Listen--I'm not one to go out of my way to post reviews, especially ones that require an account, but this anime literally left me feeling like I needed to take a month long shower.
I'd been recommended this series from several places who all claimed it was a wonderful show, full of plenty of horrific visuals and bordering on the edge psychological horror. A good, dark show great for when you need to satisfy a little morbid curiosity. I've been dying for another show that'll give me the heebie-geebies, so I was willing to give this one a shot.
Little did I know.
Now, I don't know if this is specifically the anime's fault or if the source material's like this as well (I haven't given much thought to the manga yet), but you know how a lot of times you can kind of tell if a show's made with a particular--ahem--"interest" in mind? Well, this show pretty much screams at least several versions of that. It's one thing to have gratuitous gore or a character in debilitating pain, it's another to have an entire plot that basically centers around "school age character is repeatedly, slowly, and agonizingly torn apart with pretty obvious sexual undertones, now in sister complex flavor."
Pretty much every episode they pull out the nasty, nasty sound effects and unbearably long scenes of both characters moaning and gasping while one gets eaten alive. The first time it happened, I was already uncomfortable, but by the eighth time we're shown up close, intimately animated sequences of a kid swallowing freshly bitten off human flesh with no real reason other than "because," you start to get a little irritated and disgusted.
Not even kidding, as the other reviews also state, one episode is literally just one kid being eaten, graphically, while screaming and gasping, for a full 3 or so minutes while the voice over pulls out the old "onii-chan" to make sure you knew this had some kind of undertone in case you didn't know already. It makes you wonder if someone walked into the writer's lounge like, "Consider," and then proceeded to pitch their kink fantasy to the entire room.
"High school pain gorn. High school pain gorn, with sister complex, the series."
The borderline guro aside, there's just nothing else to support the story (which is part of the reason why this thing seems to scream "kink service" as strong as it does). Characters are two dimensional and annoying at best, and nine times out of ten you'll find yourself yelling at the screen, "How in the world is that supposed to make sense!?"
I mean, and this is even without discussing the pacing/plot disaster this show's in. Pretty much every other review hits it spot on in that you can't properly convey a horror atmosphere when you've only got 4 minutes an episode, 2 of which are taken up by opening and closing. And without any way to make any kind of plot development DURING an episode, it's no wonder the focus of the story jumps around like something out of middle school fan fiction.
And if you're thinking about watching it for the art style instead, don't bother. Poor animation that only seems to bump when it comes to another close-up of someone eating meat, and a decidedly bright, saturated color palette that definitely does not help the already lacking atmosphere. When it finally comes time to try to "convey the mood," expect only dark gradients overlaid on the screen, pretty much blotting out most details.
Honestly, the feeling I got starting this series is like the feeling you'd get if you were promised a five star meal and were greeted instead with a piece of pre-chewed ground beef, courtesy of a guy hovering in the corner, waiting for you to eat it with baited breath and a web cam.
Nasty.
Don't even waste your time unless you've got a thing for some twisted kind of cannibalism fan service.
