A.I.C.O. Incarnation

In 2035, an incident known as “The Burst” occurs at a Japanese research facility, giving birth to the rapidly expanding, consuming, and self-replicating "Matter." Snaking its way through the remains of dams and military facilities in the Kurobe Gorge, the hostile Matter is besieged by task forces trying to prevent it from reaching the ocean and mercenaries seeking the truth behind its existence.

Aiko Tachibana lives under constant medical surveillance after being rescued from the Matter. She spends her days waiting out her recovery by making paper planes. Soon, her daily life at school is disturbed by the arrival of transfer student Yuuya Kanzaki, who proceeds to point out a number of inconsistencies regarding her body. Why is she never injured, and why does she suddenly no longer need her wheelchair? He claims that there is more to her existence than she has been led to believe, and that she alone holds the key to ending The Burst.

With many factions now interested in Aiko, she and Yuuya must gather allies and embark on a dangerous pilgrimage into the heart of the infested gorge before the net can close around them. To escape the conspiracy moving against them, the pair must face off against the Matter—an enemy that flows like water.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tachibana, Aiko Main

Shiraishi, Haruka Japanese

Kanzaki, Yuuya Main

Kobayashi, Yuusuke Japanese

Minase, Kazuki Supporting

Murata, Taishi Japanese

Shiraishi, Maho Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Misawa, Kaede Supporting

Ichimichi, Mao Japanese

Sagami, Yoshihiko Supporting

Furukawa, Makoto Japanese

Shinoyama, Daisuke Supporting

Takeuchi, Ryouta Japanese

Yura, Toshihide Supporting

Majima, Junji Japanese

Kurose, Susumu Supporting

Ookawa, Tooru Japanese

Isazu, Kyousuke Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Amano, Naoki Producer

Kisara, Youhei Producer

Ogisu, Hirotsugu Producer

Murata, Kazuya Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Original Creator

Reviews

Oct 14, 2023

daaphish

Recommended

*No Spoilers*

Summary:
A.I.C.O. Incarnation is a sci-fi-thrill story with a unique and interesting plot and world. The dialogue, voice acting, and characters are a relative weakness, but the show is generally engaging and interesting. If you enjoy plot-driven sci-fi shows and don’t mind under-developed characters, this may be of interest to you.

Story: 7/10
The plot is intriguing, although the story is not always clear, and the viewer is thrown into the middle of a scene without any background knowledge at times. The plot is a relative strength for the show, and is its most redeeming quality. It is unique, and the world-building is interesting, although the story ... is sometimes predictable.

Art: 7/10
The art style is simplistic but pretty. It is fitting for the story and helps to illustrate the unique world.

Sound: 7/10
The music is great, the voice acting is poor, and the sound effects are sufficient. Part of the issues with the voice acting revolves around the terribly written dialogue, so I am not weighting it as heavily in this area.

Characters: 4/10
The main protagonist is interesting, although the dialogue-writing is horrific and over-the-top in certain scenes. The protagonist also starts off with a very generic, "damsel in distress" vibe which does provide room for growth but makes her unlikable at first. Some characters do develop as the story progresses, while others stagnate. Overall, the characters could be worse, but they aren’t very memorable and are generally not well-developed.

Enjoyment: 7/10
This was one of the first Netflix original anime that I found truly enjoyable to watch, mainly because of the engaging plot.

Overall: 6.4/10
A.I.C.O. Incarnation is a sci-fi-thrill story with a unique and interesting plot and world. The dialogue, voice acting, and characters are a relative weakness, but the show is generally engaging and interesting. If you enjoy plot-driven sci-fi shows and don’t mind under-developed characters, this may be of interest to you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 11, 2024

CodeCypheur

Mixed Feelings

Aico is an anime about what it means to be human. I'd like to say it tackles this question quite well - generally speaking, when it comes to being an interesting piece of media though it really fails to be anything other than mediocre.

For such a theme based around being human, you'd think there would be a focus on making the characters believable people with motivations you can understand and stories you can relate to. Unfortunately it does not do this. Almost every character is forgettable, I only remembered two of their names (the two leads). The two leads do have a fairly interesting relationship, ... I can't say much because that's spoiler territory but they grow well together - my only gripe being the weird 'love interests' thing that seemed to be hinted at. Only Aico was an engaging protagonist. Not enough to make up for the lack of personality with everything else but she was a very good character. She comes across as a more gentle soul, but the show immediately shows that she has a strong will - something that keeps up throughout the entirety, as well as a lot of empathy and protection for others. Her arc is fairly small, she doesn't develop all that much as every choice she makes stays true to who her character is, she may seem like she believe one thing at some points but she does stay steadfast in her beliefs for what she truly wants and chooses to do.

No time is given for any of the other characters really, we're given an exposition dump for a couple of their backstories (exposition dumps are another problem with this) but that's about it. We go on their journey with them, we see how they work well together as a team and how they all do care for each other - but it's just not enough to actually care about them. The main villain is a little bit too cartoony, they're set up fairly well but when they come to the spotlight it is a bit too dramatic, as if they're saying 'look I'm the villain' to really show that they're not a good guy, rather than having any build up to justify their actions.

To understand the plot and what's going on you really do have to be paying full attention to the show. It's only 12 episodes so there are some scenes that are short but a major change occurs, if you weren't paying attention then you're just going to be lost. The latter half definitely picks up the pace, whereas the first half slogs on quite a bit with nothing much happening.

Overall it was an enjoyable watch, it lost my interest in parts and the sad moments didn't elicit any reaction at all out of me due to this feeling of detachment I had towards the characters. But I liked the message and I believe it did quite well exploring it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 18, 2024

beeper2beeper

Not Recommended

Story: 5/10
This story is pretty average. It asks the existential question of "how much of yourself can you lose before you're no longer human" but with mystery "matter." The story is a bit confusing at first but it gets better by the end. There are a few twists here and there, but if you watch a lot of anime you can see it coming. I do like that they tried something new in the genre

Art: 7/10
You can tell there was some budget that went into the serie. It's simple, but there's a lot of panning shots and still parts for limited animation. It isn't MAPPA ... quality but there is a variety of camera angles and interesting shots every once in awhile

Sound: 5/10
The music is neat. The voice acting is what gets me. I watched the dubbed version and the girl MC voice annoyed me, so I couldn't fully invest in her character. The male MC voice doesn't match him at all. All the side characters and girl MC voices gives off teenager energy, whilst the male MC voice sounds like he's in his 20s.

Characters: 5/10
Pretty basic. I don't know any of their names except Gummy (the hamster like blob). I only remember its name because I like hamsters. There are scenes to give depth to the characters but it feels out of place and shoe-horned in. The characters aren't properly introduced and falls into archetypes. Makes it really hard to enjoy the serie when I dislike the MC so much.

Enjoyment: 5/10
I had little expectations going into this because it was made by Netflix. And I came out not a changed man. It added nothing to my life, but it was a good time-waster

Overal: 5/10
There are better series out there in the sci-fi genre that tackles existential questions and exploring the unknown. I wasted my time so you don't have to.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: A.I.C.O.: Incarnation Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Tyrel - Mar 9, 2018	87 replies	by JVskunkape »» Apr 23, 11:56 AM
	Poll: A.I.C.O.: Incarnation Episode 1 Discussion Tyrel - Mar 9, 2018	37 replies	by Bidoof_PMD-EOS »» Aug 17, 2023 8:06 AM
	Poll: A.I.C.O.: Incarnation Episode 2 Discussion Tyrel - Mar 9, 2018	15 replies	by 1uchan »» Jul 25, 2023 7:54 PM
	Poll: A.I.C.O.: Incarnation Episode 6 Discussion Tyrel - Mar 9, 2018	9 replies	by OgregO »» Jul 24, 2023 3:35 PM
	The Dub is Garbage demision - Apr 11, 2018	8 replies	by sometaters »» Dec 5, 2022 4:15 PM