This anime left me feeling hungry and unsatisfied. Like the waiter forgot to bring my bowl of rice to pair with all the assorted dishes, so there was no context to my meal, but I just continued eating thinking the waiter was just slow and would bring it eventually, but then I finished all the food.
✧・゚: *✧・゚:* Story *:・゚✧*:・゚✧
The first few episodes gave me high hopes as the premise was rather interesting - a port city ruled by mafia opposed mostly by a lone agency full of misfit detectives...plus supernatural powers. Warring philosophies related to justice, value of life, purpose of death, etc gave purpose to the storyline and characters.
✧・゚: *✧・゚:* Art *:・゚✧*:・゚✧
Fashion and looks have an industrial age feel, similar to Baccano’s, and the creators put emphasis on eyes that flash squint, glare, to portray distinct thoughts and emotions. Also, with laggy internet that intermittently froze on random scenes, I noted the settings to be quite detailed, even the ones that are supposed to fade into the background. And the fight scenes are high-quality as well without any disproportionate bodies spinning into the air or characters making weird/bland faces when they thought no one was looking ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
✧・゚: *✧・゚:* Sound *:・゚✧*:・゚✧
Opening and closing themes are catchy. Soundtrack wasn’t noteworthy though. Completely blended in with the mood. Probably wouldn’t recognize it if I heard it elsewhere.
✧・゚: *✧・゚:* Character *:・゚✧*:・゚✧
This anime is full of dark characters with dark pasts struggling to survive and to find reasons to continue doing so. Characters like Dazai, Atsushi, and Kyouka have internal conflicts that lead to their interesting (and somewhat split) personalities, but the anime hardly goes into their backstory and thoughts, leaving them with a lack of depth and lost appeal. Fortunately in later seasons the anime somewhat addresses this (ie exploring Dazai’s past) thank god.
✧・゚: *✧・゚:* Enjoyment *:・゚✧*:・゚✧
The anime swings between dark & gory and then the classic exaggerated anime humor complete with the enlarged faces and simplified expressions. Sometimes they’re funny, but sometimes they’re not, like it didn’t even match the character’s personality sometimes or it was awkward according to the situation. Totally the kind of humor if you did that in real life, I would judge you...hard.
✧・゚: *✧・゚:* Overall *:・゚✧*:・゚✧
If you enjoy cheesy humor and idiosyncratic supernatural characters, then watch this. Despite my criticisms, I finished until the end, and I heard it gets better in the future seasons, so I will continue the series~
hope u enjoy (ㆁᴗㆁ✿)