Mekakucity Actors was definitely among the most anticipated anime this spring season gone past. With an already well-established fanbase, an intriguing premises, and animation done by none other than SHAFT (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the Monogatari Series), the series garnered a lot of attention from the anime community. Not only that, but the creator of the Kagerou Project (the vocaloid song series from which this anime is based), Jin, also had input into sculpting the series. However, after finishing the final episode, I can summarize my feelings towards the series as a whole with one word: disappointing.
(NOTE: I have been exposed to the original source material, that being the vocaloid song series, the manga, and the light novels)
Story: 5
This is undoubtedly the major fault of the show. The story of Mekakucity Actors is fairly simple: it explores the events that occur around the group known as Mekakushi-Dan. The people within this group all posses mysterious eye powers, and they were all brought together due to the incidents that occurred on August 14th and 15th. So much could have been done with this premises, however, SHAFT handled it poorly, to say the least.
The way the story is portrayed is far from conventional storytelling. Each episode usually focuses on a particular event or character. The information given to us is then tied into the events of the next episode, meaning that when viewing an episode, it may be slightly difficult to understand what is going on. While I am all for innovative methods of storytelling, Mekakucity Actors simply did not have enough time to use this, focusing too much or too little on certain elements which result in some episodes feeling rushed. Also, SHAFT decided to throw in some metaphorical imagery, which may make things even more confusing for the viewer as they are already trying to understand what the hell is going on. With something with so much potential, it was saddening to see it get butchered in such a fashion.
Characters: 6
Something else Mekakucity Actors didn't handle very well. It's not to say the characters weren't likeable and enjoyable to watch: believe me, they were. However, the show had this tendency to focus less on the characters who were imperative to the story, or completely ignore others. For example, SHAFT dedicated an entire episode to Momo, possibly the most unimportant character in the series, while only really addressing more important characters, i.e. Marry, at the very end of the series. Also certain characters *cough* Seto *cough* had so little screen time that they might as well have been superfluous side characters. In terms of character development, the majority of the cast barely showed a sign of difference from the beginning of the series, with a few exceptions. However, I will say that the relationships between the characters were definitely some of the more enjoyable aspects of the series, and were all generally handled well.
Art: 6
The animation of Mekakucity Actors is adequate, to say the least. As expected of SHAFT, each episode contains an abundance of head tilts from each character. The character designs themselves were quite simple, and there were moments throughout the series where the animation was stiff and much too crudely drawn, almost as if the animators were rushed for time and couldn't be bothered animating the scene with care. Albeit there were moments of fluid animation and some scenes were accompanied with well-animated, colourful backgrounds, but the animation was generally average and below SHAFT's usual standards. Also, I should also mention the animation present in episode 10, i.e. The Worst Use of CGI I Have Ever Seen. A small segment of this episode is cheap CGI animation used to accompany the song which the episode is named after: Ayano's Theory of Happiness. They somehow manage to make what was supposed to be an emotional song into an excruciating 3-minute watch.
Sound: 9
Definitely the highlight of the series. As expected from a show based of a song series, the music is sublime. Each episode contains the song that the episode itself is based of, redone by an actual singer. As a person who is not particularly a fan of vocaloid, I found listening to each song thoroughly enjoyable. The background music accompanied the scenes well, and both opening and ending are a pleasure to listen to. The opening especially, as it made you ecstatic to see what would transpire in the episode to follow.
Enjoyment: 7
Despite the flaws present in the show, I couldn't help but find myself excited each week when watching the show. There were moments where the story was portrayed well, well-executed emotional scenes and the interaction between the characters was enthralling to watch. Despite this, there is no doubting that this show has some serious flaws, and the final episode was far too rushed and sloppy in areas. The writers attempted to tie in all of the unresolved elements and it resulted a rushed and inconsistent episode. The rest of the Kagerou Project franchise, i.e. the songs, manga, and novels, is much better than the anime. People probably have many preconceptions about the rest of franchise due to the result of the anime, but the manga and light novels are completely separate from the anime in that they follow their own routes. They're much less convoluted and the storytelling is straightforward and easy enough to understand while also being compelling and having its fair share of twists and turns. The characters are explored more in-depth and are better developed than in the anime, making the read that more enthralling. If you found the fundamentals of Mekakucity Actors interesting enough, I would highly recommend the rest of Kagepro franchise.
Overall: 6
