Reviews

Jun 26, 2018
Mixed Feelings
When Devil's Line started airing, I definitely wanted to like it, but as it continued, it got harder and harder to make excuses for how mediocre it ended up. At first, watching Devil's Line felt kind of like a guilty pleasure, you know the kind you get when you're enjoying Twilight or something similar, but the pleasure bit faded as the show continued came to a conclusion. There were times that I considered dropping it, but I'm glad that I didn't. It wasn't that Devil's Line was terrible, it was just that it was inconsistently good. More on what I mean in a minute.

Technically speaking, Devil's Line was a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes the animation was pretty solid, but other times, it was really choppy. I would love to say that the choppy bits were few and far between, but in reality, it was pretty consistent. That being said, it seemed to be isolated to mostly the beginning of the series, but it could be that I just got used to it's choppiness. The sound was strange too, especially when the someone went full "Devil Mode". I get what they were trying to accomplish with their sound mixing in those segments, but it ended up being less creepy in the way that they wanted and more creepy in an amusing way. However, the sound isn't all bad, most of the music was pretty good, especially then ending, which kept me going for a couple of those weird episodes towards the end.

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy the premise of Devil's Line, especially since that's what drew me to it anyway. In fact, the themes of racism and segregation between Devil's and humans were the most interesting parts of the show. Unfortunately, those interesting themes got pushed to the side for a mediocre love story for most of the run-time. Not to say that Tsukasa and Anzai's dynamic wasn't interesting at first, but it got shallow and generic pretty quickly.

One of the major problems Devil's Line fell into had more to do with its overwhelming cast of side characters. And by that, I don't mean that there were countless side characters, but more that they were indistinguishable. Most of the designs were generic and they're referred to by name most of the time, which makes it extremely confusing, since you don't have a clear face to put with the name. Every time a side character's name was mentioned, I would struggle for a few minutes to figure out who they were talking about. Maybe I'm exaggerating this issue, but it certainly felt like they weren't doing a good job at making the designs unique enough to stand out, especially the police force characters.

I think that illustrates Devil's Line's inconsistencies well enough, and I haven't even touched on the story at all. I won't go into detail, but I'll say that it's the same as everything else in this show, inconsistently good, with quite a bit of bad. I wouldn't not recommend Devil's Line, but I would definitely not tell anyone that it's a masterpiece. Your enjoyment depends on your interest in the relationship of the main characters and how much the premise and themes hold your attention. If those aren't enough, you aren't going to find much else.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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