May 14, 2023
First I want to state that my review will encompass not just the first season (not the extended versions), but the second season, and the first movie. These are all available on Funimation. I have not watched anything else yet.
I was very conflicted when I first started watching this series as it is very difficult to imagine a world like this. The whole latent criminal aspect and everyone being so trusting of the Sybil System never sat well with me. It's also really hard to tell early on just how prevalent crime is in this city. There are very few options for weapons. There
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are stun batons, dominators, and some EMP grenades in short supply. Some of these complaints are addressed to some extant over the course of the first season. What bothered me most was the concept of a weapon that requires permission from Sybil and only has two settings, stun or BLOW THE BODY UP FROM THE INSIDE. Really this makes no sense on any level. Not only does it eliminate potential witnesses, but it terrifies everyone who sees it, raising stress levels and creating more latent criminals. I also don't care too much for violence without purpose. I stopped watching the first season a few episodes in because of this. I came back a few weeks later, but I was still constantly on the edge of giving up. Almost every review I looked at was glowing, no one even mentioned the absurdity of the dominators. The second half of the season does improve, although it drags on a few episodes longer than I would like.
I will say that the characters were interesting. The animation was moderately good. The writing and dialogue was probably one of the higher quality elements, with the exception of the usual villains and their philosophical monologues. There is a lot of great deduction. The overall plot was really just a vehicle to make you think about a serious moral and ethical dilemma. How much freedom would you sacrifice for safety? That dilemma is brought up again and again in different ways throughout the series. It was clearly heavily influenced by Blade Runner and other dystopian Science Fiction stories. Personally, I think using the plot for in this way is acceptable.
The second season was much more consistent and cohesive. The main plot started early and continued to be possibly more horrifying than the first season, which I still believe was absurdly unnecessary.
I would argue that the movie was one of the best science fiction anime movies I have ever seen. You can skip the second season if you want, but you need to watch most of the first season to understand the movie. The animation was top notch. There were some more interesting characters added. My favorite parts were the way that it explored the world outside of Japan and the introduction of some very advanced weapons. I was very disappointed by the limited weaponry in the series, so this made me happy. Also because it is set in another country, dominators are rarely used.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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