I'm a bit conflicted after finishing this anime. On the one hand, there are a good many positive things about it, such as the art and the lore behind the world. On the other, there is one huge blemish that greets you in almost every single episode: the main heroine, Riko.
Riko is stupid, stubborn, weak, rash, impatient, almost useless, self-destructive, and utterly dependent on other people for her mere survival. And yet, she is trust up front and center and demands your attention and investment. She is a weak, inexperienced, and incapable child, and yet she is dead set on embarking on a dangerous journey considered to be suicidal for even the most hardened of adventurers. Despite every sound and rational character in the show strictly telling her NOT TO DO IT, she perseveres, oblivious to reason, on the promise of finding her mother based on a dubious scrap of paper. She constantly gets herself and her party into danger and contributes fuck all to get them out of it, instead relying on her companions to get her out of the mess. Honestly, I struggle to find any likeable qualities about her aside from the standard "she cares for others," and "she's just a cute kid who needs protection." With such an unbelievable brat for a main heroine, it makes the rest of the show markedly less enjoyable to watch.
However, to sort of redeem the stain that is Riko, Reg, the main hero (and effective protagonist of the show) is much, much more bearable, to the point of being likeable. He too is a little kid, but is actually a nigh indestructable robot/android with amnesia. He embarks on the stupidly dangerous journey with Riko in hopes of recovering his lost memory. The thing that sets Reg apart from Riko, however, is that he actually can get shit done. He can defend himself, can travel great distances, and can be quite intuitive. He has an interesting personality, and the mystery of his origins is more than enough to get you invested in him (though there are a lot of questionable aspects about his design, such as the need for a dick). Truly, if Reg were to ditch Riko and continue on his own, he would almost assuredly reach the end of the Abyss in no time, while Riko would hardly last a week on her own.
And herein lies the conflict: I do not give a single flying fuck about Riko or her involvement in the story. In fact, it would move the story along much more smoothly if she were to die and free Reg of the burden of caring for her. However, I am quite invested in everything other than Riko. Every other character is worlds more interesting and compelling than Riko, and the lore behind this fantastical world is quite intriguing. One of the more interesting arks in the story for me was actually the last few episodes where Riko is bedridden due to illness, and the story focuses more on Reg and how he grows as a character.
Watching this anime is like playing Skyrim and embarking on an indefinitely long bodyguard quest with an NPC that has the AI of a goldfish. Nobody likes bodyguard quests, especially ones with stupid NPCs. You would much rather explore the world around you and progress your own character, but instead, you are stuck babysitting a useless lump of meat who constantly draws the aggro of enemies around you while refusing to die due to plot armor.
I am told that Riko grows slightly less useless in future arcs. However, seeing as season 2 is in a sort of limbo, I simply cannot fathom how.
