This is my first written review for an anime, so wish me luck.
I rated it according to MyAnimeList's standards (so 1 would be appalling).
Story:
I'm not going to lie to you. I watched the entirety of Isuca and have no idea what the plot is about. Were I to take a guess, I'd say it's about a bland male main character getting caught up in the world of a blonde female main character who's name isn't Isuca but I thought it was so what does Isuca mean? I don't know. Wait. What.
What's this aforementioned world consist of, you didn't ask?
Well, not much different to ours I suppose, minus the inexplicable spider-women demon things, the consistently pandering and derogatory nude scenes, and the unexplained demon hunting that appears to be going on.
Sound exciting?
It's not. It's awful.
I know I haven't really explained the story properly, but honestly the story felt so generic that you could probably go watch any other light novel adaptation and get the same feel.
Art:
Barebones basic 2004 anime art is constantly present. There's no 'woah, didcha see that!?' moments and the animation is sub-par. The main character must have been spawned from the most boring human beings to have existed - not that any of the other characters look any better, but I digress.
Sound:
I can't remember. Let me go listen to the Opening again...
Well that was a mistake. There's a reason I buried that corny mess into the furthest recesses of my mind.
That's not to say that the voice acting was abysmal though. I just think Kido Ibuki is probably not suited to play the role of an intentionally unbearable tsundere character. Her performance as Rinka Urushiba in Tokyo ESP last year was very good, so I'll boil it down to miscasting.
Unfortunately, Keisuke Koumoto doesn't lend his full potential as a voice actor to the main character, Asano Shinichirou, who ultimately ends up coming out as flat and disinteresting. Though again, it's not like he had much to go off - considering his character development could be summed up by a mute.
Character:
Well I've already touched upon the characters quite a bit, but I suppose I could explain myself a bit more.
First we have Asano Shinichirou, the main character. I know nothing about him.
Second, we have Isuca - no, wait, sorry - Sakuya Shimazu. Possibly the most aggravating character to come out of the anime industry in quite some time. Her character screams 'tsundere', but not in a good way. See, whereas Asuka and Kurisu both succeed at playing the confusing role of the tsundere, Shimazu flops at every opportunity. Every time that Asano may accidentally have Shimazu land upon his crotch beyond his control, she lashes out violently, screaming and hurling kicks and insults. The creators probably thought she seemed cute, but she just comes out looking like a bit of an unreasonable and relentless bitch.
Why Asano hung around with her for 12 episodes I'm not entirely sure. Probably for love. Or something. But then why would he fall in love with her? She's a dick. Because anime, maybe.
There's also the generic neko-pandering catlady who follows the Isuca norm of having no character development. She's not really worth talking about.
Enjoyment:
I didn't. I mean, I just didn't. I've seen Mars of Destruction and Skelter Heaven. I know what bad anime looks like. Yet I rated this lower than them both (though they also got 1s). Because I didn't have to sit through 12 whole episodes of Mars of Destruction. I didn't have to watch approximately 240 minutes of Skelter Heaven.
I've tried to find something worth praising in this show, but I honestly can't.
Conclusion:
Don't watch this. The first minute of episode 1 is misleading. There's gore and breasts, yes, but go watch Elfen Lied if you want that so bad. There's plenty of good anime out there, but this isn't one of them.
