Would you obliterate this world for the sake of someone you love? Would you go against the logic of the world to achieve your goals?
Zetsuen No Tempest is a masterly written piece of work that challenges the watcher to reflect on their ideas of death, love, and logic. I started this anime with low expectations. I am a rather optimistic person, and the premise of a dystopic world did not attract much enthusiasm from me. Zestuen No Tempest, however, is not just a story of some parallel dystopian world, but rather a personal story involving love and tragedy.
Story
ZNT prides itself in their story telling. Yes, there are numerous action scenes to gratify our blood-thirsty anime watching peers but these are not the most impressive features of the anime. The splendidity is established in the plot and dialog. ZNT did a great job with dialog. The initial proposition of the anime were not striking. You have a world where there is a special clan, called the Kusaribe, that can manipulate technology to use their power, which they call magic. It seems like this “magic” comes from a tree, and the magic can only be used to enforce the world's logic. Nothing mind blowing.
The story is less about magic but rather the peculiar circumstances of the two main characters, Fuwa Mahiro and Takigawa Yoshino. These two characters are both thrown into this surreal world of magic after the murder of their beloved, Fuwa Aika. Mahiro is bent on avenging his little sister, while Yoshino is struggling to find inner peace with this news. These two personalities are the driving force of the plot.
I think Yoshino and Mahiro had a terrific dynamic that kept me in the edge of my seat, at least, during the first half of the anime. Yoshino and Mahiro are supposedly friends, but their relationship are at first pictured ambiguously. Their devious personalities made me suspicious of their real motives, but it is those parts that made the anime so intense and eye grabbing.
Though the anime is rather dark, there are comedic elements that help alleviate some of the darkness that surrounds the story. I am not a fan of "fan service" but there were some of it in the anime. It was all nicely placed and didn't interfered with the viewing experience. Some of it was actually nicely appreciated.
The first half of this anime was phenomenal. The intensity of those first few episodes were unprecedented in my experience, and the most surprising part was how they executed it. I will not spill spoilers, but those parts were dialog-driven, and it is spectacular how those scenes captured you into the story and made your mind thrilled at every new twist.
The second half of the anime was not as intense as the first half, but by no mean was it sub par. The second half just added more to the story. The introduction of a certain anticipated female character was the main event, but there were other factors that made the second half excellent.
Overall, I give the story 8/10.
Sound
10/10
The scores says it all. Not much to explain.
I enjoyed the second half's opening and closing more than the first half's Op and Ed. Both of them were good.
The BGM was excellent and fit every scene. It was so unique and theatrical in it's volume and instrument used. The epicness, the intensity, and the dystopia shown were all equally fitted with superb background music.
Will definitely check out the OST when I get the chance.
Characters
10/10
I mentioned earlier that the plot drives the anime, and while this is true, it is the characters that pushes the plot forward. ZNT did not flesh out every character that were introduced ( there were some characters that we never even got to see at all) but they managed to really fulfill the characters that were the most central to their story. These central characters would be Mahiro, Yoshino, Hazake, and Aika.
Mahiro- He was my favorite character of the series. His intellect could not be denied, his will power was impeccable, and his vengeance nothing to play with. I felt bad for him throughout the anime since it seemed like he was the one in most pain, and I couldn't see a good ending for him emotionally. One that is driven for revenge usually doesn't have the best ending. There was character development and Mahiro did change a bit, though he would deny it. I like seeing his interactions with others, though Mahiro seems like he can do it all, he does have trouble with communication, which gave some good comedic relief on my part. Liked his character design.
Yoshino- I have mixed feelings about this character. I mostly like him but I still feel like we didn't really get to delve into who Yoshino really is. I get it. He prides himself in not showing his emotion to anyone, but you would think that we would at least get a glimpse, as us watchers, to his inner attitude towards other characters. Besides that, I really enjoyed this character. He is not your typical MC, he is smart, conscious, and and not afraid to get his hand dirty. He is a complex character, and you always want your MC to be more than one dimensional. Unique character design, but looks like Light Yagami in some angles.
Hazake: I did not like her at first, but she grew on me over time. She's smart, but has an annoying attitude. She is extremely arrogant. This makes sense however, since she was raised as a princess, and is the strongest person of the Kusaribe tribe. She grew on me later, because we got to see different sides of her, and it made her more human to me. I grew very fond of her. Typical but fitting character design. She was a bit too short for my opinion. Maybe she has a Napoleon complex......
Aika: The mysterious girl that has captured the heart of the two main MCs and thrown logic out of joint. The girl in love with Shakespeare tragedies, and can be seen religiously quoting verses from Hamlet and Tempest. I enjoyed Aika. I think the anime foreshadowed her to be this special and unique character, and I thought they were doing too much with all her flashbacks, but in the end, Aika in full glory was all that I thought she would be. Her witty remarks, her dark humor, her sexual teasing, I loved it all. She certainly deserves all the attention given to her in Zetsuen No Tempest. Pretty Character design, seems to be in contrast to Hazake's design.
Enjoyment
10/10
Zetsuen No Tempest was a heck of a ride. The first half shined as bright as any anime I have ever seen, and the second half was spectacular in their transition. The theme of the anime about wanting to change the world for someone you love is reiterated and explained throughout the anime. There are numerous quotes from Hamlet and Tempest, and I would be surprised if one is not at least tempted to get into Shakespeare after completing this anime. The enjoyment was out of the roof for me, I initially gave this anime an 9/10...but there was two episode in the second half that boosted the anime to a perfect score.
But the anime was not perfect, there were some underwhelming parts, but overall, I cannot disregard the tremendous excitement that I felt while watching this anime.
I recommend this to anyone that enjoys a great Ost, drama, love, and battle of wits.
Outstanding (10/10)
