Like a work by Andy Warhol, End of the World failed to leave much of an impression on me, playing too much on modernism than anything of substance. Maybe if I was in some deluded state, not as quick, not as sharp, insightful or judging, it would have kicked me off my rocker and taken me to la-la land. But, presently, I'm not.
If you've ever watched American 90s cartoons, End of the World has the same feel and animation as those (or at least its closer to cartoons than most anime). Bright colors and a whole lot of wtf? Really, it's like Racko's Modern Life on more crack than usual. The sound also made me want to grind my teeth.
Though there is quite a bit of symbolism to be intriguing, its warped to the point of being too cryptic for the average anime watcher. The execution of the elements is underplayed, as much of the more interesting stuff in the atmosphere is never used. The characters are also forgettable, with their interactions and motives being something too 'forced' to be entirely beleivable.
But this anime doesn't want to be believable does it? It wants to bring you into a wonderland, "The end of the world" as it calls it. Unfortunately, (or fortunately), this 'world' isn't a place you'd ever want to go to. If that was the point of this short animation, then I applaud it for convincing me to never to want to go to that wonderland again- in other words I never want to watch this again
Perhaps it was all some of kind of parody or metaphor for society- there are multiple ways of looking at this piece. However, like anything, it cannot stand, or stand well, without substance- of which it has little of. It can almost be said that it lacks a certain 'beauty' that makes anime so enjoyable to watch.
I can see how you might enjoy this if you are intoxicated or something to that measure, but if you don't prefer to be airy or 'glazed over' stay far away from this. If you came here looking for something surreal, there are better anime that would give you more foundation (and be more memorable) than this. And there are plenty of other anime more enjoyable than this one.
