Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon

In the far future, humans abandon a devastated Earth and traveled to outer space. However, due to unknown phenomenon that prevents them from traveling into space, humanity returns to Earth only to find it inhospitable except for Japan.

To accommodate the entire human population, pocket dimensions are created around Japan to house in the populace. In order to find a way to return to outer space, the humans began reenacting human history according to the Holy book Testament. But in the year 1413 of the Testament Era, the nations of the pocket dimensions invade and conquer Japan, dividing the territory into feudal fiefdoms and forcing the original inhabitants of Japan to leave.

It is now the year 1648 of the Testament Era, the refugees of Japan now live in the city ship Musashi, where it constantly travels around Japan while being watched by the Testament Union, the authority that runs the re-enactment of history. However, rumors of an apocalypse and war begin to spread when the Testament stops revealing what happens next after 1648.

Taking advantage of this situation, Toori Aoi, head of Musashi Ariadust Academy's Supreme Federation and President of the student council, leads his fellow classmates to use this opportunity to regain their homeland.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Aoi, Toori Main

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Ariadust, Horizon Main

Chihara, Minori Japanese

Honda, Masazumi Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Aoi, Kimi Supporting

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Crossunite, Tenzou Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Mitotsudaira, Nate Supporting

Inoue, Marina Japanese

Asama, Tomo Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Honda, Futayo Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu Japanese

Mukai, Suzu Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Naruze, Malga Supporting

Nitta, Emi Japanese

Saitou, Shigeru Producer

Hirayama, Tadashi Producer

Makimoto, Yuki Producer

Ono, Manabu Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Reviews

Jun 15, 2012

Veronin

Recommended

"Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere" is a very difficult anime to describe.

It synthesizes humor, action, and romance together into a series where each element is an irreplaceable part of the dynamic and story. Because it combines many different elements together at once it can easily bewilder the viewer and leave them in a position where they have little clue of where it is going. For some this may be a significant flaw and hold back their enjoyment while for others it may pave the way for an interesting and unpredictable story. This is definitely not an anime for everybody.

The story begins in a ... distant and somewhat bleak future. Humanity previously ascended into space but was forced back to Earth after fighting and warring beyond their limit, only to find Earth itself in an equally devastated condition. With Japan the only hospitable and habitable area remaining on Earth, humanity is split into the Harmonic Divine States where each administrative district is ruled by an individual country. It's then that humanity uses the Testament, a book detailing the events of past human civilization, as a guide to regaining their former glory by the means of reenacting human history. Unfortunately for the Far East—originally Japan itself— conditions are less than ideal as they are forced out of the country by the other ruling nations. A sizable portion of the Japanese refugees flee to the flying city ship "Musashi", which is where the story of the anime takes place.

"Horizon" boasts an interesting and unique array of characters, ranging wildly in terms of personality, appearance, and gender. Most notably is the protagonist Aoi Tori, a happy-go-lucky and heavily perverted teenager holding a strong preoccupation with erotic games and a propensity to grope the tender regions of the females around him. On paper this likely makes him seem a very annoying character but in the actual show his interactions with the characters are nothing short of hilarious and as the series progresses he develops into a genuinely likable character. His perversion is not so much a running gag as it is a defining and inherent part of his personality, one which makes him stand out more than any other character in the series. In a medium where bland self-insert protagonists are the mainstay, it’s a really great and refreshing thing to be able to see a protagonist with his own personality and a likable one to boot. It’s this behavior that also conflicts and contrasts well with the object of his affections, Horizon, a girl that he sets out at the beginning of the series with the objective of confessing his feelings to. Their relationship by the end of the series comes across as very endearing and heartwarming, something that would never be expected at first given the nature of his personality.

Dozens of other interesting and likable characters fill the rest of the story and create a sense of camaraderie. Most of the more important characters receive significant character development in proportion to the length of the anime, such as Suzu and her relationship and crush on Tori, and Tori's older sister Kimi and the past surrounding their relationship. Giving all of the characters sufficient screentime and developing them to any significant extent is difficult given the short length of the anime, but Sunrise does a good job of helping the audience at least feel connected to most of the characters on-screen with their own individual plights and teamwork as a group.

Unfortunately, the anime begins with very slow and inconsistent pacing which may initially put off viewers. Sunrise has personally admitted to the difficulty of adapting the early parts of the novel and it really shows in the first three episodes. While they aren't by any means bad episodes, they are definitely slow-paced and it takes a while for the anime to actually take off and set its feet into what makes it such an entertaining anime in the first place. After these episodes, Horizon really begins to shine and show what it does best, and that is the engaging action sequences and comedy between the characters. It’s a silly and lighthearted series where the characters fool and mess around in even the most climactic sequences but it never feels forced or out of place and the serious moments never fail to deliver either. These comedic traits in the characters are an inherent part of their personality and to remove that would likely lead to them feeling out of character and for the tone of the anime to sharply contrast in itself.

And for that reason, people that are expecting the anime to be serious and dramatic throughout are likely in for a world of disappointment. This isn't necessarily thought-provoking and there isn't an abundance of thematic depth to be found, but it’s rather simply an entertaining and amusing anime. If that’s something that you aren't personally fine with then you would be doing yourself a favor by avoiding the series.

Perhaps the largest flaw can be attributed to the complex and sometimes convoluted story. Aside from passing mentions and a few minutes of infodump during the credits of the first episode, the audience isn't left with much idea of the setting for the entire duration of the series. To have even a basic grasp of what is going on with the story it’s nearly mandatory to spend time online reading up on and researching the series. For a visual medium and an adaptation where reading the source material should not be a requirement, this is a massive detriment to the series. There’s no doubt that it would have been hard to convey all the details of the setting but I can’t help but feel like Sunrise could have done something a little more, even spending just a fraction of an episode to explain the basics to the audience. There’s some great worldbuilding here but it’s hampered by a convoluted and confusing presentation.

One thing that Sunrise should be commended for is the fantastic music used in the anime and the application of these tracks. A few of them in particular verge on stunning and they stand out almost immediately; and with the use of some tracks during the climax they essentially become a defining aspect of the series itself, being as irreplaceable as the characters and the setting. Whatever your disposition towards the anime, it’s nigh impossible to criticize the music.

Ultimately, the most important question in determining whether or not this anime is for you is quite simply this— do you enjoy silliness and are you willing to accept a story that you may not fully understand? While it’s certainly flawed in some significant ways, "Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere" is still a very entertaining anime that stands out from its competitors and has some fairly interesting details going for it. It’s unlikely that it will make its way onto your list of favorites or become something you remember for years and years to pass, but for what it is, it’s an engrossing and sometimes compelling series that should at least be given a try beyond the mostly lackluster and non-representative introductory episodes.

It's just unfortunate that so many people will choose to disregard a potentially great title based upon the first episodes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 8, 2012

Charliegone

Mixed Feelings

If you watched the first episode and thought to yourself "what the heck are they talking about, nothing makes sense.." then join the club.

Story

Kyoukai Senjou No Horizon (or KSNH as I'll refer to it for now on) is a messy affair. It tries to place the histories of nations, empires, etc all into one big blob and expects you to understand it. Either that or they tried to take too much of the original work and put it in 13 episodes. Pull out those history books, you'll probably need it to understand somewhat of what's going on. Basically the story revolves around humans who ... are recreating history. Why? Who knows since we aren't really told in great detail. Maybe they did say something about it, but because the anime is just a mess story wise, it was hard to grab a hold of almost anything of historical value; much less the story. In the end it's basically, boy meets girl, girl dies/goes away, boy decides to save girl at all costs, which is something I've probably seen in so many of these animes that try to seem unique. Well maybe KSNH is unique in that it just confuses the hell out of anyone trying to understand it. I give the story a 3.

Art

Well one thing that wasn't a major let down at least, was the artwork. Although I have to say that the proportions of the characters are just extremely exaggerated. Who the hell walks around with 50 pounds of hair on their head? No one! I mean the chicks on the show sure are some hairy women with huge boobs to add! I'm surprised none of them fell over due to the weight. Even though the proportions are just plain ridiculous, the art work is very well done. Lots of eye candy. I give it a 7.

Sound

Mediocre. I seem to recall the main characters voice is the same actor as the voice of Watanuki from XXXholic (I forget his name). While he was pretty good in XXXholic, he was just plain annoying in this one. Maybe it's his character, but geez was it annoying. The only thing that really stood out to me was the battle them music, which really made it seem like you were going into battle and menacing. Great stuff, but other than that...mediocre. I give it a 5.

Characters

I can tell you one thing. The characters on this show are terrible. The main one especially. Not just his annoying happy all the time voice!, but just how plain stupid and idiotic this guy was. All he does is watch porn, yeah seriously, and he's the supposed leader of this "nation"? It's hard to take him seriously even he tries to confess his love, or when he tries to win an argument; it just plain didn't seem genuine. That was my major beef with the character. Just a poor character. The other characters? There's tons of them; and none, I might add, that really stood out, well maybe the Indian guy that shoots curry (no seriously, that's his attack.) I thought K-on had bad crappy characters...well this one might just beat it. I give it a 3.

Enjoyment/Overall

Overall, I somewhat enjoyed this for some of the few battles they did have, but I just never really established any kind of relation to any of the characters. There are just too many of them and the main lead one is just plain poor for anyone to really genuine like. Horizon (the other main lead) was just a plain doll. Not really mattering until the ending episodes which by then I just plain gave up. From what I understand, a second season is coming out and I don't plan on watching it. Seems to me like it would just be the same ole same. I'm not falling for that again (I'm looking at you K-on). Want my advice. Run away from this anime. It's just not that good. Extremely poor story telling, crappy characters, forgettable music. I do no recommend.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 14, 2018

PandicornH

Not Recommended

3/10
Although I totally get why other people enjoyed this show, I had difficulty getting through any of it. And yes, that includes "After the first 4 episodes", because I'm an insane completionist who sometimes forgets to sleep.

Story: 2/10
I guess my hopes were brought up by the abundance of other reviews saying that you just have to wait it out, and get past the exposition. Well, I'm here to tell you the exposition never ends. Never.
Honestly, the show feels like a preteen's idea of politics. Entire nations are basically given away at the drop of a hat, with no attention payed to the political ... or societal ramifications, nothing close to farming is ever shown, and large armies are decimated with no justification for why they HAD large armies in the first place. Now normally, this wouldn't matter, but this show has the annoying habit of pretending its politics matter more than they do. Yes, the world surrounding the show is incredibly detailed, but due to a fundamental failure in storytelling, it is forced through exposition that nobody living in the world would ever need to give.

Art: 8/10
The writers of this show seem like they've never heard the adage "Show, don't tell", and most of the admittedly amazing art staff seemed like they were relegated to either fanservice or "make it look pretty". Now, don't get me wrong. They did indeed make it look pretty, and I can't take that away from them, but great visuals should help convey the story, not the MC's constant (and, btw, completely intentional) sexual assaults.

Sound: 7/10
Not much to say. Stuff lined up well, but even though the songs were decent, it was nothing memorable, and I don't think I could pick any of their songs out of a lineup. Constant exposition was a pain to listen to.

Character: 4/10
There are individual characters that make me want to say "10/10, almost perfect", but that's hardly representative of the vast majority of the character pool. The characters who are given backstories, individually, range from "Huh, that's interesting" to the "WHAT THE FUZZNUGGET IS WRONG WITH YOU?". Now, admittedly, a lot of these "WTFIWWY?" could be considered by others as "deep" or "meaningful", but I still don't see it. Many of the... less savory actions taken by various characters, especially the MC, range from assault to sexual assault to child(?) molestation. Politics only seem to matter when they're convenient, and halfway through, the MC loses their one motivation out of, as far as I can tell, boredom, which sums up my attitude towards the show perfectly.

Enjoyment: 2/10
Just off the bat, I don't think I'm being elitist when I say I didn't enjoy this. I was able to enjoy SAO, even though it's just a self-insert power fantasy. I was able to enjoy Fairy Tail, even though it was pretty much directionless. Hell, I enjoyed Hanamaru Kindergarden purely for the cuteness. However, this show gave me none of my levels of enjoyment.

1. "Turn your brain off" enjoyment. Think SAO
Doesn't apply. Too much exposition

2. "Wow, that's really pretty!/AWW" Think Your Name or (Loli show here)
Nope. Art's good, but not that good.

3. "Character Growth" enjoyment. Think DBZ or Fairy Tail
Nope. Characters literally drop their motivations halfway through, and the rest don't grow at all.

4. "Intricate Worldbuilding" enjoyment. Think Shinsekai Yori
Nope. No farmers/farms/farming is ever shown. Ever. Also, the characters don't take their world seriously, so why should I?

5. "ROMANCE" enjoyment. Ranges anywhere from "Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun" to "Golden Time" to "Erased"
Once again, never given a reason to care, and it doesn't focus on their pre-accident relationship enough for me to care about them getting together.

6. Jojo's. Think "Jojo's"
It's not Jojo's.


So yeah, overall, didn't like it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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