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Happy Birthday, Eri!

Gundam pilots are known for their young age, but now they are really starting to enlist from the cradle. Some might argue that four-year-olds are too young to pilot giant mecha, but they are only naysayers. The kids gets to experience a fun ride and see bright lights.

There is some transhumanism going on, and evil corporate CEOs don't like that. Maybe it hurts their own business; maybe it is more ideological. They do make partially decent points, but of course they go overboard with their extreme measures.

No complaints about the visuals. They have a seemingly bottomless budget. Whether it is 2D or CGI, ... they shovel in stacks of cash. Smooth movement, endless beams of light in every direction, particle effects, you know it. They had probably spent a decent amount on music as well. The dramatic songs really fit some of the more intense scenes and the credit roll, and the ominous chanting was a nice touch.

Anyway, the prologue sets the stage well. A nice early dose of tragedy and depression. But I am sure things will go smoothly from now on, and we can experience nice, cheerful adventures.

...Right?

In Kimberly Magic Academy, nothing bad ever happens.

So let's hop onboard our broomsticks, pick up our wands and athames, and have a fun magical adventure with Oliver Horn and friends. In the school, we learn how to brew potions, fire spells, and wave a sword. Purely for defence, of course. Let's explore the halls of the academy and discover various fantasy environments and magical beasts. Maybe there is even time for broomstick games and cordial sparring. If you are ever in need of aid, you can rely on the kindhearted people of the academy. The mages' friendship is truly inseparable.







...Well, none of the characters ... are radically evil at their core. That part is true. They do not commit evil deeds for the sake of evil itself. They commit outrageous atrocities, but their path to them is believable and sympathetic. In fact, they work tirelessly for the benefit of their loved ones, mankind, or all sapient beings. All for their deeply held beliefs, for their sense of justice, for the society they envision.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. True darkness is not cutting down hordes of evil demons. It is the dawning realization that you will end up killing people you genuinely like.

"How much simpler things would be if they were all easily detested."

We get into volume 3 of the novel here. This set of episodes contains one of my favorite parts, which is when Yang sits at the tribunal and rebukes their arguments. You see variants of this pretty often. People argue about which should come first: individual liberty or loyalty to the state. Even in a liberal democracy, many people will still claim the latter, even though it is the more authoritarian answer.

Separately, the show also brings up the idea of "liberal imperalism," which in this case refers to rule for the people but not by the people. I would have chosen the wording differently, but ... whatever. It is a bizarre situation when an autocrat is pushing reforms that expand people's rights, while an elected government is stripping them away.

There are many characters who get well-deserved characterization and backstory here, such as Mittermeyer and Reuenthal. Kempff also feels more like his own person at this point, interacting with his family, among other things. He never really got a chance before. Some of the interactions between Reinhard and Hilda also develop both pretty well here.

Many scenes have been notably expanded from the novel and are different than in the OVA as well. For instance, when discussing Reinhard's reforms, you can see some random citizens cheering for him and thinking about what they will do with their new rights. When Julian goes out on his first mission as a fighter pilot, a few characters and scenes were added. We also see more of Oberstein's dog for some reason. The fortress battle lasts for three full episodes (and actually a bit more), and I am a bit torn on whether it felt a bit too long already. I would maybe cut a few minutes, but it isn't a huge issue.

I still liked the visuals quite a bit. Some people always dislike CGI, no matter how it is used, but I am not one of them. It works very well in space battles especially.


But let's have some fair criticism too.

"Show, don't tell" is broken on a few occasions. For instance, Mecklinger is described as highly capable, but he has been sidelined so badly that he has never got any real chance to demonstrate his skills. Want us to think that he is competent? Show him do it.

This is a general observation about Reinhard, but his reaction to Kircheis' absence is so weirdly misdirected. There would be better ways to process his emotions than insist on imperialist conquest. Actually, it is Kircheis' fault as well. Perhaps "live in peace" would have been better as parting words. However, they did a good job highlighting that the narrative does not endorse Reinhard's approach. Several characters point out that the focus on military expeditions is unwise, to say the least, and even Reinhard himself feels alienated by his newfound power. That is emphasized here a bit more strongly than in the OVA.

The last episode ended at somewhat of a weird point, but there will be another set of episodes soon, so it isn't a huge issue.


Regardless, it is a very strong adaptation effort. You often see novel adaptations rushed and ruined, but here they are investing proper time into it.

Let's discuss a topic people like to bring up: stupid and allegedly stupid decisions by the characters, especially some side characters, and whether this counts as luck, plot armor, or whatever. The answer is nuanced. Much of the alleged stupidity is actually deep ignorance, which is different, and the ignorance has been caused on purpose. It is revealed very early on.

First, a general point: If you follow the full narrative, it is very clear that people irrationally believing in propaganda and other convenient lies is intentional. It is even clearer if you read the manga.

"Humans don't believe the truth. They believe people."
"People believe what they ... want to believe and hear what they want to hear."

It is not a bug; it is a feature. The author is trying to make a point here, and he is not trying to hide it. Call it social commentary if you like. More about that below.

If you abuse existing misinformation and other characters' motives, it isn't really plot armor. It is not as though you need additional coincidences for it, aside from the existence of the misinformation and the motives in the first place. Sure, some of the characters are legitimately too trusting or have issues with their mental health. ...Which can still sometimes be suboptimal writing, but that is different than plot armor. Not to mention, several of the events and beliefs are 1) explained in greater detail later on or 2) setups for future plot points with interesting payoffs. This doesn't apply to nearly everything, but sometimes you should be patient and try to look at the narrative as a whole.

Well, let's go over some points and hope it won't turn into a full essay.


[Obligatory spoiler alert, though I will try to avoid saying the biggest spoilers outright. There will be many mid-sized spoilers though.]


1) Blaming the Enemies of Humanity

In Among Us and also in Danganronpa, for instance, the players and the characters are immediately told that there are killers among them. That is the premise. Here that is not the case, and there are potential scapegoats, most notably the dreaded "Enemies of Humanity." Original name, I know. (Nice troll, author.)

Anyway, these aliens conveniently happen to be invisible or be able to influence people's minds, or at least that is what many characters believe. And why is that? Because the belief has been perpetuated by decades of government propaganda, all the way down to their textbooks. Often you don't even need to suggest to them that the Enemies of Humanity are at fault; they will recite their textbooks and general knowledge and come up with the idea by themselves. This is a central part of the premise that was established immediately, and even before the events of the series, most of the characters had assumed that these aliens were already on the island, so of course that is their default explanation for problems. In the absence of strong evidence to the contrary, they will believe the alien option. Imagine a story in which the characters genuinely fight against aliens. If a few of them die, would their first assumption be blaming a human killer? No, that would be the wrong genre. Though usually the aliens are not quite as well hidden.

Is it dumb to believe in government propaganda and conspiracy theories? Sure. It says something about people's poor critical reading skills. But that is only to be expected. Mankind is dumb like that. Look at the conspiracy theories tens of millions of real-life people believe in with far lesser propaganda efforts, not to mention their belief in all kinds of entities without empirical evidence.

Keeping that in mind, they are mostly reasonable in not assuming that there is a grand government conspiracy out to get them. Come on, that can't be real, right? There is seemingly no evidence of it. So if that particular conspiracy happens to be real, they are walking into it blind. Good job with the brainwashing, shady government conspirators. There is a nice quote about it later on. "People believe what they want to believe and hear what they want to hear. ... How would that benefit them?" (I omitted a part there to tone down the spoilers.) Incidentally, the idea of mind-controlling aliens is also a setup for a future plot point. It has some ironic payoff that I don't want to spoil too much.

2) Suspicious alien attack

Stabbed by an invisible alien? Suspicious, right? Yes, but if you have been indoctrinated into believing that invisible aliens are a thing, less so. And there was no apparent motive for the self-stabbing anyway, so figuring it out required several logical steps that indoctrinated people would not bother to take. Still, Kyoya rightfully points out that it is suspicious that it retreated after a single attack, and he isn't wrong, but let's think about it for a minute. If the best this alien can do is a relatively weak stab attack, and the building is full of super-powered humans about to rush in, retreating might not be a bad idea. Even if it is invisible, it isn't hard to guess where it is if it tries to stab people. But maybe it would opt to self-sacrifice to take out the mind-reader, probably a big threat. That would have been an interesting argument for Kyoya to make.

3) Why not reveal everything to the class the moment you learn the truth?

Without evidence? That wouldn't go so well. And they lacked evidence, with the exception of Tsunekichi. (More about that below.) Second, for many of them, it would not have helped them achieve their goals. I am not going to go through each person's motives individually.

4) Just ask her to read your mind

It happens multiple times during the series, and there are plausible ways out of them. And there apparently are convenient limitations to her mind-reading ability. Nana states that she cannot reliably focus on specific thoughts or parse very specific pieces of information from them, including particular strings of letters or numbers such as passwords. Also, the presence of many people creates background noise that can cover the target's thoughts.

And it is not as though the students are constantly badgering each other to show off their powers. Even with a mind-reader it is natural to primarily try to have a normal conversation. Would you really ask them to focus on your thoughts instead of talking? Then they might find out things that you don't want them to, and it would be considered rude regardless.

5) Precognitive photos

Tsunekichi had strong empirical reasons to trust the accuracy of the photos. He had tried to defy them before, but it had never worked. What was dumb was not anticipating what was done with the photos, though it was true that the tampered material had not been handed over voluntarily, which made it seem more plausible. The way his character was written, it seems that his fatalism had turned him so passive and uncaring of anything that he could barely be bothered to take any measures to protect himself. He is someone who had given up on actively living his life for the most part. So I guess you can substitute stupidity for mental illness.

By the way, here is a possible interpretation of how the photos work:

It seems clear that the predictions made by the photos take into consideration how the characters react to those photos. Tsunekichi was refusing to head to the murder scene before the photos were tampered with, and that happened because of the existence of the initial photos. Nothing that happens to fulfill the photos ever seems to violate normal laws of physics. The conditions just happen to be right for the outcomes.

So the events had to progress roughly the way they did because otherwise the pictures would not have come true, and they had to come true. The events played out as they did because the characters are who they are. It is not as though we should assume that people have metaphysical free wills. Their actions are predictable, at least by some superpowers that can make normally impossible calculations.

If Tsunekichi was the kind of person who would reveal the information to the class or would figure out that the fake photo was fake, he likely would not have got the photos in the first place because then the existence of the photos likely would have prevented those events, and he only gets photos that come true. He could have got a different set of incriminating photos though. If this is the case, what actually ruined Tsunekichi was his fatalism because that is what lead him to behave as he did.

Tl;dr: It is all about causality and determinism. (Let's not get into a quantum mechanics fight in this context, please.)

6) Mind-reading the spirits of the deceased

"But that is not how mind-reading works!"

Well, how does mind-reading work in real life then? Let alone in this fictional world? Yeah, I thought so. Also, they were already doing necromancy in the same room; speaking to the spirit of the corpse is only a few more steps beyond that. Some talents can be broad and multi-purpose, developing into slightly different directions than what you'd initially expect. This seems especially apparent after reading the manga further. That doesn't mean that the ability can't be too convenient in that particular situation. That applies to many other talents though, including the necromancy that was literally going on in the same room.

This isn't about tactics, but I did find the irony pretty funny. It is adding insult to injury: first the person gets killed, and then people are pretending to speak on behalf of his spirit.

7) No autopsy

Tsunekichi was running around telling everyone about the girlfriend thing, so her being the victim of blackmail, assault, etc. was very plausible, most of which was actually true. If she had killed him, it would have probably been by stabbing or blunt trauma, but there were no signs of those. And in that case, she would have openly admitted to self-defence. (The method of killing was the reason against that option.)

8) No zombie "autopsy"

People were crept out by the necromancy and allegedly Tsunekichi's suffering on top of that. The decision comes down to how willing they are to torture Tsunekichi's soul to maybe learn about the Enemies of Humanity. I could see them not caring about him and going through with it anyway, so it is reasonable to argue that it was out of character for some of them. You can call it dumb if you like, or being too kind-hearted. It is not ruthlessly efficient, for sure. Maybe Kyoya would have liked to go through with it anyway, but the others would have dragged him out of the room if necessary.

9) Letting a captive free in exchange for help

Letting another character free in exchange for letting them use their talent to "speak" to their loved one beyond the grave. That isn't plot armor though, more like emotionally manipulating people by abusing their romantic feelings and state of mind. First of all, she was not planning to kill her captive at that point anyway, and only decided on that later. Exposing everything to the class wouldn't work because of the lack of evidence. She should have taken more precautions though. Barricading the door, for instance. Though it was plausible, given the state of mind of the person in question. But still, barricade the door. Then they probably would have had to talk their way out of it.

10) "Barricading" in a shed

The point of the plan is that it wears the opponent down and makes her easier to find while also lowering the chance of her exposing anything to the class. (Not that she had any evidence, and it would have run contrary to her motive anyway.) The time of sunrise was not a deus ex machina because it is easily predictable. The real problem was whether sunlight would deactivate the zombies. Even though it was very likely that sunlight had some effect, judging by the time of day a particular zombie appeared in school, it was not certain that all zombies are equally affected, and furthermore it was possible that the sunlight worked on the zombies too slowly. If they immediately went on a full assault, maybe there would have been enough time to get something done. There was the threat of a hypothetical trap, but still.

11) Blindly following the leader

Yes, it is dumb to blindly follow charismatic leaders, but that is what people do. They follow their Great Leaders and trust their words. Look around and read the news. People are actually pretty dumb in that sense.

12) Not seeing through facades in general

Yes, it is dumb to let yourself be too easily influenced by a nice smile, kind demeanor, and convenient words. People are dumb like that. Well, I suppose realism isn't everything in fiction though. Narratively, many of the scenes are supposed to be about emotional manipulation instead of foolproof game-theoretical solutions. And you don't really see the latter pretty much anywhere in fiction; you pretty much only get impossible predictions and unlikely coincidences, with a few exceptions. There is of course room for improvement in the manipulation department too, though it was still very amusing to see.

13) Too often near the victims

Well, three times as far as most characters think. Still, it creates more suspicion, as mentioned several times and especially addressed during the events of episodes 4 and 8. Not to mention that being the leader puts her in contact with more people, which makes her a likely witness. This was stated multiple times.

14) Michiru is gullible and trusts her friends too much

Literally canon. Even the narrative openly acknowledges it. It was done on purpose because it is used in a few later plot points. In the case of the incriminating photo, there is also the additional point that based on earlier photos, it seemed that they could indeed be inaccurate. It still should have rung alarm bells though.

15) Why not call the phone instead of a body search?

Sounds and other alerts can be turned off, you know. It might be worth a shot though because it is not like there is any downside to it, even if the chances of it working are low.

16) Why don't they simply have the military level the island?

Explained in episode 2. They have to know enough about the abilities first, and even if you ask them first, they won't always be honest. And an all-out assault may be too apparent, and word might get out. It is still an option if all else fails.

17) Why doesn't the school take the deaths and disapperances more seriously?

Remember what the purpose of the school is. Why would they? The idea of having them stay on the island is addressed a bit more closely later on anyway. And they did halt the classes when the corpses of the victims started showing up.

18) Why don't they halt the classes the moment some people stop showing up for class?

Then they would never have class because they keep skipping class anyway.

19) Why don't the students take more action?

The moment victims start appearing, they increasingly go hide in their rooms. Gathering everyone in one place or trying to leave the island would be problematic too. That said, some of them are not barricading in hard enough, and you can see the result. On the other hand, isolating too much can make it easier to be picked off one by one, especially if there really is an alien menace or a third-party killer around. They could set up a system for keeping tabs on each other in some organized way, not that it would be foolproof. If you try to move around in groups, people will be reluctant to do so if they can't trust the other members. This is even more of a problem if there really are mind-controlling aliens who can influence people with weak psyches. Then people really would bunker down in their rooms, whether it is rational or not. Giving Nana some kind of security escort would have been a good idea though.

20) Just go look for the aliens

By wandering in the woods in small groups? Or burning down the woods altogether? I suppose they could do so, not that it would help much against invisible aliens. They could also attack spam in a systematic way and see if they manage to land lucky hits. I think barricading in their rooms is the more likely action they would take though.

21) Should have done more research

This is a great idea, actually. The schemes would have been more effective if they had done much more research into the characters' abilities beforehand. And they probably should have. The downside is that it gives the enemies more time to organize, as was about to happen, but it probably would have been worth it anyway.

22) How about not revealing that you are a mind-reader and leaving the talent question open?

Not a terrible idea because several students do that. It comes with its pros and cons though. It makes you appear more suspicious because people will be cautious of your unknown ability. Though mind-reading is already quite powerful in its own way. Not revealing it also removes the chance to tell people the helpful "info" that mind-reading brings. And if mind-reading is only your fallback option, people will be upset that they only learned about it afterwards.

23) The schemes are too simple

Simple schemes are actually more effective. Why would you want your schemes to be so complex that you need multiple flowcharts? In real life, you can't predict other people's actions with arbitrary precision. The kinds of schemes that rely on outrageous predictions against astronomical odds will probably fail. Of course, there are many works of fiction (including quite a few anime, manga, light novels, visual novels, etc.) in which characters carry out such predictions and are lauded as geniuses. But they are not actually geniuses because the works do not present the actual means to carry out those predictions. Here the plans are plausible to construct.

Here the narrative at least presents plausible and semi-plausible explanations for the events instead of the usual completely arbitrary impossible predictions and very unlikely coincidences. I would rather take flawed human reasoning than the kind of reasoning that is impossible for anyone except the omniscient. Yes, I prefer characters to be fallible humans than perfect (or "perfect") god-like entities.


So what is this series actually about? Good and evil. Not "the good heroes vs the evil monsters" kind but the more nuanced kind in which characters sometimes actually think about their moral decisions.

We get something with visceral malice, dysfunctional conscience, effective dark comedy, heaps of deception and irony, and surprisingly interesting dialogue. How despicable actions can you carry out until your conscience kicks in? Anything and everything, or is there a limit? And what kind of strain will this place on your future interactions with people? If you keep lying repeatedly, how difficult it will be to convince someone when you are actually telling the truth? As a result, the drama is actually dramatic and the comedy is actually funny. The quality of the dialogue is also surprisingly high, especially including the protagonist's inner thoughts. It is written in a witty way, juxtaposing a facade of seemingly simple lines with more analytical, viscerally heavy-hitting dialogue that tramples on the appearances. Meanwhile, the plot is regularly throwing twists at the reader, and some of them can actually be surprising, which is not something that happens all that often.

Now, some people call this series a "Death Note clone" or "Among Us + My Hero Academia," but I actually think it is something else. Those interpretations may have been effective at spreading word of this series and granting convenient titles to videos on Youtube, but they are also somewhat misleading. This series doesn't have to be Death Note or Among Us. It can be its own thing, and it is better that it is its own thing instead of trying to mimic those other options too closely. For instance, I don't think it is trying to be about outrageously complex mind games with characters somehow predicting dozens of moves ahead. It is more about the moral weight of murder, deception, manipulating public opinion, and exploiting people's weaknesses, and all the long-term consequences that come with those actions.

There is actual moral tension, shifting moral alignments in a relatively believable way, a powerful sense of hatred and malice, dynamic character relationships strained by past deeds, and tons of delicious irony. The character relationships and interactions can be more dynamic than might appear at first. All of this also results in nice dark comedy that goes far beyond the norm. It blends in well with the drama and doesn't feel out of place.

The dark comedy really is very delicious here. I often found myself laughing at the ironic deception, the thinly veiled threats, the outrageous juxtaposition between cheerful and dark thoughts, the dissonance between people's outward behavior and inner thoughts, and the relationships strained by what happened many episodes ago. It hasn't been marked with the comedy tag, but who cares? It fits my sense of humor better than most comedy I've seen in anime, manga, light novels, etc. There is also meta-commentary and subversion of various common tropes. Seemingly generic heroic characters end up as something different, and tropes related to generic main characters are showcased, then brutally subverted.

A few of the characters eat up the vast majority of focus, development, and the best dialogue. But better a few good characters than none at all. And the characters should often be introduced more organically, longer before their main role is played out.

The voice actors did a great job here, Nana's especially. I also liked many of the facial expressions, the color-coding for inner monologue, and some suitably over-the-top visual choices like non-existent wind indoors for a big mental showdown, complete with dramatic music. The opening and ending songs are catchy, the opening especially, and the lyrics for both are very fitting. By which I mean that they are nightmarish in a personal, knife-in-the-heart kind of way.

It was the year 20XX. Earth was assaulted by dark and edgy manga, bringing cynicism and grim moral commentary to the hearts of jaded readers. To counter this threat, they published a light-hearted, wholesome manga: Talentless Nana. Follow the adventures of the kind and heroic Nanao and the lovable airhead Nana as they work tirelessly to help their friends and defend all of mankind. There is even romance in the air and comedic hijinks for good measure. Nana's cute, cheerful smile will melt the icy hearts of critics everywhere. The feel-good manga of the decade.


[And this is where I give the obligatory spoiler warning. There ... are quite a few.]


The point is: You can't trust synopses anymore. This is already the second series for which I have to say this in a review. This series is actually about good and evil. Not "the good heroes vs the evil monsters" kind but the more nuanced kind in which characters sometimes actually think about their moral decisions.

We get something with visceral malice, dysfunctional conscience, effective dark comedy, heaps of deception and irony, and surprisingly interesting dialogue. How despicable actions can you carry out until your conscience kicks in? Anything and everything, or is there a limit? And what kind of strain will this place on your future interactions with people? If you keep lying repeatedly, how difficult it will be to convince someone when you are actually telling the truth? As a result, the drama is actually dramatic and the comedy is actually funny. The quality of the dialogue is also surprisingly high, especially including the protagonist's inner thoughts. It is written in a witty way, juxtaposing a facade of seemingly simple lines with more analytical, viscerally heavy-hitting dialogue that tramples on the appearances. Meanwhile, the plot is regularly throwing twists at the reader, and some of them can actually be surprising, going far above average fiction in that category.

Now, some people call this series a "Death Note clone" or "Among Us + My Hero Academia," but I actually think it is something else. Those interpretations may have been effective at spreading word of this series and granting convenient titles to videos on Youtube, but they are also somewhat misleading. This series doesn't have to be Death Note or Among Us. It can be its own thing, and it is better that it is its own thing instead of trying to mimic those other options too closely. For instance, I don't think it is trying to be about outrageously complex mind games with characters somehow predicting dozens of moves ahead. It is more about the moral weight of murder, deception, manipulating public opinion, and exploiting people's weaknesses, and all the long-term consequences that come with those actions.

There is actual moral tension, shifting moral alignments in a relatively believable way, a powerful sense of hatred and malice, dynamic character relationships strained by past deeds, and tons of delicious irony. All of this also results in nice dark comedy that goes far beyond the norm. It blends in well with the drama and doesn't feel out of place. The dynamic character relationships and interactions are a joy to follow. Affection can turn into intense hatred. Likewise, hatred can fade away. A character may suspect another character of a crime because of their past actions even though they are now innocent.

The dark comedy really is very delicious here. I often found myself laughing at the thoroughly ironic deception, the thinly veiled threats, the outrageous juxtaposition between cheerful and dark thoughts, the dissonance between people's outward behavior and inner thoughts, and the relationships strained by what happened dozens of chapters ago. It hasn't been marked with the comedy tag, but who cares? It fits my sense of humor better than most comedy I've seen in anime, manga, light novels, etc. There is also meta-commentary and subversion of various common tropes. Seemingly generic heroic characters end up as something different, and tropes related to generic main characters are showcased, then brutally subverted.

A few of the characters eat up the vast majority of focus, development, and the best dialogue. But better a few good characters than none at all. And the characters should often be introduced more organically, longer before their main role is played out.

Visually speaking, some of the facial expressions were pure gold, and the characters are pretty expressive when it counts. There is also nice visual juxtaposition between the seemingly light-hearted and the less light-hearted parts.




Now let's discuss a topic people like to bring up: stupid and allegedly stupid decisions by the characters, especially some side characters, and whether this counts as luck, plot armor, or whatever. The answer is nuanced. Much of the alleged stupidity is actually deep ignorance, which is different, and the ignorance has been caused on purpose. It is revealed very early on.

First, a general point: If you read the full narrative, it is very clear that people irrationally believing in propaganda and other convenient lies is intentional. It is even clearer if you read the manga.

"Humans don't believe the truth. They believe people."
"People believe what they want to believe and hear what they want to hear."

It is not a bug; it is a feature. The author is trying to make a point here, and he is not trying to hide it. Call it social commentary if you like. More about that below.

If you abuse existing misinformation and other characters' motives, it isn't really plot armor. It is not as though you need additional coincidences for it, aside from the existence of the misinformation and the motives in the first place. And some of the characters are legitimately too trusting or have issues with their mental health. ...Which can still sometimes be suboptimal writing, but that is different than plot armor. Not to mention, several of the events and beliefs are 1) explained in greater detail later on or 2) setups for future plot points with interesting payoffs. This doesn't apply to nearly everything, but sometimes you should be patient and try to look at the narrative as a whole.

Well, let's go over some points and hope it won't turn into a full essay.


[Obligatory spoiler alert again, though I will try to avoid saying the biggest spoilers outright. There will be many medium-sized spoilers though.]


1) Blaming the Enemies of Humanity

In Among Us and also in Danganronpa, for instance, the players and the characters are immediately told that there are killers among them. That is the premise. Here that is not the case, and there are potential scapegoats, most notably the dreaded "Enemies of Humanity." Original name, I know. (Nice troll, author.)

Anyway, these aliens conveniently happen to be invisible or be able to influence people's minds, or at least that is what many characters believe. And why is that? Because the belief has been perpetuated by decades of government propaganda, all the way down to their textbooks. Often you don't even need to suggest to them that the Enemies of Humanity are at fault; they will recite their textbooks and general knowledge and come up with the idea by themselves. This is a central part of the premise that was established immediately, and even before the events of the series, most of the characters had assumed that these aliens were already on the island, so of course that is their default explanation for problems. In the absence of strong evidence to the contrary, they will believe the alien option. Imagine a story in which the characters genuinely fight against aliens. If a few of them die, would their first assumption be blaming a human killer? No, that would be the wrong genre. Though usually the aliens are not quite as well hidden.

Is it dumb to believe in government propaganda and conspiracy theories? Sure. It says something about people's poor critical reading skills. But that is only to be expected. Mankind is dumb like that. Look at the conspiracy theories tens of millions of real-life people believe in with far lesser propaganda efforts, not to mention their belief in all kinds of entities without empirical evidence.

Keeping that in mind, they are mostly reasonable in not assuming that there is a grand government conspiracy out to get them. Come on, that can't be real, right? There is seemingly no evidence of it. So if that particular conspiracy happens to be real, they are walking into it blind. Good job with the brainwashing, shady government conspirators. There is a nice quote about it later on. "People believe what they want to believe and hear what they want to hear. Why believe your own country is... How would that benefit them?" (I omitted a part there in an attempt to tone down the spoilers.) Incidentally, the idea of mind-controlling aliens is also a setup for a future plot point. It has some ironic payoff that I don't want to spoil too much.

2) Suspicious alien attack

Stabbed by an invisible alien? Suspicious, right? Yes, but if you have been indoctrinated into believing that invisible aliens are a thing, less so. And there was no apparent motive for the self-stabbing anyway, so figuring it out required several logical steps that indoctrinated people would not bother to take. Still, Kyoya rightfully points out that it is suspicious that it retreated after a single attack, and he isn't wrong, but let's think about it for a minute. If the best this alien can do is a relatively weak stab attack, and the building is full of super-powered humans about to rush in, retreating might not be a bad idea. Even if it is invisible, it isn't hard to guess where it is if it tries to stab people. But maybe it would opt to self-sacrifice to take out the mind-reader, probably a big threat. That would have been an interesting argument for Kyoya to make.

3) Why not reveal everything to the class the moment you learn the truth?

Without evidence? That wouldn't go so well. And they lacked evidence, with the exception of Tsunekichi. (More about that below.) Second, for many of them, it would not have helped them achieve their goals. I am not going to go through each person's motives individually.

4) Just ask her to read your mind

It happens multiple times during the series, and there are plausible ways out of them. And there apparently are convenient limitations to her mind-reading ability. Nana states that she cannot reliably focus on specific thoughts or parse very specific pieces of information from them, including particular strings of letters or numbers such as passwords. Also, the presence of many people creates background noise that can cover the target's thoughts.

And it is not as though the students are constantly badgering each other to show off their powers. Even with a mind-reader it is natural to primarily try to have a normal conversation. Would you really ask them to focus on your thoughts instead of talking? Then they might find out things that you don't want them to, and it would be considered rude regardless.

5) Precognitive photos

Tsunekichi had strong empirical reasons to trust the accuracy of the photos. He had tried to defy them before, but it had never worked. What was dumb was not anticipating what was done with the photos, though it was true that the tampered material had not been handed over voluntarily, which made it seem more plausible. The way his character was written, it seems that his fatalism had turned him so passive and uncaring of anything that he could barely be bothered to take any measures to protect himself. He is someone who had given up on actively living his life for the most part. So I guess you can substitute stupidity for mental illness.

By the way, here is a possible interpretation of how the photos work:

It seems clear that the predictions made by the photos take into consideration how the characters react to those photos. Tsunekichi was refusing to head to the murder scene before the photos were tampered with, and that happened because of the existence of the initial photos. Nothing that happens to fulfill the photos ever seems to violate normal laws of physics. The conditions just happen to be right for the outcomes.

So the events had to progress roughly the way they did because otherwise the pictures would not have come true, and they had to come true. The events played out as they did because the characters are who they are. It is not as though we should assume that people have metaphysical free wills. Their actions are predictable, at least by some superpowers that can make normally impossible calculations.

If Tsunekichi was the kind of person who would reveal the information to the class or would figure out that the fake photo was fake, he likely would not have got the photos in the first place because then the existence of the photos likely would have prevented those events and he only gets photos that come true. He could have got a different set of incriminating photos though. If this is the case, what actually ruined Tsunekichi was his fatalism because that is what lead him to behave as he did.

Tl;dr: It is all about causality and determinism. (Let's not get into a quantum mechanics fight in this context, please.)

6) Mind-reading the spirits of the deceased

"But that is not how mind-reading works!"

Well, how does mind-reading work in real life then? Let alone in this fictional world? Yeah, I thought so. Also, they were already doing necromancy in the same room; speaking to the spirit of the corpse is only a few more steps beyond that. Some talents can be broad and multi-purpose, developing into slightly different directions than what you'd initially expect. This seems especially apparent after reading the manga further. That doesn't mean that the ability can't be too convenient in that particular situation. That applies to many other talents though, including the necromancy that was literally going on in the same room.

This isn't about tactics, but I did find the irony pretty funny. It is adding insult to injury: first the person gets killed, and then people are pretending to speak on behalf of his spirit.

7) No autopsy

Tsunekichi was running around telling everyone about the girlfriend thing, so her being the victim of blackmail, assault, etc. was very plausible, most of which was actually true. If she had killed him, it would have probably been by stabbing or blunt trauma, but there were no signs of those. And in that case, she would have openly admitted to self-defence. (The method of killing was the reason against that option.)

8) No zombie "autopsy"

People were crept out by the necromancy and allegedly Tsunekichi's suffering on top of that. The decision comes down to how willing they are to torture Tsunekichi's soul to maybe learn about the Enemies of Humanity. I could see them not caring about him and going through with it anyway, so it is reasonable to argue that it was out of character for some of them. You can call it dumb if you like, or being too kind-hearted. It is not ruthlessly efficient, for sure. Maybe Kyoya would have liked to go through with it anyway, but the others would have dragged him out of the room if necessary.

9) Letting a captive free in exchange for help

Letting another character free in exchange for letting them use their talent to "speak" to their loved one beyond the grave. That isn't plot armor though, more like emotionally manipulating people by abusing their romantic feelings and state of mind. First of all, she was not planning to kill her captive at that point anyway, and only decided on that later. Exposing everything to the class wouldn't work because of the lack of evidence. She should have taken more precautions though. Barricading the door, for instance. Though it was plausible, given the state of mind of the person in question. But still, barricade the door. Then they probably would have had to talk their way out of it.

10) "Barricading" in a shed

The point of the plan is that it wears the opponent down and makes her easier to find while also lowering the chance of her exposing anything to the class. (Not that she had any evidence, and it would have run contrary to her motive anyway.) The time of sunrise was not a deus ex machina because it is easily predictable. The real problem was whether sunlight would deactivate the zombies. Even though it was very likely that sunlight had some effect, judging by the time of day a particular zombie appeared in school, it was not certain that all zombies are equally affected, and furthermore it was possible that the sunlight worked on the zombies too slowly. If they immediately went on a full assault, maybe there would have been enough time to get something done. There was the threat of a hypothetical trap, but still.

11) Blindly following the leader

Yes, it is dumb to blindly follow charismatic leaders, but that is what people do. They follow their Great Leaders and trust their words. Look around and read the news. People are actually pretty dumb in that sense.

12) Not seeing through facades in general

Yes, it is dumb to let yourself be too easily influenced by a nice smile, kind demeanor, and convenient words. People are dumb like that. Well, I suppose realism isn't everything in fiction though. Narratively, many of the scenes are supposed to be about emotional manipulation instead of foolproof game-theoretical solutions. And you don't really see the latter pretty much anywhere in fiction; you pretty much only get impossible predictions and unlikely coincidences, with a few exceptions. There is of course room for improvement in the manipulation department too, though it was still very amusing to see.

13) Too often near the victims

Well, three times as far as most characters think. Still, it creates more suspicion, as mentioned several times and especially addressed during the events of chapters 5-6 and 15-17. Not to mention that being the leader puts her in contact with more people, which makes her a likely witness. This was stated multiple times.

14) Michiru is gullible and trusts her friends too much

Literally canon. Even the narrative openly acknowledges it. It was done on purpose because it is used in a few later plot points. In the case of the incriminating photo, there is also the additional point that based on earlier photos, it seemed that they could indeed be inaccurate. It still should have rung alarm bells though.

15) Why not call the phone instead of a body search?

Sounds and other alerts can be turned off, you know. It might be worth a shot though because it is not like there is any downside to it, even if the chances of it working are low.

16) Why don't they simply have the military level the island?

Explained in chapter 2. They have to know enough about the abilities first, and even if you ask them first, they won't always be honest. And an all-out assault may be too apparent, and word might get out. It is still an option if all else fails.

17) Why doesn't the school take the deaths more seriously?

Remember what the purpose of the school is. Why would they? The idea of having them stay on the island is addressed a bit more closely later on anyway.

18) Why don't they halt the classes the moment some people stop showing up for class?

Then they would never have class because they keep skipping class anyway.

19) Why don't the students take more action?

The moment victims start appearing, they increasingly go hide in their rooms. Gathering everyone in one place or trying to leave the island would be problematic too. That said, some of them are not barricading in hard enough, and you can see the result. On the other hand, isolating too much can make it easier to be picked off one by one, especially if there really is an alien menace or third-party killer around. They could set up a system for keeping tabs on each other in some organized way, not that it would be foolproof. If you try to move around in groups, people will be reluctant to do so if they can't trust the other members. This is even more of a problem if there really are mind-controlling aliens who can influence people with weak psyches. Then people really would bunker down in their rooms, whether it is rational or not. Giving Nana some kind of security escort would have been a good idea though.

20) Just go look for the aliens

By wandering in the woods in small groups? Or burning down the woods altogether? I suppose they could do so, not that it would help much against invisible aliens. They could also attack spam in a systematic way and see if they manage to land lucky hits. I think barricading in their rooms is the more likely action they would take though.

21) Should have done more research

This is a great idea, actually. The schemes would have been more effective if they had done much more research into the characters' abilities beforehand. And they probably should have. The downside is that it gives the enemies more time to organize, as was about to happen, but it probably would have been worth it anyway.

22) How about not revealing that you are a mind-reader and leaving the talent question open?

Not a terrible idea because several students do that. It comes with its pros and cons though. It makes you appear more suspicious because people will be cautious of your unknown ability. Though mind-reading is already quite powerful in its own way. Not revealing it also removes the chance to tell people the helpful "info" that mind-reading brings. And if mind-reading is only your fallback option, people will be upset that they only learned about it afterwards.

23) The schemes are too simple

Simple schemes are actually more effective. Why would you want your schemes to be so complex you need multiple flowcharts? In real life, you can't predict other people's actions with arbitrary precision. The kinds of schemes that rely on outrageous predictions against astronomical odds will probably fail. Of course, there are many works of fiction (including quite a few anime, manga, visual novels, etc.) in which characters carry out such predictions and are lauded as geniuses. But they are not actually geniuses because the works do not present the actual means to carry out those predictions. Here the plans are plausible to construct.

Here the narrative at least presents plausible and semi-plausible explanations for the events instead of the usual completely arbitrary impossible predictions and very unlikely coincidences. I would rather take flawed human reasoning than the kind of reasoning that is impossible for anyone except the omniscient. Yes, I prefer characters to be fallible humans than perfect (or "perfect") god-like entities.



Anyway, in summary, Talentless Nana is a wholesome manga for light-hearted fun. Would recommend.

I generally enjoyed many aspects of the show, but in fairness I have to point out a few problems that are holding it back and many people seem to have missed or overlooked.

1) The evil nobles are extremely evil and in a very obvious way.

2) The schemes and plots sometimes rely on predicting other characters' actions to a completely unrealistic degree. And the characters can perform impossibly accurate deductions based on very flimsy evidence.

3) Too episodic, though this improves later on.

Let's go through these one by one.

1) The evil nobles are extremely evil, and the show makes sure that you are aware of it. They ... can barely go a few seconds without launching into a monologue about commoners being the scum of the earth, often right in the open. They let children die for no reason, they outright brutally murder them, they shoot people for sport, etc. Even the less lethal actions like poking people's hands with forks are done for sheer malice.

As a result, there isn't a whole lot of moral debate to be had here. We are essentially forced to take Moriarty's side in this. And in fiction we usually are but it is really obvious here, though it is equally obvious in many other anime as well, to be fair.

Meanwhile, it is not as though Sherlock opposes Moriarty's ideals either. He is mostly indifferent and only in it for solving mysteries. This is a bit of a problem in the sense that the main rivals do not really have any ideological or emotional basis for opposing each other.

Let's also note that establishing yourself as a criminal mastermind is not a very effective way to achieve long-term political change. Moriarty is only going after the most obviously evil nobles, such as the people who murder commoners outright. Meanwhile, the less diabolical nobles still contribute to the actual inequality. Inequality will persist without more institutional reforms and changes in political culture, and criminal masterminds can't achieve that, neither directly nor by frightening the population. Taking out a few of the worst nobles will definitely help, but it is not enough by a long shot.

2) Some of the plans that are called genius actually rely on impossibly precise predictions and various coincidences.

Consider the scheme involving Enders on the cruise ship. If his actions had deviated even a little from the plan, it would have collapsed. It relies on him performing a particular action repeatedly while not noticing anything happening around him. Then he must flee in the exact way as intended, or he could be caught and reveal everything to the authorities. And, of course, if he had refused to take part in any of the previous steps or attempted to silence witnesses, it would have ruined everything. The plan is portrayed as genius, but is it, really? You can't predict people's reaction to an extreme degree of precision. It doesn't matter if you are a genius. If a plan only ends up working due to astronomical luck, the narrative should at least acknowledge it. Winning with astronomical luck is not genius by any stretch.

And the characters can sometimes perform impossibly accurate deductions based on very flimsy evidence. Sherlock can deduce Moriarty's profession simply by observing how the latter looks at a spiral staircase. Of course it wouldn't work like that by any stretch of the imagination.

This is a common problem with trying to write genius characters: giving them superhuman mental abilities that border on omniscience. You don't need to write characters like this. They could have portrayed Moriarty and Sherlock as more normal people, but they just had to portray them as geniuses. I would rather take a flawed, remotely human character than an alleged genius who is actually relying on astronomical luck.

It is also disappointing that sometimes the audience is not given the necessary clues beforehand. Instead, we listen to Sherlock explaining his deductions without a chance to figure it out ourselves. I wanted to figure it out myself.

3) Some of the early episodes feature strictly episodic story arcs with side characters whom we will probably never see again. Their events do not matter beyond the closed arcs, so I found it difficult to care about them. The situation improves a bit when Sherlock is introduced and the main cast is expanded, but the cases themselves still mostly involve strictly episodic side characters. The pacing could also be a bit faster sometimes, though it was never painfully slow.


I enjoy anti-heroes, but they hit much harder and more effectively when there is actual moral disagreement on their anti-heroism and a more coherent central plot.

"Kind Mr. Josef was worried.
The expectations of all who believed in him were weighing on his shoulders.
Thinking only of the people’s happiness, he thought it was time to work hard
at developing the Federation.
But…
Its citizens, spoiled by his kindness, only fell into decline.
How awful!
...
What in the world is this job?
The answer:
... The environmentally friendly job of counting trees in Sildberia.
It was work that soothed the tired people’s hearts with the power of nature
and would surely protect the environment as well.
People could enjoy forest bathing while gazing up toward the clear starry sky
while spending their days devoted to this noble task.
It was truly labor by the people, for the people."


This is the funniest light novel I have read.
"But how can it be? This seems grim and edgy, not to mention political. It isn't even listed as a comedy."
But that is the point! The comedy is effective precisely because of the dark touch and powerful political satire.

Do you want to commit war crimes but don't want to end up convicted? Looting civilian property? Bombing population centers? Reducing local churches to piles of rubble? Don't worry; Tanya has you covered. She has come up with all kinds of outlandish legal excuses.

So here we are, "waving the flags of ethnicity" or not, witnessing how appealing to patriotism is the first and last resort of crooked politicians. When the protagonist is expressing her patriotism or religious beliefs, it is all lies. The communists have also sold out their beliefs, and God is a cruel tyrant. This is Cynic City, and the mayor is Carlo Zen, one of the wittiest, most sarcastic authors on the light novel scene.

He is also a hard worker, considering the outrageous level of technical, tactical, and conceptual detail in this. He won't settle for anything less than ultra-realistic warfare and relatively detailed philosophical arguments, by the standards of fiction, at least. The volumes in this are actually quite long and densely written. If you have seen the anime adaptation, it is pretty obvious that they had to cut an outrageous amount of content, both in plot events and internal monologue, to fit in the very minimal screen-time they were allotted. I am writing this review after reading 7 volumes, which have already provided a mountain of content.

I have some criticism though. Sometimes the technical details are explained in too much detail and at too great a length. Often I would have understood it with a briefer explanation. Some of the fight scenes also drag on a bit. More generally, sometimes the plot really should move along faster. I appreciate the attention to detail, but let's get the important events done as well. And there should be more tension between the various characters in their interactions. They too often agree with each other for the most part, or their motives are rather similar. This is especially true of the soldiers under Tanya's command. Oh, and Loria's crush on Tanya is unnecessary and does no favors for the narrative, even though it only pops up on rare occasions.

It is worth noting that Tanya often throws around terms like "the free market" and "the ideal market" even when they are not very relevant. For instance, if you support broad social liberties, it is not really a matter of economics, at least if taken literally. The same for opposing authoritarian governments. It is entirely possible to be authoritarian but still support relatively free markets economically. And, besides, Tanya constantly runs her comparisons between all-out communism and unconstrained capitalism. Most economic systems are between those extremes, and I have a hard time discerning which policies Tanya would support or object to in a more realistic situation. I realize that it has probably been done on purpose, to offer satirical critique of the inconsistencies within the protagonist's belief systems, and highlight that she is not alright in the head and not exactly the most virtuous person. After all, the English title is "The Saga of Tanya the Evil," not "The Saga of Tanya the Good."

If you have read isekai light novels, you may have noticed that many of them are borrowing ideas from each other. Where are all the copycats of this one? If you are going to draw inspiration from other authors, might as well go for this one. We need more light novels in which Stalin gets a phone call from heaven.

Yesterday wo Utatte is a combination of mind-numbingly stale dialogue, unlikeable and uninteresting characters, non-existent romantic chemistry, and a hatchet job of an adaptation that shreds the source material to pieces.

The dialogue is so dead and barren that I can barely believe that these people love each other. Or that they think about anything beyond their immediate surroundings. Or that they have well-defined personalities to begin with. For a romantic drama, you need some kind of chemistry between the characters. Well, apparently not here because here we have the characters stand around saying nothing of relevance. That simply doesn't work. No matter how slice-of-life your ... story is, no matter how artistic the visuals or sound, you need to actually weave some words into it. In Yesterday, sometimes the events in the plot advance, sure, but the characters barely ever contemplate the motives behind their actions with any real precision, so the events simply happen.

First, take our protagonist, Rikuo. He likes Shinako, but why? They went to the same university and hanged out a lot and... that's it. He can't even put it to words why on a basic level. What is it about Shinako's personality that he likes? I don't know, and I bet he doesn't know either. Even after he is rejected by her, he still clings to her indefinitely. And this problem goes beyond the romance itself. Rikuo is really averse to explicitly thinking about things. He goes with the flow and doesn't do or say much. No matter the topic, this guy has nothing to say. For instance, he is stuck in an unrewarding, monotonous job at a grocery store despite having a university degree. What does he think about it? Nothing much. He just does it out of apathy and neither praises nor criticizes the situation all that much. If it is society's fault, eviscerate it. If it is your own fault, berate yourself. Take some stance on something, please. Anything else? Seen anything interesting on the news lately? Apparently not. Any semi-witty jokes to deliver? Nah, none.

Why does Haru like Rikuo? For reasons that are also poorly established. What is it about Rikuo's personality that she likes? I have no clue. They had barely even met before. Now he even purposely neglects and ignores her, and she still doesn't give up for whatever reason.

Shinako can't get over her previous love interest, who died many years earlier. (They never actually dated either, mind you.) This is the main defining trait of her character, and almost all of her dialogue revolves around it. She has friendzoned Rikuo in a half-hearted manner while still giving him just enough hope to cling to. She has even less to say than Rikuo.

Rou is the brother of Shinako's dead love interest and believes that he is the best option for Shinako simply because they knew each other as kids. In fact, he is upset at the very notion that she might date someone else. How dare she! His entire character revolves around Shinako. Of course, I don't know what exactly he likes about Shinako's personality either. She has friendzoned him too (or family-zoned him, I guess), but he clings to her anyway.

Some of the ending songs are nice, but that is obviously not enough to save this. The visual design for the endings is also pretty good. For most of the anime, the technical side of visuals is solid, and it can be artistic at times, but many of the designs still look unimaginative. I know it is meant to look realistic, but even so.

You may have noticed a theme in this review, and it is that I was bored out of my mind and quite frankly should have dropped it earlier. But here we are. My main motivation for watching the last few episodes: morbid curiosity about how they would screw up the ending. And without going into spoilers, disastrous it was, as it was a rushed ending that was missing build-up and justification. With all the changes, it is fair to call it an anime-only ending as well. I really need to emphasize how terrible the adaptation is. They cut out much of the content, entire plotlines, and even many side characters who were important for the plot and were able to at least shake up the status quo a bit. With all this cut, the ending feels all the more rushed and jarring. That said, the manga was already flawed. The dialogue was still often stale, and many of the feelings of love still seemed poorly justified. However, the adaptation efforts do matter because instead of a “meh” or slightly bad show we have an unmitigated trainwreck.

Actually, no. Trainwrecks may actually be interesting in the sense that you can't turn your eyes away from them. This is more like boredom incarnate.

"It would leave a bad taste in my mouth."
‒ Ray Starling

You know what, Ray? This anime leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and you are one of the chief culprits. Infinite Dendrogram promises infinite possibilities, but instead we get Ray Starling, a piece of cardboard masquerading as a human being, a robot that gazes upon the world with an empty light in his eyes, an empty husk of a man who delivers the most generic lines imaginable.

"My battle's far from over. You can't stop my pace, my sword-wielding arm ‒ not yet. Not as long as I see tragedy before me ‒ tragedy and ... you!"
‒ Ray Starling

What next? He might as well say "Halt, you fiend! My blade shall thwart your evil plans!" because it would not surprise me anymore.

Ray is a typical hero to the extreme. He is so selfless and altruistic that he makes angels blush. He is a white knight who swoops in to rescue people in obvious distress, often random children kidnapped by heinous villains. He never has to make any difficult decisions because the villains are always obvious. Ray also likes to deliver simple, cheesy rants about justice and helping people, completely unironically, of course. This includes his catchphrase "It would leave a bad taste in my mouth." What would leave a bad taste, you ask? Not saving people in need; what else?

Ray goes further than that though. He refuses to grab the valuables of a villain he defeated, considering it blood money. He is even reluctant to accept a cash reward for his actions and tries to convince his party members to take his share as well. And this happens not just once but twice. That's ridiculous. You fought hard for the money; it is alright to accept it sometimes. Not to mention that he could always use it to improve his equipment, which would help his altruistic efforts in the future, so his refusal doesn't even make sense from a purely altruistic viewpoint.

That is not all. Many characters find Ray interesting simply because he sees the world of Infinite Dendrogram as real, which isn't even unique to him. Several other characters feel the same way, yet they are not treated with the same level of interest. Ray is also one of the most promising new players in the game, though still underpowered compared to the more experienced players. That doesn't stop him from saving the day though. As a side note, the game is also ridiculously imbalanced. Even though it is not particularly rigged in Ray's favor, the fact that it is rigged in general should result in endless complaints from the player base. Oh, and one more thing. Ray happens to get a girl as his Embryo, Nemesis (his unique special weapon that evolves over time). That's right; his weapon can transform into a girl because we had to use that trope as well. Maiden Embryos are not unique to Ray in-universe by any means, but it is still convenient.

Ray was generic in the light novel already (yes, I have been reading it), but in the anime most of Ray's internal monologue and backstory have been cut, along with general narration. So we lose all the context and he becomes even more of a generic hero. So generic, in fact, that he has no personality left. I would excuse you if you thought he was secretly a robot all along. Many of the other characters have also taken a hit in the adaptation, and their personalities have taken a turn for the bland. Near the end, they try to deliver backstories for some of the characters in the form of short flashbacks. Not the most subtle form of infodumping, but it is better than nothing. These flashbacks outline the original motivations of the characters in entering Infinite Dendrogram in the first place. Usually this involves various ways of escapism, but it is not enough to salvage their characters. The flashbacks are mostly loyal to the novel, but it doesn't really help when the original backstories were almost as short. Rook's backstory seems particularly implausible and makes me wonder why any of it was necessary.

This is the result if you take source material that already has problems and then rush the adaptation and butcher whatever was there. The source material already had many of the same issues, but it turns out that trying to squeeze 5 volumes of an infodump-heavy light novel into 13 episodes is a bad idea. Who would have thought? The script went from long-winded explanations in the novel to explaining pretty much nothing in the anime. Most of the info-dumps related to the world are cut, leaving only the bare essentials. You won't understand how some abilities work. You won't properly know the side characters or even the main characters. You won't even know the names of some of the countries. It is that bad. Good luck understanding what is going on, why it is happening, and what the context for any of it is. If the main point of your novel is world-building, having an anime adaptation without it simply means that you are airing an empty shell. They might as well just put "Read the novel, idiot!" on-screen.

Or take the comedy. The novel already has the tendency to make jokes that are too obvious. For instance, encountering a bunch of thugs in a back alley while they are trying to kidnap a child and then pointing out that the encounter is clichéd. It is better to be aware of the cliché than not, but an even better idea would be to write something else entirely. In the anime, the scene loses every last bit of nuance and self-awareness. In the novel, the jokes have the subtlety of a brick to the face. Now replace the brick with a pile of bricks and maybe a sledgehammer, and you have the anime. We have slapstick comedy like Ray catching fire or enveloped in a cloud of toxic gas. We have his brother wearing a bear costume and ending almost every line with "kuma" (or "grizz" in English), which is bear-ly ever funny. (Yeah, that was a bad one too.) We have Nemesis eating too much. We have people over-reacting to every single thing. We have Ray finding or purchasing too many of the same now-useless item several times, which is a bit funnier in a kind of blunt way (maybe?) but can't exactly carry the show either. There is a character who literally says "xD" and "lol" on-screen, which may produce a quick cheap laugh out of sheer surprise. We are hip on the interwebs.

More generally, the show over-explains what is obvious while simultaneously leaving many important points unexplained. (The latter parts were probably in the novel.) Sometimes the characters are having awkward and unnatural conversations about information they should already know and have no in-universe reason to repeat.

"There certainly was a lot of bickering yesterday."
"Everyone kept trying to..."

These conversations take place purely for the sake of the audience. It is a lazy and poorly conceived method of delivering exposition. Sometimes characters even explain what they are obviously visibly doing at the moment for no reason. This includes pointless villain speeches in which the bad guys explain their current plans, and people talking to themselves out loud.

Franklin tries to provide more of a central antagonist to the show. The problem is that he ends up looking like a cartoon villain who acts evil for the sake of evil itself. You know, the wacky evil mad scientist. His motives are poorly developed too, both in-game and in real life. Even with the short flashback of his background, it is hard to see why exactly he'd end up with goals like that. Furthermore, the inner workings of Dryfe (a country) are barely addressed in the anime, just like the inner workings of just about anything, really. Franklin also likes to deliver lengthy villain speeches to explain his current plans, to show off to everyone that he is evil and strong, and to scare the good guys into giving up, as if the latter has any chance of working.

The show also tries to focus on whether the world of Infinite Dendrogram is real or not, including whether the tians (NPCs) are living, sentient beings. While this is generally a good idea, not much comes out of it and it is too little too late. As a moral aesop, it is also a bit on the obvious side, though better than simply the power of friendship in its most generic form. I kind of wonder though. It seems implausible that so many people would not consider the tians sentient when they so obviously are.

I don't want to dwell too long on the visuals, but let's note that they are not great. The animation quality isn't the best, and it looks lazy sometimes, with unnatural movements. But what struck out to me even more were the designs. So many places, characters, and creatures look so generic. These are some of the most generic goblins I have ever seen. The boss monsters look generic as well. Plains, roads, the crypt: they all look generic. The common criminals look so clichéd that they might as well be wearing shirts with "thug," "ruffian," or "scoundrel" printed on them. The evil wizard looks comically evil and not in a good sense. His scenes, which were already generic in the source material, become a laughingstock in the anime. The mecha looks fairly generic too, but at least it is on the realistic side, at least by mecha standards. The bigger mecha looks less realistic but still fairly generic. Ray's red-black coat is a fashion disaster and not in a funny way. They point out that it looks too edgy for him, but a bigger problem is its sheer ugliness. This is your fancy new coat, Ray? Really?

We get to very briefly see a few of the capitals of the other countries, which was nice. If only we could see them more. The opening song is alright, but the opening visuals reuse animation and awkwardly try to hide it with the excessive use of flashy effects all over the screen. Hey, at least they managed to draw my attention with the visual onslaught.

Thankfully, there is a silver lining. Because the show is so rushed, at least it will only take 13 episodes to finish, so it is faster than a more decent adaptation would have been. Always look on the bright side, right? You could watch it out of curiosity to see just how generic a protagonist can be and maybe scratch your head at some of the visual designs and adaptation decisions.

If you want to throw your beret in the air and have a toast to democracy, watching the anime is a great idea, but how about reading the novel as well?

As you may know, LotGH is best known for its lengthy plot that focuses on politics and war, as well as its intense focus on political philosophy, such as democratic theory, legitimacy of government, and theories involving various ideologies. The philosophy and the plot go closely hand in hand, with the latter demonstrating the importance of the former. The world-building is like an encyclopedia and the cast of characters is like a phone book. It ... is a big world out there, kind of like our own in many respects. Well, probably not the part with the unrealistic space battles and all that, but you get the idea. And it is not the clear-cut Good Republic vs Evil Empire situation that you often see in space operas. Instead, both sides are portrayed in a nuanced way and developed in a manner that overturns some of the Republic vs Empire clichés as the story goes on.

So you might be asking, "How is this different than the anime (or the animes)?" The main story in the OVA is almost entirely the same as in the novel, though there are some slight changes. Some scenes here and there were cut from the OVA, while a few were added from side stories or simply as anime originals. There are also lines of dialogue that were cut. For instance, some of the dialogue involving organized religion comes to mind. The newer Die Neue These is more loyal to the novel, but they still had to cut some of the narration for understandable reasons. The novel is the most comprehensive version and I feel that it conveys the intended substance in the most accurate way.

What I find impressive is that the author finished this massive space opera in 10 volumes, about 200 to 300 pages each. That was enough for the entire plot, with all its twists and developments, as well as all the introspection, philosophical debates, and infodumps. How did he do it? By focusing on the relevant parts. While the plot consists of a great number of different story threads that criss-cross the galaxy, it almost never meanders into filler territory. Practically everything is relevant to the main plot in some way. Also, while the infodumps contain all sorts of useful background info and interesting context for the events, they still go through it fairly quickly. There are a few moments of exposition that were unnecessary, but for the most part the novel focuses on the relevant facts and keeps it relatively brief. For instance, it does not dwell too long on the technobabble aspects of sci-fi technology.

The dialogue and narration flow smoothly and can be fairly eloquent sometimes. The novel tries to avoid the most obscure and archaic words, so it is entirely comprehensible. It isn't trying to be fully formal but not fully casual either. Sometimes it cracks jokes at the expense of authority figures and deeply-held philosophical beliefs, while sometimes it talks light-heartedly about the everyday lives of the characters. The latter still doesn't eat up too much of the pages though, and the plot can move on quickly. Well, sometimes the everyday events still manage to bring up philosophical points, so maybe it isn't quite so light-hearted.

By philosophy, I mean it in the sense of explicit analytical argumentation. When people talk about fiction or life in general, they sometimes throw the word "philosophy" around with various meanings that can refer to all sorts of things. Here I mean something that is closer to academic philosophy. It isn't quite the same as in academic papers, but it is surprisingly close as far as fiction goes. This makes a big difference because it allows the characters to be more precise in their arguments. I actually think that the main point that sets this novel apart the most is the philosophy. There are many political novels out there, but most of them do not try to argue so explicitly or try to take on topics as controversial as this. LotGH does not even try to restrain itself when it comes to the flaws of democracy, loyalty to the state, adherence to tradition, or organized religion. It goes in with guns blazing.

Of course, there are some problems. For instance, the space battles tactics can be unrealistic, as one might expect of a space opera. In fact, sometimes it can be a bit unclear what kinds of plans might work because we don't know all that much about some of the finer technical details. Consequently, some battle results may feel a bit arbitrary, and we end up wondering whether the winners deserve all the praise. But those are really standard problems with sci-fi space battles. In addition, some of the side characters only get limited characterization because there are only so many pages to go around. The Church of Terra gets the short end of the stick, as do some of the Imperial nobles in the first few volumes. As a result, some of them end up as somewhat generic villains. Oh, and I should probably mention that there are no illustrations aside from the front pages of the volumes, so don't expect any more of that.

The political philosophy and world-building are very legit though, and many of the characters are likeable enough to be invested in. The realism is not grounded in technology but in society and the people. Despite the space fleets and lasers, many of the political developments are eerily close to what we are experiencing today.