Back to RockLain's Profile RockLain's Profile

How long has it been since I've encountered a work of art like this? After months away from anime I truly thought I had grown up, lost interest in the themes that eastern cartoons offer. Yet ironically, the show that revitalised my love for anime, was a show about various children, and it was just... INCREDIBLE!!! I want this feeling to last forever, staying up all night rewatching my favourite episodes, my heart beating out of time as I fall asleep listening to the beautiful soundtrack. This show truly wells up every emotion I can comprehend; Be it distress, solace, love, you name it! This ... series, so delicately put together, invokes it all, and I'm gonna tell you why! (You're welcome in advance)

Let's kick it off with some context: Our journey begins in the city of Orth, which surrounds a certain curious hole in the ground named the Abyss. The Abyss is an unexplained phenomenon filled to the brim with precious artifacts and history from previous generations. This provides reason for plenty of adventurers to explore it's depths, be it a sense of adventure, or means to make some cash. However exploring this pit spells more dangers than you might expect. If you manage to fend off the wide array of creatures that roam it's walls, you must deal with "the curse of the Abyss": Basically, as you move further into the Abyss, rising back out causes burdens on the body, ranging from minor headaches to more concerning issues such as bleeding from all orifices. Our main character is an enthusiastic little loli, who is for some reason absolutely desperate to explore each centimetre of the Abyss, despite the various risks and consequences.

Right! Now let's talk about what makes this show so great. I'm sure I don't need to touch upon the premise (I can tell you're already brimming on the edge of your seat with curiosity), but I'll expand on the themes, story quality and pacing. Allow me to tell you right away, Masayuki did not fuck around here. The script is wonderfully laid out, almost never wasting time. Every scene seems to have a proper meaningful purpose that felt necessary for the story to progress. One thing that surprised a lot of people (myself included) is how dark and brutal this show can be from the very first episode. I've seen plenty of people admit to their preconceptions concerning cute little prepubescent characters going on a carefree adventure. Hell, I only picked up this show because Nanachi looked adorable and I wanted to see her in action (I know, I'm terrible). However, as I'm implying, this series offers much, much, more. It expertly builds tension and constantly forces you to expect the worst. When things turn out well, the level of relief you experience is something I can't quite put into words.

Enough of that, lets move on to the characters, the heart of the production! I'd like to begin by mentioning how wonderful the character designs are. I'm certainly biased by my opinion, but the simple aesthetic really mixed well with me, I love how interesting and unique the characters are to look at; I love Nanachi's fluffy paws, I love the little satchels strapped to Maruruk's head, I love the way Reg actually questioned Ozen's weird skunk hairstyle, and I love the fact that Riko looks so simple despite her bottomless potential. They were all an absolute pleasure to look at. Moving on from appearances though, it needs to be said that the main cast is very young (generally around twelve years old). Many people find it hard to empathise with childish personalities, however, I for one found it to be delightful. I enjoyed the sense of innocence; The lack of shame when it came to nudity, and the simplistic pure bonds that the characters established with each other. It was refreshing in a way, and the age of the characters was not something that bothered me whatsoever.

When it comes to artwork, animation, and sound direction, this production really strives to impress. I wasn't exaggerating earlier when I said I listen to the OST as I fall asleep, each track is expressive in a meaningful way and fits a scene nice and snug. I particularly enjoyed the carefree piano track and 'Hanezeve Caradhina' which boasts beautiful vocals and a tempo that never failed to get me excited. If you're not planning to watch the series, please, please go listen to that track, it is moving beyond words. Besides music, the Series also has an arsenal of really nice, satisfying, and most of all, realistic sounds that really help you to get immersed in the obscure and marvellous world. This falls hand in hand with beautiful animation and scenery, which consistently had me mesmerised with awe. You know those moments where you think "damn, I wish that place was real", you'll probably get that a lot if you're anything like me.

I suppose my biggest disappointment with this series is that it flew by so fast. While the ending was more than satisfying, it has simply been so long since I last became so heavily invested in a cast of characters and the world that they live in. It's truly a shame that I won't get to see their further adventures any time soon (although I will definitely be picking up the manga). I hope with all my heart that this series manages to pull off the second season that it deserves, but till then, I will be keeping this first season close to my heart, for a long time.

Cheers for reading (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) Happy cave raiding!

* * * THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS * * *
I've seen a whole lot of super positive reviews about this season, so I'm here to wholeheartedly disagree and ruin the fun!

DISCLAIMER: I don't mean to directly review the original source material for Ao No Exorcist, rather I am reviewing what the staff at A-1 pictures decided to do with it. If I say the story is bad, I don't mean in any way that the plot for Ao No Exorcist is bad, because it's not.

Story - 2
Saying this story is flawed is an understatement; This show ... is drop dead boring. The staff seem inept of building tension let alone utilising it, and the pacing is abysmal. We end up with this action shounen that actually doesn't really have much action at all.
I was also constantly irritated by little details such as the main characters overdramatic fear towards Rin in the beginning, however I do not consider these points worth expanding on.
I do however think it is worth expanding on the chunk of season 1 that was dropped, I have no problems with source original content but if you're just going to warp the story at least consider providing some clarification to your viewers about what is going on.

Art - 4
I don't know much about A-1's budget, but oh my goodness. If this isn't just a minimal effort money-sponge, I do not know what is. I recall 2 scenes throughout this anime that I am glad to say looked great, but the mediocre scenes heavily outweigh them. The last two episodes are a great example of A-1's magic, with a lot of movement and some beautiful backdrops, but unfortunately this does not deliver so much throughout. In particular, I would've liked some more interesting viewpoints during intense scenes, the scene in which Rin begins to consider himself a monster and breaks down touched me and I expected something beautiful, but I truly couldn't get into it with the poor visuals, and that is a shame.

Sound - 3
The OST is pretty average all round, the best OST was stolen from season 1 but that's no big deal. What is a big deal is that the staff all suffer from some kind of auditory processing disease and lack the ability to use them correctly. Please learn how to time and sync OSTs A1, it is 2017, I could do this kind of work when I was 12.

Characters - 5
Here we go, the characters! I'll tell you what, the designs actually aren't that bad, I always sort of liked the majority of these characters, I especially like Rin and the eyebrow girl. However the key word is "majority", because there are also character's like shura that I can't take seriously at all. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I also noticed the same issue from season 1 where there are too many characters who get little to no development, sort of resulting in multiple husks of characters that are easily forgettable. Take for example; Renzo's brother Kinzo who I thought had a cool looking design and amusing attitude, but of course I hardly got to see him at all after his short-lived introduction.
The main cast of characters receive much more development compared to the previous season, although it is still lacking and interactions are often slightly uncomfortable to say the least.


Overall Enjoyment - 3
Sure wish someone would exorcise me.