At the best of times Phantom World can't really be described as anything more than just 'good'. It's not incredible, it's not clever and it doesn't particularly offer anything unique. The story certainly doesn't stand out, in fact I'd call it the show's biggest weakness. At one moment Phantom World wants to be a character driven show, the next it goes for a kind of 'Monster of the week' format and then toward the end it tries to be some kind of plot driven thriller. The structure is a complete mess. Had this been a genuinely plot heavy show I'd be lumping a 3/4 score on it because the narrative is hopeless. It doesn't know what it wants to be nor does it do anything that it tries particularly well. At least, not from a narrative point of view. It's not that the story itself is necessarily bad but rather how it's presented is a mess. They pick up some kind of remote thing and then it isn't mentioned again till near the end. I honestly forgot it existed and it turned out to be a genuine plot point. I guess the best way to describe this show's narrative is 'Sword Art Online-esc'. There was potential but it certainly didn't fulfil it.
Of course those looking at this review may be wondering "If the plots so bad why did you give it a 7 still?". The answer is very simple, this isn't a plot driven show. Looking over the last 3 episodes (which are actually decent attempts at narrative structure, albeit too late), the majority of the show takes on a heavy focus on comedy and characters. We get a surprising amount of back story with over half the series' episodes looking at events relating to the characters themselves. This is good and bad. On one hand it does offer some interesting concepts (the Kurumi episode had some very nice ideas in for example) but it does struggle due to one simple problem. The characters just aren't that good.
The protagonist is effectively just a source for the original LN writer to project random trivia onto, Mai bored me most of the time, Reina is literally just a less cute Kirby and Kurumi, whilst very cute, fails to actually serve a real purpose. The characters that stood out for me were Koito, but she got so little screen time it hardly mattered that I liked her, and Albrecht, who's a teddy bear. Seriously though, Albrect is the man, the hero everyone should aspire to be.
Not looking too good now is it? Well there are genuine positives to be taken from this show. First of all it looks gorgeous. Of course this is to be expected from any Kyoto Animation production but even so this one stands out for me in terms of their recent productions. Of course the animation is stellar too so nothing to complain about from an artistic point of view. The only reason I've given it a 8 rather than a 9/10 for art is because I'd have liked to have seen a bit more colour used personally. If I really had to stretch my criticism I’d argue that this show isn’t as aesthetically unique as some of Kyoto’s other productions. With something like Lucky Star or Haruhi Suzumiya I can instantly recognise it as that specific art style. Phantom World on the other hand kind of just looks like any old modern anime. It lacks that certain flair.
Hope you like your urban music and variants of electronic pop. Fortunately I do and so I could get on with the soundtrack with relative ease. There’s nothing I’ll be downloading for personal use but as I watched the show I got into some of the music enough to justify its placement. The opening seems to be hit or miss with the community but I myself enjoyed it greatly. Not quite up there with K-ON! or Nichijou but certainly outdoing the likes of Free and Clannad on this front. It's quirky, shows off the characters and gives you an idea of the sort of show it is. Can't ask much more from it really.
I feel I've come across as somewhat negative in this review but in truth that's me being my usual harsh self. Phantom Word is a simple yet fun show if consumed in such a way where you expect very little. I feel a lot of people went into this show expecting another After Story or another Chunni. It isn't of that standard at all but I'd say it's certainly a competent comedy. I wouldn't place this at the top of my 'Plan to Watch' list but I also wouldn't just dismiss it. If you're the sort of person that can tolerate a somewhat funny show with nice art and a good soundtrack but not much else, you'll probably enjoy Phantom World enough to justify your time.
