Kiss Dum: Engage Planet

✪ Genre: action (gunfights, swordplay), adventure, mecha (robots, power suits) military, sci-fi (alien, post-apocalyptic), seinen with some elements of romance and dementia


✔Positive Aspects✔

◧ An interesting rehashing of a very familiar concept: an invasion of Earth by an alien genus which is incredibly heterogeneous since it is comprised of countless species, all united in their quest to wipe humanity off the map.

◧ Pretty cool soundtrack: a decent and large selection of songs for all kinds of different scenes, mostly revolving around j-pop, electropop, and techno.

◧ I very much liked the pace of the plot, at least, up until the 19th episode, where the series started ... picking up very quickly and quite unevenly at that.

◧ Decent character development, at least, for some of the protagonist's frenemies.

◧ Decent animation: the characters' designs were unmistakably clear, while the piloted robots and Hardians were sufficiently clear, but could have been better (more vibrant, highly saturated colors).


✘Negative Aspects✘

◧ Although I liked the overall concept behind the series, I can't say that I ended the series without any bewilderment and second-guessing of what I witnessed. The series had more than enough air time to sufficiently explain major themes (origins of the alien genus, origins of the 'Book of the Dead', origins of the 'servants', the arrangement of the international political system, etc.) but instead, it opted for wasting time with the protagonist walking around the country (?) killing monsters in pursuit of revenge for his lover's murder. Also, the series ended without clearly explaining the state of the protagonist and his lover's existence, whether they were alive somewhere, dead or reincarnated.

◧ Pretty mediocre action scenes: they tended to not unfold, from start to finish, in a consistent, satisfactory manner, since they were either starting/ending too quickly or developing slowly and escalating quickly.

◧ Inconsistent use of gore elements: they were either popping up during mass killings or not at all.

Overall: The series had potential, but squandered it on the meaningless wandering of the protagonist while he was killing Hardians and screaming in frustration about his lover's untimely fate.

Let's see for a series that spent the first 3 episodes speeding through the story at such a fast pace why on earth they'd use the 4th episode as a recap is beyond me. You'd think they had better things to do with episodes if they were rushing so much.

Honestly the pace was so fast i thought i was on the wrong episode or something. But i probably shouldn't complain since i actually liked the recap (which is rare) because i was able to comprehend things i didn't get the first time (cuz it was too fast).

Anyway that was the beginning. Come episode 5 ... things actually get interesting and moves at a better pace. So in other words if you can survive until then u'll feel a lot better :]

Story: the plot is okay. I mean the human world is coming to an end because some alien species are killing everyone off. Its basically the apocalypse. If ur into that sorta thing then there's no real reason you wouldn't like the storyline.

Art: was good as well. I think it got better as the episodes went by. Nanao looked kinda weird at the beginning but come episode 14 he looks proper.

Sound: i really liked the sound. it fit the scenes. Cool music when a fight is in session. Slow music when u need to feel the mood.

Character: I found them really fickle actually. For a group of friends that had so many fun nice times together they sure turned on one another easily. Take blondie for example (the one with the scar, team captain) he was willing to go kill members as long as it was an order. He didn't question it at all. Pretty cold if u ask me.

The crazy brunette too. When he comes back he's all "die Shu, die!" like hello wasn't he the friend u liked best? Forget the rivary u even said he was the one u got along with the most.

and then theres Toun, the girly looking one. He had the cutest personality but no, he sides with a Hardian in seconds. Of course that was cute and all but the way he protected her as if nothing else mattered?

We can blame their characters based on the fact they got messed up by Hardians but then again they seemed pretty sane to me.

ugh and Nanao. I get he likes Yuno. But the way he acted in ep 14 was ridiculous. If anything he was just plain cruel.

...Iera...she's just annoying.

Enjoyment....honestly i just can't wait for the last episodes. Its not a series i feel overly happy watching. It's decent.

I have been searching for these series the whole day and after I finally found a complete set to have a good night watch, I was disappointed.

From the first episode the story is somewhat forced and tense, it doesn't flow naturally. Coupled with moments of inadequate character behavior it becomes annoying up to the point when you start questioning the reasons they exist there at all. I could swallow poor storytelling if these series were short, say 1 OVA. But 26 episodes is enough space and time to tell the story decently. Yet, from the start I kept myself asking: WTF?

And the sinking ... ship start was so promising... However, the makers were unable to keep the mysterious part to the declared mystery. My sense of wonder was stolen.

I won't drop and finish watching this, but I doubt it will get any better after 2 episodes, where the main cast was introduced (and I don't care about any of them flat folks, yes).