Very good and complicated show, especially in its second part when it gets rid of the freak of the week stuff.
It’s not entirely nihilistic, because of the ending, but it delivers its message very harshly, which threw me off a little bit, because it’s so fast getting to it. Loved the overall themes of love that conquers all/compassion/empathy/the coming of age stories and hitting puberty; mirroring the violent and bad side of human beings: even though we are a deeply flawed species, there’s always hope for change and betterment.
Very beautiful OST that matches the scenes perfectly. Still love the animation and Yuusa style. A lot of graphic stuff, doesn’t shy away from the sex and violence.
The characters are mostly very well written, I was especially attached to the secondary ones Miki, Miko and the rap boys. There’s a thing about marginalized people in them (and the nontoxic masculinity of Akira) that is really explored, with the freestyles for example…
I really liked the personality of Akira, the fact that he preserves his true self even as a demon, but I felt like he was a bit much of a follower, he let situations (and Ryo) dictate his actions for the most part. Ryo is kind of a fascinating evil character (a la Griffith), I guess he was the protagonist, that learned and changed the most, but wasn’t fond of him.
The overall graphic sex and subsequently sexualisation of women didn’t bother me except for Miki, there were just too many scenes where she didn’t have to be.
The little arcs are not really dvlp and kinda thrown off quickly. I get the fast rhythm, the fact that social media+the people’s conformity to fear and madness really accelerated everything, and I guess to really punch you with the feels, but it could’ve went a bit deeper into the duality of bad/evil of human nature, what it is to be a so-called monster…
