Story: 3/10 – cliché and extremely disappointing
Before diving into the flaws, the premise of the story is actually pretty unique (as compared to the rest of the series for the past few seasons) and is seemingly promising at first glance. This series could have done so much better in many ways given its premise.
Throughout the 12 episode run, it felt as though the series accomplished close to nothing. Cliché characters coupled with overwhelmingly cliché and unnecessary conversations and, superficial and cheesy “problems” and “resolutions”. Many times, it felt as though the writers were mainly focusing on the characters and seriously neglected the progression and delivery of the story. Viewers were presented with too many underdeveloped backstories of the supporting characters, so much so that it failed to create any form of emotional connections with any of the characters, supporting or main alike. Additionally, too much time were spent on unnecessary conversations that accomplished nothing. At times, the overwhelming amount of conversation made it feel as though the story was going in circles. For example, whenever there is a group discussion, supporting characters tend to make small and forceful comments which feels as though the writers were trying their very best to falsely provide a unique identity via certain characteristics of their speech. All in all, the story development is poor and there is a poor flow of story progression.
Art and Sound: 5/10 – average and nothing impressive
Animation and sound effects wise, there is nothing to praise or complain about. Personally enjoyed the opening and ending track.
Character: 3/10 – generic anime tropes, poorly developed and too many
Characters in the series feels blend and generic Many, if not all of the characters as though they were created by new writers who are constantly referring to their ‘How to Create Anime Characters for Dummies’ handbook. Of all the characters, the main character in particular annoyed me the most. So, let me start with the main character, Mitsumune.
Personally, I am largely annoyed by the wimpy main character whom showers everyone with kindness and is pretty much oblivious to everything else. The character archetype was clear as day from the get-go. Still, I gave him another chance in hope of some character development which might potentially turn him into some badness (yes Kaneki, yes you). Unfortunately, nothing much happened. Yes, he might have sort of overcome his past which in the first place did not connect much with me. Don’t get me wrong, I AM capable of feeling empathy but just not with him. In retrospective, I do sympathise with Mitsumune and what he has to go through. However, the execution of his backstory was poorly done which resulted in the failure of any emotional connection between the viewer and the character himself.
As for the supporting characters, 2 words to describe – too many. There were simply too many supporting characters for a 12-episode series. As a result, the writers probably struggled when they tried to give enough air time, focus and unique characteristics to distinguish every character. The final product of this futile struggle was multiple forceful and unnecessary comments throughout the series. As much as they could, the writers tried and failed to create distinctions between many of the supporting characters. Imagine this, the writers tried to create some sort of balance between the 20-odd supporting characters in a 12-episode anime while giving enough show time to 2 main characters and 2 other ‘main’ characters. Nope, I’m sorry but this is quite an impossible feat. Due to the sheer numbers of characters and very limited air time, this then result in poorly developed characters where their backstories are touch-and-go and are forcefully showcased.
Enjoyment: 3/10 – (almost) every episode left me disappointed
As mentioned earlier in the article, I had high hopes for the series. The first 3 to 5 episodes managed to keep me interested as the characters journeyed and explored Nanaki Village despite some red flags such as the excessive conversations and blend characters. From there on, it became a nightmare for me as I came to realisation that this anime isn’t what I had expected it to be. At times, I ended up alt tab-ing between the anime and other stuffs as I was honestly too uninterested with the story while still carrying some hope for the series. At some point of time, I see no glimpse of hope and prayed for the series to end so that I do not have to waste any more time. Ironically, I became interested for a whole other reason. I was curious to see how the series would end and how the writers would ‘resolve’ certain ‘problems’. If not for this and the first few episodes, I probably would have given ‘1/10’ for ‘Enjoyment’.
Overall: 3/10 – promising series and huge disappointment
Based on the initial trailer, the anime seems to tick all the right boxes for me. Survival? Check! Mystery? Check! Dark and realistic? Check to an extend! Survival as a group? Super check that! Sadly, the series differed greatly from what I have imagined, hoped and prayed for it to be. Survival? Check but the execution was so damn bad. Mystery? Check but mostly uninteresting once they reach Nanaki Village and it suffered a similar fate as the ‘Survival’ element. Dark and realistic? That’s a big ‘nope’. Survival as a group? Super disappointed; poorly designed and developed supporting characters and it felt more like survival of the main character eventually as the supporting characters fades into darkness.
In my opinion, I feel that the writers were trying to do too much in too little time span. The series could have delivered a lot better if they were to cut down the number of supporting characters and spend more time developing each character. Pay more attention to the main characters and pick better ‘problems’ or backstories for the characters. And please, the ‘resolution’ and ending was so cliché and cheesy that I can’t even anymore. In short, a great premise that got utterly destroyed by the writing.
Recommendation:
If you have just gotten into anime, this series may still be passable for you as you might have not been exposed to too much of the generic anime trope characters. Even so, there are so much more quality animes available (with well-executed generic anime trope characters) that is much more deserving of your time and devotion.
For veterans, this is not worth your time. Maybe if you have nothing left to watch. But still, no.
TL; DR:
1. Promising premise but failed to live up to expectations
2. Too many characters which resulted in poor development
3. Too much talking as writers tried to give distinctive traits to each character
4. Cheesy and cliché plot and conversations
5. Completing the series became a drag
6. Do not waste your time
