Kakeru Satsuki, and Yuka Minase, who are both just normal high school students. However, their realities fall apart when they are suddenly dragged into this strange world known as the “Red Night.” Except for some red fog that covers the area this world looks almost identical to the world Kakeru and Yuka know. Our heroes are in for even more of a surprise when these grotesque monsters start to attack them. Right when it looks like it’s all over, Kakeru and Yuka are suddenly transported back to their own world with their mental scars being the only proof that they had ever been there. Kakeru and Yuka, along with a few others, are dragged back in and out of the Red Night constantly without warning as these creatures called the “Black Knights” mercilessly hunt our heroes down. Only those brought to the Red Night are aware of its existence, while everyone else is blissfully ignorant. Now some other stuff happens of course, but that’s how the story unfolds for the most part. Now if you’re like me this story may seem kind of familiar to you. It may remind you of Persona 3 perhaps. The Red Night reminds me pretty heavily of the Midnight Hour. Not only that, but the monsters look like something straight out of P3. The whole anime also feels like it’s going for that darker more serious tone of storytelling like P3 as well. I mean, even Kakeru looks like a somehow edgier version of the P3 protagonist that they decided to slap an eye patch on. None of this means I think it was inspired by P3 by any means, but as a giant Persona fan the similarities are definitely interesting and worth noting.
I think the premise of the story is actually pretty interesting. I really enjoy the idea that these characters can suddenly be dragged into this other world at any time without warning. It’s just kind of a shame how the story unfolds for most of the anime. Our heroes are dragged into the Red Night, they are then hunted down by the Black Knights, our heroes often kill one of them, and then rinse and repeat. The second half of the anime is way more interesting, though. I will say that the pacing of the story can feel a little off at times. Episode 12 of the series is pretty rushed, and the episode before that had a neat concept, but I think they used it mainly for shock value and as such, was mostly unnecessary. There was an episode 13, but we won’t talk about that. Episode 12 is the real ending. 13 was pretty funny to watch but was one of the oddest most unnecessary episodes of an anime I’ve ever watched. Now I won’t go into the ending for obvious reasons, but I will say I actually liked it more than most people seem to. Well, more accurately, I like the spiral of event that leads to the end. Episode 12 leaves a lot to be desired honestly.
Oh, boy, grab some popcorn everyone, It’s time to talk about the characters. I prefer to call Kakeru “Edgy McEdgelord,” after his personality, or I’m sorry, his lack of one. Kakeru is your typically “Look at me, I have a tragic past that made me cold” type of main character. He never shuts up about how he’ll protect Yuka at any cost, which in all fairness, Yuka is such a useless character that she needs protecting. Yuka exists purely to grow Kakeru’s own ego and help him fulfill his brave, strong, alpha male, main character role. Everything from Kakeru’s character design, the way he talks, and his actions all bleed edginess. I could seriously slice bread on this man’s edge. His edginess could definitely be annoying to some, but I find pretty funny more than anything else, which makes it impossible for me to take him, as well as this anime serious. As I mentioned about Yuka, she’s useless. I wish I had more to comment about, but aside from the random out of place panty shots they use her for (which only makes it harder to take this anime seriously) she’s completely useless, uninteresting and exists purely to be protected by our Edgelord. Now, for the most part, everything I just said about Yuka is true, however for reasons I can’t go into without spoiling stuff Yuka gets infinitely more interesting towards the end of the anime, so keep that in mind. As for other characters, you have Yukiko Hirohara, a loud energetic girl that actually has a pretty interesting backstory, although the anime doesn’t go into depth about it as much as I’d like, which is a shame. I find her more annoying than anything else most of the time. She goes around randomly groping girls because they need to please the perverts, of course. You have Takahisa Tajima, he’s your typical delinquent. Aside from the fact that he’s eating food in almost every scene, which is a little humorous, he’s pretty boring. Next is Misuzu Kusakabe, my personal favorite character, not that that’s saying much. My reason for liking Misuzu is mainly because I think she’s the coolest character in the series and, who like Yukiko, has a pretty interesting backstory that isn’t fleshed out very much sadly. Next is Kukuri Tachibana, who seems to have lost her ability to speak, and communicates by writing on a notepad because of it. She seems to resemble Kakeru’s sister who took her own life many years ago. Can’t go into much without spoiling things, but I will add that I think Kukuri has a really cute smile. Not sure why that’s the main thing that sticks out to me, but she does. There are other characters, but that covers the main cast for the most part.
The art is the anime is pretty decent. It’s not going to win any awards or anything, but it looks fine for its time and I’ve never really noticed any drops in quality. The way the monsters are designed is again fine. The most common monsters in the Red Night may look like something straight out of an RPG, but they are actually pretty creepy. The way their jaws drop and let out this bloodcurdling whale like scream is actually slightly terrifying, so I give the anime major points for that. The sound and visual effects that happen when the Red Night begins is also pretty eerie and intense. The opening song for the series (Arrival of Tears) gives off that nostalgic vibe that I often get from older anime, and I really enjoy it. The song and visuals fit the themes in the show really well. Overall Arrival of Tears is catchy and fits the anime, which is all an opening really needs to do. Sequentia the ending song of 11eyes, like the opening, gets its job done. Once again the song itself is decently catchy and fits the show as it provides a nice wind down after the cliffhangers this anime loves to throw at the end of its episodes.
11eyes is an anime that really had the potential to be great, but unfortunately, it fell short in its generic underdeveloped characters as well as it’s execution.
That being said 11eyes isn’t all bad. Regardless of what I’ve said I actually enjoyed watching through it quite a bit and found it really exciting. I mean, I binged episodes 7-13 in one sitting. With all that being said, I always believe you should watch the anime yourself and build your own opinion. Everything I wrote here is just my own opinion after all and it isn’t any more or less valid than anybody else’s.
I give 11eyes
4 eyes out of 11- or 10 I suppose
