Backstory, backstory, backstory.
Evil or Live is one of those shows where the synopsis is practically totally irrelevant to the actual story since the point of the show is to "shock" you in the first place. If they told you exactly what to expect all the time, the enjoyment they are trying to create goes down.
MINI SPOILER ALERT: The show is not at all about Hibiki's living arrangements in this Prison School-esque set up where he can be rehabilitated for his net addiction; if you are looking for that then look away.
For those of you who want an actual psychologically mind-blowing anime (or at least are treading lightly with an open mind):
Story: 9
As aforementioned, the synopsis is total garbo. They intentionally make it as useless as possible because they want viewers to get drawn in by the premise (or at least have an understanding of character based psychological anime) of a net nerd Hibiki and his plight at some crazy military academy to cure him of his addiction. The plot is actually all about relationships, trust, companionship, and frankly, survivability at all costs. Almost ALL of the characters are not who they appear to be and many have deep and intriguing backstories to help explain some of their motivations. Friendships are put to the test and even the most depraved cynic can have the biggest hearts. That is what psychological anime is all about- they either get you the audience or they get the characters.
They miss the last 1 point because the overall pace of the anime should have been quicker. Many people dropped the show early on when none of the mind-reee'ing material aired yet. I advise you to stay for the long haul for this anime and not just drop it after a few episodes because that is all just build up.
Art: 6.5
Evil or Live production was apparently on a budget or something but the animations are still very fluid and well done. There are time when I notice them reusing the same animation many times like it is on a loop as opposed to animating each specific activity individually but that is what we get with a budget anime. The anime itself is Chinese from a manhua so it will obviously be different than standard Japanese anime. It was a fair job. They get the extra .5 for not using pink or blue fluid when depicting blood, they animate it in all its goriness.
Sound: 6
Nothing really spectacular. Nice OP/ED although most of the OP is verbal speech chronicling net disease and its effect on the masses. It's main use of sound are special effects witch are really great, but in an ordinary scene without action, it is almost unnoticeable or nonexistent. I don't reckon it even matters, though, since again: the anime is heavily plot based; music was probably seen as a distraction to the overall quality of the anime or another budgeting issue. Regardless, an anime like this does not rely on songs to move the plot along.
Character: 9
Every character has a unique backstory that brings its own blend into the anime. It isn't simply good v. evil, students v. military police academy, whatever. Almost everyone is manipulative, deceitful, traumatized, etc.; they have their own personalities that explains the reasoning's behind their actions. It would not be a wise idea to just take everything at face value- or maybe it is, for even greater plot twist shock value.
Enjoyment:10
I thoroughly enjoyed this series. I got more out of it than I expected all because I stuck around longer than most people. Waiting for an anime to get good at X episode is always a terrible reason for someone to watch a show but it is also important to realize that plot twists and big reveals are rewards for those who give the show its fair due. If you want to watch this anime without the intention to see this thing through or explore Hibiki's decisions and mindsets, then is anime isn't for you. It is great to have a judgment of an anime early on but this specific anime clearly doesn't cut it after the first few episodes and this is not the only positive review out there. You can enjoy the series too but it is imperative that you give it a chance; otherwise you'd just be list-spamming entries or wasting your time- there are plenty of other quicker paced shows out there that you haven't seen yet that will pique your interest. Evil or Live is really an interesting psychological anime because it delves into the famous character based psychological ploys (where the character goes through psychological trauma) and audience based psychological ploys (think of Texhnolyze or Lain) with its many plot twists and likable characters that grew on me after learning more about them. The action scenes were also very good and could draw you in depending on how heavily invested you were with said character. The characters do grow an change throughout the series, showing us how they have been forced to evolve due to their current situation.
Overall: 8
A solid anime with a few major drawbacks. One is that it sort of relies on the "watch x episodes before good" ploy, although anyone who was genuinely interested int he series would not even mind that, I'd argue since they know what they are getting themselves into. Another drawback is the Chinese-Japanese border hopping budget which limits the show in its use of music, animation, and many other production-based specificities. Once you get past these drawbacks, the anime makes up for it in a compelling 12 episode series that tells an emotional story about students trapped in a hellhole academy doing whatever they can to survive. The different roles each character plays really brings the story together since the plot twists really make the series. They are relied upon time and time again, and are still very effective; the students also grow and change showing you that they are not just static pieces waiting for some magic fairy dust to fix things for them. This was a great psychological anime that aired during Fall 2017 that could even be well received by many who are willing to explore how these teenagers deal with their net addiction at their military-based academy (at least that is what the synopsis want you to believe; I'm trying to not give away anything at all here).
I honestly don't feel like the current MAL score (~5.56) is reflective at all of this piece but maybe checking back later will prove interesting enough.
