Zankyou no Terror

Painted in red, the word "VON" is all that is left behind after a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility in Japan. The government is shattered by their inability to act, and the police are left frantically searching for ways to crack down the perpetrators. The public are clueless—until, six months later, a strange video makes its way onto the internet. In it, two teenage boys who identify themselves only as "Sphinx" directly challenge the police, threatening to cause destruction and mayhem across Tokyo. Unable to stop the mass panic quickly spreading through the city and desperate for any leads in their investigation, the police struggle to act effectively against these terrorists, with Detective Kenjirou Shibazaki caught in the middle of it all.

Zankyou no Terror tells the story of Nine and Twelve, the two boys behind the masked figures of Sphinx. They should not exist, yet they stand strong in a world of deception and secrets while they make the city fall around them, all in the hopes of burying their own tragic truth.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Twelve Main

Saitou, Souma Japanese

Nine Main

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Shibazaki, Kenjirou Main

Sakuya, Shunsuke Japanese

Mishima, Lisa Main

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Five Supporting

Han, Megumi Japanese

Mob-ko Supporting

Satake, Uki Japanese

Mukasa Supporting

Kanuka, Mitsuaki Japanese

Hamura Supporting

Aigasa, Keisuke Japanese

Kurahashi Supporting

Tezuka, Hideaki Japanese

Clarence Supporting

Takahashi, Daisuke Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Kimura, Makoto Producer

Ootsuka, Manabu Producer

Inoue, Takamitsu Producer

Reviews

Jul 23, 2024

Joe_Devaney

Recommended

Overview:
I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that nobody in their right mind LIKES terrorism. In fact, when I was in school, I wrote an essay detailing just how much I hated it, from how many lives it's ruined to how little one ultimately has to gain from it. However, a fundamental part of humanity is that everyone does things for a reason. "Terror in Resonance", an original anime directed by Shinichiro Watanabe of "Cowboy Bebop" fame, is a thriller that looks at terrorism from a perspective rarely even considered- that of the terrorists themselves.

Story (7.5/10):
Set in modern-day Japan, "Terror in Resonance" revolves ... around a series of mysterious bombings that start occurring all over Tokyo. These bombings are caused by a terrorist duo calling themselves "Sphinx", who regularly upload videos containing cryptic riddles, which as it turns out are the keys to preventing the bombings. After initially not taking the videos seriously, disgraced ace detective Kenjiro Shibazaki is called in to investigate the bombings and stop Sphinx. What nobody knows, however, is that Sphinx are really a pair of teenage boys known simply as Nine and Twelve, who look like anyone else their age and are hiding in plain sight among Tokyo's citizens. One day, Lisa Mishima, a troubled teenage girl, ends up getting caught up in a middle of one of Nine and Twelve's terrorist attacks, and ultimately agrees to become their accomplice in exchange for them saving her life. The series then follows Nine and Twelve as they continue their bombings, Shibazaki's attempts to stop them and Lisa struggling to deal with the decisions she's made.

The series starts off like a standard thriller, with the only difference being that the identities of the culprits are known from the start and we see things primarily from their perspective, with the detectives' side of things being important but not focused on nearly as often. A few episodes into the series, however, it starts to become apparent that there is far more to these mysterious boys than meets the eye, and that while their actions may be villainous, they aren't THE villains of the story, with all of the decisions they make being done in order to make a point to the world, though to say what that is would end up giving away the entire story. This also has an effect on the detectives' side of things, as overtime Shibazaki's goal shifts away from stopping Sphinx and more on uncovering the conspiracy that led them to their actions. All of this makes for a story that evolves considerably and has plenty of twists to go around, which will often leave you wondering what's going to happen next.

Unfortunately, while the story may be interesting, it is far from flawless. For starters, I never really felt like everything tied together properly, with the main characters often running into obstacles that only really serve to hinder their objective rather than add anything new or exciting to the plot. This is not helped by the series only being 11 episodes long, meaning that there just isn't enough time to flesh-out these ideas, making them ultimately come off more as distractions than anything. What's worse is that Nine and Twelve's past is only ever revealed in bits and pieces, with the conspiracy that created their existence supposedly dating back nearly 70 years but is only ever explored in the bare minimum of detail. Even so, the story does manage to wrap things up quite well, and the ending just about makes up for the bumps in the middle.

Art & Animation (8.5/10):
"Terror in Resonance"'s visuals are an early product of studio MAPPA, who since then have gone to make numerous highly popular anime, including the final season of "Attack on Titan". And while the show's visuals may not be quite as good as those found in their more recent anime, they're still well-above average, with very well-drawn character models (give or take a few rough edges), beautiful environments and fantastic special effects, particularly those of the bombings. Overall, the show's visuals are definitely one of the main highlights.

Sound & Dialogue (9/10):
"Terror in Resonance"'s soundtrack is superb, as it is composed by veteran Japanese composer Yoko Kanno. The opening theme "Trigger" is a song that is very haunting and perfect to start an episode of a series like this, and the ending theme "Dareka, Umi o" is truly chilling. My absolute favourite track, however, would have to be the beautifully somber "Von", which plays during one of the late episodes and singlehandedly makes the scene it plays in one of the most memorable in the entire series. The voice acting is great as well, with Aaron Dismuke being the highlight as the childish but ruthless Twelve, though Christopher Bevins and Robert McCollum (who provide the voices of Nine and Shibazaki, respectively) definitely come close seconds. In short, the sound designs is the best of the series without question.

Characters (7/10):
While Nine and Twelve are both working towards the same goal, personality-wise the two are opposites in many ways. Nine is stoic, mature and no-nonsense, Twelve is cheerful, childish and mischievous. Nine prioritizes their mission above all else, Twelve is more laid-back and takes time to do other stuff. Nine doesn't trust others and dislikes the idea of bringing in people from the outside, while Twelve doesn't really see what the big deal is. Naturally, their conflicting personalities means that the two often have a clash in opinions, though it's rarely to the point of arguing. Furthermore, while they may not always agree, there's never any doubt that they care for each other a great deal, and when they're on the job, their teamwork is pretty much flawless, with Nine serving as the mastermind who comes up with the plans for the duo and Twelve being the more active of the two, being skilled at operating vehicles and stealing things. In other words, Twelve's the muscle, Nine's the brains. Overtime, we learn more about the duo and their motivations, though this does come at the cost of making some of their early actions come off as weirdly out-of-character for them, giving the impression that the writers were just making things up as they went along. If I were to decide which of the two I preferred, it would have to be Twelve, as he has more of a character arc and I liked how he sometimes shows he wishes to be more than just a terrorist, unlike Nine who seems to be just resigned to being a mere messenger.

Next is Kenjiro Shibazaki, a former ace detective of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department who was demoted to its record division for insubordination but is brought back in to solve the Sphinx case. Even early on, it's made clear that Shibazaki is the show's most conventionally heroic character. Rather than being an Inspector Javert-esque character who ends up obsessed with catching Sphinx to the exclusion of all else, Shibazaki is just as focused on understanding the terrorists as he is on stopping them, and is one of the first people to realise that something doesn't add up when it comes to the bombings. While he's not the most interesting detective character, he's likeable if nothing else, and if anyone in the series can be called a "good guy", he can. There's also Lisa Mishima, whom I can't say I liked very much. The story portrays her as someone lonely and miserable as a way to make us understand why she would end up joining a pair of terrorists, but she instead comes off as a whiny brat who blames everyone but herself for her situation, even though Nine made it clear to her early on that she is responsible for the path she takes. It doesn't help that she's pretty much useless, with nearly all of her attempts to help out failing miserably at best and backfiring horribly at worst. In the end, the only thing she contributes to the series is being someone for Twelve to cherish and protect, which ultimately serves to enhance his character more than it does hers.

If I were to name a character I really didn't like, it would have to be Five, a mysterious FBI agent who joins the hunt for Sphinx a few episodes in and has some sort of connection to Nine and Twelve, both of whom greatly fear her. While it's pretty clear she wasn't meant to be liked, the real reason I didn't like her was because she ends up turning the series from a realistic terrorism thriller to something more akin to "Death Note". This proves to be very much to the show's detriment, unlike Lisa, who while not particularly relevant to the plot, didn't really take anything away from it either. Even worse is that her relationship with Nine and Twelve is barely even explored, to the point that it's never completely explained how they ended up on opposite sides to one another despite sharing identical circumstances. In general, one of the biggest problems I had with the series (if not THE biggest) is that it focuses too much on the story and not enough on the characters within the story, with the majority of them existing to serve their roles and little else. For example, most of the detective characters only really exist to assist Shibazaki in his investigations, with him being the only one with a known first name.

Enjoyment (7/10):
Considering this is a series about terrorism, it should go without saying that "Terror in Resonance" is a very dark and bleak series, which is evident from the very first episode. Our protagonists are a pair of terrorists who go around bombing buildings, yet they still manage to be among the most sympathetic characters, with almost all the other characters being either incompetent or just plain corrupt. There are some lighter moments to be found, but they are few and far between and the series ultimately ends on a bittersweet note that puts a particular emphasis on "bitter".

Overall:
"Terror in Resonance" is a unique series that is unlikely to appeal to everyone, but those who aren't turned off by the premise will probably end up liking it. While its short length does work against it from time to time and the characterisation leaves something to be desired (especially that of the female characters), this is still well worth a look if you're a thriller fan, with a good story, great visuals, exciting set-pieces and fantastic music.

Score:
7.5+8.5+9+7+7=39/50=7.8/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 23, 2024

annasara

Mixed Feelings

I started this series without any hopes or special expectations, it seemed interesting and it was on my plan-to-watch list. For me personally it started out with a solid 8 maybe if i want to exaggerate a 9. The first episode presented us the main problem interesting charactes and possible future problems without going into too much detail leaving you hanging and craving for more. I am not sure where did it start to go downhill but when it did it wasn't planning on stopping.
My first problem was the "main girl" Lisa. She seemes to be a nice caring girl a bit clumsy but ... she only has good intentions, even though i can hardly remember anything she said during the show in fact i think i could count on my fingers how many times she said a complete full sentence. However we have never got to find out what is going on with her. What happened with her family why is she so bullied at school in fact what was the point of going to school. In the first episode we see our two "real" main characters starting in school, only to never go back again. I can see how this was only to make them more approchable maybe relatable but if you don't take a plotline nowhere why would you introduce it in the first place. And this is a dealbreaker for me especially if it happens more than one time. New characters were introduce without explenation, old conflicts apparead up again without explenation and the ending was just again unexplained.
So in the end i had to give it 4 stars. I enjoyed it in general and there were times when i was excited or nervous, but i just expected more after the first few episodes which were so fantastic. This is a kind of series which coul use maybe a prequel series which explaines furthermore the details and backgrounds of the characters because right now it has a good potential but no afterthought.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Dec 28, 2022

sliceofpi

Not Recommended

I’m a lover of psychological, dark anime. If you are too, you probably have had Terror in Resonance recommended to you countless times. I finally got around to watching it, and I have to say I have no clue how fellow fans of Death Note, Monster, Code Geass, Paranoia Agent, and more, could EVER see this as even an average anime. Let me explain.

Story - 3
I don’t really know what to review here because this anime doesn’t really have a story. Sure, we follow the terrorists and the police as new bomb threats are made. But none of this seems to actually be leading ... up to anything. The viewer is left in confusion until the very last episodes. Every once in a while this same clip basically hinting at the backstory of the terrorists is shown, but that’s it. When the reasoning is finally shown, it’s poor and actually makes me dislike the characters. I won’t spoil anything but it’s a typical backstory for these angry teenagers to want to get attention in this way. But it also makes nothing make sense - they literally didn’t have to keep setting off bombs to accomplish what they wanted to.

I know it’s an anime, but giving too much power to protagonists does get annoying. Our two main terrorists just happen to be able to hack literally anything, know where all the blind spots are in an airport to avoid the security cameras, can basically grab a police uniform out of thin air when they need to disguise, can steal a bomb, can ride a motorcycle well enough to evade cops, can survive being in a train car when a literal bomb explodes and creates a huge fire, and more. And it’s not just them who are perfect - the main guy on the police force is able to solve all their riddles because he’s just so smart.

Nothing makes logical sense in this anime. The terrorists claim their bombs haven’t killed anyone… really? Even if nobody is in a building you blow up, the debris would most definitely kill someone. And there honestly were still probably people in there. Also, if you turn off all electricity, people in hospitals will suffer since many electrical equipment is used there. Just so illogical.

Also, love how when the police force are doing some investigating and they spot the mask the terrorists wear in the room of someone they are interviewing, they ask about it and get the response “oh yeah i’m a big fan of those guys” and then the police just do nothing. Like, someone just told you they are a big fan of TERRORISTS, so much so they purchased the same mask the terrorists wear… and you are concerned at all? Also, you literally haven’t seen the faces of the terrorists so why would you not investigate this guy to make sure he’s not actually one of them?

Characters - 2
Character writing is crazy bad. Most characters are just plot devices and only have one trait like “being annoying” or “eating a lot” or “good at riddles”. Some characters don’t even have explainable traits - for instance, the girl with white hair. She hates the terrorists for no reason, like literally no reason. I won’t spoil anything but it’s crazy to me how a character with that much screen time can make no actual sense, have no clear motivations, so contradictory things and be so annoying all at the same time.

Sound - 7
Yes, the soundtrack is really good for the most part. But it is not death note level in my opinion. Also, I didn’t like the opening or ending that much so I can’t give full points.

Art - 10
I’m not gonna lie here - the art is beautiful. Even very simple scenes have amazing scenery. There are lots of scenes involving bomb explosions and they all are so detailed and well done. Stellar animation.

Enjoyment - 3
I mean, the vibe is cool. It’s kind of Death Note vibes at the start when the police are trying to crack down on the riddles and the terrorists themselves. But there is just way too much power given to characters that makes it all feel unrealistic and cheesy.

Overall - 3
Sure, this anime may be nice to look at and be exciting at the start. But the story has no substance to it. Characters are useless and not like-able at all. The anime could have done better if it had removed the white haired girl and instead explained more of the motivation of the terrorists, and maybe given them better motivation.

Watch any other psychological recommendations. This one is not worth it and will leave you unsatisfied.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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