First of all, let's begin with this, so you're not tricked into thinking this is a show about terrorism and the morals around it. Because it isn't. It really isn't anything I expected when going into it.
Whether or not I recommend it, is a bit of a complicated question, but I'll ultimately say no. There are definitely some good - even very good - parts to this story, but I just can't recommend it. Or can I? I mean, fuck, it's difficult, alright?
Going to deep into what the story is actually about is kind of risking spoilers, but I'll try a spoiler-free version: Zankyou no Terror is about connectivity. Not just between two people, or about someone who's on the outside of societal norms, but a society. Also, it's about the Japanese climate and generational gaps, in a post-war society (even if the show has a modern setting). It's just a shame there's so much in the way to actually get to that. Well, technically it's always there, but it's just not "stated" that that's what it's about. Sure, us viewers have to read into things as they happen, but sometimes it can't help to kinda lead us to what were supposed to get out of it. Eh.
Anyway, ZnT centres on a duo of young men, Nine and Twelve, who fashion themselves terrorists with a cause. Nine is the classic silently intelligent bad-ass you often see in anime. Twelve is another stereotype - the hyper individual, with a magnetism that pulls people to him. Initially Twelve seems to have the interesting twist of being a psychotic emotional manipulator, but that quickly goes away to reveal a pretty normal guy, minus the terrorism angle. I won't go too much into the attacks and repercussions themselves, but I will say that the show definitely veers hard away from very serious terrorism stuff - is, I guess, how I'll put it. They call themselves Sphinx 1 and 2, and the series starts with them stealing a nuclear device. After that, they go to record and upload videos with them forecasting bombings, and basically daring the cops to do anything about it. They challenge the police to solve puzzles related to Greek mythology. So, those of us who aren't read up on Sophocles' Oedipus just get to kick back and watch the story unfold.
Among the police trying to solve Sphinx' riddles is former detective Shibazaki, who got taken off the force in the past for investigating police corruption. He's the series' most interesting character, in that he actually has a fully developed character. He feels like a more mature L Lawliet, without the eccentricity. He knows what man-made disasters can do to a country, and will go far to stop Sphinx' plans.
Into this mess, Lisa Mashima is pulled. She's a schoolgirl that's bullied by the other girls and seems to generally hate life. Her mother seems incredibly Twelve injects himself into her life, which has huge consequences on both of their lives. There is potential to the Lisa character, for sure. She could have offered another, but still parallel, viewpoint to the Sphinxes', and help to further explore all three characters. That doesn't really happen, though, or at least not soon enough. She plays the damsel in distress and is portrayed as being quite ridiculously useless. Her bad cooking is played for laughs, because anime stereotype. Her arc ends up in a pretty good place before the series crashes and burns at the end.
The story is excellently animated. Absolutely gorgeous. The music is also a stand-out, behind which is industry veteran Yoko Kanno. One song has guest vocals from the vocalist of one of my favourite bands, Agent Fresco (whom you should definitely check out, yo). The soundtrack does its job superbly well, and adds to some very good scenes.
You know what? Fuck it, I'll recommend it. If you can bear the really bad ("the bad", obviously being relative to what you enjoy from your anime) of this show, there's a story there that kinda deserves to be seen. To quote myself from earlier, because I can, "It's just a shame there's so much in the way to actually get to that." Cut a couple of episodes, especially the parts with the nonsensical and oh-so-uninteresting villain that you can see a mile away after watching the first episode if you've seen a couple of anime series' before (seriously, the villain and its cadre, and its actions and reactions from the local police are fucking terrible ends up being a ridiculously awful addition), and focus on the more personal and cultural story. Hell, it could have worked very well as a longer feature film at like 2 hours or so.
All in all, it's a troubled, yet good anime that has something to say , even if its message gets a bit lost in between its sometimes crazy antics. It's not getting a whole-hearted recommendation, but I think it's worth checking out. At the very least, it at least tries to stand out from most other anime released today, and that's worth something.
