I have not written a review on MAL in a while but I just cannot contain myself from having to talk about this anime. It really should not have been this bad. I for one freaking love mystery, thriller anime. Heck, my favourite anime of all time has been Monster for at least 5 years now. And to be honest, I didn't always feel that way about Narutaru. In the beginning, I was quite engrossed in the anime, since I have no idea what was going on other than the fact that I heard that the anime does get pretty messed up. So, I was anticipating some stuff.
Episode after episode, and the first thing that bothered me was the pacing. God, can this anime be any slower than it was? Things that could have been over and done with in an episode can dragged on for twice as long because there was just so much padding and still frames of nothingness. It's that very fact that ruined the overall experience. Because technically, I should feel something, anything about a whole bunch of people getting offed just like that. But the lead up to it was so uneventful that I just stopped caring. Things can happen left and right but I was just like, "Eh, well that happened."
But without question, the biggest blunder of this anime is its sheer in-completion. What the hell was this random side tangent that happened after Episode 8? I have questions that have yet to be answered, and here we are looking at some random side story that has nothing to do with what we've just been through. Questions like What are the dragonets actually? What's the deal with that big ass dragon with a humanoid form? What's the deal about Shiina's 'mom's' (I think) department investigating them? Who were those three psycho kids who were out killing people? Who are those two guys in that warehouse? Why can't Shiina link with Hoshimaru? All of these bloody goddamn questions. What was the point of it all?
And then that final arc dealing with Hiroko, again, I couldn't care less for freak sake. Introducing a bully situation this late into the game? I know nothing about Hiroko. I know nothing about the bullies. I know nothing about that random boy that likes Hiroko. Like I didn't even know there was a dude and a romance involved in the first place. And then, what? Dragons can just pop out of nowhere now just people get angry? I want to say that the redemption was a satisfying payoff, but again, I was too bummed out by the end to really care about such a predictable outcome. Watching the final episode was just like a pre-requisite to scoring this anime.
CONCEPTS, CONCEPTS, CONCEPTS. That's what this anime is really. A mix-mash of a platera of concepts, which mind you sound absolutely fascinating, but without any real conclusion to them. This was honestly one of the most unsatisfying anime I have ever had to watch. I don't know if its the mangaka's fault or the anime studio's fault, but considering Bokurano exists, I'm gonna give them the benifit of the doubt. With no sequel or spin-off whatsoever to continue this series, it's a shame that we will most likely never get any answers to those questions in anime form. I'm not sure about the manga so that's outside my jurisdiction.
