Story (5)
At first, I was intrigued by the concept of the anime and had high expectations. It's not an everyday thing to see a survival show about giant mutant roaches. However, at the midway point, the story hasn't progress at all. Only killing and fighting scenes were shown. When I finished this anime, I didn't sense any progression of the story at all. The entire anime only depicted the story span over a few days with several flashbacks accompanied with character death.
Character (7)
To be honest, I didn't feel attached to any of the characters. There was no main characters, and they weren't developed at all. Plus, a lot of them died quickly.
Enjoyment (5)
Unlike most otakus out there who bias Japan over other countries, I don't. I am very well aware of global politics, so the political element of this anime annoyed me, a lot.
I wouldn't say this anime is racist, but it certainly portrays a very biased political view. I hate it. I want to point out that I don't find the resemblance between black roaches and African Americans to be racist, I never made that connection when I watched the anime.
It is never a good idea to bring politics into anime. I will point out all the political elements in this story and some rather disturbing things.
- One of the main German character is named Adolf, after the dictator of Nazi Germany. (I don't think that's a coincidence). Surprisingly, he is portrayed in a very positive light.
- The reason Adolf was portrayed to positively may be because of Japan's political standard back in WW2. Japan was one of the axis power that supported Nazi Germany.
- One scene in the anime showed the bodies of all Chinese crew members. (Assuming they were Chinese because of a metal plate that said Liu and China on there). I take this as a sign of the superiority of Japanese over Chinese people. This scene also reminded me very much of the NanKing massacre and how Japan invaded China and Korea.
- The Russians were made to be very stereotypical. Strong, big, and somewhat blood thirsty. In one scene, I remember clearly, of the Russian commander telling the roaches to fear Russia.
- In the manga, the Chinese characters were portrayed to be evil, ruthless, and very twisted. In was shown later that China had betrayed all other nations. This negative depiction of China may be resulted from the non stop conflicts between Japan and China.
- From what I said above, I believe it's safe to assume that this anime isn't solely about the roaches. This anime has many political elements and portrays other countries in a biased manner. It gives off the anti-Chinese government vibe, and glorifies Germans, especially Adolf...
Over all (6)
In conclusion, I think this anime is a bit nationalist, but not racist nor sexist. Regardless, I still very much enjoyed the concept of this anime, and the cool anime facts narrated in an epic voice.
