up with incredible animation. Fluid, expressive, perfectly in line with the quality Satoshi Kon is known for. No frame is wasted, and the human beauty in his works never ceases to amaze me. The soundtrack had this electronic vibe to it that makes scenes all the more memorable.

This sounds like a 9/10, or something clearly higher, but while this movie deserves all that praise, I couldn't connect at all. The story was pretty standard, and predictable. The way it was told was probably its best aspect, but all around, it got extremely repetitive. For such a short movie, clocking in at 80 minutes, I think I saw the same scene 3 times in a row. Could've worked if that was chopped down to tell one story, without any breaks or repetition. The pacing was a true issue for me, and you can cut this one by a lot.

Instead of immersing the audience, you make them wonder why are we getting the same scene, with a different era, done in the same way. Just, move it along, I want to see the rest. Even with the excuse of setting up the cathartic ending, I don't think the repetition helped it by that much.

7/10. I really like the movie for what it tries to be, and the quality can't be understated. It's a problem with what it actually does to achieve. The editing room's got a better movie, for sure.

The concepts of “pacifist”, and “$$6,000,000 bounty on his head” made the synopsis one of this series' greatest strengths.

I find it difficult, to talk about “Trigun Stampede” without spoiling anything. It's a series that contains the importance of its message behind the very synopsis, and it isn't at all what the series is about, but it's the climax itself. Everything comes back to the synopsis, the situation the main character puts himself in, the constant sadness, and the tragedy that follows him. Everything comes back to the fact that he is the embodiment of something greater.

Even if the beginning sets up our main ... conflict, the story doesn't touch upon it that fast. It leaves us in the dark for a while, to deliver the actual story a little later on. We begin with small adventures. Our main character meets the main cast, everybody tries to deal with some smaller, and bigger goons, and it all seems pretty simple. It's slightly episodic in nature, and it definitely bored me towards the midpoint. However, I knew I should stick to it a little longer. This is a story about learning the past, learning what truly happened to get where we are, and how that shapes the character's future.

There's a revelation about our character, something that changes everything, and the narrative becomes this philosophical debate between environmentalism, society's slow suicide, the fatalism of human nature, and if one good person does represent a horrible world. I started feeling this attachment towards Vash, a feeling that slowly crept through my back, and made me stare at a pinnacle of ideals, and how they can slowly break a person.

Are we our ideals? How long can we go? We can preach all we want about changing the world, about maintaining as many present lives as we can, but what does that do for the future? Should we defend the now? Even when everybody hates you? Would I manage to take the blame, and suffer for the sake of those who want me dead? It's so poignant, and so beautiful to see a person who just can't let go of the good in people. All against the one who sees only the hatred humanity produces. Perfect foil, and a great narrative to follow it.

The animation's got the “Studio: Orange” signature. Beautifully rendered, and expressive animation that bursts with emotion, and character, with amazing fight scenes that you can't look away from. If there are arguments to accommodate for CG animation, this is one of them without a shadow of a doubt. The shot composition had this greater than life feel to it, where the desert, or the scenery, buries the characters in a never-ending space of sand. The mouth, the faces, eyes, and the kind-of bubbly movement adds much more personality to each frame. There's some 2-D around there, but it never fights with the CG, only done in simple moments.

I wish I could give it a better rating. If it weren't for the boring episodes that lead to the reveal we had with our character. The first episode, and the reveal onwards, were probably the only points where I wanted to keep watching. Excellent quality, that can easily be left away due to a bad follow-up to the great intro. The other gripe would be the problem with some characters. My lack of attachment to them, even with their slow development, that's most likely left for future seasons. I needed a little more from them, but with our main guy, Vash, and the main villain, as well as his emotional connections, amazing.

A great soundtrack, with these massive piano motif. Lovely animation and presentation, cinematography, voice acting, story, and lessons. Wouldn't know if to call it one of the greatest Christ allegories, since maybe I'm missing the point. It just felt so beautiful if seen from those lenses. This is a series that deserves love, and I'll be watching more for sure.

7.5/10. Right behind that wall of greatness, but currently unable to break beyond it.

The end of an era in animation.

“Attack on Titan” is one of those things, you know? A beautiful thing that only happens once in a generation. It broke out of its mold, and reached pop-culture; heard across the world, even by people that weren't part of the anime world. Everybody knew about it, everybody heard spoilers from it. A phenomenon, no other way to put it. When a piece of media isn't known only by those into it, you know you had a true hit. But, cutting to the chase.

Was the ending satisfying? It wasn't just satisfying, it was one of those that instead of ... assuming everybody wanted the original ending, or the original structure; it FIXED the ending. I read the original work, I knew about the original's failings, and I too, hated it. A clunky conversation destroyed the ending's purpose, and the intent was there, but the execution was atrocious. A simple conversation, but one that carried all the meaning in the story. I knew, and even I wrote myself how it could've been fixed, without losing the message, and this one did it.

Everything, even with some other elements not fitting entirely, such as the eternal love element, finally made sense. And I have to give a segment to such a moment:

War. A conflict between two sides that coincidentally have more people they can work with. Eventually, war becomes this useless conflict where human lives are destroyed for the sake of the top runner having their wills consummated.

Now, give the power to one person. A power to control such a conflict, to know what will happen depending on their decisions. What kind of solution would they come up with? Does education change that solution? What constitutes the ending? The surroundings? Or the will of that one person? Well, sadly, imagine, giving such a power, to somebody who's solved every conflict with killing? Since childhood, since puberty, since adulthood, everything has been simply to kill the enemy. The complexity of the conflict doesn't matter to them, since it will all be solved by death, right? What then, fights the solution? Time dictates that your friends will fight you, they will stop you, so then, what do you do?

Instead of the future being molded by the choices taken, it's molded by the ones you don't take. His friends had to live, his hatred had to prosper, the mass genocide he did had to happen, and in the case his friends won't stop him, he won't. He can't come up with any solution, he can't come to an understanding, and his only response as to why he couldn't?

“Because I'm an idiot”. So silly, so simple, but the truest response to how war, and conflict molded him. A person built with hatred, having thought about this for centuries, or millennia, all with a limited mind, can understand himself and their shortcomings. Of course, people wouldn't like the quote, and surprise, the genocidal maniac's scared of not being loved, of death. For some reason, people wanted a human being, capable of destruction, to be this stone faced, iron willed force of nature. He's an idiot, he's an immature bastard, given too much power, with which he could only come up with a genocidal solution. Couldn't do any better.

In the end, everything goes back to how hatred, and pain shouldn't have happened in the first place. It's a message against the hurt we inflict on each other, and the love that can warp our glimpses into the future. In conjunction, both can move mountains, at the same time, causing unfathomable calamities.

Power, time, cosmic horror, the infinity of love, against the infinity of hate. Power corrupts the good, anti-war, segregation, genocide, racism. These themes are explored with such ambition, and a grand scope to couple a perfect animation style.

Every season was packed to the brim with action, emotions, chills down my spine, and some of the greatest moments will never leave my memory stream. I'm glad I experienced this story, this quality, this effort to tell a story with love and care.

I wish everything fell in place, but the achievements of “Attack on Titan” far surpass the shortcomings. It's as if peering into a 998/1000 things done right. You can practically ignore them, and understand the quality of everything else.

The music, the characters, and their perfect motives. The dead, the living ones, carrying with them a legacy even by the end of the story. When the credits rolled, I knew, that even having read the original, this was almost, and basically, perfect. Even after ALL THAT, the story still decides to show how the world is molded by these MASSIVE moments in history, that change everything, are just facts, with great detail, in history books. We thank those from the past, that are now, still, affecting the future.

10/10. Masterpiece.

Finally, “Attack on Titan”, season 4, part 2, final episodes, part 2.

Letting go is pretty hard, isn't it?

This is one of the many manga I added to the backlog, which featured a strange couple dynamic, seemingly creating a slice of life story. After that little phase ended, I was left with all these stories that I wasn't too excited to read. However, something about the last chapter being such a low number intrigued me far more than I thought. Short stories that get to the point when they have to are the best in my opinion, and “25-ji no Ghost Writer” succeeds at what I wanted it to.

The small story about a 15-year-old book author going ... back to the house he lost his family in, in an attempt to get out of writer's block, although he finds the ghost of his first love, the dead maid.

Letting go. Truly a hard topic to tackle in a small story, about the daily existence of a ghost in one's life. Most ghost stories focus entirely on the tragedy that befell the dead ones, or the sad horror that comes with it. This one takes the opposite route, the ghost is a nice being, that does what they did when they lived, and explores death as the moment that pauses people's lives. Everything becomes the tragedy of the past. A writer does everything to capture the dead ones in their work, a brother abandons his happiness, a man loses his purpose in life, since it was tied to the dead. This ghost is the small allegory to the things we can't let go off. We tie ourselves with the past, just as much as the past ties itself to us. A never-ending cycle, that's perpetuated by our desire to not understand it. As the main protagonist slowly gathers his memories, we watch as he heals.

It's just a really pleasant story. It doesn't have any unnecessary conflicts, it uses the characters well, and everybody appears organically through a well-paced script. Felt like a movie plot, and any part that was a little slow, simply reminds us of a healing process that's not as intense as other stories portray. I enjoy those portrayals, but I can't deny how beautiful it is to watch a plot of people that can talk things out, without there being stupid fights. Every character has something to tell, a past they aren't letting go of, and we slowly experience as not only our main character, but our cast does it. Except one, which is (bonus points) a great, and fun trans character.

Cute, pleasant art style, with an interesting focus on people's mouths. A visual identity that stands out among slice of life, and an ending that I respect to death. Not many stories end as appropriately as this one, without a bang, without a conflict, or an intense moment, but as a reminiscence of what happened. They moved on, and so will we. Now, my problems are just from the dialogue and engagement. The gags weren't funny half the time, and the main character broke his own way of acting, just for the tsundere trope. Annoying at times, but pretty great at others. That doesn't detract from my enjoyment at all, and the tragedy, and the slow reveal, works wonders for the kind of story it wants to be.

7.4/10. I loved that ending.

What the hell am I supposed to think about it?

To give a brief intro, we're set in a slightly dystopian, realistic future world. The economy is horrible, crime is on the rise, technology stagnated, and jobs directed to killing people are commonplace. A government agency created a vengeance act that benefits our schizophrenic, master hitman protagonist, Kano, who now has a chance to get a job, and find a safe routine. I came in without a synopsis, but that's such a big mistake. Everything at the beginning is set inside a mentally ill individual that can't discern what the hell is happening around him.

We ... go about how he deals with his job, with his visions, and constant hallucinations. He's the most untrustworthy protagonist I've ever seen. Instead of the author hiding the story, it's just the protagonist not being able to grasp it himself. He fights the plot itself, in an attempt to control it, and organize what doesn't make any sense in this messed up world. After some time, just as the protagonist found a routine, the plot stabilizes, and we get some sort of understandable rhythm.

The story takes on the perspective of those that must be assassinated by the protagonist. We experience their lives, their troubles, their tribulations, and the death that comes with it. In the middle of all the edgy, and horrible concepts, there's this human feeling, to follow the ones that have a good heart, or those who truly regret their mistakes. The world comes smacking down, in the unrelenting power of a Kano who thinks nothing of death.

Bewilderment, strange, confused? I'm confused about being confused. By the end, the message was pretty clear, specially with that ending, but there's something that's not fitting. I've read many stories where the lesson was the lack thereof. Sometimes, life throws curveballs that mean nothing, that hurt people, and involve them in the worst things to ever be lived. But, this had all that, while still trying to convey a message. Something in the nothing, a bunch of violence, sexual assault, domestic violence, suicide, mental illness, throw in some dementia in there, PTSD. It's a cocktail of destruction, and the worst in humanity. The ones that deserve to die, will be the only ones to survive.

I guess, or more like, I hope, it's about the lies we tell ourselves. In this world of horrible acts, done to everybody, we mustn't invent a world where they don't happen. We have no friends, but that's not an excuse to pretend life has no meaning, or value. We should embrace the absurdity, the pain, loneliness and violence, and only then we can see the value in life. I think that's it, and I hope that's it.

Can't segue into the artistic aspects easily, so I'll just mention how good the art is. If there's something I loved was the brutal, sketchy art that perfectly captures this horrible world. Dark, ugly, disgusting at times. You can always feel the impact of fight scenes, on the damage done to people. There's a gimmick, where we don't see the reaction, right after people suffer damage, but we hover in the wound, while their faces remain calm, right before the suffering. It feels so… deliberate, that I have a hard time judging the rest.

This isn't an easy story to talk about. There's much I still have to think about, but it definitely wasn't entirely for me. I had a hard time reading, or engaging with the dialogue. The action scenes, and the main character using this strange allegory for predator vs. pray as a power against people. It felt exactly like what the mind of the protagonist was. A scrambled mess of emotions, bursting with a desire to understand the world around him, but ultimately failing to do so. He only managed to understand himself, and use it as a cautionary lesson, to himself.

8/10. Absolutely not for everybody. The things that happen in this manga are truly despicable, and loads will just not engage with the narrative style. I had to restart after the first few chapters. Still, there's a strange level of humanity here, and a strange lesson that draws you in. Give it a shot, but even I have a hard time calling it good, even if it is.

What a sad watch, not because of the story, but the amount of wasted potential.

Yes, I decided to watch this one because of its stellar intro. A mesh of interesting visuals, amazing song, colors, and the idea that it'll be a bit experimental, weird, but ultimately great, or so I thought. It directly began by changing what I expected. A story about a moment, and only that moment. If you could stop time, what would you do? It's such a monumental power that the head of a family, with his good heart, hid it away, knowing there are those who can, and will, use it ... to mold their surroundings with malice. Of course, a moment in the story calls for a use. A ransom, simple enough, makes a lot of sense, but it doesn't stop there.

That's just the beginning, and it had me hooked, even if it wasn't what I expected. From now on, it would be a story about fighting the bad guys, there are strange powers given to those built with certain bloodline. Mechanics that change, people with more purpose than we thought, cosmic creatures that seem to protect the time stream itself, and then… the plot seemed to lose itself.

A shift in the narrative, a piece of it, started to feel too, random? As if everything needed to change entirely every episode. As if the plot needed more of something at any given moment, and you can feel it. Some of these elements stopped the pacing entirely, or rushed it exponentially, just so they can explain or go to the next scene without much of anything. The relationships are leading up to a deep friendship that simply doesn't make sense. Of course, I decided to investigate. One look at the original manga chapter count reveals everything. A little less than 70 chapters, for just 12 episodes. Ludicrous, impossible to adapt in such a short time. The fight scenes ended too fast, the logic on the character's actions to win said fight didn't make sense. It was a rushed, unfinished adaptation.

The animation started falling over onto itself. It had such an ambition for coordinated moments of emotion, action, powers, struggling and winning. Sadly, it didn't have the resources to bring it to life. The original's art is great, amazing even. However, not even by comparison, it's sub-par. Too simple, when the plot needed a polished presentation to truly sell the best moments. Spotty CG (Even as a CG defender), unstyled character designs that won't age well at all.

The blocking on the fight scenes was downright atrocious. We were shown the horrors the villain can unleash, the violence he can cause. His powers are unrelenting, overwhelming, and they should be able to kill anybody. Thank you, series, for reminding me of my most hated cliché. Our villain grabs someone with the intent to kill, only for them to start monologuing for the hell of it. That itself ruins all immersion, the enemy becomes this incompetent dumbass that (SPOILERS) dies with a comedic moment. At least in the original manga, the villain remained scary until their deaths, even if there's still a slight touch of dark comedy to it.

In the end, this is a terrible adaptation, of a competent manga. Rushed, overly ambitious, well-acted, with some pretty good final episodes. However, even in the manga, it's just better. This remains a sub-par story, that I wish used a fun premise, with its emotional beats intact. If the original art was kept, at least the designs would've been much more interesting.

4.6/10. Read the original; I recommend it way more than this unfinished, rushed mess, with great potential.