Dies Irae: Reimei

A prologue to a series isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. You need to establish what'll happen in the main series proper in a bite sized amount of time, sort of like a demo. You give them a taste of what's to come, or at least tell them what they need to know in the hopes that they'll continue.

Dies Irae episode 0 is how not to do it.

A prologue is supposed to give a good first impression, and if it fails, we have the right to persecute and execute. Some people play the "it's just a prologue" card but that never works due to this reason. Dies Irae episode 0 is, in essence, a completely clusterfuck that tries way too hard to be epic and cool without getting anything right. The characters especially give off this vibe, with a ton of them just being deranged lunatics with kooky powers and the ability to constantly cackle all the fucking time. Pardon the buzzword, but this is edginess in a nutshell. I can accept the aesthetics being comprised of so many skulls because Nazis are evil and cool and evil, but not this shit. The main character of this episode, Reinhard, is literally a guy who starts off cold and feeling hollow and then after inner monologue, suddenly becomes the grinning bad guy person we see at the start for no real reason. He's basically the same, except somehow his "friend" caused this. I couldn't tell because this prologue is rushed to hell and back.

There's that word again: rushed. I'm not entirely sure exactly how much this would've benefitted from being 45 minutes instead of 23 but it would've helped in some regard. The pacing is a nightmare here in which nothing is established other than the Nazis being Nazis and 3 not edgy girls sending themselves to help the main character of the episode. We don't even know who they're fighting. Are the white haired people who started battling supposed to be of some faction or are they just super-powered criminals causing trouble?

In fact, who are most of these guys and why are they here? There's this one really hot and apparently creepy girl who strolls around with her father for God knows what reason and he has a weird headache. They do nothing. Two of the three girls assigned for this post do battle against the two white-haired people, in some horrendous action scenes (even worse than the god awful one between those two people) and then Reinhard just pimps in like "lemme show you how it's done, hoes" (that's not actually what he says) as he pushes them aside and fucks up the two albino people. Then it drops the fucking ball by showing some random army getting royally fucked by everyone god knows how long afterwards, and we don't know half of their names, and there are a lot of people that show up here alone, adding to the already insanely cluttered and maniacal cast. I mean it, in the final 3 minutes we see them crush those guys and new people associated with them just show up and either walk behind fire or have one move activated in a horrendous still image. What's with the weird skull-creature thingy castle at he beginning and end? Who is causing the time portal at the end? What the actual fuck is going on?!

I mean, I guess some of this stuff will be explained later and taking those out of the equation, its not like there are many plot holes or inconsistencies or retarded moves we know next to nothing about what's going on at all barring a few explanations of the setting and the "friend" who can read minds and shit at the beginning, and for a prologue, the thing that is supposed to get us interested in what's to come, this is sinful! I sound angrier here than while I was watching but man, I'm aggravated and disappointed. Even the fights sucked ass and nothing here is interesting.

The visuals aren't that great either. The art is decent enough for most part for the characters (who have admittedly pretty decent designs), though there are bad moments (and a few pretty good ones too) and there is a fair amount of animation, but the fight scenes suck so much ass. No real choreography, lazy techniques you'd see in the very first Pokémon anime, and shots and actions that are rendered incomprehensible. If you thought I didn't know what was going on in the plot, the fight scenes are even more difficult to follow. The CGI blocks sucked ass too. At least the bad CGI skulls in the OP are used effectively as weird and fucked up things meant to make you unsettled as you see a girl sleeping on them, and at least the flying ship thing for most part has decent art, but still. This is a Kickstarter project apparently, so I guess this has something to do with the mediocre visuals, but it's not like it can excuse the fight scenes, especially when it turns out that this kickstarter made it so that the budget for all 18 episodes would overall be way bigger than most anime.

If nothing else, the music is pretty good. The ED (which will be the OP in the series proper) "Kadenz" by Yui Sakakibara, is very fun as a self-indulging rock opera of villainy and calamity. Fits perfectly with the series in that regard, so that's an added bonus. The OST so far is admittedly pretty decent as well and adding to the themes of sheer calamity and evil present within the characters, and they work well in alleviating the pain of the horrendous fight scenes. Regardless, this good music can't save everything, even if they did make this prologue more bearable than it would've been otherwise. Regardless, this was a speeding train wreck and I am incredibly worried for the main series that follows. But, who knows? Maybe the show will be at least better than this mess. With all that said, I see you adieu.

OVERALL: 2/10 RAW SCORE: 25/100

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Hello. This is the first time I have written a Review on MAL.

I see that there is a certain polemic on this episode, so before giving my opinion on the episode, I will talk about this polemic and my point of view.

Basically, they had no way to produce an anime and it shows ... the animation is really not terrible. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this introductory episode, this passage that highlights Reinhard was not mandatory because the base a special episode and I find it nice to highlight it directly. I see that many expect a perfect adaptation, or other people who criticize because there are Nazis, others with Fate, ect ... stop watching the animes in this case, it is not a media made for you, to be so stuck in mind. Masada wanted to share his love and wanted to pass it on to the fans, so I think we should see this for an anime for the fans, although I think we will never have the road to Rea, Kasumi, and I pass.

The budget is limited, but we had to deal with things much worse. And for the misunderstanding of the end of the episode, I can understand, but you have to know how to read correctly when Karl speaks to Reinhard, Dies Irae is philosophical and asks us to reflect on many points, especially when Karl speaks, actions that are logical. Of course, I'm a fan of Dies Irae, but I know there are blackheads in this episode, but I get the impression that most critics are really ridiculous and stops at really unimportant points. "oh my god it's incomprehensible, I stop looking, even if it's episode 0 and I'll have explanations later, no no I stop" or "there are Nazis that will not go far ". The reviews on the animation are the only ones I find acceptable, but once again at the base, this anime should never have appeared, and if it is not terrible, I invite you to inquire about the cost of producing a single episode, which is very expensive. So I have an impression that many people do not think, do not notice that it is an episode 0 and not an episode 1.

That's all for my opinion on the controversy, now my opinion.

It is true that the action happens quite quickly, but the works of Masada give a lot of details, so it is true that the transition in an alternative version can be strange, but it makes pretty good I find. The characters show up quickly enough, but we quickly get to know Reinhard and Karl, taking up the episode Die Morgendammerung. Few anime can venture to start on a demonstration of the antagonist, unlike many anime that start on "the young Hiroto is 16 years old and he lives his life in college and then ..." no, we start on a special episode that highlights the Longinus and how they became the antagonists, so it's normal I find putting fog to take part in various questions to arise on real revelations in the future. At the level of history, I enjoyed it.

The music is a cover of the Visual Novel, it sounds good and corresponds well to the action that unfolds before our eyes.

I did not like the design, not the levels of the characters who are very loyal, but at the level of some plans, but it can apologize with the limited budget even if I do not remove this defect.

In all, I liked it, and I do not understand the polemic around this episode, it is true that it can be weird for newcomers who do not know the original work, but it is a prologue episode, it's stupid to drop an Anime just for that, really. An episode so very nice and that makes me want to see the continuation.

PD: Sorry for my bad english.

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I am going to keep this short as how this prologue made me wish I have short term memory. Here we go:

The visual novel is pretty good, I am around 35 hours deep into the game and my god how terrible this is.

For starters, this is heavily rushed, like doing a college thesis 2 hours before its due. Episode 0 is supposed to give you a general impression of the series and what to expect, I will expect to see a game over 50 hours long composed in 18 episodes which is 23 x 18= 414 minutes of rushed content.

Nothing is explained properly but minimal plot holes at the least (my only praise)

Do not get me started on the voice acting, RIP headphone users more like it. It sounds like the VAs recorded their scenes through an iPhone messenger or Skype. It sounds really cheap.

I do admit, for a crowd funded project, the animation is pretty decent in the matter. I expected less with the art and the OST is pretty good as it is re used from the VN. (Not a bad thing)

Other than that. This is a mess and feels absolutely random at most.
Only thing you will get is that this is during the Nazi era.
It is as if you are caught in a web of lies but decide to lie more lol a terrible example.

Characters. No comment.

Plus, I think it is too early to judge but since I wrote this much of a review then may as well submit it.

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Hey, this is my first time writing a review on MAL.

So, first I'll clarify that I've read the Visual Novel and I love seeing it animated.

This episode adapts a side story of the VN (Die Morgendämmerung) which was 2 hours of gameplay.

I see a lot of controversy on this episode and I understand why since it was confusing to most. Now the adaptation was a bit rushed I'll admit, but it covered nearly everything from the story leaving minimal plot holes and censorships. If you watched this episode first then you might be confused but it makes more sense after episode 7.

The sound was nigh-perfect imo. They used the same voice actors from the VN which are outstanding and they remade the OSTs as well.

The art is not bad but not great either. Compared to the VN it lacks, but it's still amazing on its own.

The characters are pretty much the same except that they don't get fleshed out as well as in the VN. But taking into account the budget and the time limit the directors did a pretty good job.


In all, I liked it a lot and I'm sure some people who've also finished the game will agree. It's true that it can be confusing to newcomers who don't know the source's existence but I don't think that it's a good reason to not give the anime a try because of that reason.

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