And then suddenly WHAM PLOT TWIST!!!! It kinda isn't!
The same old shit from the first one is still going down: people are getting killed in bizarre, overly art-designed ways and a group of children with relatively poor social skills and a penchant for doing stupid stuff and being in the right place at the right time seem to be more proficient at solving the mystery of whodunit than the police.
Unlike its predecessor, and almost miraculously, Chaos;Child actually feels like a mystery. This is in contrast to the original Head season's feeling more like a bad School Days fanfic. It has atmosphere and an ominous tone, and the characters of Child are actually pretty good this time as opposed to being UNBEARABLE (re. Chaos;Head). It has been genuinely unsettling at a couple points with some fairly macabre subject matter and implied graphic violence, and the narrative has been moving along at a pretty good pace. It even made me gasp and clutch my pearls at one point.
Chaos;Child isn't the best mystery/psychological/horror anime out there. It isn't even the best anime in the series that includes itself, Steins;Gate, Robotics;Notes, Occlutic;Nine, and the much maligned Chaos;Head.It's chaotic and confused, and the story is all over the place. It is not, by any means, a perfect show. What it is is pretty good, and it deserves a watch if you are inclined to enjoy something dark in the vein of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Bonus Game: Try to come up with some names for new entries in the series of works linked by the Random word;random word title. My ideas include Avocado;Surprise and Taxidermy;Birthday.
