Mushikago no Cagaster

First impressions are crucial to how we make decisions. It’s therefore no secret as to why many will choose to avoid watching this show. It’s true that it leaves a lot to be desired visually, but there are positives underneath its rather unattractive surface.

Set in a barren post-apocalyptic future where most of the population has transformed into giant CGI monstrosities in the form of insects. The remaining population struggle to survive in fortified, self-governed cities. Where the people live in constant fear of their neighbour or loved one turning into an insect-like form and devouring them. To stop the insectification from spreading, there are exterminators ... who take care of the pests. One such exterminator is Kidou. A young man with a troubled past who found his purpose by fighting the insects. That is until he gets the task to escort a young girl back to her mother, somewhere in the dangerous wasteland.

The setting is the show's most prominent characteristic and the first half is used to develop it. It dragged a bit but the second half became more enjoyable because of it. The insects are set-up as a real threat to the people, and they are taken with the seriousness they should. However, there are a couple of things that tells you otherwise. For example, in the first half we spend most of the time in a city that’s protected by a massive wall. But since most of the insects fly, it’s pretty much useless. Some parts like this could've been better explained, although with only twelve episodes of runtime I’d say they did well enough. By the end it’s wrapt up nicely and the characters are well realized.

Kidou is a man who pushes people away from him to not grow attached. As his job could mean having to potentially kill a person close to him. Almost his whole life has gone towards his exterminator mission, which has taken its toll on him. But it starts to change with the arrival of Illie, the girl he decides to help. She felt like a very shallow love interest in the beginning. But she helps Kidou grow as a person, and is a crucial part of the second half and her backstory is one of the show’s most engaging parts. They both have a certain level of depth to them that sadly the rest of the characters don’t have. But since most of them have very little contribution to the story, it’s understandable.

The soundtrack didn't stick out much and it's contribution wasn't all that memorable either. The voice performances on the other hand tuned out to be of higher quality. Kana Hanazawa especially knocked it out of the park in the role of Ilie. Some other were a bit tacky in their line delivery, but not to a distracting extent.

All in all I found it to be serviceable. Largely because I have a soft spot for settings like this. But also due the main leads, who were more engaging than I expected going in. The visuals are this show’s biggest downfall with the robotic and stiff movements, making it hard to recommend. Thankfully the first episode will give you a good idea as to what you can expect going forward. If you don't like the first episode then you should skip the rest.

Now if you would like something better with a similar premise then watch Nausicaä. If you for some reason would like to watch something shittier then watch Island of Giant Insects.

I'm sure you've heard the expression never judge a book by it's cover, but that's what I intended to do when I first glanced at this anime on Netflix. From the screenshots alone I thought I wouldn't enjoy the animation and art style and was going to skip watching this, but I decided I had enough free time and started episode one. Next thing I knew, I was hooked.

The story starts off slow in the beginning, so you have to be willing to wait a few episodes in before it begins to get interesting.

The fight scenes, between the bugs and humans aren't as ... intense as you would expect, but the sound and voice acting is top notch and helps the scenes flow smoothely.

The is a wide variety of characters, but overall the development of Ilie, Kidow, and the rest had me emotional and guessing what would happen next after each episode. Overall I believe you would be able to rewatch this anime several times and discover something new.

I would recommend this anime to anyone who is willing to try something new, and hopefully you too will discover this gem of an anime on Netflix.

Story:
30 yeras after apocalypse, where new disease caused 1/3 of human kind turn into nasty, bloody and huge insects - we meet with Kidow. Kidow is an insect exterminator that in the opening scene happens to be escaping from a huge swarm of flying worms. When he strives to survive from that swarm he finds out that despite him and his friend - he's not the only one person trying to escape. Unfortunately for the other escapists - the car droved by them meets with accident in which driver dies. It turns out that these car passangers are father and daughter. Father dies - begs ... our MC to deliver his daughter to her mother and that's how the story begins.

Kinda cliche i have to admit, but later on in the story it turns out that that's not some random kid and her father wasn't some ordinary father. Saying something more than that could be considered as a spoiler so let's just skip it and say that despite on focusing on the kiddo abilities - the plot is also about creating a strong bond between Illie (that's kiddo name) and Kidow.

Nothing outstanding about the story, however there are some stupid moments like one character dying for at least 2 episodes if not more and saying that it's his end for tenth time already.
5/10

Art:
*KNOCK KNOCK*
-Who's there?
-It's Netflix CGI again, surprise!

I'm not a CGI fan (i doubt anybody is) however i've seen many worse CGI anime and this one isn't that bad. I mean it's still bad but as a CGI - this one is okay.
6/10

Sound:
I have no complains there. Music was good, voice acting was the same.
7/10

Characters:
They are bad. Kidow is a typical edgy boy that turns out to not being edgy behind the edgy mask later on. However, some of his actions are so stupid that it doesn't convienced me to like him. Actually not only Kidow actions are stupid. There are many stupid characters in the show. Like a scientist that claims that science is his top1 prority so he doesn't have any remorse to use his family in experiments. But then later on you see in the flashbacks that he actually cares for his family only to find out later that he really don't. Then again it turns out that he actually does. But maybe he doesn't? I don't know myself. I doubt any of the viewers knows. If some of the characters aren't stupid then later on it turns out that they're not interesting either. It was barely possible to me to name more than three of them after show ended.

Oh, I almost forgot. In the first couple episodes there was one awesome death. It was really well made. It was only a shame that creators didn't focused more on dead character and didn't postponed his death to late series. I didn't cared when he died because it happened too soon. Kinda wasted potencial that death was, but what can I say? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
4/10

Enjoyment:
Despite stupidity, bad characters and CGI animation I've got to admit that it was still enjoyable. Not to the point that i'd sink in but it's a good show to watch when you have nothing to do, not much time and don't want to think much over something. Just sit down, watch it and forget it.
6/10

Overall:
5.5/10 but MAL doesn't allow to give halves so i'll stay with 5/10