just in case you are not familiar with brain's base or shaft, or don't know much anime studios in general, shaft made great series like bakemonogatari series, arakawa under the bridge series, and sayonara zetsubou sensei series, while brain's base made durarara, baccano and mawaru penguindrum, all of which are masterpieces that one cannot miss.
well, into the actual review. if you actually listened to all the songs from kagerou project, you should know that the story for mekakucity actors actually sucks, as in it's not that attractive. it has a lot of protagonist, each with their own story, the only thing linking them in the kagerou daze and their power, which is a rather weak link, and their power are rather weak too. the only thing that gives punches in the story are outer science, which wasn't given an independent episode in the series, ayano's theory of happiness, which was done okay, and otsukimi recital, which was horribly rushed and was not otsukimi recital at all. and yuukei yesterday which was done pretty well. still, the shaft not so great with plot driven anime, and kagerou project with an inherently weak plot, plus it been only twelve episodes, resulted in a pretty bad plot line even for a shaft anime.
mekakucity actor is supposed to be a tragedy, you know, and what's a tragedy without a tragic episode where everyone dies and protagonist turns back the time to save everyone? also the villains of the series are portraited weakly, which doesn't surprise me, considering shaft is horrible with plot related stuff, and villains in shaft anime are historically weak. but i think they could have done a better job with kuroha at least. in the songs kuroha was supposed to be formed by the shock of using awakening eye, although it's not really explained in detail how and why and open to interpretation. also, he supposingly tried to shoot himself in route 1. but seriously shaft......you made kenjiro possess konoha's body...which i can see makes some sense from that one image from outer science...but honestly you just killed a character to make your own time easy, and killed half of the plot line--where is the tragedy, why did kuroha tried to shoot himself, etc.
well, art and music goes, shaft is shaft and they've got that covered. not saying that their art is better than kyo ani or pa works, who have like the most beautiful art work among all studios, but the shaft style of animation is absolute joy to watch, for me at least. and shaft always have ridiculously good music, though sometimes they don't make sense, for instance opening for sayonara zetsubo sensei season one. it makes you wonder why it was picked, but it also makes you feel somewhere somebody is probably loving this opening, and then you start liking it too. well, pair with kagerou project and jin, mekakucity actor has absolutely the best music in the spring season.
well i say that but shaft did make little slip ups here and there. first of all, i understand the vocaloid tribute and all, with that opening for ayano's theory of happiness, but then at least let ia sing it...like....seriously...............i almost had a heart attack that episode----if the rest of that episode was like that, i would have had a nightmare lol...also, otsukimi recital, why ia.....yuikonnu clearly has the best otsukimi recital and kisaragi attention cover....to be honest i wish nico singers were invited to cover mekakucity actor songs....kagerou project did first and foremost prosper on nico after all.
character wise most of the characters are rather weakly developed. as i said it's shaft's weak point. especially hibiya and momo's characters are much more interesting than presented. well, shaft didn't give otsukimi recital a chance, i guess that's that.
overall i give mekakucity actors a nine, not cause it's as good as a nine, but it's as worth watching as a nine. if you haven't checked out the songs on nico go check them out as well. also jin's voice didn't lose to professional seiyus lol.
