Levius

This review will be my first review on MAL, so please ignore the mistakes I am going to make. And I will try to keep the language I use, as straightforward as possible. And also, I am going to keep this review spoiler free. So, bear that in mind.
Animation
Oh, Polygon Pictures what you guys have achieved. When I saw Ajin series (also from the same studio) for the first time I wasn’t able to understand why they have used CGI in the anime. But after watching Levius I can tell why. The CGI and the way they have mastered it is just perfect. In some ... anime, probably because of budget problems, you will see some issues. Such as the way the characters move, the way characters speak and so on. In these “low budget series” nearly every scene will be just one frame (e.g., Saihate no Paladin). When the characters speak you will not see their mouth movement. That same frame will remain on the screen for the whole scene. Just voice acting will be on it. Or when the characters move for example. Maybe in some scenes you will just see their upper body shaking one side to another. That “movement” will just represent characters walking.
So, these types of problems occur because of the style of the animation, or to be more precise because it being “hand drawn”. Polygon Pictures used CGI to overcome the problems that I have stated before. The animation in Levius is primarily CGI. And please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying the animation is 10/10. I am just trying to say that for these types of anime, CGI goes well. And studio, did a good job with that.
Voice Acting
In Levius the main cast is just full of great voice actors. Some examples are Mamoru Miyano (voice actor of Okabe Rintarou, Yagami Light etc.), Takahiro Sakurai (voice actor of Shougo Makishima, Suzaku Kururugi etc.), Saori Hayami (voice actor of Yumeko Jabami, Anju Emma etc.), Ayane Sakura (voice actor of Gabi Braun, Mika Shimotsuki, Nao Tomori etc.), Junichi Suwabe (voice actor of Sakunosuke Oda, Akira Hayama etc.) and Daisuke Ono (voice actor of Erwin Smith, Joutarou Kuujou etc.). These voice actors are just top of the line. And for best part Miyano did a wonderful job to give you that feeling of an "antagonist". Sakurai did the “nerd engineer” type of voice acting so good that when character loses his nerves, you feel it. So, to conclude this part, I can only say that the voice acting in the anime is in fact great.
Music
Ah, the best part. For me in all of the anime industry probably one of the best composer out there is Yugo Kanno (after Hiroyuki Sawano). And as in every anime he participated in, he did a great job in Levius. The main theme is so iconic. And one of the ost named Yakushin (躍進) is probably best ost in the whole series. Including some sounds from the Hispanic world with the dark theme of the industrial revolution while having some dominating violin in it. And there is also some electric guitar. It is a masterpiece. A frickin masterpiece.
I have found this anime because of one of the recommendations of Spotify. The Wit and Love which is the opening theme of Levius. And it is also pretty good. The ending is also good but really cannot be compared to the opening theme. I would recommend you to not to skip the intro. The opening theme is pretty good. Just listen to it.
World/Universe/Story
The world of Levius is just like ours. But with some differences. The period Levius takes place is probably the Victorian Era after the industrial revolution. Everything is shaped with the byproducts of the revolution. Such as mechanical body parts. And our story revolves around our main character, Levius Cromwell who is also using mechanical body parts. The people with these replaced body parts can do a certain martial art. Our story is about our main guy fighting at the tournament with his mechanical arm. I am not going to talk about it anymore because the more I talk I will definitely spoil something. But let me say that story is somewhat okay, not good but not bad either. I gave it a 5/10.

So, to conclude everything, I think Levius can get a 7/10. With everything being considered. It’s a good show that needs more love. And thank you for reading all the things here. Hope there are no grammatical errors in this review. English is not my native language, so I tried my best. Hope you liked it 😊

Levius was interesting to pick apart. At first glance, everything should work to pull in the viewer for a fun ride. The talent behind the show is apparent and the concept interesting enough to earn itself an anime adaptation. It makes people turn their head but not stop and truly interest them further.

Mild spoilers, existence of characters mentioned, nothing plot-related.

Animation: Very Good
This is an anime with strong art direction. Possibly the mangaka, whose beautiful artwork can be seen in the outro, helped a lot. They seem to have strong fundamentals and the high quality of art can be seen throughout. Character designs are simple but ... sharp. The light in some environment shots is lovely and gives an amazing atmosphere.
Of course, it brings us to the CGI. While it is often something people scoff at (not without reason), all the fundamentals come out on top and “Levius” just looks good. The movement is more often snappy and expressive than floaty and awkward that CGI can struggle with. There are still some stumbles though. The facial expressions could be pushed further if they were hand-animated and some scenes in the town lack a bigger crowd to make the city feel more alive. Then again, they are rare enough that they don’t take away from the overall enjoyment.

Music: Very Good
The music definitely takes a step back to bring forth the sound design. The soundtrack is subtle and elevates instead of hyping up. What deserves a shoutout is definitely the opening and ending songs that at some point, I was more looking forward to than the main story itself. Sound design is satisfying and does a lion share of making the punches feel real but it is nothing revolutionary.

Story: Fine
It’s simple. It’s a boxing anime with the standard formula and it’s own twist on steam-powered technology. Still, there is some exposition thrown for how this world’s politics work in regards to the sport, the main character and not much else. It makes it feel a little empty on the inside. It introduces the viewer quickly but fails to make them want to dig deeper.
While inoffensive, it gave me the feeling of going from point A to point B because it was written in the script, instead of flowing naturally from one event to the next.

Characters: Average
For a sports anime with a dose of drama, it should be the strongest point but instead, is the weakest. Like the story, the characters are simple and nothing beyond that. They lack depth in most cases and probably screen time. Instead it’s given to the main character - Levius - who is not a charismatic protagonist at all. He is serious and determined, yet we don’t get to see his inner motivations until very late and it’s hard to relate to him in any way.
In a case like that, foil characters are added. The Uncle, Bill and Natalia have more colourful personalities and bounce off of Levius like a ball on concrete wall. It’s fun watching the ball but it’s less fun when camera mainly focuses on the concrete wall. The most illustrating example, is how Natalia's character was a brilliant move to add some emotional stakes and bounce to the overly serious and mundane dynamic at the gym. Yet, she is never given enough weight to really influence the plot and even lacks a few steps in her relationship to Levius. Her whole arc at the end, while necessary for the story beats, feels unearned and out of nowhere.

The story drives the characters instead of the other way around.

Often it felt, in small ways, that someone was making a decision because the script needed to go to point B, not because it felt right or natural for the established personality. Which is mind-boggling, because the characters are so simple that it should be easy to make them drive the story forward and have bright, contrasting scenes between them.
Maybe it were some changes for the adaptation. Maybe time constraints (yet, the pacing didn’t feel rushed, so I doubt that)? But the end result has a feeling of such a wasted potential, I was even a little sad while finishing watching it.

Conclusion:
Levius had all the right cards. Interesting concept, simple and well-tested story formula, good art direction and animation, yet it somewhere, somehow fumbled along the way. It lacked the final “oomph”, to really bring all the ingredients to something special.
The highlight was definitely the Malcolm fight, so the first half was worth seeing if not for the story then for the animation. While it sounds harsh, the anime itself is not bad by any means and would probably make for a good watch in the evenings for the less demanding audience (which again, is not a bad thing at all). It fits quite well in the Netflix library.

While Levius deserves some praises, the competent execution can get the story only so far. And it would feel wrong to give it anything over a “Fine” rating. (6/10)

This review is spoiler free!
A while back, I saw the trailer when it was first released on Netflix. The trailer didn't hook me at all. Part of it was due to the CGI style, which isn't my thing. To each their own, and I know that CGI helps a lot in animating action and fight sequences, so I don't hold it against the show itself.

My poor rating for the anime is due to me forgetting it existed and later picking up the Deluxe manga (has all three volumes in it) and finding the manga to be absolutely amazing. Note that at this time I still ... have not remembered seeing/hearing about the anime and it was vaguely familiar upon stumbling upon the manga in the bookstore.

There are a lot of style changes between the manga and anime, giving it a poor representation of the grit and grime of the actual story. Within the first 7 minutes of watching the first episode, I was able to point out many differences. And much of these differences I found were the reason why the anime adaptation seemed to be lacking in catching attention and traction for me when I first saw the trailer.

To me, it is very generic and boring. Even my one of my favorite characters, Levius, seemed "dead" in my eyes. While in the manga he is on the quiet side of things, it was quite clear that his character had "life" to it.

To add, the fight scenes in the anime lack weight, every hit and punch just looks and feels like it is air brushing the opponents. While I understand that this can be a downfall of CGI, it is still possible to stylize it to make it have the weight it needs.

Overall, everything just seemed unnatural and bland for such an incredible story. A poor adaptation of an amazing dirty, sad, and gut-wrenching story.

I can see, however, why some may absolutely love it. But again, to each their own and I'm glad that some do like it, it's just not for me. I much prefer the manga and it's incredible attention to detail for everything.