Gonna preface by saying this.
If you have not read the manga. You will be confused by the ending of this anime.
Read it yourself or read up on the ending after you watch it. Trust me. It will do you good.
Before I do start however I will say that this anime is not for the faint of heart, its very depressing, sad, bloody and gory, has sex and nudity, drugs and heavy tones. If you do not like any of those things this is not the anime for you. Enjoy.
Plot [7/10] - While the plot is very simple, it has two key problems. There really is no confirmed antagonist and some characters motivations are unknown and never known. Other than that the plot is simple, following our main characters Ryo and Akira. Now thats all I can tell you without spoiling so you are gonna have to take my word on this one.
Sound 10/10 - I was absolutely speechless when I heard the soundtrack to this anime, it is mind blowing how good it is. There are two scenes in this that played either the wrong song as it doesn’t match the tone. While the other scene just plays music when the scene should have been silent. BUT! There is one scene in both episode 9 and 10 which plays no music at all and is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! I had to pause the episode to go back and watch said scenes over and over again just purely because they were that flipping good!
Art 6/10 - I love the art and the art style, but why is rated so low? The animation during some episodes is VERY subpar, some scenes look beyond silly and broke me from the mood the show created. After reading into why it was like this, I learned that it wasn’t a design choice, apparently Netflix underpaid the animators. If im wrong or read fake news please tell me and I will maybe give another chance to the score but for right now its staying at a 6/10 because of the poor animation in some episodes.
Character 7/10 - I remember watching this with one of my best friends and telling her that I had one major complaint about this anime. That there was no character development. Now we were only on episode 4 when i said this. Literally less than 30 seconds later there was character development. My only problem with the character development was that it was very hamfisted, meaning it was usually only in 1 episode at a time and was a massive info dump. There really is no excuse for info dumps and it’s a very lazy way of writing. Which is why the character score is how it is. Now the development does get way better near the final few episodes but it was a tad bit late to start doing this type of character development. In fact there is one character that is done well and actually has a character arc that spans across the whole anime and that’s Miko. Her character was very well done and actually had a good ending.
Enjoyment 10/10 - I have never had such a wonderful experience in my life, there are plenty of funny moments, plenty of serious moments and plenty of sad moments, but none of them conflict with one another. I had a blast watching the entire season in one sitting. I love this anime to bits, its creative and uses lots of storytelling elements that very observant viewers can piece together. References to religion, subtle foreshadowing, small puzzles that the viewer can put together. I probably missed a ton! But for right now im happy with my one viewing.
Overall Score [8.5/10]
Would I recommend this? HELL YES! This is my 6th favorite anime at the time of writing this review, which is saying a lot! Make sure you watch this in one sitting though! With or without friends, it’s still a good viewing no matter the choice! Anime like this shows me that creators still want to create a compelling story and that anime is still alive and well!
If today is your Birthday, Happy Birthday!
Have a wonderful rest of your day everyone!
