This is one of those animes whose subject matter is touchy. Not many people would dare create a show about terrorism, much less from both sides of the coin (aka the terrorists and the detectives.) Most people see the 'anime about terrorism' and immediately jump in. It's a different subject. Other realistic animes are typically slice of life (from what I've seen.) The crime animes focus on murders and kidnappings and disappearances. While those are all interesting, there are enough American crime shows to supply me with enough death and destruction. But this anime's premise really got me. A mysterious video? Bombs? Interesting...do continue.
Twelve and Nine didn't want to hurt anyone. It was never their goal. They didn't want mass killings or anything. They just wanted their cause to be noticed, for people to look into what happened to them (and their dead friends/family.) And their (albeit subtle) kindness was something that really caught my attention.
Nine and Twelve as a duo weren't too bad. They stuck together through all of this. And what happened in the last episode? I couldn't bear to hear that noise. I never heard such sadness and rage and loss of hope from any anime or any person. It was something unheard of. And, gosh, did it strike a chord...
Dislikes:
Lisa was probably the most boring character in the entire show. No, she might make my list of top ten most boring characters ever. She was a complete Mary Sue. The Sphinx Duo should have dumped her. She was so completely useless. She freaked out over every little thing they did. And she was all 'Nooo, I can't kill people!' when they weren't even thinking of murder. I wanted to shake Twelve. What in the world did he see in her? She was weak-willed. And, basically, a wimp. She never stood up for herself and took all the yelling and beating from others. Anybody could walk over her. Even a stranger. And no voice color could be better than that. Her story could have been fleshed out more. If so, maybe I would have liked her better.
The supposed (or so I thought) romance was completely laughable. While there have been unbelievable romances (ehem SAO), this was undeniably unnecessary. The relationship between Mary Sue and Why Does It Matter If He Has Synesthesia was just a fan service of sorts. Because every anime needs love! There was no buildup, and even if they had been dating before the whole anime started, I'd doubt they would really care for each other. What in the world did Twelve do for Lisa other than save her a few times? Zip. Zero. There is no basis for a romance. If you were trying to make me feel for Lisa, even a little bit, you failed.
The story ends on a highly anticlimactic note. You build up the whole series around the bombs and the sneaky US government. Then...what? EMP and everyone dies? I made a hypothesis that they were all in the afterlife. It would have been better than what actually happened.
The show also antagonizes the United States. Sure, we've done had to Japan (namely the WWII bombings), but this show went a tad too far. Why would the US even get involved? An atomic bomb? And for what purpose? To render Japan useless with an EMP wave? Highly unlikely. Also, on a different topic, the people who were the voice actors for the US people could have been way better. I was laughing the entire time they talked. They sounded so robotic.
