The story didn’t grab me. When it came down to it, the main bad guy was a tree and the two main protagonists spend the entire anime moping. Come on, we all know how annoying it is to be around someone who can’t get over an ex. Now multiply that by two and put them together. The series as a whole lacked action and urgency. After Episode 12 I really lost sight of what the hell everyone was trying to do. They basically took a hiatus from the plot. This was used to develop a one-sided romance, answer a few questions about people’s pasts and introduce a couple new characters that I didn’t care about. I’m sorry, but if you want to build a murder mystery into the plot that’s great but don’t put the whole plot on hold to do it. Literally billions of people are dying, cities are being destroyed, and we are getting worked up about 1 girl’s death? Some perspective please.
On the topic of Aika and the murder mystery they kind of messed that part up. First, they spent way too much time focusing on it. By about episode 14 I had heard enough about Aika and by episode 17 I was becoming progressively more nauseated with every sentimental flashback. As for the actual mystery and suspense part they built an intriguing story only to knock it down with a weird, irrational twist.
I think the only part of this anime that really stood out was when we find out the ‘who/what/when/where/why/how’ about how Hazake got stranded. It was actually really well done and could have been a great springboard for Yoshino’s character. Unfortunately the story flopped on its belly after that and those few episodes were as good as it got.
I think anime can be a tool to address philosophical questions, realities of human nature, moral truths etc.. Tempest has a lot of fatalistic themes built into it which I don’t’ mind but they didn’t do it well. I finished the series feeling like there was some vague attempt at a deeper message but ultimately I was unsure of what they were trying to convey. By the end I was just irritated at the characters I was supposed to care about.
Characters:
I don’t know anything about Japanese courtship but god damn those teens were passive aggressive. Sneaking around, setting up fake encounters, pretending to hate one another to throw people off. It’s like an unspoken rule that you can’t just sit down and talk about a problem you have to put it off and hide it until it explodes. I guess it made the love triangle entertaining but it also made the dilemmas difficult to relate to and the characters difficult to admire.
The way the characters reacted to emotional situations seemed abnormal and very blunted. Yoshino’s reactions and thought process remained super passive and detached. Many characters were either 1 dimensional or inconsistent. By the end of the series I didn’t know what Yoshino stood for or why. Btw, if you watch this anime, keep an eye out for the ‘video message’, I found it to be a lot more creepy than touching. Who the fuck would get turned on by that?
As a general rule, characters should behave rationally and in their own best interests or according to their ideals. If they're going take the painful or difficult path it should be because there is no easier or simpler option. That's just good writing. You create a plot hole when the audience can think of a much simpler solution to a problem the protagonists are struggling with. Needless self-sacrifice makes for cheap emotional porn. I loved LotR. It was an epic trilogy, full of amazing battles, struggles and sacrifices but why couldn’t the eagles have just dropped the ring in Mt Doom from the start? Tempest is full of shit like that cept without the epicness.
Art: Extremely good art. I need to say it. I need to mention Yoshino's character design. He is one of the most feminine looking male character I’ve seen. He has a pixie haircut and wears hairclips. I kept mistaking him for a girl. You can take that information however you want.
Sound: The intros were mediocre but the music was very good and helped create a sad and haunting atmosphere.
Overall: Not wowed. The murder mystery was kind of a flop for me. The action was average at best. The story left many unanswered questions. The characters were inconsistent.
Love/Romance: They love a dead girl. There’s some stuff on the side that’s pretty awkwardly done and completely one-sided.
Blood/Gore: Not too much actually.
Sex/Nudity: A bit of fan service and cleavage.
