(Vague spoilers ahead)
It has a very appealing concept. There was so much potential, but the overall execution bogged the series down.
CHARACTER
The characters aren't exceptionally great. They're entertaining here and there, but they won't stick with you. Characters are too flat, or characterization is all over the place.
Example of the former: Yusa. She stays her happy cute self from beginning to end. Sure, there are steadfast characters, but she barely shows other personality traits. And when she DOES show other sides, say, when she's sad because of a personal reason (and it was only once), it's not built up to it. It came out of nowhere,
...
and I felt nothing for her. The same goes for her sister, Misa.
Example of the latter: Yu, our main guy. I can't assign a word to his personality. For the first episode he comes off smug and ambitious, next he's apathetic and standing around taking orders, then he gets too nice (I see the reason why, but it was so fast) and suddenly intimate. By the end he's determined to save the world because he's obligated to save it (he doesn't have to be, even if it's for the person he cares about). Around the middle-end, he brings up his reason behind his smug and ambitious traits in the beginning of the series, but by that point it's irrelevant to mention. It's very out-of-place and unsuccessful. His motivation is not narratively strong.
STORY
The story is a gigantic mess overall.
At the beginning it seems to build up well, but halfway in plot devices come in out of nowhere, and at the end all answers and resolutions are harshly thrown at you. The major turns ask for a lot of suspension of disbelief from the audience. There are side stories that are tossed in for about 5-7 minutes and suddenly it's over. So there are pacing and build-up issues.
One example of the side story is Misa's background. In one episode, they set you up so that you can bond with her, and then the next moment, the climax of her story happens and you are expected to feel sad for her. After that the plot continues on as if that didn't even happen. Things move fast, and the audience doesn't emotionally follow.
Another example is the Shun's entrance to the story. They try to establish his presence in the first episode via Ayu's mention, but it's ineffective because 1) they've set up the trope predictably, it wasn't surprising when he was revealed and 2) he is never mentioned again for the next five or six episodes, therefore putting down their efforts to establish his presence. Again, no gradual build-up, and it's paced weird.
Next, they shove him in your face, and then proceed to explain EVERYTHING about why he's in the story at all. It's poor exposition, which adds onto the list of issues for why the story fails.
To be fair, this plot could've worked. It failed because of poor preparation; it could've easily been executed better if they outlined the plot well. They could've picked a different point at where to start the story. Why did the story begin after the events? The only reason could be for plot twists. But that's unsuccessful because they hinted the missing important character from the start, and didn't build up to the backstories well.
Speaking of important characters, this brings another issue I have: the main cast is wrongly picked out. The main cast is considered to be Yu, Tomori, Yusa, and Takajou. The first two are indeed main, but the other two had nothing to do with the events beforehand. Whereas, the missing character at the start, Shun, is very important to the plot. He's the man that knows everything that's going on, and yet his entrance to the story has no impact? As aforementioned, he's shoved in with lost build-up, and so he feels forced to be significant. He doesn't feel like a main character at all. In other words, characters that aren't important are shown significant, and vice versa.
My point is: they should've picked a starting point in which Yu, Ayu, AND Shun are the main focus for the entire duration of the series. Kumagami could've been a main character too since he is Shun's right hand man, but he's a supporting character and portrayed not as important as the others, for example, Tomori. Tomori could arguably be taken out. The story can easily hold if Yu's character motive is rearranged.
In conclusion for the story: terrible build-up, terrible pacing, and terribly disorganized in presentation.
There were some nice moments, such as the episode in which Yu goes off on his own for a whole episode (but it's not perfect). I even praise the last episode for presenting events concisely, but looking at plot wholly, it's not good. What does it matter if one part is contained well when other parts are messes? In the end, the acceptable aspects don't override the bad.
OVERALL
Cool concept. Loads of potential. Poor characters, poorly executed story. Can still find enjoyment and good aspects.
I didn't bother to elaborate on writing (main criticism is dialogue is unnatural and funky sometimes) because it is minor in comparison to the disorganization of presenting the story. You can't write well if you don't have the plot exposition ordered well in the first place.
The final score is 3-4, I'll fluctuate between those two.
Dec 28, 2015
(Vague spoilers ahead)
It has a very appealing concept. There was so much potential, but the overall execution bogged the series down. CHARACTER The characters aren't exceptionally great. They're entertaining here and there, but they won't stick with you. Characters are too flat, or characterization is all over the place. Example of the former: Yusa. She stays her happy cute self from beginning to end. Sure, there are steadfast characters, but she barely shows other personality traits. And when she DOES show other sides, say, when she's sad because of a personal reason (and it was only once), it's not built up to it. It came out of nowhere, ... |
