Reviews

Okay, before I start with the actual review, let me say that I created an account because I have seen the same "criticism" over and over again and I can't understand that people believe what they write there. Now, what you often see in these mostly negative reviews is that there are dumb characters and coincidences. I won't deny that, but I ask you this: Is that bad? Let me all remind you that Death Note, one of the most beloved anime, opens its main story by a super dumb decision from Light where he kills Lind L. Taylor without any reason other than he made him angry. Not to mention that a lot of coincidences drive the plot like Lights family not finding his small TV in the chips or the rain starting to cover Lights face by an umbrella or Ryuk developing an apple addiction which makes him tell Light where all the cameras are even though he doesn't want to interact (as he said before). Not to mention that the series introduces one of the dumbest characters with Misa, but she is kept around because she has a special ability. I could sit here all day picking out coincidences or even dumb decisions by these geniuses (like Light revealing himself to the FBI agent before he dies), but I think you get the point that this already not reduce the quality of the story. But now, imagine that you don't have geniuses but average teens who are too confident in themselvea because they are seen as special due to their powers? Please tell me again how this is a flaw in the narrative?

Now, I won't go into too much spoilers in the actual review (a bit more of that below). The anime is not perfect, but it is definitely worth a watch. The story revolves around a school with students that have supernatural abilities. But fear not, this is not a budget MHA. Because the enemies are not villains but monsters called "Enemies of humanity" that are said to have various powers like being invisible or even able to transform into humans. A lot of students therefore suspect that these monsters might be among them (pun intended) which leads people to distrust others and also hide their abilities (which in return makes them even more suspicious). As you already guessed this leads to a mystery where no student knows who to really trust but again, these are just average students otherwise so dumb decisions are not out of the realm of possibility. Before I go into the spoiler part, let me say that the voice acting is on point, the same with the music. The animation is as you would suspect from a mystery nothing to write home about, but that is not a problem since the anime knows how to frame the scenes to still make it interesting. Now, I can't really go into more without spoiling, so either go watch the anime or read further if you are not convinced yet.







As you might have guessed, the whole plot around monsters seems to be a bit artificial which is because it is the case. There are no monsters. In fact, there was a war between "normal" humans and those with abilities. After the humans won, over time they changed their strategy and made up a system that openly accepts talented but sends them to an island where they are trained, but actually are killed by a murderer. This murderer is Nana, who has no talent, but in order to not be suspicious, she claims to be able to read minds. Nana now has to not only make sure that no one figures this secret out by being observant and using clues to appear as to read minds but she also has to kill the students while not knowing their abilities at first.

The comparison to Death Note comes in here, because we follow Nana, hear her thoughts, see her plans, but we also see her "opponent", a guy who is suspect of her, but has not enough clues to be sure or openly accuse her. The dynamic is close to the beginnings between Light and L where Nana often tries to create evidence that she is nothing but an innocent girl. But there is where the similarities end. Because where Death Note is about Lights descend into developing a God complex, Nanas character development is the opposite. At first, she is not hesistant to kill these people, not just because it is her job, but because of her backstory as well. However, she still is a girl, so even unconsciously she is starting to warm up to the people she is supposed to kill just by being around them. This brings inner conflict where she has to ask herself if she might have been killed innocent people. And it leads to an actual emotional ending of the season even though I thought I would hate the character at the core of this part.

Besides that, there is always some mystery that keeps you interested and makes you thinking. With all the hints spread throughout the episodes this will always lead to twists that come never out of nowhere and it keeps you thinking what the next development will look like.